YOUR EDITOR HAS ASKED ME to write few words on two very different festivals, The 10th North Wales Bluegrass Festival and the Saltburn International Folk Festival. The common denominator being that the Acme Band played at both! The problem with playing at a festival is that there is often little time for seeing what everybody else is up to and these two were no exception. Both were well organised with plenty happening all the time which is so important, whether you’re involved or just watching and both situated in seaside towns giving alternatives for non-musical partners, a point frequently overlooked.

In Conwy we had the usual mix of good music and sunshine. All of the British bands were on form and Clem O’Brien (from Ireland) was outstanding. We saw and heard him last year over there and knew what to expect, he didn’t disappoint us. From the USA we had No Angels Band but, unlike Clem, we found them very disappointing. We do tend to think that any band that crosses the Atlantic is going to be good but over the years there have been several that have been decidedly poor. I do wonder if the attendance at festivals is affected one way or the other by bands from the States, at least sufficiently enough to make it viable (organisers please comment!)

The Sound system in the Civic Hall was superb and thanks must go to our old friends- The Down County Boys- who put in a lot of time and effort to make it so. Thanks also to Gill and John who, I think, have got the balance just about right, like a holiday with music!

The Saltburn Festival has picked up where the old Redcar festival left off last year. With something like 40 acts and a dozen different venues around the town there were sometimes six events at the same time and we were worked pretty hard. Because of this we had very little time to see any of the other artists but the list was impressive.

After a morning sound check we were on duty at the band stand for half an hour and then we had to run to the theatre for a concert spot. A quarter of an hour after this we were due at one of the hotels for a folk club type session for a very attentive audience. On Sunday we performed in a ‘Chance To Meet’ session which turned into a type of workshop showing different facets of our music followed by a very noisy pub thrash to a very enthusiastic but, I suspect, drunken audience! We finished at 4 o’clock, completely exhausted (we’re not getting any younger!) but events went on until 11 o’clock that evening.

It was strange to play at a festival where we were completely unknown and to see a few surprised faces showing that maybe this bluegrass music is not so bad after all.

There are a lot of folk festivals in this country and, I suspect, many of them would be prepared to book bluegrass bands, perhaps we should start a register. Those of you with long memories may recall the early Cambridge festivals, directly from that sprang the idea for the first Edale, the rest, as they say, is history.

Bob Armstrong, Nenthead, Cumbria. Acme Band Gig Review

Saltburn International Festival of Folk Music, Dance and Song: Contact John Taylor, Fern Cottage, Dalehouse, Staithes, Cleveland. TS13 5DT.

Updated 23rd Jan 1999