Stereoboard's Review Of London Feis 2011 (Feis Feature)
Wednesday, 22 June 2011
Written by Jamie Rathbone & James Conlon
Day One
Things were all set for a storming start to Finsbury Park’s inaugural London Feis festival, which marked 21 years since festival founder Vince Power brought his raucous Irish musical tastes to North London with the first Fleadh in 1990. Storming that is, in every sense of the word. Yes we were to be treated to birthday boy BOB DYLAN’s only UK performance of the year, and have a Sunday send-off with the world’s grumpiest Irishman VAN MORRISON, but the clouds looked like they could have come straight over from the soggy Irish moors.
For the rest of the day hoods and umbrellas were up and down more than Uncle Paddy’s drinking arm, but that did little to spoil the spirits of the crowd. It did little to spoil my whiskey anyway as I made my way to the tented area for a set from THE FUREYS, a great folksy treat from a stage of authentic Dubliners. With banjos, mandolins and hits from the 80s abound, the tone was set for the afternoon.
Enter THE WATERBOYS on the main stage. Opening with blues rocker ‘If I Can’t Have You’, chief pipesman Mike Scott lead with an aching growl which Liam Gallagher can only hope he can still deliver in his 50s. Four songs in and the ace was pulled out of the deck: ‘The Whole of the Moon’ is a new wave classic whose twinkling piano chords and uplifting lyrics gave a refreshing pick-up for the wet afternoon. STEVE WICKHAM, surely rock’s greatest fiddle player, lent the set its distinctive celtic tone and ending with a stomping version of Frank Wilson’s northern soul classic ‘Do I Love You?’, the band typified the eclecticism of the festival and I had found my band of the afternoon.
THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM came and went, delivering a decent if not perfunctory NME-friendly set. CHRISTY MOORE brought the craic back with his powerful songs and sprightly character. The crowd was warmed by his heady mix of soulful messages and jovial anecdotes, but anyone that sings a song like ‘Ordinary Man’ with such potent anti-Thatcherite venom is alright by me.
So the end of the day came and out stepped the pensionable paladin of modern rock, BOB DYLAN. A notoriously unpredictable performer (who’d have Dylan any other way?), it looked set to be an uncertain experience for those expecting a run of Bob’s greatest hits. But I suppose turning 70 does a lot for a man’s perspective and maybe opener ‘Gonna Change My Way Of Thinking’ did a lot to explain this largely hit-filled set list. Fans were treated to classics including ‘…Baby Blue’, ‘A Hard Rain…’, ‘Ballad Of A Thin Man’ and ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’, with the day’s mass sing along being ‘Like a Rolling Stone’.
No one should expect ‘Don’t Look Back’-era Dylan to turn up and do his angry young man thing: this performance was something both humbling and amazing and did more than justice to the living legend.
Who wants to be their own tribute act? Yet coming out dressed in black I couldn’t help myself likening his sound to a floating white hat doing its best Tom Waits impression. With a clothes peg on his nose. Or maybe that’s the Jameson’s talking. Where’s the bar?
-JR
Day Two
Now I’ve a confession to make - the Irish accent slays me. Seriously, with the slightest hint of a “tank you” I’m transfixed, convinced that the stranger is my future wife/best friend. It’s strange, I’m well aware, but as I entered the London Feis on Sunday morning my neck was spinning like a tennis enthusiast, drawn to the crowds of Irish music fans gathered in Finsbury Park. I was a contented man without hearing a single note.
My happiness rose, however, when I stumbled across a performance from the fantastic HAM SANDWICH. Playing on the intimate third stage, the mixture of Niamh Farrell’s fiery vocals and Podge McNamee’s Hansard-esque harmonies were used to great effect. The band clearly gave their everything, as McNamee ripped his shirt off Hogan-style while pounding on any surface he could get his drumsticks on. The final number ‘Ants’ was a real highlight, as the band invited a young friend onto the stage for some Irish dancing to the delight of the gathered crowd.
The smaller Third Stage proved to be the place to be, as the small crowd were later treated to fantastic solo sets from DECLAN O’ROURKE and Mercury nominee FIONN REGAN, who silenced the rowdy punters into drunken wonder with a possessing rendition of his 2006 track ‘Put A Penny In The Slot’.
A couple of beer purchases later and the rain chose to make it’s only (brief) appearance of the day, forcing us away from our Third Stage home-from-home and into the Tent Stage. Lucky for us it did, because we were treated to the sultry vocals of MARY COUGHLAN and her blues band – one of the many unexpected finds of the day.
VAN MORRISON took to the main stage as the sun began to set, and the rock veteran stormed his way through a lengthy set without much interaction with the swaying audience in front of him. It’s unfair to expect an entirely fresh rendition of ‘Brown Eyed Girl’ from Morrison, who recorded the track 44 years ago, but as Van the Man followed it up with an equally passive performance of ‘Moondance’ it was hard not to feel the underwhelmed response from the crowd.
And so on to the second confession of the review. THIN LIZZY are rock icons. They’re a must-see act, I get that. But three tracks into their well-received set I found myself looking around anxiously. Don’t get me wrong here – I saw ‘Jailbreak’ and heard ‘Whiskey In The Jar’ echoing over the North London park, but as the festival drew to a close I found myself magnetised back to my safe space, my home-from-home – the smaller Third Stage. Don’t ask what brought me there, but I’m glad it did - it meant I could witness a magnificent set from WALLIS BIRD. The female songwriter roared her way through tracks including the heartfelt ‘The Circle’ and life-affirming ‘To My Bones’, whipping the crowd up into a dance and singalong with every song. Despite the setback of broken strings and a feedback-heavy sound system, Bird gave a set worth missing some of Thin Lizzy for, and I don’t take that statement lightly.
-JC
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