Lost out on Oasis tix? We’ve just the job! Far more fun and a fraction the cost!!
We enjoy a good festival do we, At The Barrier, and seldom skip the opportunity to strut our stuff in Albion’s fair fields. Or even the muddy wet ones we have been gifted this summer. Bromyard is the latest, and is possibly the swansong for this season (but never say never). Smaller than some of the bigger hitters, like Cambridge, or the longer established, like Sidmouth, along with Purbeck Valley and New Forest, it has the under the radar confidence to pack a much bigger punch than its size, as the roster of acts appearing justifiably reveals. Out on the border between Hereford and Wales, it is an ideal and central spot to have your early harvest home.
Running since 1968, it now packs rather more in than the brave 150 who attended the first, and has quietly built up a reputation that allows it to attract the great and the good of whatever the definition of folk might be currently deemed to be. Accessibility is their key word, accessibility in the sense of opening up the concept of folk to a wider scrutiny, pairing the past with the future, to bring about a present, where morris dancing and whittling workshops can sit cheek by jowl with marquees awash with happy punters, as the ever more inventive interpreters of the living tradition perform. And there are a lot of ATB favourites appearing. A lot!
The quieter entrée to the weekend has Martin Simpson, on the Thursday evening, as he tears himself away from his array of shiny electric guitars, for one of his acoustic masterclasses of song and finger-picking intricacy. (How long ago was it that even the idea of Simpson and electricity seemed sacrilegious?)
Friday sees the further stages open, and there are several, split across the site and spilling into the nearby village. Daytime delights include new favourites Tarren, the day ahead their second album gets a release, with Rosie Hood, David Delarre & Saul Rose and Oysterband filling the mainstage by night. Elsewhere the dance tent will be going the ful Bal, for Hot Club de Bret, and further concerts running concurrently, covering all tastes.
Saturday celebrates with duos we are especially fond of here, Spiers & Boden and O’Hooley & Tidow, with other and intriguing combinations popping up too. I note that both Sam Mabbett and Michael Biggins are each appearing, wondering whether an impromptu performance by The Canny Band might also be on the cards.
Sunday shows no sign of rest, with Scottish band Gnoss playing, with another favourite, Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne, appearing both solo and with his band, Granny’s Attic. I also spot the personal must-see of Janice Burns & Jon Doran. Did I mention Banter, with both a concert and in the dance tent, for a ceilidh?
Across the weekend many will forgo thse treats, preferring to immerse themselves in the wall-to-wall sessions, where singers will sing, squeezers will squeeze and fiddlers fiddle. I know of many who have attended to see a show and never arrived, so caught up in the hurly-burly of involvement, whether they ever meant to or not. Heck, one chum, previously just going to festivals for the artists attending, now does nothing but dance and sing! (Hi, Dave!!)
What else? Well, food and drink is always important, and the range of food stalls and trucks should be enough to entice any palate, however picky, with my eagle eyes spotting who is running the plethora of bars, that being the excellent Moon Gazing Hare organisation, so well remembered from Shrewsbury and beyond. You could even come for their choice of beers and ciders alone.
Tickets are still available: apply here. And you don’t even need a bucket hat or a second mortgage, a full weekend ticket with camping costing you only £195. That’s for four full days, the organisers guaranteeing no dynamic pricing shenanigans along the way. Join me for a pint of Three Tuns XXX. And Dave says, bring yer thermals for the night!)
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