Keith Donnelly's mirth rounds off day two of Bromyard
Bromyard Folk Festival 2009 review
Friday 25th September 2009
The Morris dancing starts before midday with the assembled sides taking turns to do a dance at the Field Arena which pulls a large crowd to bask in the September sunshine. It is obvious that there are different styles of Morris being represented. Some faces are blacked up, some wear white only, some have colourful outfits and flower laden hats. Some have big sticks, some use little sticks, some wave hankies, some have swords. There are male sides and female sides but, strangely, no mixed sides. Enquiries reveal that the flowery hats and small shaky sticks are North West tradition with stand out teams Earlsdown and an attractive side of ladies Chinewrde. The blacked up sides the scary looking Border tradition with teams such as the infamous Witchmen.
Rapper dancers such as Smutt Rapper and Rapper Rascals are very fast indeed with each member connected to the other by a two handled sword. The most familiar to me is the Cotswold tradition of sticks, bells and hankies. Within this tradition there is more bewildering variety of dances and costume. After several hours of being bashed by clogs the stage is in urgent need of repair, or the Herefordshire hammer dance as it's described. This hammer dance is not needed on the paved surface outside the Hop Pole in town but the constant turnover of Morris sides does not let up there or in the yard of the Crown & Sceptre until afternoon is draws to a close.
The Wye Valley Brewery Stage has an afternoon concert showcasing amongst others 4Square and Roy Bailey. Opening the concert 4Square are the young Manchester fourpiece who have featured at many of the summer's festivals and have worked up a nice show with tunes like Les and Castro demonstrating their abilities and attitude. At Bromyard their show also blends in the sound of car alarms from the adjacent campsite but this does not seem to put them off. More of a problem in the hot tent is tuning their instruments. Roy Bailey's show to finish the concert is a joy, as ever they are. Although he struggles with interruptions from car alarms, drummers and occasionally forgets the lyric his sincerity and humour wins through. The evening concert commences with Jez Lowe and the Bad Pennies who bring a distinct Northeastern feel with moving songs and pipe tunes. Braebach inject a massive dose of energy into the night in their superb supporting slot. This bagpipe based four piece even have a lightshow!
The audience is a bit taken aback by this but it is great fun and sets up Saturday's headliners Battlefield Band nicely. They put on a good turn but are much less energetic in their approach. It's easy to pick out Alan Reid, the remaining founder member, who is of a different generation to the rest of the band but their sound is coherent and varied enough to delight their devoted fans and hold the interest of those who are less so. Do they do more encores than they are asked for? It's hard to say as their finale is trumped by Keith Donnelly's concert in the Arts Centre Tent. His set ends with a fireworks display over the football pitch to collective gasps and aahs. The Arts centre is where the late night entertainment is at, Keith Donnelly's one man show is hilarious for first timers and enjoyed by those who have already experienced his brand of humour. Talking polar bears, no eye deer jokes and songs like 'Bungee Jumping for Jesus' and 'Val-dee-mort' have the crowd besides themselves with mirth as they spill out into the cold night.
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