Shepley 2012
May. 28th, 2012 10:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
galadriel1010Shepley Spring Festival is made of awesome. This I must conclude from a truly amazing weekend. It was partly the weather, partly the music, partly the truly excellent dancing from this group called White Rose Morris... Just everything combined into something really special.
I shouldn't feel as bright and sparky as I do, and I defintiely shouldn't have yesterday evening. I could have got a maximum of five hours sleep each night, and I'm pretty sure I only got one or two. First night was cold and my lilo went flat, so I was terribly uncomfortable. Second night I was really badly sunburnt and my arms hurt so much I was nearly crying. Took a paracetamol and got settled down, but without sufficient time to get any sleep before my stewarding shifts. Maybe that was why I gabbled inanely at Dad with advice for White Rose. I was right, though.
So let's start at the beginning. Mum, Rick's girlfriend and I arrived in Shepley at 10 to 12 on Friday, which was just in time for me to wander to the stewards' office, grab a hi-vis vest and a radio and wander back to my first stewarding post. I was there for four hours, managing traffic in and out of the site. Most of the time there was nothing happening and I sat and chatted with the box office stewards, so of course we got cars coming in both directions several times. The person on the other end of the road was, frankly, an idiot, and couldn't comprehend a simple instruction like “switch to channel 4”. Yeah, we were kicked off the main channel because we were being too much traffic, and I had to walk down to pass the message on to him because he didn't get it.
Anyway. Finished that and went back to the tent for food and to help finish setting up camp. After Dad arrived and White Rose had a bit of a practice, we all went down to the village hall for their first spot of the weekend. They did Valentine first, which was really excellent, possibly the best I've ever seen them dance. The middle pair, Rick and another young lad, were really amazing – both very precise and crisp, getting way off the ground. We want to see them do double jigs, because it was poetry in motion. After Valentine they did the first performance of their new dance, Rigs o'Rodney, also known as “Rodney” and “Rick's Fault”. It's a great dance, interesting and complex both in the sticking and the heys – needs polishing, but it already looks brilliant.
After the village hall spot we went back up to the site where Rick went and saw The Sail Pattern, who sounded great from where I could hear them, and Mum and I went to the concert tent to see Genticorum and The Demon Barber Roadshow. Demon Barbers as good as always, and really seemed to be enjoying themselves. Genticorum are a Quebecois band who have played Towersey once before, and really got me into Quebecois music.
Bed after that to not sleep for about five hours, then a cold and empty stewarding session from 6-8. The view was amazing, and an early shift is great because there's nothing to do and you get it over with before lunch. I had two hours to go back to the tent, get changed into something cooler and grab some food, and then get down to one of the other venues fro my next stewarding shift, which involved sitting around in the sunshine, chatting with caterers, other stewards and a couple of the artists, and occasionally directing people to other stewards who knew what was going on.
Went and watched some more morris dancing in the afternoon, at the pubs and up on the showground, and then went for a wander around the market, where I bought a purple top hat – because everyone needs a purple top hat. White Rose were very good again. After the showground display I dashed back to the tent to apply suntan lotion, which I'd forgotten about in the morning. I was, and am, a bit sore and pink.
In the evening I went to the concert and saw The Shee, Phillip Henry and Hannah Martin, and The Albion Band. The Albion Band were the ones I was really excited to see – a whole new line-up for one of the biggest folk rock bands of all time, made up by some of the hottest young names on the scene (including someone I grew up with) and promising a barnstorming re-debut album, I was expecting something amazing and I got it. Multi-instrumentalising, heavy rocking folk tunes, mixing new, old and traditional. Went and bought the album as soon as their set finished.
Another 6am stewarding shift the next morning, no more eventful than the one the day before, then another brief break (which included suntan lotion) and down to the same venue as the day before for another shift of sun-drenched conversation. My kind of work, to be honest. More morris dancing after that, and some good photos from one of the pubs, and then we went to see Sciorr: Staged at the village hall. Sciorr is a Irish dancing showcase with a folk rock band made up of yet more (and some of the same) bright young names. The dancing is a bit lacking when you can't see their feet, and doesn't grab me the same way that English clog does, but it's still an amazing spectacle.
After that the festival mostly wound up – we had no real interest in the evening concert, so we got the tent down and packed up, grabbed some food from the remaining caterers and headed home for another year.
Tl;dr: Great bands - Demon Barber Roadshow and The Albion Band especially good. White Rose have a new dance. I have a new top hat.
Pictures to follow when I've dealt with them.
