Friday, July 9: From humble beginnings in 1985 when Ely first hosted its ‘Folk Day’ (ticket price £4.50), through years of the ‘Folk Weekend’ which was held in various venues throughout the City, to the Pocket Park Years the festival always retained a unique essence. The move to the Outdoor Centre in 2000 and the inclusion of more concerts, dances and workshops has not diminished that certain something that Ely has. As my Uncle Google says, ‘Licentia Puteus Unus’*

And so, to 2010, the Silver Anniversary of the Festival. With my Sun Dance instructions safely tucked away, the temperature at 35 degrees on the car gauge and 42 under my armpits, I set off for the festival.

Ely Online assembled at the site for our traditional Friday evening photo with the Ship of the Fens as a backdrop and the remit to capture that special quality that keeps regulars coming back year after year.

The Floozies were the first act I caught on the main stage and are so damn cool that they are like aural fans, their jazzy folk riffs bringing the temperature down with each blast from Paula Welham’s sax. Their gusts of harmony and virtuoso musicianship were a fine way to start the weekend.

Harvey Andrews was up next and the 67 year old singer song-writer enchanted the audience with his songs. With 43 years of his professional career chalked up he was proud to declare that he’s 2 years younger than Sir Cliff Richard but 2 years older that Keith Richards. The veteran was around the site on Saturday as well and he looked very chuffed after turning up for a sound-check and being sent away by the sound man as it was ‘just the same as Friday’. Very handy just being one man, a guitar and a head full of songs.

I’ve seen Colvin Quarmy 2 or 3 times before but they still have the ability to surprise. The captivating ‘Broken Man’ with its five part harmony is a tribute to NHS drugs that work and Gerry Colvin’s lyrics are a joy to listen to in these days when song writers seem scared to say what they mean.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pex90pjVgs0

The beer tent was doing brisk business and when the Dragon Slayer ran out my distraught daughter had to accept an alternative, Eelcatcher, which brought a grimace to her face. Luckily, there were many more barrels to hand and we enjoyed at various times; Reel Ale, Anniversary Ale, Dragonslayer and Shefford Bitter. Many thanks must go to the overworked volunteers who battled away all weekend to keep the beers cool and the customers satisfied.

The opening nights headliners ‘The Demon Barber Roadshow’ were, as the youth say, Awesome. Mixing traditional folk tunes and using clog-dancers and a beat-boxer (I think they’re called) as well as molly dancing themselves they earned a standing ovation.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkmobqShZGA

At one point they were doing Pete Townsend style leg splits which I’ve never seen a Morris Man perform. It was like The Who doing Riverdance. No wonder they won the Best Live Act Award at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards last year. I don’t know what any of the songs were called apart from the rebel yelling ‘Captain Ward’ but they were excellent and went down a storm.

Saturday: Saturday began, as per recent tradition, with a ginormous cooked breakfast at Ely’s premier Fryuperie ‘Street Cafe’, before getting into position to watch the Morris dance procession.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_hFGfwP8mM

Is it all bells and whistles? Nah – we were treated to a banging, shouting and whooping parade of a smorgasbord of English dance sides including long sword, Cotswold, north- west clog and Suffolk flip-flop. That slapping sound is rather irritating. I hope they won’t be asked back.

Back on the site later, my own thoughts were echoed when I heard a camper sigh, incline his head towards an armpit and mutter, ‘Hmm…time for some deodorant’. It was about 32 degrees at this point.

To my shame I’d missed Les Barker on his previous visits to Ely so I was determined to catch his set and I’m glad I did. Although obviously old favourites with the packed marquee (cos they chanted most of the tag lines) I sat and giggled my way through ‘Occasional Table’, ‘Deja Vu’, ‘Mange Tout’ and the rest of Les’s gloriously surreal poems.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwn1g8_JM-U

Next up, Lau, the band I had looked forward to with the most anticipation. I had ‘discovered’ the band by a tortuous route about 3 years ago in a way most music lovers will recognise. Whilst flicking through the folk cds in Ely Library I picked up Kris Drevers ‘Blackwater’ and noticed that he’d covered ‘Harvest Gypsies’, written by our very own Boo Hewerdine. I took it out, loved it and googled Kris to find Lau. That led me to their website and I clicked on the audio link for the frenetic ‘Hinba’. Result? Me continuously playing the song in the office for the next 4 days. I got some strange looks from colleagues, I can tell you, sitting there with my headphones on playing air accordion.

Lau didn’t let me down. Corking renditions of ‘Winter Moon’, ‘The Burran’ et al met with raucous applause from a packed Marquee. I was slightly disappointed that by the end of the set they hadn’t played my favourite tune. So, when they took a breather before starting the encore I was nonplussed when they announced they were going to treat us to a song called ‘Hitler’. Hitler! Who the hell would write a folk song about Hitler? I misheard – yep, it was Hinba, in all its manic glory. As the young people say, LOL and LMAO.

Whilst I was working up a sweat just watching Martin Green manhandle his accordion, Ely On Line’s chief lensman, Karl, was at the French dance workshop given by Bof! I had planned to join him but unfortunately I’d left my dancing trousers at home.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCXrIPUsPxI

I’m writing this on a normal Sunday morning, sitting in my boxers, mug of tea to hand and typing the words, ‘death’, ‘cake’ and ‘burial’ into Google. I’m doing some research into a tragic story I read about years ago and I’m trying to find the details. I did write it all down in a diary but it’s faster to use the interweb than sit and read through 25 years of WH Smith diaries to find a paragraph of writing. And, I found this little nugget of information – Until 1823 suicides were buried under the public highway, usually at a crossroads, with a stake driven through the heart. Hmm – I feel a song coming on.

Why do I relate this gloomy tale? Because it’s only at a folk (and probably Goth) festival that you’ll happily stand there as the band say, ‘Here’s another song about death’. Yup, The New Essex Bluegrass Band played a fantastic set of snappy tales of murder and mayhem from the Deep South. With an ‘Elvis’ style microphone to the fore they took turns to step up for their solos and received an ovation from an enthusiastic Marquee 2 . Brilliant.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=E

As the refreshing evening breeze finally began to cool down the site the Ely online team promenaded between marquees 1 and 2 via the beer tent, taking in snippets of Chris & Kelli While, Chris Sherburn & Denny Bartley and the fantastic Wizz Jones. At 71, Wizz can still make his guitar weep and he almost had me blubbing with ‘Burma Star’, a song about his dad coming home from the war.

The evening was rounded off by the evergreen Oysterband. They pounded their way through an energetic set of crowd pleasers defying their 30 years experience and with the sides of the marquee down and people spread almost half way across the site to listen, it was an apt way to conclude the Saturday night of the 25th Ely Festival.

Sunday: Sunday began with Dogan Mehmet and some exquisite fiddle playing and the percussionist apparently playing bongos on an upturned electric flower-pot. They created an alluring anglo-turkish vibe and I particularly enjoyed the sing along ‘Dillirga’ with more ‘La La’s’ in the chorus than an Andy Williams song.

Tyde were up next and I can see why they were finalists in the Radio 2 Young Folk Awards last year. Their set was awash with hooky melodies and I’m looking forward to catching them again on the Thursday evening of the Cambridge Folk Festival.

As the sun continued to shine, the New Essex Bluegrass band were back, this time on the main stage and they played a completely different set including the tear-stained declaration of everlasting love, ‘All I Ever Loved Was You’. So – probably another song about death.

We decided to make a detour to a ‘meet me’ with Wizz Jones and he proceeded to give a fascinating insight into how he developed his style over the years, learning (and cribbing) from the best – mainly Big Bill Broonzy. Wizz has a witty self-deprecating sense of humour and managed to teach some old dogs some new tricks at the same time.

Now – a dilemma. The Sunday of the festival coincided with the World Cup Final. My wallchart was up to date and I’d enjoyed a month of the greatest game on earth (apart from Kerplunk) and I really did want to watch it. C’mon – Holland v Spain. What have I done before? In 1986 I passed over the opportunity to watch Madness on the Main Stage at Glastonbury in favour of watching England play Argentina in the Quarter Final. The ‘Hand of God’ was watched on a 2” portable tv with 6 lads crammed into a 2 man tent. In 2006 I missed I missed Zidane’s chest butt whilst enjoying Zambula at Ely. So – what to do?

Football won.

I’d already decided that this would be my last review of the EFF (my 10th) so I’ll be hanging up my stubby pencil and Oxfam diary and enjoying the festival in future as a lover of folk. No more jokes about beards and spangly waistcoats from me.

A Footnote:

During the weekend I was able to catch up with Kim Mahler Garton, the Tai Chi instructor. I asked her if she’d be able to teach me how to do the splits. ‘Well…’, she replied hesitantly, ‘…it isn’t really part of my routine but I might. How flexible are you?’ she asked. I thought about it and replied, ‘I can’t do Tuesdays’.

Top Ten Songs – In No Particular Order

1. Floozies – Coolest Girl in School
2. ColvinQuarmby – Broken Man
3. Demon Barber Roadshow – The Fantastic Clogs and beatbox song.
4. Doghan Mehmet -Dillirga
5. Les Barker – Occasional Table
6. Lau – The Burrian
7. NEBB – Cold Wind
8. Oysterband – Oxford Girl
9. Wizz Jones – Burma Star
10. NEBB – All I Ever Loved was You

See You Next Year! – 8th, 9th, 10th July 2011

*Leave Well Alone

The Ely Online team ventured once again to The Ely Folk Festival to, hopefully, capture the spirit of the event. With myself (John Glover – pictured right) on pencil and paper and Karl Bedingfield (the camera) we hope to give you a slice of the festival from a non-folkie perspective. Holly and Mike were our ears and eyes on site and completed the Ely Online team. This, the 24th Festival, had a great line-up and the prospect of some decent weather. For my take of the Festival, read on:

The Week Before

As per, my Folk Festival week began on the Monday with a diligent trawl through the Artist list and some googling. Ely Online once more were given the opportunity to see the festival from a non-folkie perspective. Luckily for the uninformed (me), Myspace is information HQ for most bands and some of their best choons. With headphones clamped on and downloading like a dervish I delved into this years selection.

Shortly, without moving an inch I was enjoying The Dog Roses (winners of the Band competition and first act on Friday), While & Matthews, Hot Lips and Chilli Fingers and, as they say, many many more. Yup, as usual the Ely Folk Festival was shaping up to be the varied line up of traditional and contemporary that we have come to expect. The Folk World must agree because this year the whole weekend was sold out before a note was played.

One of the nice things about the Ely Folk Festival is that you see a lot of the same faces every year and a thought occurred to me when I was travelling home on the train after work. A few Folkies with rucksacks were running down the platform to get their connection and I wondered if they knew what to expect if it was their first visit. Ely must be one of the prettiest places to arrive at on a train from either direction.

Friday Evening

The music I was researching? This week’s earworm was ‘A Little Bit More Blue’ by The Dog Roses, one of the most over the top, singable and downright uplifting songs I’ve ever heard. I eagerly awaited the live rendition when they opened the festival. As Band Competition winners they only had twenty minutes in which to showcase their talents and after introducing a song with the line, ‘Here’s a song about suicide’ I knew I’d like them. I patiently waited for the big finish which would undoubtedly be my favouritist new song. Guess what? They didn’t play the bugger! When I spoke to them later in the beer tent they didn’t even recognise the song I was slurring about. I had to sing the chorus to remind them. The Ely Online team all agreed that The Dogs (as we now call them) should be given a slot in next year’s festival.

Strangefolk sounded suspiciously like Jefferson Airplane and even did a cover of ‘Somebody to Love’. The band has been around since 2002 and I have to agree with the programme blurb, that they played with total commitment.

Next up, after some Whitby Cod and Chips, was Something Nasty In the Woodshed. My scribbled notes said ‘Bagpipes with heavy metal guitar’. Not too far wrong as it turned out but there was much more to them. I loved their Shoogleniftyish grooves and reggae tinged instrumentals. They went down a treat.

