Of course the festival season has been totally obliterated by the pandemic with Beardy Folk being the only one recalled in attempting and pulling off a three day multi artist presentation. Even in the final days leading up to the event, breaths were often held as to whether there was going to be a fatal twist and condemn all the hard work to the great bonfire of 2020. However fortune finally favoured the brave and the event in all its stripped back measures conquered the mass decimation to provide a beacon of live music. The ultimate credit the organisers can be paid is that all necessary adaptions were done in a subtle manner as not to distract from the prime enjoyment of listening to artists play their music live; not something we have been able to say since mid-March.
From an attendee's perspective, the main visual measure was the reduced capacity and social distancing policy. The space afforded by the Hopton Wafers site and the compliant nature of the folk fraternity aided this key feature, although you can never underestimate the legal hoops the organisers needed to jump through to satisfy the authorities. Having attended this fledgling festival in its first two years where the capacity hasn't really been tested, there was remarkably little difference in the feel of the event, bar the decision to re-locate the main stage from outside the walled garden. This probably allowed for greater flexibility in marking out the bubbles to enable folks to choose whether to place their chairs in singles, pairs or smallish groups.
Ok, there was no mass gatherings in front of the stage, but this doesn't really define Beardy Folk and I'm pretty sure the artists felt the crowd love and affection even from a short safe distance. Everything else was largely similar such as a seamless array of music from both stages and an orderly movement between them for those wishing to absorb the non-stop offering. Indeed the precision timing was immaculate with each set starting and running to the almost-exact minute, and the festival itself showing vast improvements since the delay to Skerryvore's first headline slot in 2018.
A dual effect of Beardy Folk was that in a majority of cases both audience and artist were getting their first taste of live music for nigh on six months. What gigs have been out there are far and few between, and this appears to be likely the case in the foreseeable future. Perhaps the gratitude came most from the stage as artist and upon artist expressed an immense pleasure to be playing live again, many who have had a large chunk of their income streams cut off since March.
It may seem a little weird not to have mentioned a single artist so far, but to be fair with those booked, Beardy Folk in 2020 was as much about the staging as to who was scheduled. Needless to say, the bill was in line with what the event put on in the first two years. A solid cross section of folk styles from the solo singer-songwriter to the full band, alongside many songs pleasing those both those from a traditional and contemporary bias. The event has drawn artists entirely from the UK in the past and thus travel restrictions had no impact to what audiences experienced in previous years.
One cautionary caveat is that staging festivals in rural outposts in the third week of September does invite chilly evenings even if like this year we were blessed with blissfully sunny days until the golden ball in the sky took its early autumn dip. Wrapping up overcame that little obstacle and it was a very small price to pay for actually seeing not just live music, but a full day packed with thirteen decent length performances spanning over eleven hours.
Moving onto the acts which defined the Saturday at Beardy Folk, the starting point from a personal view has to be the 8 o'clock main stage performance from Luke Jackson. Despite having followed his career for several years this was the first time seeing the Luke Jackson Trio and the effect of adding drums, electric bass and a fuller sound to the outstanding voice was immense. The results took his performance to another level in both how the songs are presented and how Luke himself plays off the accompaniment. This was on the back of seeing him play solo earlier in the year and a clear reminder of how he is blossoming as a performer. Another positive was the enthusiastic reaction from a larger gathering than usually greets his trips to the Midlands and hasten to say the queue at the merch table was longer in number than many of his previous gig audiences in the area.
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| Luke Jackson Trio |
It was interesting to catch up with two other main stage acts who have crossed my path several times in the past. Cardboard Fox, of whom one half is the previously monikered Carrivick Sisters, brought a little transatlantic tinge to the festival with a style heavily leaning towards bluegrass. A similar assertion can apply to the Goat Roper Rodeo Band who bring their sounds direct from some cosmic honky tonk in the middle of nowhere.These artists may be strictly South West and North Wales, but there is certainly one ear in distant shores.
On the topic of Wales, but in an entirely different stratosphere, Calan were the band elected to the role of Saturday night main stage headliner and left no member of the audience in doubt that they were in the esteemed presence of one of the most eminent purveyors of Welsh cultural heritage. It didn't matter where you stood with the Welsh language and the folk music of a land stretching from the valleys of the south through the mountains of the mid-reach to the parallel coastline of the north, Calan through their thrilling music, bi-lingual presence and enchanting tales, warmed the souls of the hardy audience and moved the border of their homeland a little closer. Not that it was too far anyway from south Shropshire.
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| Calan |
The second, or marquee, stage also changed location for this year and positioned itself inside the walled garden just in front of where the main stage used to be. Luckily the blessed weather was kind to its open setting and like last year, the schedule was full of lesser known artists, though in some cases may be soon to-be-discovered. The pick from this stage came right at the very start with Warwickshire-based folk singer-songwriter Ellie Gowers impressing most with several engaging stories attached to a string of exceedingly good songs. Definitely one to watch when the wider scene eventually moves out of this dark period and into a world where live streams are secondary to the up close and personal.
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| Ellie Gowers |
Just to reiterate, there was a full packed three day schedule at Beardy Folk and I'm sure folks attending just one day or the entirety of the event had their own personal highlights. There may even be some who just awarded the event itself and the organisers as the winner. In turn the powers that be may hail those folks willing to back an event when all else was falling down as the true heroes. Ultimately in the grim musical year of 2020, there was a shining light and for that we must be grateful.
Beardy Folk No.4 is set to return to its usual mid-summer slot in 2021. Fingers are crossed that the event jumped high enough through the viability hoop this year to aid the continual establishment of a festival that makes the most of its beautiful location in a highly professional and organised way.
This was the beginning and the end of outdoors music in 2020. Who knows whether it is the end of live 2020 music full stop. Socially distanced gigs are cropping up, but finding them in your practical realm is trickier. If it does prove the swan song, then Beardy Folk served all parties proudly.