Ukulele Festival Reviews, 2016
Ukuele Festival of Scotland, 2016, Dumfries, 6th-8th May |
It’s most amusing that I can travel to Scotland and know more people in one hotel than I know in the whole of my home town! Some readers may know of my fondness for festivals – and not just those of the ukulele variety. In my 34 years on this planet, I’ve camped in muddy fields, been injured in huge mosh-pits, and danced like an idiot in ceilidhs. I’ve been a main-stage artist a few times, I’ve volunteered regularly, and I’ve even helped to organise one or two. Whether this gives my review any credibility, I’m not sure, but it’s safe to say I’ve seen a lot of live music.
I’m stealing this review format from my friends who attend the British Juggling Convention. It’s a HLCGBS review – High, Low, Crush, Goal, Bane, Surprise. Here goes! |
Highs
There were so many highs! On arrival at The Crichton, I was greeted with a chorus of hellos from the many friends I have made along my ukulele journey. The ukuleles were already strumming in the evening sun, and as the wristband-exchange was so quick and easy, I had plenty of time to explore the venues. I was especially impressed by the huge ballroom in Easterbrook Hall and the architecture and acoustics in the beautiful church. The venue, staff, sound and lighting, food and drink, parking and accommodation were all excellent all weekend. Everyone I met was polite, friendly and helpful and I thoroughly enjoyed all the acts’ sets I heard. The whole festival had an amazing, fun, professional, cohesive vibe from the theming to how everyone worked together.
Linda and Stuart Butterworth – you did a fantastic job. I’m all set to book my ticket for next year, already!
I could easily review all of the performances I saw here, and they were all so great, but this is already turning into an essay, so I’m going to pull out a few moments instead:
There were so many highs! On arrival at The Crichton, I was greeted with a chorus of hellos from the many friends I have made along my ukulele journey. The ukuleles were already strumming in the evening sun, and as the wristband-exchange was so quick and easy, I had plenty of time to explore the venues. I was especially impressed by the huge ballroom in Easterbrook Hall and the architecture and acoustics in the beautiful church. The venue, staff, sound and lighting, food and drink, parking and accommodation were all excellent all weekend. Everyone I met was polite, friendly and helpful and I thoroughly enjoyed all the acts’ sets I heard. The whole festival had an amazing, fun, professional, cohesive vibe from the theming to how everyone worked together.
Linda and Stuart Butterworth – you did a fantastic job. I’m all set to book my ticket for next year, already!
I could easily review all of the performances I saw here, and they were all so great, but this is already turning into an essay, so I’m going to pull out a few moments instead:
- Tricity Vogue singing in French in the church. This was the stand out performance of the festival for me. What a gorgeous voice.
- The song Krabbers and Ukulollo performed together. The harmonies were just incredible. They probably didn’t see my standing ovation as I was behind the merch stall – but I did stand up, honest! Moments like that inspire me to start writing again.
- Ken Middleton’s collaborations. I just love seeing great artists performing together. Collaborations really make a festival special. I’ll never know where they find the time to rehearse these things! Dead Mans Uke and The Mersey Belles also get a special mention here because I will never tire of listening to Uptown Funk. Too darn cool for school.
- Paul L Martin. Fabulous compere and thoroughly lovely guy. I expect to see him on the bill next year with his newly-purchased, pink ukulele.
- Ruby Darbyshire’s performance at the Friday Open Mic. Huge voice and great harmonica – one to watch!
- Tia. One of the hardest working musicians at the festival. Wow, I wish I could sing like that!
- It’s a full 30 hours later and I still have Anne Janelle’s “A Good Lover” going round my head. Such a talented songwriter.
- Feckless, Fuddle and TAFKA Prince Regent – Mad World on a church organ – wow! There’s a video of this floating around Facebook if you missed it.
Low
An easy one, this. Deciding to leave before the festival ended. Getting up at 6am for work the next day when one is in Scotland at 6pm means having to leave the festivities early. I just couldn’t risk being stuck on the M6 all night. This is why I love it when festivals back onto school holidays. Alternatively, I could move to Dumfries, I suppose. It sounded like a lot of people stayed over on the Sunday night too, so I got some serious Fear Of Missing Out. I also missed the bus tour on the Sunday. This may have been because I was playing in the bar with James Hill, Ukulollo, The Mersey Belles, Krabbers and The Mother Ukers until 4am.