I found a quiet seat at the back for Allan Taylor. Living in the States for years has influenced his troubadour tales which he’s gathered over the years from talking to strangers in bars which he says has cost him a lot of money. ‘The Veteran’ was a particularly hairy tale of an encounter with a gun-toting Vietnam Vet. ‘Leaving at Dawn’ is Allan’s reflection on the travails of earning your living as a musician. Other stand-out songs, ‘New York in the Seventies’ and ‘Frenchtown’ were expertly performed in his distinctive mellow tones.

It was during Allan Taylor’s set that I realised Ely On Line’s self-confessed Geek, Karl, was meddling about with his new phone. Little did I know that he was ‘Tweeting’ from the festival. For those who’ve never heard of Twitter – don’t bother, it’s rubbish. I’m sticking to my Oxfam diary and scribbling notes.

Baka Beyond were the Friday headliners and are no strangers to Ely. They got the crowd dancing at the front and gave everyone a chance to throw some shapes as a warm up before the Ceilidh.

Then I wobbled home on my bike.

Saturday Afternoon

After a breakfast of parasetemol and a fry-up for brunch I made my way back down to the festival site in time to catch the excellent ‘The QP’. With new bassist Tim playing his first gig you might have expected a few wobbles here and there but they’d obviously blooded him well and a tight set of tunes and songs delighted the (for a Saturday afternoon) fullish marquee. This was a band that had more wind-power than me after a curry, at the top of a hill, on a windy day. At one point during the fabulous ‘Mexican Catharsis Set’ they had a four-man front line of harmonica, flute, soprano saxophone and whistle blowing away at full throttle. Hexham Farmer featured the muscular harp playing of Will Pound and I’d have to say that The QP were my ‘Eureka Moment’ of this years Festival. I always drone on about being a non-folkie but there is usually an act every year that really crowbars open my eyes to the thrill of Folk music. I suspect I’m not the only one who will name The QP as their favourite act from this years list.

Next up were Toy Hearts, a 5 piece Bluegrass band from Birmingham. They were the real deal and I wasn’t surprised to hear that they are off on a 5-week tour of the States quite soon. They played a captivating set full of blues, Western swing, bluegrass and some Sun-era Elvis Presley. I liked them – I liked them a lot. ‘The Captain’ and ‘Stronger’ were my faves.

A duo new to me was next on stage – While & Matthews. They said they were last at Ely when they could smell the sewerage plant. Hmm…that’d be the Pocket Park then! Chris quipped that they were covered in mosquito bites for days after playing on the old site. I can confirm that the Pocket Park still has a goodly population of mozzies just waiting to prey on bare flesh after the wife and I went down that way for a stroll on a warm evening recently. No problems with that kind of thing at the Footy Club.

Several times nominated for various Radio 2 Folk Awards, they have won the best duo at the 2009 folk awards – and I can see why. ‘Single Act of Kindness’ and the incredibly sad ‘Comfort Women’ were the stand out songs and they received an enormous cheer at the end of their set.

Saturday Evening

With a large black cloud hovering with malice aforethought above the Isle of Ely, festivalgoers headed for canvas. As Ely On Line traversed the site clutching pints of Dragon Slayer the ‘Sell Out’ signs on the gate definitely spoke the truth.

My ‘You Tube’ search for Flossie Malavialle had produced a few results and to be honest I had considered giving her a miss and going to watch Strange Folk for a second time. I’m glad I didn’t though because she was excellent. Despite having only lived in the UK for seven years she’s developed a rich Geordie accent which has produced a glorious Anglo-French brogue. She sang beautifully; ‘La Vie En Rose’, ‘The Road’s My Middle Name’ and generally charmed the socks off the audience. And if that made you smile it means you were there.

Following Flossie was Edward II. Again, my Googling had led me to make notes such as ‘Folk/UB40’, which proved to be reasonably accurate with one huge difference – I’ve always been put off by Ali Campbell’s cod-Jamaican singing voice. Without an annoying vocal to put me off I was free to enjoy Edward II’s ‘dance tunes of old England, sunny sexy grooves of reggae and lover’s rock’. They certainly are a ‘crossover’ act and they had Marquee 1 rocking.

And then – the rain began to fall. The Peatbog Faeries came on and it’s fair to say the audience were divided. I suspect that after all the dancing during Edward II’s set that it was like being asked if you want another slice of chocolate cake – more Folk than you can eat. Anyway, as The Faeries ripped up a storm to match the one outside, a large crowd formed at the front to bop the evening away while a portion of the more Traditional folkers slid away to the more gentle homes of the Beer Tent session or While & Matthews in Marquee 2. Personally I love the The Boggers after buying ‘Faeries Stories’ but I can see why they split the crowd. I would imagine at a less ‘intimate’ festival they would have had the Tent bursting at the seams. In fact they would have gone down well at Dance Island that was held last week just up the road.

Sunday

The clouds parted and the sun shone. Sunday is traditionally chillin’ out day – take the sides off the marquees and sit outside.

Got down to the site for the tail end of Strangeworld’s set. Plenty of people had decided to keep out of the sun and they got a good reception. Next up was Adrian Nation. I remembered him from a couple of years ago and he did ‘Where the Lions Are’, ‘Brightest Star’ and a song that, apparently, gets sung at his lad’s school called, ‘Set the Course’. In my review of Adrian’s last visit to EFF I mentioned he does a good line in Van Morrison sounding songs and I’ll stick by that.

Adam Brown and Alan MacLeod filled Marquee 2 and I was pleased that my on-going folk education led me to think, ‘Hmm..that one sounds like a song off Lau’s first album’ as they squeezed and strummed their way through another funky folk tune. Yep – I’m into this folk stuff enough to recognise influences now. When Adam (3 time bodhran champ) started his finger-snapping solo, musos began to walk speedily from all directions of the site to the marquee to watch. Perfect entertainment for a sunny Sunday methinks.

More beer was taken on board while listening to The QP’s set in Marquee 2 but then I had to go to the Main Tent for Eric Bogle and John Munro. A couple of years ago I wrote how he won me over and in this, his last UK tour, he did it again. His between song anecdotes about leaving Scotland for Australia when he was 19 had the audience enthralled and his rendition of ‘And the band played Waltzing Matilda’ was particularly poignant this week in view the events in Afghanistan. He received a standing ovation and the crowd demanded an encore. My backstage informant reports that Eric was reluctant to go back on stage but he did. I must confess, I’ve never been a big fan of encores – shows are paced to fit a mood, whether celebratory or dramatic. I always think it’s a bit anti-climatic to do another song after a tearjerker like ‘And the band…’. However, the public are always right and Eric came back for well deserved thunderous applause.

Hot Lips and Chilli Fingers are usually a duo of Steve Lockwood and Chris Newman but they were augmented by Mark Russell from the Ceilidh Allstars on Bodhran and a bass player for this gig. Steve Lockwood is a true star and kept his powder dry for the first few songs by sitting down. After 15 minutes he was up dancing, running around the Marquee and whipping up a storm with his Harmonica. He changed the mood for a moving version of ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’, which was fantastic. My version of the song, ‘While My Catarrh Gently Seeps’ will soon be available on a Sinus Aid compilation CD.

Another band playing for the final time in the UK were Tanglefoot. They were introduced as old friends of the Ely Festival and Al Parrish was even wearing a spectacular green shirt apparently made by Ruth Bramley – is that true? The band energetically romped and stomped out favourites such as ‘Seven a side’ and ‘Vimy’ and Terry Young gave an impassioned speech on the dangers of Global Warming which turned out to be a sneaky attempt to sell some CD’s. Excellent stuff – and I have to admit that I loved them by the end of the set whereas when they came on stage I thought they were a ‘Spinal Tap’ folk band – those curly perms must still be popular in Canada.

And Finally…along with increased signage at this year’s festival all the dogs had individual tags to identify them and over the 3 days I was enchanted by a little dog that was fussed over by its owners and anyone that saw her. I never discovered the mutts name but anyway, stand up (on yer hind legs) and take a bow (wow) – EFF Dog of The Year 2009 – Dog 20!

Ely Folk Festival Audio

Ely Folk Festival Video

[See post to watch Flash video]
The Dog Roses (Friday)

[See post to watch Flash video]
Baka Beyond (Friday)

[See post to watch Flash video]
Something Nasty In The Woodshed (Friday)

[See post to watch Flash video]
The Peatbog Faeries (Saturday)

Ely Folk Festival Slideshow

Click Image above for our photo slideshow!

Top 10 Songs From the Weekend (in no particular order)

1. A Little Bit More Blue – The Dog Roses
2. The Captain – Toy Hearts
3. Mexican Catharsis Set – The QP
4. Leaving Nancy – Eric Bogle and John Munro
5. Comfort Women – While and Matthews
6. While My Guitar Gently Weeps – Hot Lips and Chilli Fingers
7. Vimy – Tanglefoot
8. Where The Lions Are – Adrian Nation
9. Seven a Side – Tanglefoot
10. Stronger – Toy Hearts

The 25th Ely Folk Festival will take place on 9th to 11th July 2010 – see you there!

Armed with stubby pencils, scraps of paper and a camera Ely Online once again ventured down to The Ely Folk Festival to capture the spirit of the event. With me (John Glover) on words and Karl Bedingfield (on the piccies) we hope to give you a slice of the weekend from a non-folkie angle. Holly and Mike were camping and completed the Ely Online team.The forecast was dodgy but the list of bands was great. For my diary of the weekend, read on:

Friday Afternoon (at work – 15:20)

Yet again I find myself on the afternoon of an Ely Folk Festival, praying to the Sun Gods. It worked last year after I wore a hole in the carpet dancing round in concentric circles, covered in wode, clutching a dreamcatcher and chanting a Plainsong (at this point I was going to add a feeble joke that the plainsong in question was ‘Jet’ by Wings but I’m enough of a Beatles bore to know that Jet was, in fact, Macca’s dog. So even if the joke had worked, which I’m sure you agree didn’t, it wouldn’t have been accurate). Err… where was I? After consulting the BBC 5 day forecast I suspect I will need some stout footwear and a hat. As Hunter Davies says, ‘There’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing’. I even raised a small cheer when I realised that Saturday’s prediction had been downgraded from heavy showers to light showers.

As usual my remit is to type up a review of the festival from a non-folkie angle. As I’ve mentioned in previous reviews this is becoming increasingly difficult as I find myself getting into the music more and more. In fact, whilst on holiday in Greece I found myself comparing a traditional Greek tune they were playing in a taverna to a track off ‘Troots’ by Shooglenifty. As I imparted this, very astute I thought, observation I looked up to find Mrs Glover face down snoring into her tzatziki. Hmm…I thought. This is getting serious.

This will be my 8th visit to the Festival and, I’m ashamed to say, it should be my 23rd. It wasn’t until I was invited along by Ely Online that I took off my blinkers and saw beyond the stereotype of beards, rainbow-coloured waistcoats and men waving hankies around. Of course, all that is on offer at the festival but there’s also a lot, lot more. The Ely festival features a wide variety of styles, all which fit into the broad church of folk. Am I looking forward to it? You Betcha! Is it raining? Yes.

Friday Evening

With a broken dreamcatcher thrown into the bin I headed off to the festival site. It all looked very familiar but with one or two changes in food vendors (No Chez Nous!). With five local breweries offering a variety of beers and ciders the beer tent was packed with people keeping dry with a session already under way.

To open up the weekend as usual it was the competition winners, Lizzy Doe and Joe Bradwell, who were the committee’s pick from 21 entrants. Their Irish traditional tunes went down well with what was a fuller tent than usual at this time on a Friday. I suspect that because of the weather more people will actually be listening to the music rather than soaking up the summer sun so in one way you could say that the rain is encouraging people to listen to an act they might have otherwise missed. The duo have been increasingly focused on their collaboration since performing at New Roots 2008. That’d be a good name for a Hairdressers…but not as good as ‘British Hairways’ which I recently saw.

Due to the wonder of Myspace I’d been able to check out the next act, Al Lindsay, in the days before the festival and had been impressed by the song he opened with; ‘Shackles and Chains’. Al’s press release says that his writing style has comparisons with Jon Martyn, Nick Drake and World Party. Admitting to my folk ignorance I’ve never heard the first two but I definitely saw the link to Karl Wallinger’s style and phrasing. As the rain lashed down, Al treated us to ‘Singing In The Rain’ and we all joined in defiantly. It was almost like Cliff Richard at Wimbledon the other year. No it wasn’t. Were we going to let the rain bother us? No. By the way, Al’s ‘Better Man’ would have been a Number One if Robbie Williams had recorded it 4 years ago.

