Woodford Evening

Woodford Day 1 (Paul)

6am.

Things start early around here.

At first light, the trucks come 'round. The rubbish truck is particularly noisy. It's one of those big industrial things with prongs on the front that make it look like a mechanical mammoth. it picks up the car-sized dumpsters, hoiks them over the cab then with an almighty booming bang, empties them. King of these is the glass recycling version. As above, but the crash is followed by the sound of ten thousand shattering bottles. Great fun at 5am. Then come the water tankers, the food, ice, general traffic... But I sleep well here, always have. Not sure if it's exhaustion (not yet!), the gentle lull of the drums (no fecking chance) or just something aromatic in the air (most likely), and even the hue & cry of Woodford waking usually isn't enough to annoy me into getting me up at 6am every day. Usually it's just I start getting fidgety inside the tent. Mornings here are just stunning. The hills behind the valley are usually shrouded in this beautiful moving mist, and the colour of the light is something quite unique. So I'm sitting here, 'puta on my lap, looking out over the hills and just watching people drifting to the showers, chatting, rolling out of their tents with smiles on their faces. This truly is one of my favourite places on Earth. People here will stop to pick up the smallest piece of litter, they chat, ask questions of each other, share food, drink and tobacco, but most of all they're tolerant.

So, today. Big day. Mannie and Bridge arrive properly so the camp will become whole. Mannie also has the other eskie full of Sunas Apple Juice so we'll be able to stop spitting feathers with thirst! Work-wise, we have a gig tonight down at the Muse, which we're itching for, but before that we have the Opening Ceremony. Bridget, Mannie and I have today to learn the song and re-jig one of our tunesets (I was about to say 'no pun intended, but arse it, I'll let that stand. Re-jig a tune. Ha!). It's a great song, very funny and should go down a treat.

Right, I'll sign off here and come back a bit later.

Stunned.

That's what I am.

We just played in front of many thousands of people. Estimates are anywhere between 5 and 20 thousand, though one Woodford person told me he reckoned it was about 17,000. We played Sarah's tune, NightFaeries for the lantern procession, which was just amazing, then we played the Woodford opening song with Terry and finally a long tuneset for the firedancers. It was raining, but not hard, and it was just magic. We were on the huge Amphitheatre stage, standing in front of the huge backline setup for Ash Grunwald and That One Guy, playing our tunes. Every so often, the lights would lift, and we'd get the huge panorama of little heads and lamp-lit trees. It was truly magic, something that will stay with us forever.

The night gig at the Muse was great too. We were exhausted from the amphitheatre, but it was a great way to start our official program. Alas, party animals that we are, we were in bed a scant hour later. Rock and roll. We're playing at the Chai Tent tomorrow, on what is supposedly our day off, but the way we look at it, we're here to play and enjoy ourselves, and there's just no point sitting in a tent all day long.

Weather: Stinkingly humid. Scattered showers.
Byron Bay Organic Doughnuts scoffed: 2
Showers taken 4
T-shirts changed: 3
Ciders drunk: uncountable

Woodford Opening Ceremony Part I

By Sairey. I'm sitting backstage at the Woodford Amphitheatre listening to Ash Grunwald sound check using all sorts of guitar effects pedals. It sounds fat, full of bass and absolutely brilliant! We're patiently milling around waiting for our own sound check as we found out we're performing in the Opening Ceremony tonight. It's all very last minute & I have no idea what to expect, but personally I love the chaos of it :) Mannie is in his tune zone wandering up and down back here playing his mando. He won't hear anything we say to him for the next ten minutes now. I'm tempted to lay down some gaffa tape as lane markers! We're sound checking in five, back soon.

Woodford Day 0 (Paul)

Yep, day 0. Sarah and I actually arrived on Christmas day, so perhaps it should be day -1, and I was completely surprised at how many people there already were here. There are literally hundreds of people putting up tents, stocking toilets with paper, checking electrics, organising events (yes, right up until the day there are parts of the calendar that are fluid -more on that later), all manner of things. Bridget and I came up here last Saturday to set up the campsite (and it's amazing how quickly Sarah and Mannie can find life-threatening things of incredible importance to do when there are tents to set up). Despite a storm last night, all the tents were still up, so I set about putting the finishing touches to the site with streamers of prayer flags and paper lanterns. That's one of the things I love about the Woodford Festival -you're here for a week so you can settle right in. Bridge and I got a great site right near the Green Room. It's noisy but hey, you don't exactly come here to sleep!

We spent Christmas day just wandering around with our good friend Davydd McDonald who seems to have become our Woodford version of Dobby the Campsite elf, but without the politeness or even obeying of my orders. In fact he just turns up (out of thin air), drinks my coffee then buggers off, but he's grand value and knows more tunes than any six people I know.

Ok, the important bits. I'll keep a record throughout the festival (hopefully!):

Weather: It's hot, but not unbearable, very gentle scattered rain, but otherwise great. Evenings are just sublime
Number of Byron Bay organic doughnuts scoffed: 1
Huntsman Spiders around tent: 1
Ciders drunk: 5
Times I've fallen over a guy rope: 1

So, this morning (Friday) we received a mobile phone summons to meet with the Festival Director, Bill Hauritz. Bill met with a bit of an accident a few weeks ago so he's currently running the festival from a wheelchair while his terribly broken knee (and leg) heals. We were a tad nervous, after all, it's not everyday that you get a call from Katie, Bill's #1 asking if you're on site and would like a wee job...

We've been invited to perform at the opening ceremony, in the Amphitheatre tomorrow evening. Never would I have imagined we'd be playing the Amphitheatre here! We're going to be playing some of our own tunes, then backing an old mate, Terry Jacobs for a song before playing some more tunes. Should be a blast! The potential audience is massive.

Tonight there's a small session down at the Duck & Shovel, and although the festival doesn't really start until tomorrow, there's a surprising amount going on. I'm sitting in the Green Room typing this, one eye on the screen, one eye on the door watching the performers coming and going. It's such a great relaxing place, carpet, comfy chairs, constant curiosity wondering about the origins of all the people wandering in.

I've got to the point where I really have to stop and think about how many times I've performed here, both with Sunas and other bands, but it just doesn't matter. It really is something special. There's a phrase I used a few years ago to describe it; the same phrase once used by another guest here, Dougie McLean to describe his local ceilidh.

It's a privileged glimpse of how humanity can ac, given the right circumstances.

Sunas Christmas Message

In these serious times of political confusion and fear, we've decided that our Christmas Message this year should be uplifting, spiritual and in the full flavour of the season.

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/fogxNVzeUn333OqgBEKU