I went to Shrewkfest.
And camped there.
I haven't been camping since the 1980s, and tents have got
better. I borrowed this one from a friend.
It wasn't quite as spacious as this makes it look, but while I could
have done with its being a few inches longer I slept well on both
nights. (Except, of course, that with the sun rising about 5.30 I
didn't get to sleep in much.)
One of the things I like about ukulele fandom is that it's very
participatory; it's not hard to get to a basic level of competence and
joining in is a key element. But here we had a strong concert focus,
with the main stage for the "proper" acts with CDs to sell, and a
secondary stage for local groups and ukulele clubs that had enough
members present to put on a show. Most of the side of things one could
join in with was in the workshops, which is fair enough, though some
of them were far too advanced for my level of skill.
However, the essentials were present: Butty Bach and Wye Valley HPA.
Also a variety of food trucks, though I ate the Breakfast Box (egg, 2
sausage, 2 bacon, black pud, beans, hash brown, buttered bap) too
quickly to photograph it. I missed the black pudding pizza, but I did
get the last normal pizza before they ran out of dough.
As for the concerts… well, there's a slight problem of personal taste.
A lot of the groups on both stages were basically "fifties to present
day cover band, only with ukuleles instead of lead or rhythm guitars",
and while I might well want to do that, I'm less interested in
listening to someone else doing it. Also an electric bass still sounds
like an electric bass whatever you're putting over the top of it.
Standouts for me were Tabitha
Wild, original comedy songs,
and the excellent Phil Doleman,
whose preference for early jazz, swing and blues very much matches the
sort of thing I'm most interested in playing. (He came back on Sunday
morning as part of The Exiles of Oz.)
There was a row of vendors, but they were mostly upcycling (a whatnot
turned into a table lamp) and such like, basically nothing
music-related. Kala did have a stand, but it was mostly prototypes,
very little that one could actually buy. (Also I don't love the sound
on the Kala instruments that I could afford, though the high-end ones
sound great.) I'm not actually looking for another ukulele at the
moment, so there was little temptation here; a strap vendor was the
only other option.
Back at the tent, I'd made cooking arrangements: instant noodle bowls
(the very slightly upmarket version of the Pot Noodle), for which I
just needed to boil some water. The BCB folding stove runs on alcohol
gel and doesn't take ages, though of course it's slower than a kettle;
I improvised the foil wind shield after a test run before I set out.
Because the boiling vessel has only had hot water in it, it doesn't
need much washing up.
The other major event was the Uketok sessions. There was a festival
songbook, but the big sessions for that were at noon on Friday (I
hadn't yet got to the site) and on Sunday evening (I'd already left
because I had work on Monday). Fortunately this online club filled the
gap with a session first thing each day. They use tablets and a custom
app to display "live" lyrics and chords as each song goes along.
Since they release some of their live sessions after the fact on
YouTube, this also gives me a convenient source of new things to
practice in my own time. And even if they always play at full speed, I
can slow it down to get the hang of any tricky chord changes before I
try them at tempo.
All in all a most enjoyable weekend. And now I want to do both more
camping and more ukulele playing.
Notes if you plan to attend: bring a folding chair, because there's
nothing like enough fixed seating available; this is a farm, after
all. Almost everything is out of doors, so be prepared for rain
(though this year we only got a sprinkling on the Sunday morning).