Shambolica were back at the festival after their first appearance in 2006. The trio have progressed from playing around the kitchen table six years ago to making an album. They seemed far more polished than on their last showing and Kerry’s voice is a treat. ‘Lonesome Traveller’ was my favourite.

I love Colvin Quarmby. Having previously seen them a couple of times I was surprised to see their new line-up. With the departure of Dave Dutfield they have expanded to a five piece with new members Marion Fleetwood and Allan Maslen from Meet On The Ledge. With their previous line-up I’d thought they were a change from the more traditional folk act but with the addition of fiddle, squeezebox and a less obvious ‘rock’ line-up they are more folkie now. As usual Gerry Colvin had the audience laughing and kept referring to his ex-girlfriend who caused him to spend all his time in the shed and made his hands shake. Gerry had the crowd in stitches with the pre-amble to Dylan Thomas’s pen and encouraged a good sing a long.

Last act in the main tent were Saor Patrol, a live act to behold, with pipe tunes and drum rhythms to stir the soul and put fire in a man’s belly. As Holly’s boyfriend, Mike, put it, ‘It makes me want to run around with a sword!’ Can’t remember any of the song titles but I know that the tent was bursting at the seams. It was an excellent first night and a good mixture of the traditional, singer songwriters and passionate music.

Saturday Afternoon

The traditional Molly parade kicked off at 11am in the city. They were well underway when I got myself around a bacon and egg baguette from the wonderful ‘Tea For Two’ and eggs rolled down my freshly shaven chin. I arrived at the site in time to catch the last couple of songs of Claude Bourbon, but luckily with most acts playing twice at Ely you can catch them the next day if you like what you see. And I did.

After another trip to the beer tent it was time to meet up with Ava and Jamie from ‘Northern Folk’ and introduce them the Ely Folk Festival. Yet another downpour forced us back into the beer tent and more refreshment and the chance to catch an excellent impromptu set by members of No ID.

Then, just on time, the sky cleared and the African Dance workshop was in full swing. I’d have to say that natural rhythm was slightly lacking as members of Zambula put some willing dancers through their paces. I expect all those people to be throwing shapes in the main tent tonight.

To finish the afternoon session it was Martin Simpson. He had the audience in the palm of his hand and received a cheer for the mighty, “Never Any Good”. Today he let the music do the talking. He said he was in the mood for playing the guitar and kept the banter to a bare minimum. ‘Duncan and Brady’, a Johnny Cash style tale of shootin’ and runnin’ saw some nifty finger work and feet tappin’. Simpson is acknowledged as one of the finest acoustic finger-style and slide guitar players in the world and I think I know the reason why. I took a photo and zoomed in on his left hand for an arty shot. He actually has 7 fingers and 2 thumbs on his left hand. Thinking about it now, I think I saw him on Channel 4’s ‘The Freakiest Looking Buggers In The World’. He was on the week after the man with the head made of wood and the 5 year old girl whose feet are on backwards.

Saturday Evening

By 9:20 the sky had cleared and the sides were taken off the main tent. Time for Show of Hands. Introduced as ‘…a kind of Chas and Dave of Folk’; Phil Beer, Steve Knightley (ably assisted by the lovely Miranda Sykes) were immense. Cousin Jack had the crowd bellowing along. Strange that, of all the folk bands I’ve seen now, Show of Hands didn’t have to encourage any audience singing – everyone just joined in. ‘Roots’, ‘Country Life’, ‘Galway Farmer’ were all met with cheers. Fantastic stuff. And, refreshingly, Steve Knightley mentioned that you could buy a CD after the gig or get a copy off a mate. Not what you’d hear Fergal Sharkey say. When I saw that Show of Hands were on the bill I went to Ely library, borrowed a copy of ‘Witness’ and burned a copy. I loved it so much that I bought a copy of ‘Roots – The Best Of’. A month later I was in a tent singing along with ‘Country Life’ – “No Jobs! No Shops! No Pubs!” They used to say Piracy is Killing Music – No! Blokes in suits in record companies who know nothing about music buying habits is the problem.

Last up – Zambula. We’d watched the Dance Workshop in the afternoon and I was keen to see if the moves had been put into action. They had. Great way of ending Saturday and I think the committee got it spot on with the bill – big anthem folk band to make you think before the beer soaks through to the brain. Then, when brain turns into a sponge it’s time for jumping up and down.

Sunday Dinnertime

Lightning Jack began the afternoon session. They were cooking on something rather warm. All their mum’s were there and Lester Lloyd-Reason said it was only the 2nd time his mum had seem him play in 30 years. Ah Bless! Stand out song – Purple. When they appeared on stage Mike pointed to the bass guitarist and said, ‘He’s been behind the bar all weekend!’ Step forward and take a bow, Fil Utting-Brown. Playing two gigs and working behind the bar. He sang the praises of Chairman Trish Reed (well deserved) but Fil also deserves a cheer…Hoorah!

Last Night’s Fun were up next. With Denny Bartley on a break it was strange seeing the new line-up. It was a weekend of changes (see ColvinQuarmby). Like when a Doctor Who regenerates you hope you’re going to like the new version. Would Findlay Napier be Colin Baker or David Tennant? I’m happy to report that he was at least as good as Christopher Eccleston. A corking rendition of Doxford Hall blew some cobwebs away and Autumn Child, described as ‘chair stacking’ music by Chris, was a delight. ‘Chairstackin’ – 20 Golden Greats From LNF’ – could be a good album title.

In their press blurb Kerfuffle are described as playing music that cannot easily be categorised. Yes it can – it’s bloody good. Energetic playing caused a record amount of broken strings, to the point where Hannah James spent a while introducing a song about her native Derbyshire which she’s spent some time tracking down, only to realise they couldn’t play it because the guitar was knackered.

Sunday Evening

Arriving back on site I overheard a conversation and the only snatch I heard was, ‘…it’s almost too well organised…’ What the hell does that mean?

On Sunday evenings I prefer my music in Marquee 2 – it’s more up close and personal. It was while casting an eye around that I noticed the preponderance (that’s not a bad stab at a four-syllable word after 4 or 5 pints of Dragon Slayer) of headgear. Why do people wear so many weird and wonderful hats at folk festivals? Could it be lack of hair? Having said that, I was listening to Boo’s new CD in the kitchen and I realised I’d left my trilby on.

If you were at last year’s festival you’ll already know how big an impression Gareth Pearson made on me – as I’m sure he does wherever he takes his guitar. I watched him again in the more intimate setting of Marquee 2 and he was excellent – again. Running through his set of self penned tunes and clever covers he received more rapturous applause. He ate a Fab ice-cream while playing ‘Jerry’s Breakdown’. Holly spoke to him after his set and he said the crowds were dancing while he played in Canada and he had to acclimatise to the more reverential atmosphere of Ely. It was a joy to watch people’s faces when he started ‘I Want You Back’ – members of the audience smiling with delight at the tune and hoary old guitarists thinking, ‘How the hell does he Do that?’

Boo Hewerdine was introduced as a legend that saved the committee money because there are no accommodation charges. He said he’d better play a good set or he’d find it awkward in the newsagent. Seated for the first few numbers I’m sure Boo will be able to hold his head up as he buys his copy of The Guardian (I reckon Boo’s a Guardian man) and polos. He formed an impromptu backing band, hastily named The Shakers, all playing their recently purchased Shaky Eggs along to ‘59 Yards’. For an encore he played ‘Can’t Get it Out Of My Head’. He only introduced it as an oldie and I recognised it immediately – the ELO album it’s from was the first LP I ever bought, on mail order from Frantic Records, when I got the address from the back of the Melody Maker. I haven’t heard it in years and I have to say I felt something moist forming in the corner of my eyes (corners of my eyes? What am I talking about?) and I had to swallow a bit.

To finish the weekend it was Folk WunderKidz, Spiers and Boden. Lee and I spent the first five minutes trying to work out where the bass whoomp was coming from and we worked out it was from a footpad. Is that allowed in Folk? Their mix of traditional songs and dance tunes was a fitting end to another festival, the first to sell out.

Top Songs/Tunes of Weekend:

1. Al Lindsay – ‘Better Man’
2. ColvinQuarmby – ‘Dylan Thomas’s Pen’
3. Martin Simpson – ‘Never Any Good’
4. Show of Hands – ‘Cousin Jack’
5. Miranda Sykes – ‘Rain’
6. Lightning Jack – ‘Purple’
7. Last Night’s Fun – ‘Doxford Hall’
8. Gareth Pearson – ‘I Want You Back’
9. Boo Hewerdine – ‘Can’t Get It Out of My Head’
10. Zambula – Dunno the title but it got people shaking their asses during the dance w/shop

And yep – the sun finally shone on Sunday and it was glorious. The site was packed with Morris shows, the sides of the marquee were open and the children were playing in the middle of the field. Nice. Once again a grit big old thank you to the committee, (especially Chair, Trish Reed) and we’ll see you all next year.

Monday Morning

Back to work…Bleuggghhh! Just checked on Google and ‘Jet’ could actually either be about a dog, horse , rabbit or John Lennon! Talking of Wings, I was in the kitchen listening to ‘Live and Let Die’ the other day and my daughter walked in. She knows the song from Geri Halliwell’s attempt at it. ‘Dad’, she asked, ‘Is that the song by the man who was married to the woman who made the sausages?’

That’s it. I’ll shut up now – see yer.

In the 70’s when I was still a keen reader of ‘Shoot’, the only kids football magazine available at the time, I remember reading a statistic about Burnley Football Club. At the time the population of the town was about 80,000 and they were regularly getting gates of 20,000. That’s 25% of the population! In fact, having just googled ‘Burnley FC’, there’s an article that states that before the First World War they had attendances of 50,000 which was the equivalent of the town’s population at the time.
So, because I’m a bit bored at the moment, I decided to bring those stats up to date. On the opening day of last season, the Clarets attracted 12,190 supporters to witness their 2-0 win over QPR. According to Wikipedia, the current population of the town is 74,000 – making their gate 16.47% of the total.

Where is all this waffle leading us? I hear you ask. Well, bearing in mind that Ely’s population (at the last census) was given as 15,000 we would need to attract 2,470 to the Unwin Ground to equal the Lancastrian’s 16.47%. I know they’re in the 2nd Division (I refuse to call it The Championship – it ain’t) and The Robins are in the Eastern Counties League First Division but, come on, our average gate last season of 113 translates as 0.75% of Ely.

The point of this orgy of statistics is that I urge anyone reading this who hasn’t actually tried non-league football to give it a go. I don’t like to pick out individuals but an entry on our guestbook last season made me smile. Richard Hanson-James said: “I’m a regular visitor to Ely, and checked the site out to see what’s what in local football. Why no information on ticket prices and availability?”

Now, anyone who goes to local football matches at ECL level knows that the price is going to be somewhere between £4 and a fiver nowadays and that availability isn’t an issue. I think the fact that 99.25% of people in Ely are doing something other than watching the local team proves that point. Or are they? Large numbers of people travel to support Cambridge United, Peterborough, Spurs, Arsenal etc for home games. On a Sunday afternoon at 4pm the Hereward pub in Ely is jam-packed with lads wearing Arsenal, Chelsea and Man Utd shirts. Ely is a ‘football’ City – it’s just that we need more people to wend their way along Downham Road, over the by-pass and into the Unwin Ground.

Try it! You might like it.

There’s an old Neil Young album recorded at some Mudfest or other in the 70′s where he tries a spot of weather manipulation with the crowd. ‘Maybe if we all shout loud enough we can stop this rain!’ he implores the throng. Needless to say, it didn’t work and they all got trench foot and dysentery. However, after three weeks of continuous rain I thought it worth a try and in the week leading up to the 22nd Ely Folk Festival I did some furtive chanting, whilst pretending to work: ‘No rain. No rain. No rain’. At one point I started to rock back and forth in my chair and drooled a bit, prompting a concerned colleague to ask if I was ok. Going that extra kilometre on behalf of the weather pixies worked. By 6pm on Friday the rain had stopped. That wasn’t much consolation for the people who had to push caravans through the mud to get onto the site but it didn’t rain any more. Not a drop.

