fR314 PAGES 44-45-46-47 4/7/09 17:48 Page 2
45 f
“W
oody Guthrie’s on
in the bar…”
Sorry? “Woody
Guthrie… he’s
playing in the
bar.” Oh you mean, they’re playing his
record in the bar? “No. He’s playing live.”
You sure? I mean, he’s… “Yeah, I just saw
his hat. Sounded quite good but I
thought I’d watch Breabach in the main
hall instead…” Right. “Right.”
This choice nugget of overheard infor-
mation sends me haring off to the real ale
bar at the back of Leicester’s De Montfort
Hall Gardens, through the jungle of sun-
bathers, topless beards, health food stalls,
eco shops and the Face Your Elephant tent
with nary a glance at Darth Vader and the
Jedi warriors patrolling the grounds. Bat-
tle through the massed ranks already mak-
ing a sizeable dent in the wall of real ale
and there on stage is indeed a man in a
hat singing So Long It’s Been Good To
Know You. His name is Will Kaufman, a
professor no less, filling the beer tent with
songs and stories about Woody Guthrie
and my call to the editor to hold the front
page is aborted.
Bigger than a garden party, smaller
than Glastonbury, The Big Session is the
perfect weekend for anyone who likes fes-
tivals but doesn’t have wellies and prefers
proper toilets. The Oysterband have been
coming here for five years now, laying
down roots for their Big Session vision that
originally manifested itself as a touring
entity free of the usual suffocating
restraints of genre, background and gen-
eration. And this weekend right here right
now in the centre of Leicester in the centre
(ish) of England, it’s a hoot and a half as
the artists mingle with the public – hard-
ened beer-quaffing festival aficionados
mingle with burger-munching local fami-
lies up for a bit of sport – discussing the
topics of the day: namely the tricky job of
depositing the right waste in its appropri-
ate recycling cubicle; Ian Telfer’s sensation-
al image makeover; and how many
migraines and perforated eardrums result-
ed from the Levellers’ high velocity Friday
night set and lighting show. Oh, and the
curious case of John Jones, who has
walked here from the Welsh borders for
reasons that sound completely sensible
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