Festival Chatter

[PeterJ]

How much for the Waterboys?

More than a little, but less than a lot.

Jules

Thanks. That's very enlightening. They were worth every penny.

[Henry Tompkins (Pete)]

Red Rooster Fest in Euston Hall, Euston, Suffolk lineup is looking promising.
Three acts that have been announced that appeal to me are Nick Lowe, Hanging Stars and Cale Tyson.
It's an Americana/Folk/Blues/Rock/Soul kind of hybrid from what I can ascertain, set in the beautiful Suffolk countryside.

[hendo (Dave)]

A serious comment hoping to create some discussion.
I am lucky enough to be able to go to a lot of festivals.
Looking at line ups of the'bigger' fests , line ups are becoming homogenised.
Show of Hands, Oysterband, Levellers, Seth Lakeman and several acts on the undercard seem to be doing several fests this year. Please do not get me wrong, I have watched these bands many times and enjoyed( almost) every minute. Oysterband are a fave band of mine and SoH were the best I have ever seen them at the New Forest fest this yr.
I know there are people who won't have seen these acts and it will be a great first fest for them.
I am looking for the upcoming acts.
Yes I know they are there and I always find a couple of new acts I love at most fests but then I am paying a lot of money per fest to see the same bands.
Yes I know most people just do the one fest.
For the last few yrs Sheen and I have done smaller fests, New Forest this year was a treat.
So it's probably me and the stock answer should probably be ,'Dave you're a lucky b....r to be able to go to several fests' but the real question is ......
Who are your up and coming bands?
Blackbeards Tea Party. Banter , Co co and the Butterfields,  3 Daft Monkeys, Ange Hardy, Luke Jackson , Kenneth J Nash, Chapin Wickwar......
So let me know bands I should try to see.

[Chris]

Those big names are stifling any others making them bigger drawers/higher up on the card as bookers won't take the risk of booking other bands as headliners for fear of not selling the kind of numbers the current big acts do....We need one or two to 'retire' gracefully to allow others through - or for current acts to create something to catch the audience's attention.

Eliza's Wayward Band was the last attempt at creating a festival headliner. Some you win, some you don't - I think the jury's out on this attempt right now, we'll see. Hope they make it big though.

[hendo (Dave)]

Those big names are stifling any others making them bigger drawers/higher up on the card as bookers won't take the risk of booking other bands as headliners for fear of not selling the kind of numbers the current big acts do....We need one or two to 'retire' gracefully to allow others through - or for current acts to create something to catch the audience's attention.

Eliza's Wayward Band was the last attempt at creating a festival headliner. Some you win, some you don't - I think the jury's out on this attempt right now, we'll see. Hope they make it big though.

Cheers Chris, thanks. I meant to mention Wayward Band who I felt were designed to be the next Bellowhead.
I personally think the future is small fests but so far I am aware of over 300 small fests around the country.
I think if people just go to Wickham this year that will just about cover it. hell of a line up!

[Andy]

... Wayward Band who I felt were designed to be the next Bellowhead.

Spot on and they aren't. Yet.

[garrypbrooks]

An odd phenomena occuring with festivals this year from my own personal perspective. They all seem to be incorporating at least one day when there is nothing that interests me.

Cropredy - Thursday & Friday look good. Saturday not so much.
Wickham - Thursday - Saturday terrific. Sunday I shall be making an early exit.
Moseley - Saturday & Sunday look promising. Friday I am ambivalent.

This is both bad and good news as not attending for entire durations will save me a couple of days leave from work, which I seem to be in short supply of this year.  

Where's the info for Moseley? Nowt on their webpage

[Andy Tuck]

Slightly off topic, but venues up and down the Country, including me, put on the up and coming bands. Problem is we get the haven't heard of them syndrome, so they play to half a dozen people. Then venues don't book them again and won't take the risk on other new bands. Therefore, these acts never get the chance to grow.

So to get more new acts at Festivals start supporting these new bands at a venue near you and they will have the opportunity to grow and if festival organisers see that they are then pulling good crowds they will book them.

[hendo (Dave)]

Slightly off topic, but venues up and down the Country, including me, put on the up and coming bands. Problem is we get the haven't heard of them syndrome, so they play to half a dozen people. Then venues don't book them again and won't take the risk on other new bands. Therefore, these acts never get the chance to grow.

So to get more new acts at Festivals start supporting these new bands at a venue near you and they will have the opportunity to grow and if festival organisers see that they are then pulling good crowds they will book them.

I agree Andy and apologies I haven't been down much this yr. health things haven't helped!

[Chris]

Gigs need to be user-friendly these days. Too many think 11pm (or later!) is a reasinable time to finish a gig on week nights. If one knew, for instance, that they'd be on the way home by 10.30, you'd get more custom.

Yes, I realise sometimes that the venue drives this, but promoters could at least try & persuade them otherwise.

[davidmjs]

Gigs need to be user-friendly these days. Too many think 11pm (or later!) is a reasinable time to finish a gig on week nights. If one knew, for instance, that they'd be on the way home by 10.30, you'd get more custom.

Yes, I realise sometimes that the venue drives this, but promoters could at least try & persuade them otherwise.

It's all about knowing your audience.  Ask a few 17 year olds.  See if they agree with you, Chris.  Most of them aren't even getting ready to go out until about 10pm.....  I think the Stones had the right idea in the early 70's.  Make 'em wait until 3 am  

[Chris]

How many 17yo's go to folk clubs/gigs?....please keep in context

[garrypbrooks]

A serious comment hoping to create some discussion.
I am lucky enough to be able to go to a lot of festivals.
Looking at line ups of the'bigger' fests , line ups are becoming homogenised.
Show of Hands, Oysterband, Levellers, Seth Lakeman and several acts on the undercard seem to be doing several fests this year. Please do not get me wrong, I have watched these bands many times and enjoyed( almost) every minute. Oysterband are a fave band of mine and SoH were the best I have ever seen them at the New Forest fest this yr.
.......

