For the next four days it is the Orkney Folk Festival so I am looking forward to a good time and you are no doubt going to have to suffer more videos of The Chair and such like.
Having said that, the first concert that we went to on Thursday evening was a bit of a disappointment. The concert was in the Cromarty Hall in "The Hope" and it was not the best I have ever been to. I only decided to go to it because it was local and you need to support local things. Of the four acts on, three were not really the style that I like. One band, "The Southern Tenant Folk Union", were good though so it was not a total loss. One of the members of the band was from Wilmslow. Small world.
Friday was a much better day. My sister in law, Ann, had been to a concert last week and had seen a group called "The Poozies" who she said how very good and that they were coming up here for the festival. We duly decided to go and listen to them at a lunchtime concert in The Reel. We got there about half an hour before the doors opened to make sure that we could get in as The reel is not very big. Even so there was already a reasonable queue.
We managed to get seats though and fortunately the weather was pleasantwhile we were queueing. They ended up opening the windows so that those who could not get in could sit at the outside tables and listen.
Ann was correct, The Poozies were very good, really lively and with a style of their own. I am normally a bit wary of all girl groups but these girls could not easily have been improved on.
Friday evening was "Song Club" in The Royal Hotel Stromness. There are several different song clubs run during the festival and they are like old style folk clubs so part of the attraction may be nostalgia. It was a good night with local and visiting singers and people from the floor doing a turn. Probably not the best music at the festival but a good, enjoyable evvening with plenty of sing-alongs. We finally got back home at 2:00 AM, not a decent time for old Knackered people.
One of the problems with the folk festival is that there must be close to 50 different concerts and other gigs on in the four days and so it is impossible to see all the bands, and groups that I wanted to see.
Not surprisingly,we over slept on Saturday morning so I missed the Open Stage which is where all the local bands can have a go and the winner is given a slot at next years festival. The winners of an Orkney folk competition are also in line for greater things. Last years winners, "Broken Strings", went on to win the best newcomers at the Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow where Orkney just about wiped the board in the other categories as well.
Saturday evening though was the night that I had been looking forward to.
The Intertunity (Maybe not the best name) between The Chair and Fullceilidh Spekemannslag, their Shetland equivalent. It was billed as a music competition with Fair Isle as the prize. To be decided by the volume of applause, whistling and shouting from the audience.
This clip is not a very good one but it gives some impression of the atmosphere.
Not just tremendous music but Cossack dancing and even a few press ups from Douglas Montgomery who is not built for press ups. A dancing Shetlander in the audience draped in a shetland flag and little else. A little bit of cheating by the Chair for Orkney by fetching on at various points several other well known Orkney musicians ranging from 20 to 80 years old.
Sadly though, in the end Shetland won although they were helped by all the members of The Chair and the other Orcadians on the stage cheering very loudly through amplifiers for the shetlanders.
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