Crush
At this point I’d like to say a huge thank you to the organisers for accommodating the artists and punters in the same hotel. Some of the most incredible moments of my life have involved meeting the performers and many have become good friends. This time not only did I get to talk with, but also play with one of my favourite musicians – James Hill. I attended James’s workshop at Cheltenham last year and being able to put his teachings into practice whilst jamming with him was just an incredible moment. It turns out that it’s really difficult to fingerpick whilst fangirling.
Goals
I don’t usually come to festivals with goals in mind, but I do set myself targets when it comes to improving my playing. This year I want to improve my fingerpicking. I don’t do it well enough or often enough and I’m missing out. With that in mind I booked myself onto Tobias Elof’s folk workshop. Wow. Pretty challenging but just at the right level to stretch us all. I thought he was a great teacher. I came away with a booklet to study and tunes to practise. If I can play it all within 6 months I’ll be happy with my progress. I heard a lot of positive comments about all the workshops people attended. I see workshops as an essential part of a ukulele festival and it was great to be able to have such a variety to choose from.
This leads me nicely into:
Bane
Ok, so this was totally my fault. I’ve not been the most well person these last few years, so I’ve learnt to be spontaneous. This unfortunately meant that some of the workshops I would have liked to attend were already fully booked by the time I arrived, and probably well before that. Another reason to attend more festivals then! I’m not complaining.
Surprises
One of the main stage artists paid me a huge compliment on the Sunday just before I went home. I’m going to keep who it was and what he said for myself, but I will say that it’s a great to come away from a festival feeling like you’ve progressed as a musician. Moments like this are so rare and I’m so thankful.
A final word
There has been much debate recently about the number of ukulele festivals. As someone who attends many of them, I can see why people are concerned. There are only so many people interested in going to a uke fest and there is a fear that attendance will drop. However, if this weekend is anything to go by, these fears are unrealised. The ballroom was full to capacity on both days. There were a good number of non-players there too and many people had travelled many a mile to come along. They were well rewarded. People will always want to come to see great live music, and for some, like me, festivals are a great place to catch up with old friends and meet new ones.
Here’s to the rest of the festival season! I’ll be at the Grand Northern Ukulele Festival in Huddersfield, Ukulele Festival of Great Britain in Cheltenham, Isle of Wight Uke Fest, Uke East and Ukulele Express – and those are only the ones I’ve booked so far...
Christine
An easy one, this. Deciding to leave before the festival ended. Getting up at 6am for work the next day when one is in Scotland at 6pm means having to leave the festivities early. I just couldn’t risk being stuck on the M6 all night. This is why I love it when festivals back onto school holidays. Alternatively, I could move to Dumfries, I suppose. It sounded like a lot of people stayed over on the Sunday night too, so I got some serious Fear Of Missing Out. I also missed the bus tour on the Sunday. This may have been because I was playing in the bar with James Hill, Ukulollo, The Mersey Belles, Krabbers and The Mother Ukers until 4am.
Crush
At this point I’d like to say a huge thank you to the organisers for accommodating the artists and punters in the same hotel. Some of the most incredible moments of my life have involved meeting the performers and many have become good friends. This time not only did I get to talk with, but also play with one of my favourite musicians – James Hill. I attended James’s workshop at Cheltenham last year and being able to put his teachings into practice whilst jamming with him was just an incredible moment. It turns out that it’s really difficult to fingerpick whilst fangirling.
Goals
I don’t usually come to festivals with goals in mind, but I do set myself targets when it comes to improving my playing. This year I want to improve my fingerpicking. I don’t do it well enough or often enough and I’m missing out. With that in mind I booked myself onto Tobias Elof’s folk workshop. Wow. Pretty challenging but just at the right level to stretch us all. I thought he was a great teacher. I came away with a booklet to study and tunes to practise. If I can play it all within 6 months I’ll be happy with my progress. I heard a lot of positive comments about all the workshops people attended. I see workshops as an essential part of a ukulele festival and it was great to be able to have such a variety to choose from.
This leads me nicely into:
Bane
Ok, so this was totally my fault. I’ve not been the most well person these last few years, so I’ve learnt to be spontaneous. This unfortunately meant that some of the workshops I would have liked to attend were already fully booked by the time I arrived, and probably well before that. Another reason to attend more festivals then! I’m not complaining.
