Sidmouth Folk Week is fast approaching and the line-up this year is as great as you’d expect from Sidmouth who never fail to pull in a great crowd. They have made a number of changes this year which we’re really looking forward to experiencing. These include more weekend venues with more capacity, but more on this in a moment.
Warming things up they have two pre-festival concerts at the Ham with Kate Rusby and Ninebarrow on the Thursday (30 July) and Port Isaac’s Fisherman’s Friends + Jim Causley on the Friday (31 July). Other evening concerts at the Ham venue during the week include Show of Hands, Altan, Julie Fowlis and The Spooky Men’s Chorale.
Storytelling and Dance is another attraction alongside the music with more ceilidhs then you can shake your clogs at, workshops, evening dances and more. But expect variety as dance displays range from the Britannia Coconut Dancers of Bacup to the Tashi Lhunpo Tibetan Monks. This year the Bulverton Marquee dance floor will be put to the test as there will be evening shows and dance parties from 7pm till 1:30am each night including The Demon Barbers XL, Peatbog Faeries, Edward II and more.
They have also launched a brand new affordale 18-25s Bulverton in One (BiO) ticket this year which is a great move. There is also a brand new late lounge as part a refashioned venue complex called Betsy’s Lounge. It will offer a great space to relax and enjoy some late night playing and singing.
EFDSS return this year to curate their Folk Rising Plus concert series and fRoots are back again with some great leftfield performances for their ‘A Cellar Full of Folkadelia‘ (where I spent a large amount of time at last year). This year’s acts include Stick in the Wheel, Lynched, Heg and the Wolf Chorus, Twelfth Day, Amadou Diagne, Martha Tilston, Rachel Newton, Leveret, Greg Russell and Ciaran Algar and more.
There are plenty more highlights that will take some careful planning to cover with some great favourites including Harp and a Monkey, Poozies, Ewan McLennan Trio, Steve Tilston, The Wilson Family, Tim Eriksen, Alex Cumming and Nicola Beazley, Maz O’Connor, Gavin Davenport and Tom Kitching, Emily Smith, Ange Hardy, Jaywalkers, Vin Garbbutt, Nancy Kerr, Coco & the Butterfields, Moore Moss Rutter, Emily Portman Trio, Blowzabella, Spiro, Telling the Bees, Martin Carthy, Mischa Macpherson, Jackie Oates, Chris Smither, Andy Irvine and a heap more. There are 700+ festival events so you won’t be short of things to do or artists to see!
Here’s a small, a very small taster:
For tickets and full details of what on visit: http://www.sidmouthfolkweek.co.uk