Saturday concerts | Saturday night private party | Sunday concerts

As usual, we arrived in San Francisco from England in good time to get over jet lag. Well, that was the plan, but instead we succumbed to the attraction of jam sessions and their attendant beer and late nights. So it was no surprise to us that we arose late on Friday and arrived late at the Friday afternoon session (new this year). They were kicked off by Elvis Costello and his strangely-named backing group, the Hammer of The Honky-Tonk God.

Oh! What a grey day - just like last year, with tendrils of fog curling around the eucalyptus trees giving them a ghostly aspect. But there was nothing ghostly about fellow countryman Elvis Costello! He was definitely larger than life but to kick off this year's festival Jimmy Dale Gilmore and Friends picked Rambling Man as their set starter. The next song seemed to set the mood for this year's festival, the anti-Iraqi-War song Damage Done. Well, there had to be, one didn't there? With the current mood in the area and much of the USA, it certainly struck a chord with the crowd. The next song, This Is My Song, was written and sung by one of the friends, Butch Handcock. This was very topical and like every song so far, another anti-war protest song as were several others, including Cast the Devils Out and Treat Me Like A Saturday Night. Bill Kirchen did the next guest spot with Did You Ever See Dallas From A DC9 At Night?

Next we had the man himself; Elvis Costello, with his backing group. He opened with The Angels Want To Wear My Red Shoes. What a powerful performer - so very rock-and-roll. After the next two numbers There Must Be Something Better Than This and Wake Me Up, he was joined by drums, piano and guitar.

By now Elvis was well into his stride with It's Been A Good Year For The Roses, followed by a great country style version of Tonight The Bottle Let Me Down, then The Last Time I Paint It I'll Paint It Blue and my own personal favourite, Indoor Fireworks.

As the performance progressed the sun arrived to chase away the fog. It was 5-10 p.m. and the park had really filled up.

Elvis was joined on stage by Emmylou Harris, the late, low sun making her hair gleam silver in the fading light. They did a beautiful duet on I Still Miss Someone and Love Hurts. After American Without Tears he was joined on stage by Gillian Welch andDavid Rawlings, making quite a crowd but still not filling the large main Banjo stage so leaving space for Emmylou to dance.

The "Elvis Costello All-Stars Ensemble" (our name) wound up the afternoon with Must You Throw Dirt In My Face, and Train, Train. The crowd was reluctant to let him go so he gave us Bob Dylan's When I Play My Masterpiece for an encore.

Emmylou Harris dances onstage to the roar of the Blue Angels

Warren's organisers had chosen the weekend in the usual sequential way; namely, the first weekend in October. Unfortunately, in 2006 it clashed with the annual San Francisco Fleet Week, as it is likely to do on a seven-year sequence. Fleet Week features a variety of warships on public view. Also there were several air displays by military aircraft, from the smallest to the largest. We had a blue sky with the display team The Blue Angels buzzing us for most of the day. They must have been listening to the concerts…

It's hard to say we had any Bluegrass, but so what? The original name of "Strictly Bluegrass" was changed to "Hardly Strictly Bluegrass" for the third event. After noting the increasing amount of other musical genres, someone complained to Warren, "Hey - it's hardly strictly Bluegrass!" We were happier with the new title and now find it easier to tolerate (though not necessarily enjoy) the more weird of 'other stuff' (but not the jets ...)

But what the heck - what a cracking start to 'Hardly Strictly Bluegrass VI'!

Then another late, hard night out jamming … Must learn some discipline …

Derek & Jean Brandon, Chester, England.
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