I shouldn't feel as bright and sparky as I do, and I defintiely shouldn't have yesterday evening. I could have got a maximum of five hours sleep each night, and I'm pretty sure I only got one or two. First night was cold and my lilo went flat, so I was terribly uncomfortable. Second night I was really badly sunburnt and my arms hurt so much I was nearly crying. Took a paracetamol and got settled down, but without sufficient time to get any sleep before my stewarding shifts. Maybe that was why I gabbled inanely at Dad with advice for White Rose. I was right, though.
So let's start at the beginning. Mum, Rick's girlfriend and I arrived in Shepley at 10 to 12 on Friday, which was just in time for me to wander to the stewards' office, grab a hi-vis vest and a radio and wander back to my first stewarding post. I was there for four hours, managing traffic in and out of the site. Most of the time there was nothing happening and I sat and chatted with the box office stewards, so of course we got cars coming in both directions several times. The person on the other end of the road was, frankly, an idiot, and couldn't comprehend a simple instruction like “switch to channel 4”. Yeah, we were kicked off the main channel because we were being too much traffic, and I had to walk down to pass the message on to him because he didn't get it.
Anyway. Finished that and went back to the tent for food and to help finish setting up camp. After Dad arrived and White Rose had a bit of a practice, we all went down to the village hall for their first spot of the weekend. They did Valentine first, which was really excellent, possibly the best I've ever seen them dance. The middle pair, Rick and another young lad, were really amazing – both very precise and crisp, getting way off the ground. We want to see them do double jigs, because it was poetry in motion. After Valentine they did the first performance of their new dance, Rigs o'Rodney, also known as “Rodney” and “Rick's Fault”. It's a great dance, interesting and complex both in the sticking and the heys – needs polishing, but it already looks brilliant.
After the village hall spot we went back up to the site where Rick went and saw The Sail Pattern, who sounded great from where I could hear them, and Mum and I went to the concert tent to see Genticorum and The Demon Barber Roadshow. Demon Barbers as good as always, and really seemed to be enjoying themselves. Genticorum are a Quebecois band who have played Towersey once before, and really got me into Quebecois music.
Bed after that to not sleep for about five hours, then a cold and empty stewarding session from 6-8. The view was amazing, and an early shift is great because there's nothing to do and you get it over with before lunch. I had two hours to go back to the tent, get changed into something cooler and grab some food, and then get down to one of the other venues fro my next stewarding shift, which involved sitting around in the sunshine, chatting with caterers, other stewards and a couple of the artists, and occasionally directing people to other stewards who knew what was going on.
Went and watched some more morris dancing in the afternoon, at the pubs and up on the showground, and then went for a wander around the market, where I bought a purple top hat – because everyone needs a purple top hat. White Rose were very good again. After the showground display I dashed back to the tent to apply suntan lotion, which I'd forgotten about in the morning. I was, and am, a bit sore and pink.
In the evening I went to the concert and saw The Shee, Phillip Henry and Hannah Martin, and The Albion Band. The Albion Band were the ones I was really excited to see – a whole new line-up for one of the biggest folk rock bands of all time, made up by some of the hottest young names on the scene (including someone I grew up with) and promising a barnstorming re-debut album, I was expecting something amazing and I got it. Multi-instrumentalising, heavy rocking folk tunes, mixing new, old and traditional. Went and bought the album as soon as their set finished.
Another 6am stewarding shift the next morning, no more eventful than the one the day before, then another brief break (which included suntan lotion) and down to the same venue as the day before for another shift of sun-drenched conversation. My kind of work, to be honest. More morris dancing after that, and some good photos from one of the pubs, and then we went to see Sciorr: Staged at the village hall. Sciorr is a Irish dancing showcase with a folk rock band made up of yet more (and some of the same) bright young names. The dancing is a bit lacking when you can't see their feet, and doesn't grab me the same way that English clog does, but it's still an amazing spectacle.
After that the festival mostly wound up – we had no real interest in the evening concert, so we got the tent down and packed up, grabbed some food from the remaining caterers and headed home for another year.
Tl;dr: Great bands - Demon Barber Roadshow and The Albion Band especially good. White Rose have a new dance. I have a new top hat.
Pictures to follow when I've dealt with them.
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no subject
Date: 2012-05-29 08:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-05-30 01:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-19 03:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-06-19 07:02 pm (UTC)And you were my 3000th comment :D
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Date: 2012-06-20 08:25 am (UTC)Also, all our friends have an open invite to call in on us in Hemel. Just let us know ahead of time so that we can hoover the carpet and get some cake. :-)
3000? Ooh, I feel special! *g*