Surprises
One of the main stage artists paid me a huge compliment on the Sunday just before I went home. I’m going to keep who it was and what he said for myself, but I will say that it’s a great to come away from a festival feeling like you’ve progressed as a musician. Moments like this are so rare and I’m so thankful.
A final word
There has been much debate recently about the number of ukulele festivals. As someone who attends many of them, I can see why people are concerned. There are only so many people interested in going to a uke fest and there is a fear that attendance will drop. However, if this weekend is anything to go by, these fears are unrealised. The ballroom was full to capacity on both days. There were a good number of non-players there too and many people had travelled many a mile to come along. They were well rewarded. People will always want to come to see great live music, and for some, like me, festivals are a great place to catch up with old friends and meet new ones.
Here’s to the rest of the festival season! I’ll be at the Grand Northern Ukulele Festival in Huddersfield, Ukulele Festival of Great Britain in Cheltenham, Isle of Wight Uke Fest, Uke East and Ukulele Express – and those are only the ones I’ve booked so far...
Christine
Grand Northern Ukulele Festival, 2016 |
GNUF 2015 was the best festival I had ever attended, up to that point. It was, therefore, the festival I was most looking forward to this year. This review comes from an odd perspective because I was helping run the Artists’ Merch stall all weekend and therefore saw few complete sets, and a lot fewer acts than I normally would. Please bear that in mind when reading. There will be some that think “oh, but you didn’t mention …. and they were fantastic!” – please still tell me this – I’d love to catch them another time.
Again, I’m stealing this review format from my friends who attend the British Juggling Convention. It’s a HLCGBS review – High, Low, Crush, Goal, Bane, Surprise. Here goes! |
Highs
The acts and their performances, as ever were superb. Again, too many to mention so I’ll just pick out a few favourites:
I’ve gone back and forth over whether to write this “low” or not. Mainly because it has nothing to do with the acts or organisation of the festival or anything about GNUF really, but then I decided it’s my review and I should be able to say whatever I want.
There were a few people at the festival who actively went out of their way to be unpleasant. I’m talking about the attendees, not the staff or acts or organisers. I think it’s worth bearing in mind that the people who help to run ukulele festivals work really, really hard all the time throughout the festival. Many of them are volunteers who have paid for a ticket just like everyone else. An unkind comment about having to wait 2 minutes to enter a venue, or pay for a CD, or listen to a band because a cable needs replacing, or any of the other mean things a festival attendee might say only does one thing – makes the person saying it look like a horribly impatient person. Thankfully, I could count these people on the fingers on one hand, but the idea that everyone who plays the ukulele is some kind of happy saint is frankly, wrong.
I will counter this by saying that without exception, all of the artists whose merch I helped to sell, and the GNUF team and volunteers were kind, thoughtful and generous and it was a real pleasure to work with them.
Crush
I booked Hope and Social’s workshop, not really knowing what I was letting myself in for, but suffice it to say we learnt two songs and then performed them on stage on the Saturday night. Wow! A really great fun group of guys. Go check out their website and read about their ethos. This is what music’s all about. They also have a policy of “pay what you want” for their music, which I think is a really nice gesture. Superb.
Goals
One goal for me at this festival: Perform with Ian Emmerson on Mim’s Sideshow stage and do not suck. Thank you to the lots of people who came to find me this weekend to say they enjoyed our set – that really means a lot to me. We’d only had one quick run through in the green room beforehand but I wasn’t that nervous. Must have been Ian’s calming influence. Some people came to ask me about the original songs – they were In My Time of Dying (a cover of a cover) by The Be Good Tanyas and No Man’s Mama (another cover of a cover) by The Carolina Chocolate Drops.
Bane
This year I decided to bring my new tenor banjo to play on the sideshow stage. It’s so heavy I had to drive in. Thankfully, the parking at the Market Hall is close and cheap or I’d never have managed it. Some people asked me about how I tune it – I tune it like my baritone ukulele DGBE – I think it’s called Chicago tuning, and it’s how Phil Doleman tunes his tenor banjo (which is how I found out about it). Thankfully, it was close enough to a tenor banjolele to get away with playing without being called “Judith” (and if you don’t get that reference, you may have missed Phil and Ian’s set!).
Surprises
In the past, the Sunday night at The Head of Steam has been a nice wind down, with a bit of strumming. Not so this year as we were treated to a great performance by a Professor Eek-Hedge Inspectors combo, plus others. More of this please! Notice that the band had guitar, uke, double bass, cajon…and male and female vocalists and it totally rocked.
