Small, massive and magic

Editorial Department • Published 6 Aug 2009 09:00 0 Comments

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Bands can represent county at Glasgowbury

Glasgowbury... Where to begin? It's hyped as the best independent music festival in Ireland and has the tag line, "Small but Massive". It has acts that most people may not yet have heard of however that is the beauty of this North West gem because very soon you will hear of them.

Situated half way up a mountain at a place called Eagle's Rock near Draperstown, the setting for a festival couldn't be any more epic. Picture a huge valley with rolling hills as far as the eye can see, fields full of tents, you can hear guitars echoing from the main stage in the distance and people are happily pottering around chatting to friends, old and new… perfect.

The first band I saw was The Jane Bradfords. They reminded me of Scouting For Girls, only they were good. They were followed by Derry based Skruff who I seen in Belfast some months ago and wasn't too impressed with, however the big stage seems to suit them because they played a great set of dance influenced indie.

There was every type of music you could think of at this festival from The Inishowen Gospel Choir belting out soul classics to Deep Fried Funk with their combination of house, techno, hip-hop and drum and bass. There was the Eagle's Rock Acoustic Stage with Joe Echo, who has worked with Paul Oakenfold and James Morrison, and the Spurs of Rock Stage with legendary Henry McCullough. McCullough looked quite weathered after decades of rocking but he can still play as great as ever. I felt privileged to be watching a legend in such intimate surroundings.

Half way through the evening I could see a bit of a crowd converging at the middle of the festival arena. On closer inspection it was The Belfast Beat Initiative marching through the crowd with samba dancers dressed in peacock feathers followed by a marching band that could have walked straight off the cover of The Beatles' Sergeant Pepper album. An impromptu conga line formed with people dancing and singing and losing wellies in the mud…surreal!

Back at the main stage Cashier No9 were working the crowd with their hit, When Jackie Shone, however I noticed that Enniskillen's Phil Duffy wasn't present. I was speaking to guitarist James after their set and he said they had a friend fill in, in Phil's absence. He was also telling me they had a great response at Glastonbury and Oxegen earlier this summer and has big hopes for the band this year.

The last act of the festival was And So I Watch You From Afar (ASIWYFA in short). Their long name, I think, compensates for the lack of lyrics in their tunes because they are an instrumental electro punk band who certainly put the mental in instrumental! With their self titled debut album doing the rounds as far away as Japan, ASIWYFA have world domination in mind and with epicly constructed instrumental rockets in their arsenal, who will stand in their way? I've listened to these guys for a while now but last weekend was the first time I managed to catch them live. From the moment they took to the stage to the last strum of the guitar they exploded with energy. Their set was like some twisted, twilight zone inspired opera, sucking you in with emotional, melodic sections before assaulting your senses with apocalyptic guitar riffs. I can't stress enough how good these guys are live. At the end of their set they pulled every band and musician along with festival organiser, Paddy Glasgow, on stage for an impromptu sing along and grand finale. At this point even the sheep from distant fields had wandered over to see what all the hullabaloo was about. I'm already looking forward to next year. Photographs from the festival can be seen at www.RojoGraphic.com

This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 06 Aug 09

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