Despite the possibility of rain I was looking forward to the Festival with bated ears, quivering with anticipation at the opportunity to watch some decent live folk music. I’d watched brief parts of the Princess Diana Birthday bash on telly and was heartily sick of the diet of corporate rock bands that always play at those kind of events. I’m also getting weary of the kind of pap that record companies try to fling at blokes like me on Father’s Day – “40 Motorway Tearjerkers” and suchlike.

Regular readers of these festival reviews will know that a few years ago I thought an Uillean Pipe was something to do with plumbing but since then my folk profile has risen. I’ve been to the local club in Ely a few times and even started shelling out cash for this stuff: Mawkin, Kris Drever, LAU and others. I even spent a quiet morning at work reading up on Hurdy Gurdies after seeing Drohn at the folk club – and it’s all the fault of the Ely Folk Festival.

Friday at The Fest

With the weather a clear and present danger the Ely Online team ventured down to the festival site on Friday evening: myself, Karl, Holly and new member, Mike. Horror – the beer tent wasn’t open. I stood there, dry mouthed, for fifteen minutes before I realised the tent opening was on the other side. Armed only with a tesco notepad and a stubby pencil I entered and got down to work – ‘A pint of Summer Lightning, please’.

With beer in hand we traversed the site as, what appeared to be, anvevacuation was taking place. People were streaming by with arms full of sleeping bags, tents and boxes – and some Clever Trevor’s with wheelbarrows. No cars allowed on the field.

CD competition winners Martin Kaszak (sporting the mostly immaculately coiffured hair I’ve ever seen at a festival) and Rod Dujardin opened the festival with the very apt ‘Deep River Blues’ and ‘Ely 22′ was off.

The fifth element of the Folk Boy Five, Lee, was marooned at the bus stop in Ely waiting for the shuttle bus down to the site. He sent us two texts bemoaning its non-arrival, in which time he could have walked down there. Having said that, Lee was once on an escalator in M & S going up to the Menswear department when there was a power cut and the escalator stopped. He waited 20 minutes to be rescued.
When he eventually arrived, moaning about the ‘Shittle Bus’, we had to calm him down with a couple of Dragon Slayers and he was ok.

Anthony John Clarke was next up. His set went down well and he got the audience involved at every opportunity, especially on John, Paul, George and Ringo (Dave Dee, Dozy Mick and Titch). AJC also could stir the soul as on ‘The Day The Sky Turned Red’ with the lyrics taking in David Bowie, terrorism and diet fads in the space of a chorus. Good stuff. I’ll be trawling around for of his CD’s for sure.

Suntrap followed on the main stage. Playing a mixture of traditional and contemporary folk they went down a storm. Standout song for me was ‘Silver’; they were at their best when the girl’s vocal harmonies were at full throttle. I was also quite touched when they introduced the song ‘Brown Eyed Boy’ for Fred, who sat at the back, quietly singing along to the song that had been written about him. How cool is that?

Headliners on Friday were locals, Ezio. As a Cambridge Rock Contest regular I first saw Ezio and Booga (as they were then called) in the early nineties at The Junction. They seemed slightly uncomfortable playing to a seated folk crowd. Ezio commented that it was like being at a séance, ‘trying to contact the living’. Cheeky bugger. They ran through their set with songs from the latest CD, ‘Ten Thousand Bars’ but the biggest cheers came from older songs like ‘Deeper’ and the majestical ‘Saxon Street’, that I’m pretty sure they were playing back at those Rock Contest gigs. Highlight of the set was Booga doing a Scooby Doo impression during a version of Boo Hewerdine’s ’59 Yards’. At last they looked like they were enjoying themselves.

And then it was off through the mud to a warm bed to leave the campers to shake their tail feathers at the Wide Glide ceilidh before a night under the stars.

…Saturday Afternoon

After a huge cooked breakfast it was time for the traditional Saturday Morris Procession. I always enjoy watching the locals reactions as much as the dancing. It’s the ‘Marmite’ effect that takes over in Ely. Some people, who aren’t aware of the festival, are delighted with the dancing and stand watching for ages. The rest push by on the pavement with stern faces as they head off for the building society or the pub.

The first act of the afternoon session (always a hard gig) was taken up by Penda’s Fen. PF’s singer, Sharie Neyland, sports a neat line in spangly tops but their traditional fayre was not as appealing to me as her belly dancing and hip-swiveling. A couple of songs were accompanied by yelping dogs. Yup, time for my annual moan about canines . It was like Crufts at times. I expected to turn round and see Ben Fogle stroking a shiatsu, which doesn’t seem as amusing when you actually check in a dictionary and realise it isn’t spelt, ‘Shitsu’, as I’ve just done.

Every year I leave the EFF with an act stuck in the memory that I’ve been absolutely delighted to have been introduced to. This year it was acoustic guitar player, Gareth Pearson. I’d checked out some of Gareth’s samples on his myspace page but nothing prepared me for his live act. A charismatic 18 year old, Gareth has already supported Ray Davies and Southside Johnny. He plays a mixture of covers and his own compositions and had the audience in the palm of his hand.

During Gareth’s set I could smell burning as scores of old folkies who’ve never got to grips with ‘Streets of London’ went off to burn their instruments. Gareth has a unique charm, which comes across during his banter. He told the crowd how he was ticked off by an Irishman for calling his tunes, ‘songs’. ‘He said I shouldn’t call them that cos they haven’t got any words’. Gareth’s rendition of The Jackson’s ‘I Want You Back’ proves that some songs don’t need words. He appeared to be playing every instrument at the same time. Stunning. Britain’s Got Talent? Yep, it has, but it ain’t Tap Dancing Grannies or Juggling Budgies, it’s people like Gareth Pearson. I have it on good authority that he’ll be back next year.

I would imagine that Mawkin were slightly apprehensive having to follow GP. They needn’t have worried. I knew all about Mawkin having seen them at the Ely Folk Club in March and they delighted me again with their Essex tunes. In fact, I’m listening to ‘The Fair Essex’ whilst bashing this out, one-fingered, on the pc in the back room at work. David Delarre admitted being concerned at having to play a solo piece so soon after Gareth Pearson’s display. ‘You might want to wait around for 6 years or so while I catch up’, he quipped modestly. He proceeded to play a great version of Eric Roche’s ‘Roundabout’ that won him a runner up place in the 2006 Radio 2 young folk awards.

…Saturday Evening

Young singer and fiddle player, Jackie Oates opened up proceedings on Saturday evening. A finalist in the Radio 2 young folk awards in 2003, Jackie’s not my cup of Earl Grey but her warm stage presence went down a treat with the traditionalists at Ely. An interesting aspect of her set, for me, was that she played an instrument that looked like a backgammon board that she sort of opened and shut a few times and it made a noise like my dad a couple of weeks when he smoked 40 Woodbines a day. Made a hurdy Gurdy look straightforward.

Following Jackie was singer/songwriter Eddy Morton. I’d done some research on Eddy, buying ‘The Singing Tree’ off Amazon for £1.24 and getting into songs such as ‘Ordinary Man, Ordinary Woman’, ‘Lighthouse’ and the awesome ‘Back To The Land’. Guess what? The bugger didn’t play any of them. It didn’t matter, Eddy was excellent. Old Bushbury’s songs ‘When We Were Young’, ‘Camille’ and ‘Faith Healer’ went down a storm. Eddy’s musical partner, Paul Hodson, sported the best haircut of the weekend. Paul enjoys the benefits being able to marry that going-thin-on-top look with the ability to grow his hair really long at the sides. Think Phil Collins from the early 70′s. I was most disappointed when I saw him in the beer later with it tied back.

Remember when they used to print ‘File Under’ on records? It was so straightforward then. Music was either vocal, instrumental, rock, country and not much else. Whenever you read about Shooglenifty the writers go to tortuous lengths to pigeon hole them: ‘new Celtic folkatronica trance disco’, ‘funkfolkaroll’, ‘acidbagpipe a’boogie’ and other convoluted names (that I’ve just made up). Truth of the matter is you’re wasting your time. Just listen to the music and forget about which shelf you’d have to put them on if you worked in HMV. Anyway, as Elvis Costello once said, ‘Writing about music is like dancing about architecture’. A fantastic way to round off Saturday, a full main tent and plenty of aled up folksters shaking their tail feathers. I will be investigating The Shoogles back catalogue.

…Sunday

Soaking up the sun on Sunday morning and glancing through the programme I realised I had a dilemma on my hands. Who The Hell Am I Going To Watch, Who The Hell Am I Going To See? Yep – Gareth Pearson and Vin Garbutt were scheduled to be on at the same time. In the end I realised that I could watch the Welsh guitar wizard again and still catch an hour of Vin in the main tent. Sorted! GP was excellent and received another tent-raising reception.

I’d seen Vin Garbutt about 4 years ago on his last visit to Ely and he didn’t disappoint. His illness of a couple of years ago has, rather than diminish his powers, just given him more material for his between song banter. Highlights of the set for me were the preamble to ‘Beggars Bridge’ and the excellent ‘Wings’. I am reliably informed that at least one member of the audience was reduced to tears by one of Vin’s stories. He has a unique ability to make you cry with laughter with his anecdotes and then howl sadly when he (eventually) gets around to singing the song.

By then the skies had cleared and it was nice enough to sit the sun over a bagel and fantastic bread and butter pudding to listen to Mawkins set waft across the field before the evening session began with the Club Tent Winners. First up was Jade, from Cambridge followed by Sound Tradition from Bury St Edmunds who did about 15 minutes each. Jade did a mesmerising version of Massive Attack’s, ‘Teardrop’. Sound Tradition, are an acappella trio and left me a bit cold but most of the crowd seemed to luv ‘em.

By now the Lazy Sunday afternoon had really started to kick in and we spent the rest of the evening alternating between bread pudding, beer and the remaining 3 acts of the weekend: Pavlov’s Cat, Alistair Russell & Chris Parkinson and to round off the weekend, Jez Lowe.

And that was it for another year. Big thanks to the committee for pulling it off yet again. As well as putting on a fantastic festival they somehow managed to change the weather. Or was it my chanting?

Ely Folk Festival 2007 Slide Show

Click the picture below and a slide show will automagically pop-up!

Ely Folk Festival 2007 – The Podcast

Ely Online created a podcast to highlight the diversity of artists that represented this year’s Ely Folk Festival (July 2007).

Many thanks for all the artists that kindly allowed permission to use their tracks in this podcast.

If you don’t see the player below then you don’t have the Flash Player installed, that can be remedied by going here.

Tracklisting

1. Silver – Suntrap
2. August – Shooglenifty
3. Ordinary Man, Ordinary Woman – Eddy Morton
4. Coming Of Age – Nick Barraclough & The Burglars
5. Filipino Maid – Vin Garbutt
6. Burlington Street – Pavlov’s Cat
7. Driver Jack – Hedgepig
8. The Sauna Set – Mawkin
9. An Dros – Nuada
10. Will Of The People – Jez Lowe
11. Not The Way – Charlie Barker
12. The Sound Of Requiem – Tin Tin Lady
13. Quercy – Zoot Alors
14. Easy Piano – Anthony John Clarke
15. Devil’s Partiality – Andy Wall
16. Mary’s Dream Set – The Battlefield Band
17. Blue Smoke – Gareth Pearson
18. Thin Line – Ezio
19. Banks Of Green Willow – Jackie Oates
20. The Ceilidh In The Kitchen – Alistair Russell

Although not personally bothered whether the England manager is from Yorkshire, Sweden or Neverland I do think that the amount of cash thrown at the position is disproportionate to the rewards. Apparently, it cost about £15,000,000 over five years for Sven GE to transform a Top 8 national side into a…er…Top 8 side. Up and down the country millions of would be managers ground their teeth as Sven made unpopular decisions. To a man they all thought they could do a better job. Well, I humbly suggest, their time has come.

