Live and local - just part of one weekend in October.

The title says it all. This weekend just gone was a blast - right up there with anything else in my 2013 in music. It is true that on Saturday I ventured a full twenty miles away from my home town of Frome to a tiny hall in a village that, I guarantee, most people even round here are quite unaware of. Why would I do that?
We won't start there. On Friday evening I was less than a mile from home - Acoustic+, Cheese and Grain, Frome. Usual format: four bands, roughly half-hour set from each, all for a fiver. To be honest, can you go wrong with that? The answer is no. In this case it was more a matter of pinching oneself in order to check that this was indeed for real. That is not a trivial thing to say, but that I still feel the same in the light of that which I saw on Saturday says a very great deal.
Of the three acts that I had never seen live before I can't speak more highly. Blue Midnight is the exception, I have seen them live several times and so I hope that their omission from this post is excusable. This is Salisbury-based Arch Garrison, with acoustic tales of landscapes and the thoughts that they evoke. He was prescient: this would prove to be something of a theme throughout the weekend.

That the next chance to catch him live is at Union Chapel, Islington says a great deal about the artist and also the standard that Acoustic+ sets for itself.

  

The opening act was another that I had not seen live before - Kelly and Alana, so here they are.

First support was South Divide. I'd say that this was my highlight of a very good evening. It is not just about the music for all of that was excellent, nor raw ambition either, it is about the presentation of it as a coherent whole. On that basis this is why I think it the most impressive of the four acts that evening. Here are a couple of photos from the set.

Full band, in the usual Acoustc+ setting.

On lead vocals and keyboards - Chloë Warren.

As I have recently been commenting on the remarkable resurgence of the EP, both physical and digital, you will find it continues with this one.

If you missed the forgoing then all is not lost. On Saturday, November 9, South Divide is playing The Griffin, Frome.

Nine hours and gone...

This is what happened when EOTR 2011 'early bird' tickets went on sale this morning. There are some more, at 2010 prices, on offer now but limited again, but does this tell you something about how good EOTR 2010 actually was.  I have a 2011 ticket but I'm still just coming to terms with EOTR 2010 and the acts that I saw. This is just one little piece of the jigsaw.

Saturday: Caitlin Rose live on the Local stage @ EOTR 2010.

On Sunday, co-opted to the Big Top to replace the unavailable Steve Mason, she finished with two songs accompanied only by herself.  The first was her own song 'Shotgun Wedding', from the Dead Flowers EP, and the second was a headlong cover of 'Tomorrow is a Long Time'.  I've mentioned the dangers of cover versions before; played and heard live this Dylan song was a quite remarkable example of how it can be done.


Note added March 8, 2011 (and later):
Caitlin Rose is now confirmed to appear at EOTR 2011, Truck Festival 2011 and Latitude 2011.