A strange event from my perspective! As some of you will know, for the last three years I've been nailed to the stage and sound rostrum in the main bar for virtually the entire event. It was great fun but bl**dy hard work and for various reasons I didn't want to do it again (at least for this year). I was very pleased, therefore, to be booked to compere the folk club for two nights.
Circs meant I didn't arrive until Saturday morning about 8:00am by which time there was already a lot of activity with traders rushing to get onto site for last minute preparations. I'd been warned it was muudy and by 'eck it was! Getting around the site was no easy matter and by the time we'd carted my gear down from the car park to the theatre it was nigh on opening time and the queues to get in were as long as I can recall seeing for many a long year. As Mike mentioned earlier there was a delay in the opening due to conditions and quite a few people turned around and left when they saw how bad things were (although most that I overhead were saying that they'd come back on Sunday or Monday) Once we'd had a stagger through for the evenings Music Hall production, my time was my own for the afternoon (a novel experience!) and I had a good wander around the show for the first time in many a long year. Can't say that much has changed really since the last time I had a good wander around the National (Salford Quays I think!) The Music Hall in the evening went very well indeed, well done Guy and Dave on that one - plenty of acts with a good variety and it attracted a good audience. The Folk Club guest night went well but the noise coming from the main bar PA was definitely at bl**dy nuisance levels and I suspect put a few off as audience size was smaller than I would have hoped for. Isambarde were as good as ever and rose to the challenge (I wish!) of following me very well indeed although they found it a bit of a struggle, as did I, to ignore the distraction of the music from the other bar. It was very odd staggering back to the campsite and going straight to bed without an hour or two of coffee and yak with the rest of the crew. Sleep didn't come easy and I wasn't exactly sparkling when I got up the next morning but a very nice organic dry cured British Bacon butty and half a gallon of coffee soon sorted that out I'd intended to give Guy, Dave, Connie and Jane a bit of a hand on Sunday afternoon but kept running into people I hadn't seen for years to have a chat to and thus my afternoon was spent in various conversations around the site (and not just in the bar I'll have you know). Meant to watch Daystar in the theare early evening too but missed most of that after running into yet another bunch of old cronies when I went to the bar Then it was Folk Club floor spot night which, despite yet more competition from the main bar (both noise and the fact that it was a folk based act on) went very well indeed. Everybody who wanted a turn got a good ten minute chance and we only overran by about quarter of an hour. Very pleased with how that went indeed. As I had to get away again first thing Monday morning, Dave and Jane very kindly ran my gear up to the campsite in the landy and that was that for me. A few hours kip, pack away the tent and offski by 7:30 on Monday morning Back home by 8:30 and by midday had succumbed to the bug that has been laying the family low for the last week or so and which I'd desperately been trying to avoid catching. Dunno what's gonna happen for next year! Bru