Here’s my revolutionary proposal:
All squads for the qualifiers are to be picked by phone voting. For £1, armchair supremos can phone in and, via a variety of option keys, pick their team and formation. Example: Key 1 for 4-4-2, Key 2 for 3-5-2, Key 3 for Diamond Formation with hard bastard with blood-soaked bandage round his head in the holding role. Key 4 to continue with selection. Then – Key 1 for Goalkeeper etc etc. You get the idea?

I anticipate that around 20 million calls would be made for each match. With the expansion of qualifying groups due to the splitting up of Eastern Europe we have 8 games before the 2008 tournament so this would raise a whacking £160,000,000! Some of this money would be put aside to pay necessary FA employees such as the Kit Man, Team Doctor, Mystic Guru etc but the remainder would be given to charity. The players, already rich beyond their wildest dreams, would have to make their own way to games by way of a Team-Building exercise. No more treating them like children. Before the away match in Estonia, new captain John Terry, would have to get onto the Easy Jet web-site and work out how to get there independently – like the supporters do. Not only would this help the squad gel it would give Terry something to do in the afternoon.

What, you may ask, would Steve McClaren have to do if someone else picked the team? Well, he’d put the cones out, make sure that all the bibs got handed back in and handle substitutions. McClaren’s main task would be during the Tournament itself. It has been acknowledged in the past that it’s how you react to changes during a tournament that brings out your true management skills. The six weeks away from home, holed up in a hotel somewhere with the squad is where the Boss earns his corn. Ruddy-faced Steve would be there at the hotel with the Kitman, Doctor, Guru and others awaiting the arrival of the squad. Maybe Aarron Lennon and Ledley King would turn up in a Volkswagon camper van after nights sitting round a campfire on the drive down?

John Terry and the back-four could fly/drive whilst bonding over coffees at motorway services and develop a trench-like bond which would serve us well during extra-time against Portugal (cos we all know it’ll happen again). I see Peter Crouch deciding to hitch his way to the tournament – who could possibly leave The Crouchster at the side of the road, thumb stuck out?
Of course, there are one or two loop-holes in my idea. The first is that unscrupulous Scots could phone in and vote for David James and hit the re-dial key so many times that the flapping-prone keeper could get into the squad.

Some people might get confused and we could end up with Jade Goody at centre-half. Luckily for the FA, I’ve written a software programme, which will iron out these bugs, which I will offer to them for a small percentage of the £160,000,000.

See you at the Final!

With memories of the 2006 Ely Folk Festival still fresh in the mind, it’s time to announce the details the 22nd Festival to be held on 6th-8th July 2007.

As always the committee have lined up a diverse range of artists that should appeal to anyone with an interest in folk. Acts such as The Battlefield Band, Shooglenifty, Jez Lowe and local favourites, Ezio, are sure to attract another sell-out crowd to Downham Road.

There’s a chance for newcomers to have a go: the committee have introduced a Band Competition, which is open to all. Send in a CD and you may get the chance to open the Festival on the Friday night from the main stage.

Tickets for the Festival are now available. Details of all the above and much more can be found on our events pages.

Read last years review – Ely Folk Festival 2006 – to get a flavour of what the Festival is all about. I’m already getting in the mood by listening to Bob Dylan’s first album (which I’ve never heard before). See you there. Mine’s a pint of Dragon Slayer.

Once again the Ely Online Folk Boy Three got our annual dose of Folk at the 21st Ely Folk Festival. I was there to provide the words, Karl the pictures and Holly the spangly jumpers.

Held over three days and three nights Ely Folk Festival has steadily grown (in size and stature) since its demure beginnings at Ely’s Pocket Park. This year sees the event undergo a slight change in name from ‘Ely Folk Weekend’ to ‘Ely Folk Festival’ and the publicity has a more polished appearance and what better time to do this with the sudden resurgence of Folk music.

Friday – Evening

It was fitting that the first act up on stage at the 21st Ely Folk Festival should be ex-committee member and Ely Folk Club stalwart, Andy Wall, who paid tribute to the committees ‘re-badging’ of the festival. As Andy explained, things have changed but have also stayed, comfortingly, the same. The festival logo has been updated and, cunningly, the ‘Weekend’ has transmogrified into a ‘Festival’. As for myself, I stepped into the weekend like I would a trusty pair of old Y-fronts.

As in previous years, it was Ely Online’s job to provide a non-folkie view of the festival. We knew we would be well catered for as committee chairman, John Adams, said prior to the weekend, there would be, ‘…a rich and varied line-up of blues, folk-rock, acoustic sets and African music’. We weren’t to be disappointed.

Andy began the weekend’s music with a gorgeous version of the old Dobie Gray classic, “Drift Away” and we were off and running. This year we also received some interest from the media as a camera crew from Look East were cruising the site and Radio Cambridgeshire collected some vox-pop (or should that be vox-folk?) for later broadcast. They picked Shambolica for a spot on Friday evenings show and they couldn‘t have picked a better act to publicise the festival. Kerry Bloom’s fantastic hairdo and voice took over the main marquee as they played an excellent set of acoustic folk. Alongside traditional tunes such as ‘Matty Groves’ they also played a corking version of Richard Thompson’s “Galway to Graceland” and an original song written by Andy from the band about Joan of Arc.

Adrian Nation followed Shambolica and he played a set which included a scorching version of Richard Thompson’s ‘Vincent Black Lightning 1952’. He also played ’Comin of The Day’ – his ’Marmite Song’ as he called it. The reason for the yeast extract spread reference is that Adrian has received praise and scorn for the song in equal measure and admits to being unsure as to whether he should play it or not. Having listened closely to his performance I reckon it’s Van Morrison’s ‘Coney Island’ transported to Clacton. And I love Van the Man, so Adrian, keep playing it.

The Cambridge based Hedgepig were up next, featuring Rosie Eade on vocals. They blasted their way energetically through a set of fast fingered fiddle tunes and Irish ballads.

Readers of my previous reviews will know of my devotion to the Chez Nous food stall. Me and Holly ate our way through a mountain of fantastic veggie curry which called loudly after about four pints of Summer Ale from the generously stocked beer tent.

The Bushbury Mountain Devils concluded proceedings in the main marquee on Friday with their unique blend of folk, country and blues. Founder member, Eric Bartlow, was missing from the line-up due to illness but they still provided a fitting end to the first day.

Saturday – Early

Saturday morning is when the locals who don’t come down to the festival get to experience a slice of the atmosphere. The Morris procession was as colourful and noisy as usual. There were 14 dance sides this year including the distinctive Witchmen and the black and white Pig Dyke Molly. It was rather scary walking into the Prince Albert at lunchtime and being confronted with what appeared to be the Kiss Fan-Club at the bar.

Saturday – Afternoon

After the afore-mentioned whistle-whetting in The Albert it was back down to the festival site for the afternoon sessions. Charlie Barker was just finishing her set with a fine version of Big Yellow Taxi and I wish we’d been there earlier. Definitely one to check out again.

I suspect some traditional folkies may have questioned the inclusion of Cave on the bill. I’d done my research by listening to the MP3’s on their web-site and they didn’t sound particularly folk to me. So what? They are an excellent young band. ‘Chasing The Moonlight’ with its nod to Coldplay’s ’Politik’ in the opening bars is a fantastic song. Actually, it’s not a ‘nod’ it’s more of a Zidane headbutt. Lead singer, Gregg Cave has a good line in self deprecating banter: ‘This isn’t on the CD so if you don’t like it you can still buy the CD’. He also said that their merchandising manager (‘What shall we call him?…er…dad?’) told him to push the new CD because they needed to raise enough money to buy the petrol to get home. I was surprised to find that violin whizz, Guy Fletcher, was on stage with the band. Two years ago he was fiddling for Little Johnny England, last year he leapt on stage to help out Steve Tilston and this year he appeared as a Caveman. Guy seems to be getting thinner each year and needs to visit the Chez Nous wagon as often as Karl.
Excellent stuff and you can catch them again at the Ely Folk Club on October 18th.

We then wandered in an easterly direction (via the beer tent) to dip into the world of Pamela Wyn Shannon. I have to be honest and admit that Pam’s music isn’t to my tastes. A childhood spent listening to Rod, Jane and Freddie wearing dungarees with rainbows on the front trying to sing away the Vietnam war has left me with a mental block on pastoral feyness (if that‘s what it is). Don’t listen to me though, the rest of the audience in the marquee loved it. Pamela did, however, furnish me with my new favourite word, ‘Vespertine’.

Saturday afternoon concluded (musically) with Eric Bogle and John Munro. Now, anyone who has trawled through my previous reviews will know that, in the past, my exposure to folk music has been limited to the Ely Folk Festival. My function as Ely On Line’s ‘wordsman’ is to provide a ‘flavour’ of the weekend. I’d done my research: had a look at Eric’s web-site, noted that he wrote ‘And the Band played Waltzing Matilda’ that I’ve heard by The Pogues and I’m ashamed to admit, I wasn’t looking forward to it. I expected a fat old bloke to sing about Fair Maidens and ask, ‘Where Have All The Flower’s Gone?’ Well – Eric and John Munro were fantastic. His voice is as smooth as drinking Guinness on a velvet carpet with Michael Portillo and Des Lynam. He finished his set to a well-deserved standing ovation.

It was during the lull between the afternoon and evening sessions that one third of the Folk Person Three, Karl, sent me a text. He wanted a ride home after the Oysterband set. However, his predictive text let him down and resulted in possibly the saddest typo I’ve ever seen. ‘Any chance of a life?’ it read. Tears rolled down my cheeks onto the phone display as I replied, ‘Yes, mate. Any time’.

Saturday – Vespertine

Saturday evening began with a second chance to see Shambolica in a packed Marquee Two. They played Dylan’s ‘Can’t Buy A Thrill‘, and finished another stormer of a set with ‘Honk Tonk Woman‘. All good stuff. Shambolica were a big presence at the year’s festival. They were around the town and at the site all weekend. I look forward to seeing them again.

Next up was Ron Truman Border who played an excellent set of ballads, bluegrass, rock and folk. I’m definitely going to buy one of RTB’s albums…and he’s made a lot, judging from his web-site. He got Alan MacLeod from No Id up to play Bodran on ‘Diamonds In My Own Back Yard’ which, if I heard the lyrics correctly, is ‘Lady In Red’ for cool people. Ron really deserves a much wider audience. His songs are instantly memorable and his voice is a cross between Bryan Adams and Bruce Springsteen at their best. ‘Covered In Blood’ has been playing in our house non-stop since we downloaded it from his site.

It was during Ron’s set that another mobile phone incident occurred. I can smugly admit to being a good boy and switching mine off before going in a marquee to listen to music. Unlike the…insert insult of your choice here.. that left his on and failed to recognise his own ring-tone as Ron battled manfully to keep his ballad, ’Romeo and Juliet’ together. ‘That spoilt the mood’ grumbled Ron, quite correctly. What annoyed me was that the chap didn’t rush out of the marquee to answer the phone (once he’d eventually heard the bugger ringing). Oh no. He stood ten feet away from RTB and answered his call. ‘Yes, mum. I’m at a folk festival. Yes, I’m really enjoying myself’. Someone should have wrapped some uillean pipes round his neck. There are always some to hand at the Ely Folk Festival.

After Ron we nipped across to catch the start of Johnny Dickinson‘s set. He’d already played at a festival in Somerset that afternoon and had driven 250 miles to get to Ely. Dedication awoaho! Dedication! Unfortunately, food called more loudly than the blues and, rather like the style of Johnny’s playing, we..er…slid out of the marquee.

Now, as I’ve mentioned, I’m no aficionado of Folk (but I’m getting there!) so I was unaware that if the Oysterband are on the bill you need to camp out and queue for seats for almost as long as those purple haired women who queue for the Last Night Of The Proms for a month. So, after we’d watched the Young Soul Rebels, No Id, a’banging and a’whistling and a’fiddling and a’hollering for half an hour we couldn’t get into the marquee to watch the O’Band. It was fuller than a Darts player after an ‘all you can eat for a tenner’ Chinese buffet.
So we sort hung around outside the tent and grooved to the robust folk-rock as the dancers frugged a rug at the front. The marquee was bulging at the seams. It was like Dawn French and Fern Britton had gone camping and, hilariously, only taken a one-man tent with them. Are these comparisons getting on your wick now?

