Categories: uncategorized
Date: 05 June 2006 16:10:28
Having negotiated the London Underground and various trains and buses with Third Party successfully I am back. Having failed miserably to read the S for Sunshine entry in the guide I wrote prior to leaving on Friday I had to do an emergency run into town on Saturday, to get t-shirts and sun tan lotion. (Teach me not to follow my own advice).
Anyway Friday introduced me to the upcoming talent which is Seth Lakeman and confirmed that he seems like a quite talented young chap. Then it was down to front, centre to see the Bard of Barking explain the reality behind the disillusionment which led the people of Barking to vote for the far right in such numbers and stress that whilst David Cameron may like the Smiths he was, is and will always be a Tory.
Saturday was hot, to say the least. Besides meeting a friend who was impressing me with her mentions in Gardiners World I was bowled over by This is Seb Clarke who were fun and well worth a listen. Sat and listened to a set by comedian with an agenda Mark Thomas who was cutting and amazingly funny. He based alot of the set around his work with Campaign Against the Arms Trade , clearly differentiating between the actions people engage in and the people themselves and was really thought provoking. Disappointment of the festival has to be Martha Wainwright, who may come from a good family and be very talented vocally,but came across as an unfunny egoistic spoilt brat in her set. Glad though that the Saturday headliners The Saw Doctors suffered from no such problems. From the beginning of N17 onwards it was clear they were there to party and to rock (interesting T Rex cover part way through) and the crowd were happy to join in. Helps they are the ultimate family band at a good family festival, which could be evidenced by the way those of us at the front were working together to ensure the ickle people could see. Afterwards chilled to some the Midnight Storytellers doing wine, women and stories.
Sunday was a surrealists global dream from the Music Lab open mike which included Acccordian and Ukulele doing a cover of "I Predict a Riot" to the life Coaching workshop with a guy who turned out to also be a Spiritual Director, to the Wire Daisies (ok, pity it started to pour during their performance sending us all searching for coats, etc), then the Peatbog Faeries and their Celtic dance (amazing), followed by Eliza Carthy and Salsa Celtica which again saw much dancing and enjoyment, then the talent which is Sophie Solomon (if you haven't heard of her follow the link she is seriously amazing) before rounding of the evening with Amadou and Mariam . The Bays also played but we only managed 7 minutes before deciding that there is a reason they are described as inavotive and don't release music in normal forms, for profit. In the event of having nothing at all positive to say about them I will now shut up.
Enough said that we had a really good time.