And no pretty pictures, but there is a musical interlude.
If something seems too good be true, it usually is. And sadly this was the case with the BEST LINEUP EVER of folk personages beloved of My Husband and I.
Following disappointment last time we tried to see the Eliza Carthy Band together (Harrogate Speigeltent, a runny bottom resulting in us having to release babysitter and husband staying at home), we were (Ok, I was) really excited about the Madfest festival at Elsecar on Sunday. On the bill were the Chris Drever Trio (sublime voice, great patter), Spiers & Boden (shantytastic), and the marvellous Eliza Carthy Band. We couldn't believe they were on the same bill and I kept checking the tickets in case I'd made a mistake.
Lulled into a false sense of security by all relevant children/parents & babysitters being hale and hearty, and after a long day at a relatively unproductive craft fair in York, we headed down. Caught most of Chris Drever's set which was fantastic as ususal. Then came a chance remark by one of the band about how the crowd would have to dance later as Spiers and Boden and The Albion Band were standing up kind of people. No mention of Eliza and her band. Oh dear. 'But it still says Eliza Carthy on all the posters, nooone has mentioned anything' I said, trembly-lipped. Instead of asking fellow audience-members or some official person, my husband checked on his smartphone and found that, alas, twas true. Eliza has some voice-related health issues at the moment which have resulted in her cancelling her autumn tour. Devastation, Disappointment, Drinking ensued.
Actually, we would quite happily have paid and travelled to see Chris Drever and Spiers and Boden and it was, indeed, too good to be true that poor husband should at last see the Eliza Carthy Band. Maybe one day........
btw, if you've lasted this long you may like to enjoy a musical interlude provided by the very fine, if sadly now defunct, Banoffi of Whitby area who've just started a FB Page and have husband and I wallowing in nostalgia. They were really very very good, especially live, which is no good now as they've bloomin stopped playing.
Anyway, the whole dancing thing leads me to my pet rant about folk crowds.
Most gigs you go to everyone dances, at least a bit. At folk gigs, even when it's the most infectious jig whose whole raison d'etre is to get people dancing, there are no people dancing. Indeed, there are some who (and I've observed them for long periods when it could be argued that I should be dancing) manage not to move a muscle - nary a tap of the foot or a nod of the head. I don't understand how this is physically possible and it's very, very wrong.* The nadir.......at a 'Family Friendly' Folk fest a couple of years ago, Big Pickle, then 6, was dancing enthusiastically, and was told by a steward to stop as he was getting in the way of the video they were taking.
That was the same day I met Eliza coming out of the toilets and was too scared to say anything and my Mum, being older and wiser, had a proper conversation with her and everything.
Toodle pip, back to jewellery next week, honest.
*Does not apply to all folk gigs, and we left before the end on Sunday so they may have been pogoing on the tables during the encore for all we know.