Belated reply: Hendo, I have similar thoughts. I like to go to 3 or 4 festivals a year, and although I'm always happy to see Show of Hands , Fairport or similar headlining, I go at least as much to see some  some new stuff.

There are some excellent new-ish acts around - in the last couple of years I've been very impressed with Ange Hardy & Lucas Drinkwater, Sam Kelly / The Changing Room, The Roving Crows and Lynched, amongst others - and a few new mixings of older talents (False Lights, Martin Simpson & Don Clemens), but  I'm not inspired with festival bills in the way I was a few years ago.

I may be clutching at straws here, but I detect a few major factors:

1. Many major highlights of the festivals I've been to have been from abroad, esp North America - Tanglefoot, The Sojourners, Solas, The Great Big Sea, Le Vent Du Nord, Eric Bogle all come to mind, - It seems to me to be that fewer major international acts are on the festival circuit now.
Maybe the exchange rate isn't helping?

2. Some festivals, particularly Wickham, seem to have got both very predictable in their headliners and reliant on old pop/rock bands to pull in the numbers.

3. a Few good festivals, notably the Trowbridge Village Pump, have disappeared

... or maybe I'm just getting old and diminishing returns are setting in?.

[hendo (Dave)]

Hi Garry, no simple answer I think.
Just too many bloody festivals??
Yes the big (folk?) festivals tend to have the usual suspects but that may be because new 'big guns' folk bands are not coming through.
Yes we had Bellowhead but SoH, Levellers. Oysterband etc are still there as there is little to challenge them?Some great fests bands about, 3 Daft Monkeys, Blackbeards T Party, PiercecBrothers, Maia etc etc but hey are not headliners of big fests.
I am slightly disingenuous cos we will go to New forest Folk fest this yr, lovely vibe , a great but not original line up. Strawbs, Show of Hands, Jacqui Mc Shee's Pentangle, joe Broughtons Folk Conservatoire, Reg Meuross, Ken Nicol, Fleetwood Cave and many more!
We will also do tiny fests, where we 'discover' people we have never heard of .
In the last few years, Ange Hardy, Luke Jackson, Kenneth J Nash, Chapin Wickwar.
I am really lucky to be able to go to a lot of fests.....retired.......camper van .....and able to afford to do it but this yr fests like Woodfest, Raunds fest, Folk in the Barn, Folk on the Farm, Looe, etc will be where we go.
£30 a ticket rather than £120.

[garrypbrooks]

Agree that there are a lot of VG "mid bill" bands around, but it's been a long time since any such band broke through to be a headliner at the level of SoH, Oysters etc.  Hard to know why, but these things are unpredictable - when I saw a rather unimpressive Oyster Band supporting Billy Bragg c1990 , or when I saw SoH struggling to engage a small crowd at the Guildford Fest 2nd stage a few years after, I wouldn't have guessed either would become stars of the folk / roots world.

Any hot tips for acts likely to break through to folky stardom? I'd plump for Sam Kelly in one band or another, or Blackbeard's Tea Party, which is probably the kiss of death for both as a few years ago my hot tips were Ahab, Wheeler Street and Something Nasty in the Woodshed, all of whom I saw do storming festival sets, but are now no more, as far as I know. Maybe part of the problem is that with the rise of streaming, YouTube etc it's so much harder for bands to make a living? Just a thought.

Maybe I need to try a few different (smaller) festivals - Red Rooster, Folk South East & the Acoustic Fest of GB could all be worth a try  

[GubGub (Al)]

Whatever happened to Wheeler Street? They were really terrific. Are any of them still performing at all?

[Greg]

Partly I think the gigging circuit is very much structured around small acoustic acts.  Obviously folk clubs but also the rise in things like house concerts, gigs in 'non-music' venues (bookshops and the like) etc.  If you play in a 'loud' folk band (by which I mean one with drums, electric guitars etc) then there are very few such venues who are able to fit you in.  So, in a lot of cases, you have to try and get what you can on the rock circuit which really does seem to be dying at the moment (at least as an 'earning a living' venture).  So you end up getting a 'real' job and, although you hopefully keep the act going as best you can, you become far more limited in the scope of what you can do.  From my experience of playing in a (definitely second tier but not terrible) 'folk-rock' band in recent times.

For the real pros I can see it's much easier (as per the recent revival of the Albion Band) to concentrate on solo acts/duos etc with greater gigging prospects, less gear to haul around and fewer people to split the proceeds between!

[Greg]

Whatever happened to Wheeler Street? They were really terrific. Are any of them still performing at all?

Wheeler Street are no more sadly.  A few of them are around the circuit here in Kent but not really doing anything in the style of the original group.  Shame.

[garrypbrooks]

Whatever happened to Wheeler Street? They were really terrific. Are any of them still performing at all?

Wheeler Street are no more sadly.  A few of them are around the circuit here in Kent but not really doing anything in the style of the original group.  Shame.

Shame indeed. I recall them doing a live ssion and interview on a radio show - was it Mike Harding? - and I thought t hey were going places (other than Maidstone)

[blagden]

Whatever to Ahab (not the Scandinavian thrash metallers as once featured in the Butlins Folk Weekend publicity) young, vibrant, fun and talented who deserved to go far?