And that was Saturday.

Sunday – Morning

Lighting Jack were the Sunday morning wake-up call to bleary-eyed festival goers. Local band LJ ripped through a set of fiddle-based folk rock. My favourite ‘Leroy Lita’ was a highlight as well as the old Pogues song, ’Boys From The County Hell’. Fil Utting-Brown played bass but was just as likely to be serving behind the bar. Fil can be seen at virtually any event in Cambridgeshire that involves beer or music. Sadly, LJ had no CD’s to sell as they’d forgotten them – a nice touch I thought.

With time to spare we meandered over to the fiddle workshop. Johnny Dipper was ringed by some attentive students hanging onto his every word as he was said things like, ‘It’s quite simple really’ as they were busy un-knotting their fingers after trying to follow him through a frantic jig n reel.

Sunday – Vespertine

…and so to the last sessions of the Festival.

Black Rat play songs of death and mayhem. It was after a couple of songs that I began to feel a bit depressed and tearful and after ‘Bog Fire’, a story about a Pit disaster, that I wandered outside searching for the Samaritans Tent. They weren’t there! Wot no Samaritans? In previous years the Samaritans have had a tent and been bored out of their brains as the people at the Ely Folk Festival have had such a good time and felt no need of their services.

To finish off the weekend we were served up a slice of Zambula, an African dance band from, exotically, The Congo, Uganda and Cornwall. They provided a fitting finale to the festival. It’s unfortunate that people have to leave early as Sunday evening tends to be a bit quieter but Zambula didn’t care. Eschewing the usual banter they just concentrated to getting everyone to dance. No five minute rambling introductions about how they’d been handed down the song in a will from a dead Scotsman, they just turned up the bass, put on their dancing trousers and went ‘Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr!’ into the mic. The marquee was shaking and Jackie had everyone up dancing and shaking their collective bottoms until they couldn‘t shake no more.

So, a big ol’ thank you to the committee for putting on yet another fantastic festival and to everyone who went for being so nice. See you all again next year.

Ely Folk Festival 2006 Slideshow

Click the photograph below to see a slide show of all our photographs!

If you like gutsy vocals, graveyard guitar licks and hard, railroad drumming in your music, then you’d better listen to HIGHER BREED’S new demo, the unusually titled ‘Chunk, Moth And The Fat Controller’. It’s spilling over with all three. Rhythm Town meets the band and digs the new breed!

Of Ely’s new breed of guitar grinding rock bands, Higher Breed appear to be among the leading contenders. Raw and gutsy, they have been winning new fans from all over the Cathedral City. Formed in February 1990 by brothers Christian and Lindsey Blicken and bass player “Squadge”. At this stage none of the band could play their instruments, an attitude harking back to the “I can do that” stance of punk. The spirit of ’76, indeed!

Their first gig in August 1990 was at Little Downham Village Hall, as support to those other local boys, Threehead. Since then the Higher Breed have notched up around 30 live shows, acquiring drummer Phil Smith along the way (he joined in March of this year). Through persistent graft on the local live circuit they have developed their own particularly distinctive style, which, as Christian modestly explains, is “just the wah-wah pedal, really”.

Things were beginning to go well until, unexpectedly, bassist “Squadge” left the band shortly before a gig in Harlow. Thankfully a temporary replacement was found in Ali Loker, singer of The Color Factory. Having only four rehearsals to learn the set, the band has nothing but praise for Loker, “He’s a very musical bloke. He picked it up in a week and we were as tight as we were before. He’s not a bass player by trade but he did a very good job.”

Eventually Christian Fromont, formerly of recently disbanded local favourites Excitable PJ Maybe, was chosen to take over permanent bass duties, hopefully ushering in a fresh new era for the band – that’s if they can get the right kind of gigs, though. For a band who love to play live, the lack of suitable venues is frustrating. “At the moment there’s not an awful lot happening,” says manager David truthfully. “It’s not so much down to our problems finding a bass player, it’s the fact that there’s not much happening in the area. You’ve got The Man On The Moon, The Boat Race, and when you get a bit better – there’s The Alma!”

Although the band have their own distinctive sound, it is the result of a strange and diverse mixture of influences. Christian cites Hothouse Flowers, Faith No More, and above all Stevie Ray Vaughn, while Lindsey is a self confessed U2 freak. Phil is one of the legion of Smiths fans who still mourn the premature demise of the infamous Morrissey/Marr partnership.

Although the band are making huge advances musically, they are cautious when the subject of record company’s is bought up. When asked if they had sent their demos to any labels, Christian’s reply was typically restrained, “No,” he says, “we haven’t sent any yet. It’s not of a quality I would expect a record company to say “Oh, that’s brilliant!”, but it shows a certain direction. It’s very tight and we’re all good at what we do. I think a record company could see that. I’d expect the fourth demo we do would be more likely to get sent off. When we feel we’re at a level that we’re happy with, then we’ll really push it”.

Their distaste for the type of bands charting nowadays is obvious. “I watched ‘Top Of The Pops’ for two weeks in a row,” says Lindsey, “and I just thought how sad it was”. Their demo, ‘Chunk, Moth, And The Fat Controller’, shows a much more commercial appeal than they’ve achieved before, making it a far more accessible product than predecessor, ‘Elsibev’. “The difference between the tapes is quite a lot,” explains Christian. “When we first went into the studio we were all very serious, with songs such as ‘Angel’ and ‘Free’. The new tape is much more relaxed. By the sixth demo we’ll have it sounding how we want it.”

The looser sound is explained more cosmically by manager David Darlington, “We’ve tried to change things a bit because we’re all coming to the end of our teens and we’re ageing hippies trying to relax everything. It’s all Stonehenge really”.

With Phil now working and with Lindsey and Christian at college, Higher Breed intend to stay defiantly local, pushing the band towards more frequent gigging and recording. “At some point in the future,” Lindsey adds, “we might even do a couple of slow songs!”

Would that be with or without Wah-Wah? Now, that would be progression indeed

Podcast: Higher Breed’s Music

Our featured track by Higher Breed is called ‘Free’ and was from their 1991 cassette E.P. called ‘Elsibev’.

The complete tracklisting for ‘Elsibev’ was: Angel, Free, SX and 4-beat. All material was written by the band and recodred at Flight Path Studios.

Even though we’re only one match into the Test Cricket series, football is starting again. If you’re new to Ely and are a supporter of a Big Red Team (Arsenal, Man Utd or Liverpool), c’mon and try out a Little Red Team – Ely City: The Robins

This is aimed at, primarily, Ely’s newbies – the growing young professional population that is attracting Pizza Express, Starbucks and the rest to set up shop in our fair City. Amongst that influx of 20/30 year olds are undoubtedly many football supporters. I travel to Cambridge on the train each day and the platform at Ely is packed with men and women and I see them reading the sports pages and discussing the latest fooball news – from the Premiership. As a non-league football team, many levels below the big time, how do we attract these people to The Unwin Ground. What do we need to do to make them aware and eventually care about the City’s team?

Speaking personally, I’m neither growing, young or professional but my affection for the club was cemented in 1997 after years of being a fair-weather supporter (which you can read about here). After a good start to the season I was getting hooked enough to go over the Histon to watch us play on a Tuesday evening. We had two players sent off in the first half but still beat them 3-0. It was one of the best matches I’ve ever seen. The visiting Robins supporters gave the players a standing ovation and before I left you could hear the noise from the dressing room as the Ely players launched into a rowdy chorus of ‘The Red Red Robin’. I’m going to admit it, I had tears in my eyes.

So, you young professional who’s just moved to Ely (and may just possibly be reading this), are you going to come along to the pre-season friendlies? Go on, give it a go. After the first match you’ll know a handful of the players, by the second match you’ll recognise about half the team and so it’ll go until you have a ‘Histon away’ moment that will bind you to the club forever (or until you get head-hunted and move to Cornwall). That’s what I’ve found with non-league football – you have to invest a bit of time to enjoy it fully. We have a growing City and we should be attracting far bigger crowds. So, if you are a Chelsea, Spurs or Arsenal fan and you’ve migrated up the M11/A10 to join us in the Fens, then come on down to Downham Road. You can still watch your team on Sky – they’ll never be playing at 3pm on a Saturday like The Robins do.

If this emotional blackmail doesn’t work (come on, I’ve ‘fessed up about the watery eyes) I’ll try bribery. Tap me on the shoulder, say ‘I am a Newbie and I claim my pint’ and I’ll buy you a beer.

Those Friendlies:

• Tues 26th July:
  Ely City v Newmarket Town (KO 7:45)
• Fri 29th July:
  Ely City v Soham Town Rangers (KO 7:45)
• Sat 6th August:
  Ely City v Stotfold (KO 3:00)
• Tues 9th August:
  Ely City v Stevenage Borough (KO 7:45)

…all matches to be played at Downham Road – visit the Ely FC website for more details.

Once again the Ely Online Folk Boy Three (plus new recruit, Holly), got our yearly dose of Folk Music at the 20th Ely Folk Weekend. I was there to provide the words, Karl the pictures, Holly the spangly hats and Lee the musician’s eye view of the proceedings.

Friday July 8th

When I booked our tickets in February and sat daydreaming in the office about drinking beer in the sun and listening to Folk music I didn’t envisage that I’d be wearing a coat, shaking with cold, on the first night of the Folk Weekend. Ignoring the dodgy weather, I got my first Dragon Slayer of the evening and consulted my heavily researched concert list.

I’d done my homework in the fortnight leading up to the festival, listening to downloads on the bands websites and highlighted the acts I wanted to watch. As usual the Ely Online brief was to capture the overall feel of the weekend.

This, the 20th Ely Folk Weekend, was staged for the fifth year at the Ely Outdoor Centre – better known to myself as the Unwin Ground, home of Ely City Football Club. It’s a strange sensation, sitting in the sun drinking beer (which we eventually did) and listening to Folk music only 50 yards away from where I stand freezing my arse off in January watching Ely City play Felixstowe in the Eastern Counties League.

First up on Friday evening was Harriett Bartlett. Harriett is building up a reputation on the folk circuit playing Celtic music on the piano accordion. She’s played at many venues, including the Sidmouth and Fylde Festivals and she recorded a session for Andy Kershaw’s BBC Radio 3 show in October 2004. After Harriett’s captivating set it was Last Night’s Fun. I was converted into a ‘Funster’ after seeing them at last years festival and they impressed me again with ‘Doxford Hall’, ‘The Innkeeper’s Daughter’ and the rest. As Chris from the band says, ‘Play That Chunky Music Pipe Boy!’ They are passionate, funny and make the marquee wobble. I love ‘em.

With the Dragon Slayer gradually taking over, my carefully annotated list was already getting ignored (and damp) and we completely missed Steve Tilston’s set by drinking more beer and getting seriously involved with an excellent Beef Chilli from the wondrous ‘Chez Nous’ food wagon. I want them to park on my lawn so I can just wander into the garden and order food when I feel like it. It was also an opportunity for Holly and myself to try out some of the folky hats that never quite seem to fit.

Last up on Friday evening were The Doonan Family Band and I had to explain to an increasingly confused Lee that they weren’t The Dooleys or The Nolans. They played a stormer of a set that included a few problems with the PA. However, the show went on and they walked among the audience playing acoustically – what sooper troupers. From a complete folk novice a few years ago I instantly recognised ‘The Moving On Song’ when I heard it as I’d heard Last Night’s Fun play it before. Hmm – this is getting worrying. Better make sure I shave every morning and check that I’m not wearing a day-glo waistcoat and stripey trousers.

Saturday July 9th

There’s a CD in a case on a shelf on a wall in my house that I bought at the weekend – by Boo Hewerdine. Among the many highlights of the Folk Weekend was Boo belting out ‘Patience of Angels’ to a full tent on Saturday evening. We’re extremely lucky to have Boo (now an Ely resident) on our doorsteps. It’s a bit like…er..(searches for comparison)…Michael Owen turning up and offering to play for your local football team. However, before Boo hit the stage in the evening there was some coffee drinking and head clearing to do.

