Common Ground
Night and a small shower starting to fall on a sunny weekend of fantastic music at the Dunmore East Bluegrass Festival... the crowd at the Strand Bar is jumping to Whiskey Deaf, and Jane and myself are skipping like spring lambs (sort of) back up the hill to for a few minutes of Mons Wheeler Big Band, before regretfully heading back to our respective homes. Jane, life-long friend, has Dunmore family connections and for fifteen years has been saying to anyone who'll listen that something unique goes on there every August. And so we took the Passage East ferry which churns over between Crook and Hook to Dunmore... (hence the expression, by the way, "we'll catch them by Hook or by..." attributed to a warlike Cromwell)
I always feel amazingly privileged to watch really talented and committed musicians at work, and had imagined pure music sessions didn't much happen anymore - or not of a kind the general public could access at least - but I was wrong. In Dunmore, bands rotated from venue to venue in short sets, and if you missed the first session, you could catch them later at the next...
The atmosphere was completely relaxed but performances were so intimate that I didn't like to push in with cameras, so please excuse my dreadful photograph.
- I really loved the wild quality of the Demolition String Band in the Azzurro (below)
Pictured above, though, was my absolute favourite ... Land's End... See them if you ever get the chance. And aside from amazing musical prowess, they also showed great good humour. What this apparently peaceful picture doesn't capture...
(aside from one of the band members who must have stepped out the very moment I took the photo),
....is that, as word spread of the tremendous end of night show Land's End were putting on in Power's, the place became crammed. My photo was taken from the top of steps leading up to the back door, and over the heads of the crowd. Out of shot, almost nose to nose to the performers, a group of burly rugby supporters was jiving rambunctiously. Neither seen is the the mean spoon player who had proficiently accompanied every band - all day. The band asked him up on stage for the last few songs as one of the rugby jivers filmed on a phone, and two more beat time on his torso and head with barbeque utensils...
And still the band played on..
Our diet was Guinness, barbeque and fruit and nut cake baked before setting out - actually it all gelled better that appearances might suggest.