Live Reviews
artistes. Just a few years ago I was moved to write about a Watersons performance in that hall. Never less than good they were simply breathtaking there. Last year it was the turn of Eric Bogle to step up and excel, whilst this year - well read on.
Alan presents ‘Worst Singer’ trophy
and indeed I’ve found myself chatting with complete strangers there. Fleetwood Museum plays host to small shows each year and is a great venue. This time around, Scolds Bridle did a show themed on the role of women during the great fishing years, invoking the “3 Day millionaire” atmosphere of Mike Waterston’s song. This duo always gives good value, interspersing their light hearted approach with a large amount of well researched information. It was as a result of their show that I later took an afternoon walk out to Asda. Here a heavily battered trawler funnel lies behind protective mesh, the last piece of the trawler Goth that disappeared from Fleetwood in 1948 with 21 men on board. In 1997, an Icelandic skipper, Vidar Benidiktsson snagged his nets on the remains of the Goth, and once he’d realised what he’d found, in a fraternal act between fishing communities, saw the funnel returned to Fleetwood. A postscript to the tale is that Vidar, by strange coincidence had been born at the height of the storm that sunk the Goth. Such things you learn if you attend a Scolds Bridle concert!
It’s the main venue, however, the Marine Hall that’s the jewel in the crown. Built in 1935, its setting is matched by its interior, which has the opulence of a grander age, and a pervasive sense of great names having trodden the boards there. Maybe this is part of the reason that the venue seems to winnow great performances out of
Scolds Bridle
In 2011 The Wilsons seem to be enjoying a renaissance, and not before time. Whilst there’s perhaps still a tendency to overdo the chat between songs, they’re much more focussed. Moreover, their exclusion of more whimsical material all seem to indicate a greater confidence and purpose, bolstered perhaps by their recent appearance with the Northern Sinfonia on the BBC televised Folk Proms 2011. This didn’t stop affectionate mickey-taking by The Young ‘Uns next evening though. They played it like younger aspirants to the crown, revelling in the tale of another festival, where due to an error over accommodation, the Wilsons were placed in the only option available – an old folk’s home. Apocraphyl? - dunno. Their humour was matched by Huw Williams temporarily fronting Welsh band Calan, who were musically sound and certainly the most photogenic group of the weekend. On Saturday evening, cometh the hour, and cometh the man - Archie Fisher. I’ve seen Archie many times from the seminal Blairgowrie festival onwards, but now aged 70, he’s never been better than he was at Fleetwood. When he sang “The Final Trawl” it perhaps took on a special resonance because of the Jacinta. This was a Fleetwood trawler. Immortalised in song by Alan Bell it was saved from the breakers yard by the Jacinta Trust, restored and moored in the fishing dock for all to see. Archie mourns in his song that his trawler’s owners, say that, “she’s had her day” and fears seeing her, “torched in the breakers docks.” The setting and subject may account for some of the chemistry in the hall, but no analysis can fully capture the stuff of magic where audience and artiste share an indefinable chemistry, and I’m afraid you’ll just have to take my word for it.
The Fylde festival has delivered more than its share of such memorable moments, and the 40th event next year will surely, once again, earn George Formby’s verdict “turned out nice again.”
Fylde Folk Festival 2012 is on 31st August, 1st & 2nd September.
The Young Uns • Photo by Roger Liptrot The Living Tradition - Page 59
Archie Fisher • Photo by Roger Liptrot
The Wilsons • Photo by Roger Liptrot
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