Here is the lineup

Looks pretty cool

"Steve Newman & the Magaliesberg Nose Pickers" ?

Definately a lots of good talent. I have seen Them Particles and it's good rootsy music, definately worth catching them



11:00am - Phil Wilcock: (Folk Blues) Guitar and vocal
12:00pm - Tom Dale: (Ballads) Guitar and Vocal
1:00 pm - ‘Cortina Whiplash’: (Rock and Roll) 3xPretty Girls doing the Real Thing
2:00 pm - ‘Steve Newman & The Magaliesberg Nose Pickers’: Guitar, Bass, Banjo, Fiddle, Mandolin & terrible singing
3:00 pm - ‘Bruyns Trust’: (Acoustic Slide Blues)
4:00 pm - ‘Al Greco’: (Island Tease) Albert Meintjies and Greg Georgiades
5:00 pm - ‘Them Particles’: (Swamp Rock)
6:00 pm - Strings and Skins’: (World Music)
7:00 pm onwards - there will be opportunity for a fireside jam….everyone welcome.

Squonk wrote: 2:00 pm - ‘Steve Newman & The Magaliesberg Nose Pickers’: Guitar, Bass, Banjo, Fiddle, Mandolin & terrible singing

The mandolin player is most likely Mervyn Davis. He's pretty good.

3:00 pm - ‘Bruyns Trust’: (Acoustic Slide Blues)

That's Richard Bruyns from Them Particles and Mike Burger.

4:00 pm - ‘Al Greco’: (Island Tease) Albert Meintjies and Greg Georgiades

OK... there's some guitaring firepower here.

But wait! There's more.

From a schedule mailed to me by one of the performers....

> 9:00 am - Gates open
> 9:30 am - The draywagon arrives
> 9:45 am - Pipers and bodhrán players, and medieval swordfighters in combat
>
> 10:00 am (until midnight!) - Taps open

This was quite a fun day. Well attended too. We got there round about 12:30 and so missed the various ceremonies.

There was a good selection of beers from various micro-breweries. I enjoyed a pint of IPA flavoured with an african herb from the Dog & Fig brewery, and later on I tried an English-style bitter from De Gawe. Food concessions were reasonable too.

The sound system was another matter. Too small really and whilst it sounded reasonable if you were sitting one or two meters from the stage, it was not that impressive if you sat further back. The EQ changed drastically as you moved away from the stage. They were using a smaller rig than TJs use in doors.

I enjoyed Steve Newman and the Magalieseberg Nose Pickers. This really was Mervyn Davis on vocals and mandolin backed by an ad hoc band. They did mostly country and western stuff, but the songs were well selected.

The music preceding the Nose Pickers had been folky, sometimes bluesy and all acoustic. So Cortina Whiplash, who were up next, came as a bit of a jolt to the system. I enjoyed their set very much. I was struck by them playing hard rock in a late 70s sort of way that had it's roots in things going on before they were born. I'm not saying that anybody under 30 shouldn't be allowed to play that way etc etc, but it was striking. These are young musicians who have clearly spent time ransacking their parents album collection. They had energy and attitude. Their vocals were strong and tight, which is worth commenting on because there were no monitors on the stage. A good set. They got the audience focused and deserved the encore they got.

Things were running late, and we didn't stay until the end (it's not a 10 minute drive home). We enjoyed Bruyns Trust - but they are good friends of ours so we stand accused of lack of objectivity. In particular I enjoyed their tribute to Chet Atkins, entitled "Chet Happens".

With a bit more oomph to the PA and a more capable set of hands at the desk the musical aspect of this festival could have been more satisfying. As it was the standard was pretty good, so if you could focus on that through the strange mix it was worth listening to. However the festival is not just about music - beer was pretty prominent too. It was refreshing to see so many people showing enthusiasm for the micro-brewery beers. My own personal favourite, Draymans, were not there, but there was still a good selection. I had a self-imposed two beer limit and so couldn't sample all the wares.