Woodford The Mythical Last Day (Paul)

The Fire Event was just wonderful. There was a bit of a worry as it finally started raining during the afternoon, but by the time the infectious plonkety beats of Jambezi had started up, it had eased off to a fine drizzle. What didn’t ease up though, was the amazing electrical storm, and during the concert great fingers of lightning would rake across the sky, almost as if on cue. The river of fire, made up of hundreds if not thousands of small paper lanterns with candles inside, flowed down the natural slope of the amphitheatre to where the giant puppets played out their mummeries of a young girl’s imagination. The music was wonderful, from the choir-fed version of This Love will Carry led by Dougie, to Nancy & James Fagan (and Nancy’s reading) and the chaos of the Trans-Balkan Express. It was grand. The best one I’ve seen. Kudos to Nicole Murray from Cloudstreet how put together the music!

Later on, there was a very special session inside the Committee Bar. It was an eclectic mix, not just the standard belting out of Celtic tunes. Dougie & Jennifer, Liz Frencham (who taught me the chords to a truly beautiful song that she has gracefully offered to us), Johnstone and Andy from Auld Grey Whistle, the amazing JP on fiddle, my fellow Súnas chums, John & Nicole… the list goes on. The difference here was he promised that we’d also do songs and other things (something which doesn’t happen too often in the Guinness Tent, mainly due to the noise of the surrounding venues). It was a smashing evening, even if there wasn’t any cider.

The extra was really interesting too, as we didn’t have much of an idea what we were doing. A small stage was set up in front of the lake by the Duck, and we basically played a lantern parade down to the water, then a whole bunch of dancing fire people who thanked the volunteers with flaming letters. It was a great privilege to do this, as without these people Woodford wouldn’t exist. From the staffer in the Green Room who gave me a packet of tissues from her own bag when she saw me struggling with hay fever one evening while blogging, to the always-happy Kyle who helped us find a plum camping spot, thank you so much from all of us. You’re what makes this festival so smooth and effortless for difficult muso-types like us :)

Of course it pissed with rain the next morning while we were packing up, but we didn’t mind as it just gave us an excuse to stay longer!

We have three days now until we leave for Tasmania and the Cygnet Festival, where we will once again catch up with Dougie. We talked about doing a song together, so that’ll be just amazing. It’ll also be grand to catch up with Ethereal after a couple of years, JP the fiddler and our good mate Roz Pappalardo who’s performing with her ‘other’ band, Women in Docs. I’m hoping she’s brought that awesome Fender Jaguar down with her…

Then we have a Masterclass on Songwriting and Arranging to give. This is a whole day thing, and we’re really excited as it’s a whole new direction for us. Personally, I think we’re going to confuse the arse out of 15 poor folk, but hey, it’ll be fun! Then there’s our usual Thursday night gig at the New Sydney Hotel, and a wee performance at the Lark Distillery, which is practically our home away from home. I’ve just run out of whiskey too!

And let’s not forget the pies and buns of Jackman and McRoss.

But most of all, we’ll be catching up with our dear friend and Súnas fifth member, Helen.

We love Tasmania.

Good times ahead. Oh yes.