Having set up the tent and everything, I headed off into the festival to watch the opening concert. I got there early and had a seat in the front row, stage left. As it turned out, I would have been better off on stage right, but you never know. The concert is in the biggest venue of the festival and it holds several thousand people. I remember hearing the number 3,000, but I am not really sure about that. I am always amused that when you look at the Budawang from the outside it has the title, national tally room emblazoned on the building. This is the centre for the national elections. I will have to visit it one election to see the transformation.
The crowd filters in rapidly in the time before the show begins. All though the show, officials have to get people to move on from sitting in the corridors so that we can escape quickly if there is something like a fire. I have to say, I am very impressed with the organisation. They are polite, but firm. They know what they are doing and why. They are all volunteers. It is a delight to see and I have to give full marks to the organisers, this does not apply just to the opening night. It applies to the whole festival.
As I sit there an African man sits next to me with his two children. They have just arrived after a long drive from Melbourne. His wife is in the first act. She is the one with the drums. They are great company and the children are very excited. They feed me lots of honey coated peanuts and leave after the first act as they have to get food and go to where they are staying. The first act is Akasa. I have done some short 30 second odd videos on the mobile for each act. I have to say, I have learned and the next set, from the next festival will be better.
Next we had the compare and Jared Wilkin, the Managing Director. We also go a traditional welcome to the festival and area by an elder of the local aboriginal tribe. It is good to see that reconciliation is alive and well in some parts of our society.
Next we had Nancy Kerr and James Fagan sing one of my all time favourite songs. The Diamantina Drover. The Fagans are one of the great Australian folk music families. They actually did an extra song. There was a bit of chaos behind the scenes as some of the acts had not arrived and they were rearranging the whole show. Even so, it went ahead without a glitch, and some of the acts did arrive and do a performance latter in the show. I think one was delayed in flight and did not make it.
I have to say, that the quality of the sound production and the National Folk Festival is second to none. The sound in all the venues is great, some of the best sound production I have ever heard and the sound in the Budawang was even better still. Even the performers were commenting on the sounds.
Next was Michael Kennedy from central Victoria. He has a melodic folk style that matches his voice. He also has to go down as the person who tried hardest to get the audience to sing along to what I though was quite complex music. As I had not heard it before, there was lots of learning lyrics and tune on the fly. Once he had the Audience singing the lyrics he then sang over the top with an improvisation. I have to say, he was very brave and I think it worked. The Audience has a reputation amongst the singers as one of the best at singing along in the world and I will have more to say on that in another blog post. But we were a bit timid I think on the first night. It wasn’t until the Saturday that I think the audience started to really work as a unit.
The Fiddle Chicks had driving from Adelaide and confessed that it was further to Canberra than they had expected. That and the long queue to get into the place because of the new arm band arrangement meant that they had got out of their cars and straight into the venue, admittedly a few slots later than originally planned. Each year the festival showcases a different state. This year it was South Australia and they were there to represent their state. They are great musicians and have a good future ahead of themselves.
For a change we now have the Jews Brothers Band. Two Kiwis, two New Yorkers, and a Londoner and music that should be called world it has such diverse roots.
Next is the April Verch Band. A canadian group who mix folk, blue grass and country with tap dancing. It is something to watch someone play great fiddle while tap dancing.
And that was the end of the show. I went back to my tent and to sleep rather than stay up for the other shows or to go to the session bar. It had been a long day, but lots of good music with lots more to come.