A final word
I was impressed by the number of different instruments at GNUF2016. Obviously, the ukulele was the main instrument and all the acts featured a ukulele, but I saw double basses, banjos, guitars, cajons, harmonicas, keyboards, clarinets…one band brought a brass section! Festival organisers take note – this is a good thing. People seem to be getting the idea that ukulele festivals are about music and the ukulele is just one way of facilitating access to this. For those who are a bit sick of the hundreds of ukes playing the same thing – get along to #GNUF2107.
Here’s to the rest of the festival season! I’ll be at Winchester Ukulele Festival on Friday, then the Ukulele Festival of Great Britain in Cheltenham, Isle of Wight Uke Fest, Uke East and Ukulele Express – and those are only the ones I’ve booked so far...
Christine
The acts and their performances, as ever were superb. Again, too many to mention so I’ll just pick out a few favourites:
- Opera-lele were just fantastic. I had no idea what to expect, but their vocals were stunning. I’m not the only person who thought they stole the show either.
- Throughout the whole weekend The Quiet American (Aaron and Nicole Keim) were such nice, funny, talented people to be around (and a special mention for Henry their son for being adorable). I was lucky enough to be able to attend Aaron’s Woodie Guthrie workshop which was really interesting – I learned a lot about US history as well as the roots of Woodie Guthrie’s music. In their set at the Sunday concert, you could hear that people were holding their breath during Hard Times Come Again No More. Just, wow. Have a listen to Nicole’s beautiful vocal. Aaron also played my ukulele at The Head of Steam #ukulelegoals :o)
- Once again, it was the collaborations that really blew me away. Danielle Ate The Sandwich performing with The Quiet American in 3 part harmony, and Aaron then joining Phil Doleman and Ian Emmerson on double bass. Fantastic performances. So glad I got to see those. I know there were more too that I missed!
- Ennè performing at The Head of Steam. Ad-libbing lyrics and amazing vocals.
- FU*K in general. I confess, I didn’t see them on the main stage, but I sure heard them. Loved the kilts too.
- Kiki Lovechild – once again, what an amazing talent. I will always think of his performance whenever I hear “Turn around…” :o)
- Heidi Bang Tidy as the compere beyond compare. Boy, does that woman know how to entertain. It’s a real skill to be able to ad lib and just converse with an audience whilst a band is setting up, and I think she does a fabulous job.
I’ve gone back and forth over whether to write this “low” or not. Mainly because it has nothing to do with the acts or organisation of the festival or anything about GNUF really, but then I decided it’s my review and I should be able to say whatever I want.
There were a few people at the festival who actively went out of their way to be unpleasant. I’m talking about the attendees, not the staff or acts or organisers. I think it’s worth bearing in mind that the people who help to run ukulele festivals work really, really hard all the time throughout the festival. Many of them are volunteers who have paid for a ticket just like everyone else. An unkind comment about having to wait 2 minutes to enter a venue, or pay for a CD, or listen to a band because a cable needs replacing, or any of the other mean things a festival attendee might say only does one thing – makes the person saying it look like a horribly impatient person. Thankfully, I could count these people on the fingers on one hand, but the idea that everyone who plays the ukulele is some kind of happy saint is frankly, wrong.
I will counter this by saying that without exception, all of the artists whose merch I helped to sell, and the GNUF team and volunteers were kind, thoughtful and generous and it was a real pleasure to work with them.
Crush
I booked Hope and Social’s workshop, not really knowing what I was letting myself in for, but suffice it to say we learnt two songs and then performed them on stage on the Saturday night. Wow! A really great fun group of guys. Go check out their website and read about their ethos. This is what music’s all about. They also have a policy of “pay what you want” for their music, which I think is a really nice gesture. Superb.
Goals
One goal for me at this festival: Perform with Ian Emmerson on Mim’s Sideshow stage and do not suck. Thank you to the lots of people who came to find me this weekend to say they enjoyed our set – that really means a lot to me. We’d only had one quick run through in the green room beforehand but I wasn’t that nervous. Must have been Ian’s calming influence. Some people came to ask me about the original songs – they were In My Time of Dying (a cover of a cover) by The Be Good Tanyas and No Man’s Mama (another cover of a cover) by The Carolina Chocolate Drops.
