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More Village Fête loveliness

I'm back home after the wonderful "Folk Against Fascism" Village Fête and helping El Rose celebrate her birthday. Musical highlights: pretty much what I expected. I arrived to the storming strains of The Old Swan Band playing in a ceilidh in the foyer of the Queen Elizabeth Hall. What is better than a good folk band? A good folk band with a brass section !!

Time to get a pint or two and watch some Morris Dancing, then it was the next band that somehow I have never managed to see: another ceilidh, this time with the Oyster Ceilidh Band. I was fortunate to find a chair to stand on, right next to the mixing desk, so I had the best of both sight AND sound! They played an excellent set, the dance floor was always full, and they played a wonderful encore of that great song that celebrates May Day

and the coming of Summer, "Hal an Tow". I videoed the final dance and the encore as well ... hopefully it will have come out OK. If so I will post it later.

And so to the evening concert in the Queen Elizabeth Hall. Two out of three bands I'd never seen, and THREE out of three bands I was looking forward to! The evening started with Chumbawamba. I'd heard a lot about them, but know very little of their music. Absolutely SUPERB. Great musicianship, and rich harmonies that, personally, I would put up there with the Beach Boys. Great fun, and at one stage the whole audience was invited to shout "BOLLOCKS TO NICK GRIFFIN!", which, as you can imagine, we all did with great gusto! The set also featured guest appearances by Phil Beer and Miranda Sykes of Show of Hands, among others. I wish I could tell you the songs they did, but I am too unfamiliar with their material. Suffice it to say that I enjoyed every single song, and will definitely be seeing them again.

All too soon Chumbawamba's set was over, and we waited somewhat impatiently for the wonderful Show of Hands. These guys have, as you may know, been the victims of the BNP's arrogant use of their music for their own contemptuous ends, and they launched straight into a great version of "Country Life" which went down a storm. All too short a set, but it included the great "Cousin Jack", about the demise of the Cornish Tin

industry. Perhaps the most poignant and powerful part of the set was when Steve Knightley "addressed" the BNP, saying "It's MY song, and I want it back", before launching into their final song, the powerful "Roots". Ladies and gentlemen, your correspondent got quite emotional. Totally wonderful.

Steve, Phil and Miranda did the concert - and the DAY - proud.

After the interval it was time for Bellowhead. I've been looking to see this band for quite some time. OH ... MY ... GOD!!! This eleven piece band

could alternatively be named "Instant Joy", because that is exactly what they created for me. Jon Boden was a brilliant front man, singing pretty well every song in between playing his fiddle like a demon. The cello provided a beautiful quality, the percussionist was superb, and the brass section ... WOW! Trumpet, sax, trombone, and something that looked like a cross between a tuba and a sousaphone ... THEY ROCKED. I am SO glad they

are on at Cropredy, I (and, I am sure, about 15,000 others) will be down at the front for this lot!

And then the finale. Steve Knightley and Phill Beer came back on, followed by all who had performed, including some from the afternoon ceilidhs, the mics were removed, and we all sang two songs together: "The Larks They Sang Melodious", and, to finish the evening, "Adieu Sweet Lovely Nancy" (which, as a footnote, I should mention that we sang to the "correct" tune, rather

than to the tune of "My Old Man's a Dustman", or "Pinball Wizard", which it fits perfectly!).

What a day. If any of this gets back to any of the organisers or bands, I hope they will accept this as a thank you for a truly memorable day. I suppose in a slightly lopsided way, it is sad that such a day should actually be necessary ... but to hell with that ... on Thursday let's get out there and make sure that the BNP are flushed down the gutter where they belong.

[Yep - did that - Ed]