"I'm only here for the beer" is the usual cry, well not me, I was there for the cider! ..OK perhaps not, as really the main attraction were the Acoustic Strawbs and later in the evening after an "in between entertainment snooze", the Feast of Fiddles,with Ian Cutler and Tom Leary. The latter who is playing with Dave Lambert in Zeus at the 40th anniversary event in Twickenham. Ian is also playing there too of course. For details see Strawbsweb
I arrived only 5 minutes before the start of the Acoustics first set due to frustrating unforeseen delays which I shant bore you with , but had just long enough, to grab my first tipple from the array of 450 beers and ciders on offer. No wonder this event is called The Great British Beer festival.
Indeed many of you may have shared a beer along the way with tour manager Neil Byford and due to his expertise, was enlisted the previous day, as a judge in one of the Champion beer sections. He told me, his picks of first and second came placed in exactly those positions when the final votes were cast. He knows his stuff ! I suggest next time you see him out on the road, you buy him a beer to test and if it rates any good, you can then buy one for yourself and another for Neil of course !
The exhibition centre is a cavern of a place with very, very high roof and a constant hum of chatter, but from what I remember from the last time they played there, the stage had been turned 90 degrees ( I counted ) so that, rather than running parallel to the beery/foody area, it was screened off by curtains giving a better feel as a performance arena.
Paul was on sound, and once the boys had started to play there were a good number รข€" by the end this grew to some say approaching a 1000 watching. As far as I am aware no other Witchwooders were there but some were clearly fans, as they were singing along with the words. There was a chap from Norway there whose photo I took for him with DC and Chas, but although introduced sadly I have forgotten his name !..blame the cider !
The performance was split into two halves with a nice long break of 45 minutes in between to enable glasses to be filled an more brews to be tested..they are very generous to find one to yout liking before you buy your chosen tipple.
OK as I already have said the venue is not perfectfor musical entertainment, but the chaps played as we know they can, from the anger expressed in New World through to atmospheric Midnight sun and gentle Josephine.The performance drew warm applause, although to achieve this some were seen to be juggling or struggling very carefully with the glass they were holding full of it's precious cargo of amber fluid in one hand determined not to spill it.
And the show finished like this, although I'm sorry to say the my camera phone wasn't quite up to capturing the real quality of the sound, but it captured the lead guitar very nicely.
Their Set List : Played in two parts and maybe, not exactly in this order.
Benedictus
Simple Visions
New World
Hangman and the Papist
Glimpse of Heaven
Oh How She Changed
Autumn
Ghosts
Midnight Sun
Another day begins
Josephine(for Better of for Worse)
Shine on Silver Sun
Cold Steel
Lay down
