Jamie McKinnon spends Easter at the National!

(taken from the April Bluey)
Having just got back from the 2008 National Folk Festival I thought it would be appropriate to add a few notes on that event too. As Easter was so early this year the two big festivals (Port Fairy Folk Festival and The National Folk Festival) were held close together – very different festivals, it is impossible to compare them.

Having seen some of the performers at Port Fairy I was keen to see them again in Canberra but also keen to see as many others as possible. As the NFF is over more days than PFFF it is more likely that you can catch as many acts as possible and this proved to be the case.

There were many opportunities for “unusual acts” at the NFF and some of them were: The Shiny Bum Singers – public servant group who did brilliant parodies of well known songs; Spooky Mens’ Choral; Martin Pearson – such a great show he finished with.

Eddi Reader, clearly suffering greatly from her back problem still put on amazing performances though the last one was a bit flat as she clearly was suffering greatly.

Trouble In The Kitchen won awards for their new album and put on some great stuff. Kate and Ruth had a show on Sunday but Ruth was suffering from a throat problem so they altered the show to fit her in. The highlight was a new song written and sung by Kate – this should be a must when she records it later in the year. It blew me away!

Those of you who remember the Davidson Brothers from their times at the National Celtic Festival over the years would have been astonished if you saw the show they put on in the 3000 seat theatre on Saturday – it was world class and had the full house out of their seats in applause – hard to believe they are only 24 years old!!

Having had to miss the House Concert at Dani and Adam’s it was great to see Truckstop Honeymoon! What a buzz this pair gave out. They really grabbed the audiences by the throat and served up high-energy material laced with stomach heaving humour.

But, top of the tree was the band from Quebec, Genticorum. I have never seen such a reaction as they got on their Sunday night show. This performance, again in the 3000 seater, lifted the roof off the place. The mosh pit was heaving!! They played again in the closing concert and for their final set they had Trouble in the Kitchen and the two young musicians of the year come on stage to join them – what a finale!!

Then to top it off, the Folk Alliance performer of the year, Danny Spooner, led the full house in two rousing community songs with many of the performers, Festival workers and volunteers on stage.

Being sleep deprived for several days (the Session Bar runs until all hours!! – Rory McLeod leading a Tango session on trombone with many other musicians joining in) this report is of needs pretty short but you can probably realise that I had a great time!!

Slainte, Jamie.