What can I say? Wonderful.... the sunshine..the blue skies... the sell-out attendance of 20,000 people... a seat and a rug on the soft, green grass, and best of all, the music...the live, electrifying music.... Fairport still going, celebrating 40 years... and they did by, on Friday night, recreating the original line-up of 1967, with Chris While standing in for Sandy Denny - that would have been a miracle - and they performed the album Leige & Lief... Chris sounded so like Sandy, it was uncanny... her performance of Matty Groves was stunning...and the beautiful song, Crazy Man Michael, moving.. so we shed a tear or two, those of us with a tendency to be emotional....
And on the same evening, a magnetic set from Show of Hands, which had the whole crowd singing..songs reminding us of the importance of our Roots: what this country has lost over the years..the death of villages, the country way of life..is there nothing in England which is not for sale??? Stunning song writing, amazing musicianship....
After a night of music and company, a night of cold and relative silence in my little tent, there I was tucked up, alone but smiling, music still in my head, and I heard a voice saying out loud, form nowhere, Thank You Father God, for taking care of me today...emotionally..thank you for giving me the strength to be me again...
At 4am it was too cold to sleep...at 7am it was too hot to sleep..so I got up, washed in cold water, dressed, and sat in my little seat and read a book, said good morning to the campers passing by, and looked over the fields, towards the canal and the hill the far side with the mainstage visible through the tress...the early morning mist was rising off the fields, I had to take some pictures...you can just see the top of the narrow boats glinting in the sunshine..now that's how I would like to come here next year...
Just to prove it, here it is:
....and the strange man next door who was in a caravan with his family, who out his head out of the door about a quarter to ten, after I had been up hours, communing with nature and enjoying the peace and quiet....
but he did invite me in for coffee and a cooked breakfast, so that was ok.....more tomorrow....
3 comments:
It sounds so like our trip to Cropredy (10 years ago now) - minus the camping! So glad you had such a good, healing time. Envious of you hearing Fairport with Chris - she has to be one of my favourite female singers, if not the favourite. I want to hear more - who did you meet backstage with your pass? What other bands were there?
I was always more "Steeleye Span" than "Fairport Convention". I should compare their repective "Matty Groves" though. {Thinking of folk music, the one set of albums I didn't transfer on to the computer were "The Corries" and I think I might regret it}
I'm sure we could come to an arrangement re narrow boat for next year, Sally...after all, we were only a few miles away on the Grand Union canal, where the sun shone too :-)
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