ELY FOLK WEEKEND - 11th 12th 13th JULY 2003 (original) (raw)
| ELY FOLK WEEKEND REVIEW Laden down with more communications hardware than you can fit onto the back of a Dixon’s lorry, The Folk Boy Three once again shuffled down to Downham Road for a slice of The 18th Ely Folk Weekend. As I’ve mentioned before in previous reviews, neither myself or the remainder of the Ely On-Line team are bona fide Folksters: we shave regularly, seldom stick fingers in our ears and wouldn’t know a bodhran if we tripped over one. Actually I’m lying, Lee is actually a multi instrumentalist and student of ancient music dating back to the Romans and considers anything more recent than 300BC to be ‘modern rubbish’.After the obligatory photo opportunity in front of the Ship Of The Fens it was time to sample the delights of the Beer Tent. Again, an excellent range of beers was on offer and even if there had been no music it would have been a creditable mini beer festival. Having suffered at the hands of Dragon Slayer in previous years I decided to play safe and stuck to the gorgeous mid-summer ales which were the perfect accompaniment to listen to the festival openers: Alie Byrne and Chris King. |  |
|---|
Ali and Chris expressed some surprise that they were actually performing. As winners of an open-mike competition they were rewarded with the opportunity to strut their stuff in front of the rapidly swelling main tent. The duo have previously played in competitions at Towersey and Sidmouth and occasionally play clubs and festivals.This was folk with nowt taken out. With some fluid guitar from Chris and stories aplenty to illustrate the songs, Ali sang beautifully and won the warm applause of an appreciative audience. The only dissenter was a rogue dog that decided to howl mournfully during the second song. I suggest that at future gigs Ali should suggest that everyone switch off their dogs before the start of the show.
After the completion of a short set which coincided with the emptying of our glasses we wandered back across to the Beer Tent past the lengthening queue at the Samaritans tent. That’s a joke, by the way, but with Folk artists tending to explain the source material of some of their more macabre songs in great detail, I’m sometimes tempted to visit the Sams – just for a chat, like: ‘That song was sooo sad. That and the beer has made me all melancholy and I don’t think I can go on any more’. That kind of thing. However, most folk acts do normally follow up a ‘weepy’ with a songs like, “I Rolled In The Straw With A Buxom Wench”, and force everyone onto their feet. Light and shade – light and shade me boys.