My Time At A Festival: Spirit of Folk 2012
I’m gonna have to start my look back on Spirit of Folk 2012 with this piece of audio that was a #soff12 Sodshow special. Textually, it really does save about 4 gizillion paragraphs of what if’s and Aimsir Modh Coinníollach‘s that we who were there in year one wondered about….. pre us getting there. Scroll to 5 mins 52 seconds:
Of the gig, the festival, my time there it’s tough to pick highlights. There were gigs and bands and people I heard talk; things I saw and people I met and by the time I realised that I should have recorded that in audio or in picture, that moment was gone and passed. It was that good and so very easy to simply get lost in time. Class example: Bunoscionn doing Trad Side of the Moon - yup, Pink floyd, in trad.
What I know is that Martin Duffy paints a wonderful almost flowers in your hair type painting of the weekend. There is and it was that, but it is also so much, very much more.
Of the main stage, my personal highlights included a band that headlined last years, namely The Hot Sprockets and one that I had never heard of before, namely John Blek and The Rats.
#SoFF12 had evolved. Grown up. And [for example] what was and is literally a wishing well with some seating made of tree wood, in 2011… had now become The Whelan’s [of Wexford street fame] Wishing Well stage. And it was genius.
I guess what I wanted and almost yearned for was that Tír na Nóg type moment. That Tommy Tiernan sketch about that session and it reaching the climax and it never ever ending…. except fast-track one year later and you have left sureal-ity, returned to normality and ended back there again, right were you left off. Did I get that ? Did I feel as loved ? As appreciated and wanted ? Like some timotei advert where I in white khaki attire run into the arms of the model of a woman, my soul mate and only ever true love ? Yes, I guess I did. And I miss it dearly.
Of note and that really made it extra spicy special were the people in my company who returned and also went for the first time, some based on our never shutting the fork up about our 2011 experiences there. It was an honour, more than you realise.
My post here may be that bit more in audio. Worth waiting for is Anthony McG’s post, which tells his story in technicolour. Roll on 2013.
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About the Author
Peter Horticulturist. Yapper. Gardener. Human. Landscaper. Loves coffee. Dublin. Makes gardens. Radio Podcasts The @Sodshow. Lives in a tree in Dublin @DoneganGardens or www.doneganlandscaping.com
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