Feeling mellower today...
Aug. 1st, 2010 09:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anefWe had a lovely time yesterday sitting in front of Stage 2. M and I had a little patch of ground toward the back, and as most people were sitting down we could see very well. The afternoon started with the Festival Session, which is a lot of the acts from the Festival doing micro sets of 2-4 songs each. You get to hear a lot of people that you wouldn't be able to otherwise and also work out if there are any stand-out acts to try to go and see.
After that there were another three sets of which two were really excellent, and the other was fine in a bland sort of way.
Spiro are difficult to describe - a four piece instrumental band playing folk music on folk instruments, but in a non-folk sort of way. The violinist was classically trained, and the sound was somewhere between classical and almost electronic. It reminded M of Steve Reich and me of Michael Nyman (only without the harpsichords).
Then there was Jackie Oates, who sang perfectly nice songs but wasn't very exciting.
Then we saw Johnny Flynn and the Sussex Wit. Johnny was ridiculously young and bursting with unexpected melodic and instrumental combinations - a bit like a young male Kate Bush (for want of a better comparison). Not for the sound, but just for the sheer delight in invention. His sister accompanied him on flute, and there was a third band member (and possibly a fourth?) who played the synth and bass guitar. There was the song where Johnny played the banjo, against a beat laid down by the bass guitar, and now and again brought in a bright, harsh trumpet burst over the top. And there was a cello, and violin and organ music on the synth (not all at once). It sounds as though it shouldn't work, but it was joyous.
Then after dinner we saw Natalie Merchant, on the main stage. She was good, but she played all new stuff and I was hoping for at least one or two songs from her older material. Never mind.
After that there were another three sets of which two were really excellent, and the other was fine in a bland sort of way.
Spiro are difficult to describe - a four piece instrumental band playing folk music on folk instruments, but in a non-folk sort of way. The violinist was classically trained, and the sound was somewhere between classical and almost electronic. It reminded M of Steve Reich and me of Michael Nyman (only without the harpsichords).
Then there was Jackie Oates, who sang perfectly nice songs but wasn't very exciting.
Then we saw Johnny Flynn and the Sussex Wit. Johnny was ridiculously young and bursting with unexpected melodic and instrumental combinations - a bit like a young male Kate Bush (for want of a better comparison). Not for the sound, but just for the sheer delight in invention. His sister accompanied him on flute, and there was a third band member (and possibly a fourth?) who played the synth and bass guitar. There was the song where Johnny played the banjo, against a beat laid down by the bass guitar, and now and again brought in a bright, harsh trumpet burst over the top. And there was a cello, and violin and organ music on the synth (not all at once). It sounds as though it shouldn't work, but it was joyous.
Then after dinner we saw Natalie Merchant, on the main stage. She was good, but she played all new stuff and I was hoping for at least one or two songs from her older material. Never mind.
