West Coast Folk Festival last weekend in Blackpool.
Very Good - Blackbeard's Tea Party
Good - Nick Harper, Seth Lakeman, TRADarr (who were short staffed), Baskary, Louise & Chris Rogan and Hazjak(?).
Could Do Better - Honey & The Bear (dull to my ears although they seemed very nice people), Jon Boden (he's never been my thing) and Webb Sisters (who I didn't get last time and my opinion wasn't any different this time).
Well run festival without any drama - roll on to the fourth.
We saw Nick Harper locally on Sunday and it was really quite surreal. My bestie is unable to go to many gigs as his wife is confined to bed/wheelchair with Parkinsons and he is full time carer .We went for a stroll with them last week and stopped at a cafe and noticed on our phone that Nick was playing at a craft ale bar within walking distance of home. As my friend was a big fan of Roy , he showed interest . Mrs Reg pipes up Nick will bring me to sit for your wife and give you a lift (they are 30 minutes away ie 2 hours driving all told). I was happy to oblige as he needed a break. However it was sold out(only 80 capacity) but he managed to get 2 returns at £13 (instead of £20 ). It was billed as Doors 7 PM , start 8 PM with 2 x 45 minutes sets, playing music from the recent album featuring songs by all the folkies who had visited Roy's flat in the sixties . We arrived at 7.15 to be told by the doorlady that he had been playing for a while already, he had done a soundcheck and just kept going doing stuff not related to the main sets and chatting. He was wearing a flat cap, scarf and coat and sat on a low settee with a table from Roy's old flat complete with lava lamp and "herb box" (which we were invited to touch in reverence). At 7.45 he asked for a Tequila as he got nervous before gigs. He was formally announced at 8PM and played for about two and a half hours!! The main set was all songs by the old folkies , some of whom were on the album ( and pictured on the backdrop) Davy Graham , Bert and John, Jackson c Frank , Roy, Sandy Denny and some not Paul Simon, Bolan, Bowie, John Martyn etc. Anji was featured of course, (recorded by at least 3 of the forementioned) and he claimed that the original recording was financed by Bob Monkhouse. The last song before the encores was WKWTTG. The anecdotes were highly interesting and amusing. One of the most rewarding 13 quids I've ever spent.