Bane
This year I decided to bring my new tenor banjo to play on the sideshow stage. It’s so heavy I had to drive in. Thankfully, the parking at the Market Hall is close and cheap or I’d never have managed it. Some people asked me about how I tune it – I tune it like my baritone ukulele DGBE – I think it’s called Chicago tuning, and it’s how Phil Doleman tunes his tenor banjo (which is how I found out about it). Thankfully, it was close enough to a tenor banjolele to get away with playing without being called “Judith” (and if you don’t get that reference, you may have missed Phil and Ian’s set!).
Surprises
In the past, the Sunday night at The Head of Steam has been a nice wind down, with a bit of strumming. Not so this year as we were treated to a great performance by a Professor Eek-Hedge Inspectors combo, plus others. More of this please! Notice that the band had guitar, uke, double bass, cajon…and male and female vocalists and it totally rocked.
A final word
I was impressed by the number of different instruments at GNUF2016. Obviously, the ukulele was the main instrument and all the acts featured a ukulele, but I saw double basses, banjos, guitars, cajons, harmonicas, keyboards, clarinets…one band brought a brass section! Festival organisers take note – this is a good thing. People seem to be getting the idea that ukulele festivals are about music and the ukulele is just one way of facilitating access to this. For those who are a bit sick of the hundreds of ukes playing the same thing – get along to #GNUF2107.
Here’s to the rest of the festival season! I’ll be at Winchester Ukulele Festival on Friday, then the Ukulele Festival of Great Britain in Cheltenham, Isle of Wight Uke Fest, Uke East and Ukulele Express – and those are only the ones I’ve booked so far...
Christine
Ukulele Festival of Great Britain, 2016 |
One of the biggest and best festivals on the UK's ukulele festival calendar, The Ukulele Festival of Great Britain took place in Cheltenham at the Town Hall and The Norwood Arms on an unfortunately slightly damp weekend in June, 2016. Undeterred, ukulele players from all over the world flocked to this festival, which once again sold out!
Again, I’m stealing this review format from my friends who attend the British Juggling Convention. It’s a HLCGBS review – High, Low, Crush, Goal, Bane, Surprise. |
Highs
Three particular acts stand out for me:
Low
Well, it rained didn't it? Such a shame as the Norwood has a great beer garden, but trying to get everyone under cover was tricky. Nothing much you can do about the weather, I suppose, and at least the main event was indoors. It was also dry for the famous Big Busk in the gardens behind the Town Hall on the Sunday, which is always a good sight to see.
Goal and Crush
My main goal for this festival was to collect my new ukulele! In fact, I spent most of the festival showing off my new, wonderful Wunderkammer “Ike” soprano, and although I cannot yet do it justice, I did witness experts Ukulele Uff, Ukulelezaza, Ben Rouse and John Anderson really showing what Liam Kirby’s excellent ukuleles can do. Definitely my festival crush, this new Ike. Mersey Belle Nancy also came away with a Wunderkammer taropatch, which was also stunning and has become her new gigging uke - so you can have a listen for yourselves if you catch them at a festival this year.
The Ukulele Festival of Great Britain undoubtedly has the best marketplace of all UK ukulele festivals and with other stunning offerings from Noah, Buzzards Field Basses, luthiers D J Morgan and Pete Howlett, available for purchase, I’m surprised I came home with only one new ukulele!
Bane
I don't know about anyone else, but I struggle to find cheap accommodation in Cheltenham for this festival and so either spend a fortune and stay close by or do as I did this year and stay at the Travelodge in Ashchurch. If anyone has any recommendations for places to stay in Cheltenham itself for a more reasonable price, then please let me know!
Surprises
At some point on the Saturday afternoon at the Town Hall, the wonderful Aldrine Guerrero approached me as I was buying some strings and asked if I had a uke strap, which I did have in the car nearby. He chose a wide strap with a Rastafarian-looking pattern and promptly played an outstanding version of Bob Marley's Is This Love on the way back to the Town Hall, which attracted quite a crowd. Bravo for impromptu performances. I now have a famous strap (and I may have had a sneaky go on his ukulele too...thanks Aldrine!)
A final thought
Pat, from Great Central Strummers attended UFoGB 2016 for the first time this year and thoroughly enjoyed herself. It brings to mind the thought that there must be hundreds if not thousands of people who play the ukulele and even attend a local club but have never been to a festival. I hope that reviews like these may prompt some to check them out - and you never know, maybe become a festival junkie like me!