By mid afternoon the sun was out and it was time for more music. Reluctantly leaving the flaming ball of gas outside we saw Uiscedwr who played a poppy folk with fiddle player Anna Esslemont bravely playing on with a bandaged finger. Newly permanent member Kevin Dempsey ripped up a storm with his guitar playing and they provided the perfect start to the afternoon concert.

Next up was Steve Tilston who we’d missed on Friday night. That’s the great thing about the festival – you always end up seeing all the acts at some point. Steve was joined on stage for the last four songs by Guy Fletcher from Little Johnny England. Yet another thing I like about Folk: Steve saw Guy in the audience and just shouted ‘Have you got your fiddle?’ Five minutes later they were a duo. There was some spontaneous dog barking during Steve’s set. Why do people take dogs to a music festival? It’s like taking a fish to a football match. Not needed. Switch your dogs off before the shows start! (note- this is a recycled gag – nothing is wasted on Ely On Line)

The evening concert began with Elbow Jane who impressed with their tight playing and the excellent vocals of Rich Woods and just as I was thinking to myself that they sounded like Crowded House they went and did ‘Better Be Home Soon’. Next up was Wild Clover. We caught a few songs before the Chez Nous food wagon beckoned and pork, mushroom sauce n noodles were swiftly despatched in readiness for my personal favourite of the weekend, Boo Hewerdine.

I first saw Boo almost 20 years ago when he was in The Bible. This was in the days when the Corn Exchange was shut and the Guildhall was the rock venue for Cambridge. Last seen in Ely at the Folk Club last year, Boo was excellent. His rockin’ ’59 Yards’ got people up to dance in his ‘Win a Boo CD’ competition. My style of writing is unsuited to describing how I feel about Boo’s songs so I’ll leave it to Nick Hornby. This quote is from Boo’s site: ‘It aches, and that ache is probably pop music’s rarest, most valuable commodity: it takes real nerve to prize regret over rage, and tenderness over threat’. That’ll do for me.

Saturday night’s headliners The Acoustic Strawbs come fresh from receiving a lifetime achievement award, celebrating thirty years in rock music. I knew nothing of them outside of the fact that a young Rick Wakeman was in the band many moons ago. When Dave Cousins started to belt out the first song, his voice sounding like weapons grade syrup, I thought ‘what the hell is this?’ And then… the catchy third song started and I got it. Right there – I got it. They were fabulous. Playing songs from their last CD, ‘Deja Fou’ and finishing with a barnstorming rendition of old hit ‘Lay Down’ it was a fine finish to the second day of the Weekend.

Sunday July 10th

Lastly…a lazy Sunday afternoon. We joined the majority of the festival goers by soaking up the rays and listening to dance band ‘3-Point Turn’ trying to convert a group of tangle-footed men into suitable partners for their fleet-footed partners. Some shy-looking men skirted the edge of the tent daring themselves to give it a try. The caller (Arthur Marshall?) eventually got a balanced dance-floor by screaming, ‘Men! We need more men!’ I stayed, resolutely, on my back, listening to the music and sipping a beer. It was Karl’s turn to visit the Wagon of Earthly delights and he returned, weighed down, with the finest pork roll I’ve ever seen.

Sunday’s highlight: Colvin Quarmby. The programme promised us a mixture of Buddy Holly, Hank Williams, Tommy Steele and Morrissey and, amazingly, that’s what we got. Front man Gerry Colvin managed to shoe-horn a Sacha Distel name-check into a song, sang a tale of a couple who’d been married for 72 years and even slipped in a song about Willie Nelson. Gerry says that one of his ambitions is to write a song with the word testicle in it. That should be worth waiting for. My favourites were the singalong ‘One More Week’ from their latest CD, ‘A Short Walk To The Red Lion’ and an oldie, ‘Watching Feathers Fall’. After their storming set that was the end of the folk weekend for us. We were all folk’d out.

For the fifth year I’d gone into the weekend with a list of names and no real expectations of what the music was going to be like. And again, I’ve left the site on a Sunday with tunes going through my head and a list of bands I’ll check out again. See you next year!

Audio, Video and Pictures

Colvin Quarmby Podcast: Two tracks from Sunday’s mid-morning performance, ‘Love don’t need to knock’ and ‘Go and ask somebody else’ (accapella). It was accapella as Gerry Colvin’s guitar batteries ran out.

Video: Some chatter from the Folk Boy 3 and an excerpt from Saturdays procession through Ely High Street (broadband is your friend here.

[etv]

Pictures: You can view all the photos we took at this years event on our Flickr site.

What Is Podcasting?

Think of podcasting as on-demand radio programming. Podcast content can be anything from homebrewed radio shows and music to public and commercial radio. Podcasting enables you to listen to the content of your choice when you want to on your computer or portable media player.

If you are familiar with Podcasting you can subscribe to the feed via your RSS Reader or Podcasting client like the wonderful and FREE iPodder. If you have an iPod you can use iPodder to download the mix to your iPod.

Just copy the link below into your client.

http://www.elyonline.co.uk/archives/category/podcast/feed/

Once subscribed any future audio or mixes will be available through the RSS Reader or Podcasting client.

Ely Onliners of the past few years may have seen my dodgy reviews [2000/02/03/04] of previous Folk Weekends. This year will be no different. From today (Friday 8th) to Sunday 10th of July, myself and the Ed will be found down at the site on Downham Road taking in the music, atmosphere and, hopefully, the sun. And, as I’ve mentioned in previous reviews, they’re gradually drawing me in to their world of beards, hats and colourful trousers. I’ve even been down to the Folk Club at the Maltings twice now. It’s good stuff.

So, if you’re new to Ely (and Ely Online) read some of the old reviews, check out the Ely Folk Weekend website and give it a try. During the weekend we have Boo Hewerdine, Last Night’s Fun, Steve Tilston and many others to look forward to. Open your ears and let the uilleann pipes in. Mine’s a pint of Dragon Slayer – see you there.

Last year’s review can be found here.

Tickets Still Available

There are still tickets available at the Box Office on site, so come along and enjoy a great atmosphere and some really good music.

The Box Office phone number for the weekend is 07929 992960.

Full details of artists, tickets and parking arrangements can be found in our ‘What’s On’ section and also the Ely Folk Weekend website

With the collapse of the ITV2 deal a couple of years ago and the resultant problems for Nationwide league clubs, football’s corporate money men have been left crying into their laptops. Some pundits have suggested that the bubble has burst – it was a deal too far. Over the past few years, with the advent of extra-terrestrial television, armchair fans have gradually gained access to seven nights of football a week from this country and around the world. Countless programmes are devoted to discussion of the game and even Andrew Lloyd Webber got in on the act with a musical in the West End. It’s hard to remember a time when it wasn’t like this…

The first football match I can remember watching on the telly was 1970 FA Cup final – Leeds v Chelsea. Well, I say watched, but due to the terminal condition of our old set, I suspect my eyes were glaring through the snow that blighted every programme from Dixon Of Dock Green to Stars On Sunday. We really should have had windscreen wipers fitted. The Bush set was a cantankerous old sod and objected to having to continue showing us what televisual delights the corporation beamed out in those days. I suspect it felt that after the Coronation was over it should have been left to graze in some equivalent of a retirement home for tellies, just quietly screening the test card until it’s tube went pop!

In those days my role as the youngest of four kids was the same as that of Anthony in The Royle Family. When the Bush decided to go all curmudgeonly on us, I was called in to do the necessary. ‘Johnny !’ went the cry to wherever I was in the house, and I had to give the set the required thump on the side (or on top if that didn’t work) to stop the picture ‘going round’. It was years before I knew the technical term for the problem was a knackered Horizontal Hold. Whack! I would go and for a few minutes the rolling would stop. It was 1974 before we got rid of the temperamental old telly and dad wheeled in a shiny new Sony colour set – just in time for the World Cup in Germany.

So, for the rest of the decade, football was beamed to the Fens by way of Match of the Day (and Match of the Week – with Gerry Harrison!) and Sports Night with Harry Carpenter. Harry became my old bespectacled Uncle on the box as I was allowed to stay up late watching Leeds United storm through to the European Cup final in 1975. And all of it in glorious colour.

By the early eighties I was living in a flat and had decided that telly was destroying people’s brains and I didn’t even own a set. I sat around stroking my fluffy new beard wisely; reading books I didn’t understand and discussing them with people who’d pretended they had read them. Football was a nasty game played by men who spat and swore. The major events in football that paved the way for the revolution that followed, such as Heysel and the Bradford fire were seen on the news – I’d lost interest. Music had entered my life; Morrissey and The Smiths had replaced the Eddie Gray and Leeds United posters on the wall. Then I realised that the 1986 World Cup was about to start. Something began to stir deep within me. The World Cup! A month of footy; wallcharts, exotic players, En-gur-land and David Coleman’s crackly commentary. The years of reading Shoot and the smell of leather football boots and deep heat crept their way through into my 23-year-old brain and thick head of curly hair. Thirty minutes before the opening ceremony I ran along Broad Street in Ely, paid sixty quid for a second hand telly and ran all the way back with this big beast of a box in my arms and got it rigged up just as the tournament got underway. I was back where I belonged; “Football! I’m Home!”

Over the following ten years most of the famous footballing moments were seen through the tube, such as England losing to Argentina watched on a 2″ portable telly in a tent at Glastonbury. We couldn’t see Maradona’s handball – we could hardly see the players. Another highlight was Arsenal’s famous Championship decider victory over Liverpool during the hey day of ITV coverage. Remember those days? Liverpool every week, no European football and Elton Wellesby looking like he’d stepped out of a Freeman’s catalogue. And then it all changed; the Premier League was born. Pretty soon I’d had enough of ‘showbizz’ football with every game described a classic according to the pundits. The most mind-numbing 0-0 draw is now a ‘fascinating contest’ – yeah, right. I felt a strange primeval pull back to local football and could smell the burgers, the hot dogs, the coffee in cracked mugs and hear the bone crunching tackles. I asked my daughter if she wanted to go to a football match – she nodded, expecting Old Trafford. She got the Unwin Ground, Ely and a bar of chocolate.

And in the future when they start selling virtual reality headsets so we can actually experience being at the game from our armchair, watching Manchester Vodaphone FC against Juventus Fiat Sporting, I’d hazard a guess that most of us Eastern Counites League supporters will still be found, frozen toed, leaning against a rail at match like Ely City v Needham Market or Soham Town Rangers v Mildenhall. I know which I prefer. You see, no one asks me to bash the side of the telly if I’m out at a game…we’re having a bit of trouble with the old Hitachi at the moment.

No, it’s because they are only ten minutes down the road and I’ve lived in the Isle of Ely since I was an egg. As much as I love the game I can’t say I’d ever be the type to do those mammoth trips that you hear about on phone-in shows; you know the ones. They set off from Torquay on their bike on a Friday morning for a Blackburn home game and then get back on Monday night.

My interest is strictly local; the (Ridgeons) Eastern Counties League. I tend to get a bit claustrophobic at a ‘real’ match. If you went to Wembley for the friendly with Argentina a few years ago you might have seen me – I looked like a rabbit caught in headlights. Going to watch Kings Lynn is what I consider being in a big crowd. Part of the ‘fun’ of non-league football is the pain (and the solitude); the pain of freezing conditions. Let’s face it, we must all be mad. We’ll stand there for two hours in sub-zero temperatures yet won’t wait five minutes while our other halves dally outside a shop window. We’ve all been there; it’s the last minute of a vitally important game (East Anglian Cup 1st Round) and your side are 2-1 down. And then, just as the Siberian winds are about to freeze your grimace into a permanent feature, your top striker scores and extra time follows. Damn ! Although you’re frozen to the core and dreaming of getting home to snuggle up with the wife in front of the biscuits, you stay. Let’s face it; you might miss a goal.

At this point I must confess to being a bit of a Johnny come lately to non-league football. I haven’t spent thirty years man and boy standing frozen on the touchline, cheering on Ely City. I was absent for the first hundred years of the Robins existence. For the first few years I was a fair weather supporter; a good frost normally saw me off until the following Easter. It was a return to the game after suffering from burn out as a curly-haired youngster. After playing four games a week as a bushy tailed schoolboy for various teams, I had a couple of years watching Cambridge United on a regular basis. In fact, I was standing on the pitch next to Big Ron, marvelling at his gold bracelets, on the night that The U’s won promotion to the Third Division for the first time. Playing on Saturday’s then intervened as I gambolled up and down the wings of village pitches around Cambridgeshire. At this point my watching was confined to occasional visits to The Abbey or to Downham Road.

