![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
We don't camp at festivals any more. This served us well at last year's Northern Kin which was an exercise in schadenfreude (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-65450119 ) The event organiser was at once aggressive and arrogant, penitent and petulant all at the same time, the kind of person who should stay away from front of house. It was a Spring event and the clouds had been emptying over Northumberland for six weeks prior yet he had not deemed it necessary to invest in trackway. We watched awestruck at the hundreds of cars and caravans so utterly stuck in mud that local farmers were rocking up on tractors offering to tow people out for £20.
This year, circumstances ('circumstances!' I mean rain!) meant the event had to be pushed back about 8 weeks. The result was a weekend blessed with perfect summer weather. It's hard not to have a good time with friends and blue skies!
It's an incredibly small incredibly cheap festival, with a bit of everything thrown in. My big wins were among the diddlydees; Ferocious Dogs were good, Skippinish were dreamy, but it was the Peatbog Faeries(https://www.facebook.com/peatbogfaeries/videos/992067872591151/) who made me dance and stay dancing, and the Woman of the Roads came to life in their company, tired but happy. Really enjoyed Cardinal Black and wunderkind Toby Lee (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZBgwyzrBiw). Formidable maestros included Jools Holland being perfect at what he does, and the Crazy World of Arthur Brown. Arthur's 82 and still hits notes clear as a bell. He also continues to set his head on fire.
Interesting stuff included sweet harmonies from Wandering Hearts, The Feeling being shiny indy at us, and When Rivers Meet getting their rock on, all good for ice-cream eating days.
Duds? There had to be some. A lot of people seemed to have sound desk problems, and I like to think that's why the Waterboys were a bit flat. Pentangle seemed to be wrestling with reality, The Death of Guitar Pop fulfilled its own prophecy, the Dutty Moonshine Big Band needed some kind of...help... and the Track Dogs almost disappeared without trace, though these last had potential. One can tell that the Kris Barras Band has been successful, cos it's now got a light show, but Kris and co have turned so thrash it's like a wall of static; having said that, our buddies thought they were great so each to their own. Big Country were big losers and the Soup Dragons were painfully bad.
Friends keep inviting us to Mera Luna, and it would certainly be interesting but I just don't know if I can be bothered making the effort to dress up for epic gothery. I looked at the webpage and yes, a couple of interesting bands there, but then I read the following:
A new age is dawning. The planets and stars are beginning to devour one another. When war and peace become one and the world is finally ready to stop resisting and instead submit to the flames so that a new universe can be born from the ruins and the ashes, that’s when the time of the icons is upon us. Six heralds, six harbingers of doom and rebirth will wander the face of the earth, unaware of their role in the web of the universe, yet of the utmost importance for the imminent and irreversible events that are about to befall the world.
Every icon unites devastation and hope, but always remains hidden to the people as the source of their suffering. Each herald only affects a limited region or aspect of peoples’ lives, but once the all-embracing cataclysm has engulfed the world with its decay, they will join up like a patchwork rug of depravity. Typical of them all is that they often have two opposing sides and only show their other self when struck by moonlight.
And the humans? They are far too caught up in their network of necessities, distractions, quick thrills, ignorance and disinterest to perceive the signs of their imminent demise. Only rarely a poor soul meets one of the icons, and either they do not recognise it for what it is, or they don’t survive the encounter. And so, with much noise, the world with all its light and shadow is hurtling towards eternal darkness ...
Hmm. I am unconvinced.
This year, circumstances ('circumstances!' I mean rain!) meant the event had to be pushed back about 8 weeks. The result was a weekend blessed with perfect summer weather. It's hard not to have a good time with friends and blue skies!
It's an incredibly small incredibly cheap festival, with a bit of everything thrown in. My big wins were among the diddlydees; Ferocious Dogs were good, Skippinish were dreamy, but it was the Peatbog Faeries(https://www.facebook.com/peatbogfaeries/videos/992067872591151/) who made me dance and stay dancing, and the Woman of the Roads came to life in their company, tired but happy. Really enjoyed Cardinal Black and wunderkind Toby Lee (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZBgwyzrBiw). Formidable maestros included Jools Holland being perfect at what he does, and the Crazy World of Arthur Brown. Arthur's 82 and still hits notes clear as a bell. He also continues to set his head on fire.
Interesting stuff included sweet harmonies from Wandering Hearts, The Feeling being shiny indy at us, and When Rivers Meet getting their rock on, all good for ice-cream eating days.
Duds? There had to be some. A lot of people seemed to have sound desk problems, and I like to think that's why the Waterboys were a bit flat. Pentangle seemed to be wrestling with reality, The Death of Guitar Pop fulfilled its own prophecy, the Dutty Moonshine Big Band needed some kind of...help... and the Track Dogs almost disappeared without trace, though these last had potential. One can tell that the Kris Barras Band has been successful, cos it's now got a light show, but Kris and co have turned so thrash it's like a wall of static; having said that, our buddies thought they were great so each to their own. Big Country were big losers and the Soup Dragons were painfully bad.
Friends keep inviting us to Mera Luna, and it would certainly be interesting but I just don't know if I can be bothered making the effort to dress up for epic gothery. I looked at the webpage and yes, a couple of interesting bands there, but then I read the following:
A new age is dawning. The planets and stars are beginning to devour one another. When war and peace become one and the world is finally ready to stop resisting and instead submit to the flames so that a new universe can be born from the ruins and the ashes, that’s when the time of the icons is upon us. Six heralds, six harbingers of doom and rebirth will wander the face of the earth, unaware of their role in the web of the universe, yet of the utmost importance for the imminent and irreversible events that are about to befall the world.
Every icon unites devastation and hope, but always remains hidden to the people as the source of their suffering. Each herald only affects a limited region or aspect of peoples’ lives, but once the all-embracing cataclysm has engulfed the world with its decay, they will join up like a patchwork rug of depravity. Typical of them all is that they often have two opposing sides and only show their other self when struck by moonlight.
And the humans? They are far too caught up in their network of necessities, distractions, quick thrills, ignorance and disinterest to perceive the signs of their imminent demise. Only rarely a poor soul meets one of the icons, and either they do not recognise it for what it is, or they don’t survive the encounter. And so, with much noise, the world with all its light and shadow is hurtling towards eternal darkness ...
Hmm. I am unconvinced.
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}