One Down

Well, the Marquise and I made it to the Williamsburg Scottish festival. This year it was held at the Rockahock campground. I was a little concerned at first when they moved the venue, but I must admit, it was a great move. The facilities they have there are almost perfect for a Scottish/Celtic festival. They have a great stage. It is jut about the right size for the kinds a bands that play these festivals. Large enough to hold 6 or 7 band members, but small enough so that bands with 2 or 3 members don't get lost. The had several places to buy beer and mixed drinks. Heck, they even had a full blown bar (pool tables, restaurant, tv screens, the whole nine yards). The one thing I would suggest in the future is more bathroom facilities. When there is a line for the men's room, you know there is not enough bathrooms.

We got there just a tad bit late (not very suprising for us) and missed the first couple of tunes from the first band, Poisoned Dwarf. I had not heard them before and I was really please with their performance. I am not a big fan of no-vocal bands, but they did a really good job. Their tunes were varied enough that it didn't even come close to sounding repetitive. You could actually tell the difference between a jig and a reel with them! The second band was Rathkeltair. The Marquise and I both thought there were more of them last year. There were only three of them here this year and I could have sworn there were at least 5 last year. We do know that they were pursuaded to leave vacation early (or cancel entirely) to attend, so that could have been part of the situation. I just don't know. I enjoyed their performance. The Marquise was not as pleased as I with some of their numbers, but we both agree that the bag piper/ flutist/ whistler player/lead singer was phenominal. Anyone that can play an arm bagpipe and a whistle AT THE SAME TIME is impressive. Anyone that can play 2 flutes AT THE SAME TIME is phenominal. The third band up was BarleyJuice and they cranked it out this time around. I heard them at Grandfather Mountain this past July and was impressed with them there. I was blown away by there performance here. Even though this was their third set on Saturday (there were 2 others during the day) and they also performed Friday Night, they gave a great performance. They had the crowd up and dancing for most of their set. The final act of the nit was Albannach. I have seen them now about 5 or 6 times. Outside of my first experience at Tir Na Nog in Raleigh, this was by far their best performance. Everyone was spot on with everything. The energy was higher and more intense than anyother time I've seen them. Everythng was perfect for them.

All in all, this was what a celtic music festival is all about.

Correction. I listed the Kildairs as the second band in the line up. It as actually Rathkeltair that was there. Don't know what I was thinking. My bad.