Christine
Three particular acts stand out for me:
- Aldrine Guerrero, who was oddly billed in the middle of the afternoon (but to be fair, the hall was rammed!), gave a superb performance. Purple Rain (a tribute to the late Artist Formerly Known As Prince) was particularly moving, and funny too, when he told off the audience for coming in too soon! I am not entirely convinced that the organisers knew just how good Aldrine is, not forgetting excellent accompaniment by Aaron "The Voice" Nakamura (and what a voice he has too!). A highly skilled player with a voice like melted chocolate - what a combination. Aldrine and Aaron rightly deserved their three standing ovations. Here's a link to them on YouTube, at last year's Great Southern Ukulele Festival (credit to Liam Capper-Starr for this).
- Chris Hough (Ukulele Uff) and Remco Houtmann-Janssen (Ukulelezaza) were fantastic. A stunning performance, where they bounced effortlessly off one another, followed by a fun and informative workshop on the Sunday. I still think that collaborations like these can really make a festival special - so thank you to the UFoGB team for making this happen. Any plans for more collaborations, guys?
- A particularly jammy performance from Dead Mans Uke (great to see on the main stage, by the way) as Tim had been struck down with a particularly evil throat and chest infection and sounded rather "husky", but still managed to be the coolest stompers in town. I particularly enjoyed the part when a martini was brought on by the "waiter". Great stage presence and musicianship made for a fab performance.
Low
Well, it rained didn't it? Such a shame as the Norwood has a great beer garden, but trying to get everyone under cover was tricky. Nothing much you can do about the weather, I suppose, and at least the main event was indoors. It was also dry for the famous Big Busk in the gardens behind the Town Hall on the Sunday, which is always a good sight to see.
Goal and Crush
My main goal for this festival was to collect my new ukulele! In fact, I spent most of the festival showing off my new, wonderful Wunderkammer “Ike” soprano, and although I cannot yet do it justice, I did witness experts Ukulele Uff, Ukulelezaza, Ben Rouse and John Anderson really showing what Liam Kirby’s excellent ukuleles can do. Definitely my festival crush, this new Ike. Mersey Belle Nancy also came away with a Wunderkammer taropatch, which was also stunning and has become her new gigging uke - so you can have a listen for yourselves if you catch them at a festival this year.
The Ukulele Festival of Great Britain undoubtedly has the best marketplace of all UK ukulele festivals and with other stunning offerings from Noah, Buzzards Field Basses, luthiers D J Morgan and Pete Howlett, available for purchase, I’m surprised I came home with only one new ukulele!
Bane
I don't know about anyone else, but I struggle to find cheap accommodation in Cheltenham for this festival and so either spend a fortune and stay close by or do as I did this year and stay at the Travelodge in Ashchurch. If anyone has any recommendations for places to stay in Cheltenham itself for a more reasonable price, then please let me know!
Surprises
At some point on the Saturday afternoon at the Town Hall, the wonderful Aldrine Guerrero approached me as I was buying some strings and asked if I had a uke strap, which I did have in the car nearby. He chose a wide strap with a Rastafarian-looking pattern and promptly played an outstanding version of Bob Marley's Is This Love on the way back to the Town Hall, which attracted quite a crowd. Bravo for impromptu performances. I now have a famous strap (and I may have had a sneaky go on his ukulele too...thanks Aldrine!)
A final thought
Pat, from Great Central Strummers attended UFoGB 2016 for the first time this year and thoroughly enjoyed herself. It brings to mind the thought that there must be hundreds if not thousands of people who play the ukulele and even attend a local club but have never been to a festival. I hope that reviews like these may prompt some to check them out - and you never know, maybe become a festival junkie like me!
Christine
Here follow reviews of some of the newer, smaller festivals I have attended this year:
Winchester Ukulele Festival, 2016 |
Winchester Ukulele Festival was a superb one-day festival (with a great pre-fest Open Mic Night) held at Winchester Rugby Club in June. The festival offered workshops, strum-alongs, food and drink, a raffle and a Battle of the Uke Jams - a competition for local clubs to win the Golden Uke!
You may know that Loughborough isn't particularly close to Winchester - but I was attracted by their impressive line-up. When a festival books the internationally acclaimed blues-man Manitoba Hal, talented songwriter Zoë Bestel, and swing trio Les Poupees Gonflees, alongside UK favourites Phil Doleman, The Mother Ukers, The Hedge Inspectors and Liam Capper-Starr, you’re in for a good time. |
Although I’ve seen many of these artists before, their performances at this festival were the best I have ever seen. The strum-along with Professor Eek and the newly-christened Black Dog Spankers was great fun and allowed for a smooth sound check of the main stage to happen - great planning there.
