Vamm entrance with their lovely Scottish and Nordic tunes.
Breakfast at the hotel this morning was as good as I remember from last year – a big buffet spread of fruit, cereal, croissants, rolls, cheeses and umpteen types of juice. Plus cooked breakfast options with toast too. Very yum.
Sunny intervals today although there was the most torrential downpour mid-afternoon. Rain on and off through the day.
Dave went off to his beginners’ session workshop and after doing a few shopping bits and pieces I met Anna back at the hotel to get a lift up to the site. We popped into the lunchtime ceilidh for one dance with Monty’s Maggot who were very danceable. But left early so that we could catch Vamm (Shetlandic for to bewitch/entrance apparently) in one of the concert tents. Fiddle players Patsy Reid and Catriona Macdonald and Norwegian mandola player Marit Falt. Excellent mix of tunes. Then a set from the Jackie Oates band with her excellent band and a big, enjoyable dance spectacular, the Global Dance Project, featuring bhangra dancing, African dancing, English and Irish stepdancing, morris dancing and rapper sword dancing. Relatively global I would say.
Dave and I headed back to town after on the handy shuttle bus, collected our instruments and went to an English tunes session in the Wheatsheaf just round the corner from the hotel which was handy. A very small intimate session with some passing interest from drunken locals but an enjoyable evening nonetheless.
Left nine-ish to walk back to the festival site, having picked up our pirate accoutrements from the hotel. Met Anna at the site and then after a veggie sausage sandwich, we headed to the dance tent for the silent ceilidh. There was a bit of a pirates versus Superman and Wonder Woman et al thing going on as the previous dance had had a superheroes theme. The silent ceilidh was superb – a bit like a silent disco – but with ceilidh dancing. For the uninitiated, you get a set of headphones through which you can hear the music and the caller. You can choose from two different channels of music – one folk and one rock/pop – but both matching spot-on beat-wise. It was amazing how well you could ceilidh dance to the likes of Nirvana, Althea and Donna and the Wombles ….
Ended up being another late night – thank goodness for Anna and her big, spacious car. Although was a bit sticky getting off the grassy field car park with all the churned up muddy bits.
Jackie Oates – very silly video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGC-O9RKx_U
25 August 2012
Shrewsbury, Shropshire
