Ely Folk Festival 2004 Review

by John Blackwell

At 2.00am Thursday morning I was crawling around the outside of my tent knocking tent pegs back in, getting very wet, and wondering firstly if me and the tent will still be there in the morning and secondly would we have a festival at the weekend. Fortunately the weather steadily improved and those that ignored the dire weather warnings and braved the 19 th Ely Folk Festival were treated to one of the best.
This year we set out our stall on the Ely Football Club practice pitches, and many thanks to the Ely footballers that allowed us to do so. The site was compact and friendly and a good atmosphere soon developed with food stalls, traders and the beer tent doing a good trade.
There has developed two distinct facets to the Ely Folk Festival, Morris and Music.
This year we had 19 morris sides dance with us. The indomitable Saor Patrol led the now traditional procession through the historic centre of Ely on Saturday morning and followed this with an impromptu concert beside the cathedral. The sound of wild pipes and drums echoing round the green will, I believe, remain with the audience for a long time. This was followed by many dances performed by the sides scattered around Ely, more dancing on Sunday, which included a mass morris outside of the cathedral. A very successful year for the morris sides, long may the Ely procession continue!
The EFW committee experimented this year with an extra marquee so that we could run two concerts slots opposite each other. This enabled us to put more acts on than usual and apart from the odd sound bleed from one tent to the other we think it was successful. This year we probably had one of the very best line-ups we have ever had.
Saturday night on our main stage we had Back of the Moon, Saor Patrol, Dougie MacLean and Baka Beyond. What a night! Back of the Moon is a young band causing a stir on the Scottish traditional music scene. With a strong acoustic style this brilliant young quartet glows with youthful enthusiasm and raw talent. Saor Patrol on stage almost defies description, a loud and great presence with powerful drum rhythms expertly delivered with haunting bagpipes over the top, if you get the chance to see them then take it! Dougie MacLean, I must confess this is the first time I have seen him live and what a great performance. The mood in the main marquee switched instantly from the loud and boisterous Saor Patrol to the mellow and poignant Dougie MacLean. Great songs delivered with great style, I'm his latest convert! The evening finished with Baka Beyond giving us a party. From their first offering there was a steady progression of people moving forward to dance by the stage – it has even been rumoured that the EFW site manager was seen dancing at the front, whatever next!
The Saturday evening was typical of the event, good music, good sound and good humoured. There were far too many good performances to list but let me mention Nuada and Isambarde. Isambarde are an acoustic three piece with guitar, fiddle and oboe. Yes oboe. The sound of the oboe was haunting, pure and clear and I look forward to hearing a lot more from them, Jude, keep it up we love your playing. And, Nuada an exciting trio playing a wide range of Celtic, Folk and early music. It was really good to see them take to our big stage like they belonged there, a great, well-received set, and again we look forward to more.

Sunday night saw Vin Garbutt on our main stage with another funny, yet emotive, set delivered in Vin's inimitable style. Vin has a huge following on the festival circuit and this was no exception with a deal of banter on and off stage. Good to see Vin meeting festival goers in the bar after the concert.

The meet the artistes and workshops were all very well attended and we have received some very favourable comments with regard to the "meet the artiste" opportunities. These are now a well-established and important part of the Ely Folk Festival.
A blinder of a weekend and another very successful Ely Folk Festival, roll on the 20th ! The 20th Ely Folk Festival will be held 8th, 10th July 2005 and we have already booked Uiscedwr and Wild Clover, see you there.
The festival committee really appreciate comments, both positive and critical, so please let us know what you thought of the festival.
Some comments already received are:
"What a great line-up (how does the committee get all those great acts for the money?) , something for everyone and always something to do. Congratulations and thanks to all those involved."
"Really enjoyed the festival. It was my first time at Ely and I was very impressed with the artistes you had. Excellent value for money to see all those big names. Great to meet many of the artistes in person and talk about their music. good ceilidhs. Will eagerly await next year's."
A great 2004 festival - acts wonderful (specially dougie mac) dance displays brilliant and some great activities for kids, nice one

John Blackwell
Ely Folk Festival Festival Committee