The festival was headlined by the infectiously high-octane Strumdiddlyumptious, (featuring multi-instrumentalist Ben Rouse on bass), who got the whole tent jumping. My new favourite band, hands down. I bought their t-shirt. Well done Winchester team for putting together a really fun festival!
The festival was headlined by the infectiously high-octane Strumdiddlyumptious, (featuring multi-instrumentalist Ben Rouse on bass), who got the whole tent jumping. My new favourite band, hands down. I bought their t-shirt. Well done Winchester team for putting together a really fun festival!
Isle of Wight Ukulele Festival, 2016 |
July saw the first Isle of Wight Ukulele Festival. Glorious sunshine and a gorgeous location set the scene for another successful festival, headlined by Sara Spade and the Noisy Boys. The whole event was set in Newport at the Quay Arts and nearby venues, such as the Medina Theatre.
I managed to include this festival inside my summer holidays so had time to explore the island and its beautiful scenery before the festival itself. The Friday saw the usual meet and greet, open mic, fringe stage - run by Liam Capper-Starr and open-jamming. The organisers were particularly keen for me to mention the performers on the fringe stage and indeed I had the pleasure of hearing AD Cooke and Matthew Quilliam perform excellently over the weekend. |
Again, great workshops on offer, and I chose wisely – a right hand technique workshop from Ukulelezaza (whose later performance with his son, Bela, was captivating) and a great Formby-style workshop from variety entertainer Andy Eastwood. This time it was local talent Jukebox Jazz that I particularly enjoyed; how great to see brass and banjo in a perfect musical marriage. A special mention here for Dead Mans Uke and the Mersey Belles whose cover of Uptown Funk was simultaneously sizzling hot and super-cool, and for Michael Adcock delivering a great performance despite being ill. I also really enjoyed The Chain Ferry Gang's cover of Cousin Jack (by Show of Hands), being a closet folkie myself and Chonkinfeckle/Liam Capper-Starr/Mersey Belles performing the theme from Ghostbusters!
On Saturday night, those who ventured to the pub where most of the artists were staying were treated to a number of songs and tunes played simultaneously by Ukulelezaza, Andy Eastwood and Peter Moss on their banjo ukes. It was quite a late night!
On the way home I was fortunate enough to catch the unique Taimane in Sheffield on her UK tour with Feckless, Fuddle and the Prince. A spell-binding performance and well worth the journey from Southampton.
On Saturday night, those who ventured to the pub where most of the artists were staying were treated to a number of songs and tunes played simultaneously by Ukulelezaza, Andy Eastwood and Peter Moss on their banjo ukes. It was quite a late night!
On the way home I was fortunate enough to catch the unique Taimane in Sheffield on her UK tour with Feckless, Fuddle and the Prince. A spell-binding performance and well worth the journey from Southampton.
Parbulele, 2016 |
Parbulele, a three day weekend festival, held in the village of Parbold in Lancashire was another great one this year. The format, unlike most festivals, involved a informal open mic and performances by The Quaintest Show On Earth on the Friday, followed by two days of outside stalls and an open mic stage next to the canal (expertly run by A D Cooke) in a "music village", workshops in various locations around the village (which were only £5 each - wow!), performances in cafes and pubs, followed by an evening concert on both Saturday and Sunday. The concerts were £15 each which included a delicious hotpot or curry - yum!
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The Saturday concert saw The Wigan Ukulele Club, Ric McCormick (ricmacfeegle) and Phil Doleman play to a huge audience in the large village hall and the Sunday hosted Michael Adcock, Chonkinfeckle and The Mersey Belles at the W. I. Super venues with a professional sound crew both nights. I thought the compere - Kenny Mills - was really funny and a great choice for these concerts which felt a bit like being at a northern working men's club at times! Great banter, food and performances all round.
Parbulele set out to be a local festival where they involved youngsters from all the local primary schools and got them playing on stage - quite an achievement! A great setting and lovely weather for a super small festival. I do hope they keep it small and local for next year too.
Parbulele set out to be a local festival where they involved youngsters from all the local primary schools and got them playing on stage - quite an achievement! A great setting and lovely weather for a super small festival. I do hope they keep it small and local for next year too.