It does become a pain though; constantly having to explain why you prefer local football. In the course of my job I go off on training courses and the trendy thing to do is go around the room on the first day for a ‘meet and greet session’. As we go around the room it’s a stream of ; ‘Hello – my name’s Steve. I like DIY and sheds. I’ve three kids and I support Manchester United’. As the interrogation progresses around the room I await my turn. Then it’s ‘Hello I’m John – I hate DIY and I support Ely City‘. The dropped jaw reception to this news is the same as if I’d said I was an alcoholic. I then have to justify why I follow a side that play in a local league and brave their patronising smiles as I describe the attendances and the standard of play.
Why, I hear you ask, support a team so low down the pyramid that we can’t even see the top ? Is it the chance to sit on an Ipswich Town seat for £3.50 ? (we’ve bought two hundred of the old brown flip-up seats from the Blues). My reply would be: Why support anyone ? Old Trafford regulars would probably hold the view that it’s pointless supporting anyone else…you’re not going to win anything that matters are you ?

The football may not be pretty to watch a lot of the time but I defy anyone to question the professionalism and commitment of anyone involved in football at that level. Around eighty or so regulars turn out to watch The Robins as the Rugby Club grunt and grapple in the adjacent field and the distant Cathedral quietly flutters its ancient eyelids to attract passing tourists. There may be a lack of star names in the Ely team but in the last few years ex-pro’s such as Martin Hayes, Paul Allen, Gregg Downs, Dale Gordon, Robert Fleck, John Wark and Graham Kelly have shown up at The Unwin Ground.
Graham Kelly ! I hear you complain. Well, fair enough, but the ex- Big Cheese of the FA did pay a visit to The Fens to watch us in an FA Vase tie a few seasons ago. In fact, and I felt some grudging respect for him for this, it was the last match he watched before flying off to Italy for the World Cup Qualifier in Rome where we so heroically fought out that famous nil – nil draw. It did provide an illustration that the FA is still there for ALL clubs, not just the ones in the top four divisions. The other drawback with local football is that the air is normally thick with agricultural language. There was an incident one afternoon when a chap was swearing at the linesman and when he realised that my youngest was standing next to him he shouted at the lino again, ‘Now look what you’ve made me do – I’m swearing in front of children now!’

Although a staunch defender of the Eastern Counties League I can’t deny that we have our fair share of bizarre moments you wouldn’t get in the Premiership. During a particularly muddy match against March Town one of the opposition players sustained a nasty knee injury and the stretcher was called for. Now, the Ely stretcher had seen better days; it had M*A*S*H stencilled on the underside and was covered in blood – I think it was donated by RAF Lakenheath after the Vietnam War. Anyway, the stricken player was lowered gently onto the stretcher and Gary Grogan (the legend!) and Vinnie the Physio lifted him away from the muddy war zone. A loud crack rent the air as the handle broke and the injured player hit the ground with a ‘plop’ to the cheers and laughter of the assembled crowd. But it’s all good natured fun; the nearest thing to crowd violence I’ve seen at the Unwin Ground is when my two daughters got into a fight over ownership of a curly-wurly. So until a sugar-daddy decides to buy the club and merge us with Arsenal I’ll be happy to stand at the bottom of the pyramid and look up. After all, it’s the journey that’s important – not the destination.

“There’s an ‘ol Fenland custom I’ll tell yew about: Bull Shaving ! It were very popular in the Parish of Little Downham in the late nineteenth century. Legend hes it that the pastime began after the traditional Plough Monday festival had turned into nothin’ more than an excuse for drunken local ol’ bors to demand money from villagers. “Bull Shaving” were normally held at Whitsun and involved picking the hairiest ol’ bull in the village and six of the strongest ‘ol bors to do the job. The bull were dressed in ribbons and finery and led through the village by the Rector; the ‘ol bors running ahead, door to door, collecting money for the poor of the parish.

Once the party had reached the green opposite The Plough, the bull would be tethered to four stakes with leather straps so as not to cause too much discomfort to the animal. The half dozen ol bors would then gently divest the bull of it’s outer coat, using cut throat razors; a skill they were taught by the barber in Main Street. Once the bull were clean shaven, it were covered up in the colourful “Bull Monday” waistcoat which were knitted by the ladies from the W.I. Unfortunately, “Bull Shaving” became unpopular when modern ways took hold and it were thought to be demeaning to the animals. However, people in the village yewst to point out that it were never done in winter, ‘cos that woulder bin cruel”

You see rheumy-eyed old dogs, cats with wooden legs, patchy-haired horses and knackered rabbits but when do you ever see an old bird? They fly in formation, they peck around in packs – all in the peak of physical fitness. You never see a pigeon with heart problems or a gammy hip. The only time you see a bird that would fail a late fitness test is if it has been involved in an RTA. So why is it? Even Elton John’s lyricist, Bernie Taupin, agrees with me. Here’s a line from ‘Birds’ of the ‘Songs From The West Coast’ album. ‘How come birds don’t fall from the sky when they die? How come birds always look for a quiet place to hide?’

So, although there may be some slightly more important issues to discuss, I just throw out this query. Where. Do. Old. Birds…Go?

Labour will win this General Election with a reduced majority, Tony Blair will resign in May 2007 after completing 10 years in the hot seat and Gordon Brown will take over. After bringing in a raft of traditional socialist policies he will alienate all the voters who have switched to Labour recently. The next election will be in June 2009 which Labour will win with a majority of only 23. At that point a rising star in the Tory party will finally emerge and force Prime Minister Brown to call an early Election in 2012 which the Tories will win with a majority of 88. The Tories will win the next election (2016) and the one after that (2020). At that point I’ll be 57 and will vote for whoever offers the most ‘cold-winter’ allowance and a free tv licence.

As ever, the Ely On-Line brief was to capture the spirit of the weekend through our non-folkie eyes, pens and Karl’s high-tech camera.

Friday Evening:

With a pint of Sparkling Wit in hand we traversed the site. Although having moved a touch further down the road onto the football club ground the set up was reassuringly familiar: 3 performance Marquees, kids area, traders stalls, a couple of excellent grub huts and, for the first time a coffee stall.

After spending some time listening to Little Johnny England in the ‘meet’ Marquee it was over to the main stage for Mooncoin, a 4 piece from Norwich. As well as playing English traditional folk, they also feature Irish, Swedish and eastern European songs – in particular a Bulgarian dance number, which had people up dancing at the back of the marquee. Excellent stuff. As well as displaying fine musical ability the ‘Coins have an excellent website (www.mooncoin.org.uk) and whilst doing a spot of research in the week leading up to the festival I spent an absorbing 10 minutes reading all about Uli’s bathroom renovation!

After taking some more ale on board from the well-stocked Beer Tent, it was back to the music and Sally Barker. As we approached the tent, Karl made the comment that Sally sounded more like a soul singer and her set bore out the fact that she covers a variety of styles: rock, blues, jazz, country as well as more traditional fayre. Strooth, she even did a Genesis song! Sally has a new album out, ‘Maid In England’ and, finding myself drawn further into this music, I may well buy a copy. However, I won’t be getting out the credit card just yet as another piece of platter is currently hogging my CD player. Yup, after 4 years of attending the Folk Weekend with a cynically raised eyebrow, I bought my first ever Folk CD by the band that blew me away during the weekend: Last Night’s Fun. The 3 piece are a passionate mix of humour and musical excellence. With Chris keeping us entertained during Denny’s extended tune up I was then unprepared for the musical onslaught. Their album, ‘Dubh’, which I bought, was described by Living Tradition as ‘stupendous, both a landmark release and a seriously important contribution to the modern presentation of Irish traditional music’. Well, I don’t know enough about Folk to comment on that but I do know that with 4 pints inside you that when Chris Sherburne gets into stride, riffing on his concertina and shouting ‘and again!’ I get the chills. Magnificent.

Having already seen a bit of Little Johnny England it was time for more beer, a beef chilli from one of the food stalls and a wander round the site to soak up the twilight atmosphere. With the band warming up for the ceilidh in the dance marquee, kids still out playing football, a jam session rockin’ away in the beer tent and the cathedral lit up in the distance the Ely Folk Weekend was off and running.

Saturday Morning

After a calorie-lite sausage and egg bap, 2 paracetemols and some industrial strength coffee I was ready for the Grand Procession in the City Centre. With 19 morris and molly dance sides descending on Ely the city was transformed into a riot of colour and noise. When the Saor Patrol drummers came along the High Street I was glad I’d taken the pills. They were loud. The procession is an opportunity to take the festival out to the people of Ely and many of them dallied awhile to take in the performances before heading back into the shops and cafes. Let’s hope some of them were intrigued enough to come down to the site next year. As the teams passed by in a whirl of hankies, sticks, drums, whoops and hollers it certainly livened up the city centre. This was definitely a highlight of the weekend.

Sunday Morning

After watching the procession on Saturday morning, my eldest (14 year old Holly) dragged me to a Morris Workshop in Marquee 2, where a willing band of volunteers were put through their paces by the Ely & Littleport Riot and The Witchmen. The Rioting ladies dance in a light border style, which I managed to reproduce in a heavy clumping style, frequently dancing in the wrong direction, stopping for sips of coffee and generally getting hot and bothered. The workshopees were patiently dealt with by the ladies and at the end of the hour-long session we gave a passable rendition of one of their dances.

As the sweat dripped and I feigned injury, the Witchmen appeared and Holly handed me a stick. ‘You’re joining in’, she said sternly. Things were about to become more aggressive. It was down with hankies and up with sticks. Gathered into groups of 8 we bashed, danced, span each other round and shouted something about monkeys sticking bananas up their bums. Two hours previously I’d been a reluctant left footed dancer but with the aid of these two fine teams I’d thoroughly enjoyed myself and added another string to my folk bow.

Sunday Evening

The highlight of Sunday evening, for me, was Adam Brown (of The Brown Family) and his Bodhran solo during the Family’s set in Marquee 2. Playing Celtic ballads and tunes the 4-piece have been playing since the children, Erin and Adam, were old enough to hold their instruments and the experience has paid off. Adam is the current ‘All Ireland’ under 15 Bodhran champion and helped with the Bodhran workshop last year at the Ely folk weekend. With sister, Erin, treating us to a tap solo, this was a slot that should have been seen by more. Committee! Get them on the main stage next year.

Although trying to sample all the ales on offer, by this time on Sunday evening my choices had narrowed – someone had drunk nearly all the beer. So, I had to take on my old nemesis, Dragonslayer. Beer in hand it was back to the main stage for Vin Garbutt. Although having been gigging since 1969, I hadn’t heard of him before but I was soon engrossed in his witty story-telling and the quality of his songs. His thought provoking self-penned material coupled with the warmth of his vocals means that I’ll be shelling out some more money for CD’s.

Taking more Dragonslayer on board we came to the final session of the evening, The Mrs Ackroyd Band. The band, mainly a vehicle for Les Barker’s insane poetry is ably backed up by Chris Harvey on keyboards and the vocal skills of Alison Younger and Hilary Spencer. There were tales of lemming suicides, some excellent renditions of Les’s serious songs and a finale, which featured the whole audience swaying to the strains of ‘Here We Go’ with toilet roll above their heads. An appropriately triumphal ending to a fantastic weekend.

On a personal note, I’d like to thank Dave Wolfe and the rest of the committee for giving us non-folkies the chance to experience the festival. If the aim of the festival is promote Folk music to a wider audience then let me leave you with this:

…as I climbed the stairs on Monday evening, still jaded from the weekend, I could hear music coming from my daughter’s bedroom. Normally, it’d be Madonna or Miss Dynamite or any of that ilk but on Monday it was the sound of ‘The Innkeepers Daughter’ from Last Night’s Fun’s ‘Dubh’ CD that I bought…

For more pictures of EFF 2004 visit our Flickr gallery