My #woodfordFolkFestival bingo card filled up pretty quickly, in no particular order:
* on one day, I had several women singing a cappella while I showered
* bumped into Costa the Garden Gnome
* Saw three former work colleagues perform
* was offered free edibles
* bumped into Dr Karl
* Saw in New Years with a cabaret dancer doing a headstand, naked with a lit sparkler between her arse cheeks
There was more but my #WFF2023 bingo card was already full.
Day 6 update from #woodfordFolkFestival
Best Fever Dream: Sewer Rat Girl
Great show that covered some real & surreal territory. I think by seeing her show, I joined a cult? I'm unsure. Check in with me later.
Best Performance: my youngest playing violin in the Folkaphonic Orchestra
Making his 2nd Woodford appearance, it is objective fact that this was clearly the best performance not only of the day but the entire festival and not parental bias... 😜
Caught some talks, art & music
Day 5 highlights from #WFF2023:
The NYE 3 minutes of silence, nothing but crickets and frogs as 60,000 people are dead quiet. Spine tingling.
The roar afterwards is unforgettable.
Surprise Standout: Alana Wilkinson
I knew nothing of her and she blew me and the packed Parlour away with her passion, compassion, wit, humour and general brilliance.
Most Committed: Betty Grumble doing a naked headstand for what felt like 10 minutes with a sparkler between her arse cheeks.
Day 4 #woodfordFolkFestival highlights:
Continued the "is this WFF2003 or #WFF2023?" cognitive dissonance by being in the mosh for #Custard & #Regurgitator back to back.
This was aided by 2003 being the last time Gurg played here.
Custard and Gurg brought their A games They were on fire with tight, energetic shows. I'd go so far as to say they were the best gigs I've seen from either band.
Lot's grey GenX moshing, slam dancing, crowd surfing & up on shoulders.
Loads of sore bodies today 🤣
Day 2 highlights from #woodfordFolkFestival
* Best music: Ukelele Death Squad
High energy, tight musicianship, great songs, light comedy.
* Best Perfornance: Temple of JuJu
Every performer at this event was brilliant. So much technical skill & performance flair. Space Cowboy runs a tight show
* How tF have I never heard of: Jackie Marshall?
Is it because she's a she, an #anarchist & her music is political? She stars in this 2023 movie:
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt23461456/?ref_=ttawd_over
I'll be watching that
Three Chords and the Truth: Directed by Claire Pasvolsky. With Jackie Marshall, Maisie Owens, Matthew Heys, Timothy Blundell. If ANGIE wasn't so self-sabotaging, she could have been one of Australia's leading musicians. Now in her forties, she finds herself terminally ill and alone. She struggles financially and plays in a seedy pub to fund the recording of her final album. When ANGIE meets RUBY, a teenage runaway, the two form an unlikely bond when ANGIE teaches her to play guitar and write songs... but as RUBY becomes reliant on ANGIE, it becomes unbearable for ANGIE to tell her new young friend that she only has months to live.
Sights from day 1 at #WFF2023:
Acts of note:
* #fourplayStringQuartet, sans @neilhimself were the best act of the day. I think I'll catch all their shows.
* Bad Sext were the best new act I saw. Grrl punk show meets cabaret meets comedy, had it all. Great show. Would fit in at @dnalounge if you could drag them out of Brisbane.
* Resin Dogs - defied my expectations of being a sad rehash of 2003 and brought a high energy set of bangers - including the new stuff.
Second morning of #woodfordFolkFestival and the total occasions that there have been women singing while I shower at #WFF2023 remains:
0
#WFF2022 set my expectations too high
TIL at #woodfordFolkFestival that the #auslan gesture for "toxic" appears to be what teenage me would recognise ad "the dickhead gesture".
I started 2023 seeing the following bands lift the roof off their venues at #wff2023
* Miss Fribby and the Femmes
* Tijuana Cartel
* Fírinn
* All Strings Attached
Whatever else 2023 brings, it's off to the best possible start 🎉
krejgo