Sunday 30 December
Attendees at day four of Woodford Folk Festival's proceedings are graced with brief salvation from the heat, with light showers, cloud cover and gorgeous breezes, making the morning's routines a little more bearable.
Mid-morning, Woodford veterans Circle of Rhythm draw a crowd at The Grande stage. Having just returned from India where they recorded the soundtrack to a film set in the 1930s, the boys snap festival goers out of their sleepy morning trance and into life with their hard-hitting percussion routines. Circle Of Rhythm draw on rhythmic percussion styles from all around the world to get the crowd up and moving, and do so with the prowess that only experience can bring.
The next act to hit the Grande Stage is John Butler Trio, who open with Used To Get High, followed closely by a string of radio hits. The acoustic track Ocean, which is different every time it is performed live, is where Butler really shines. Running for about ten minutes, the track exposes his emotions and feelings toward the environment he is in. The set wraps up with Close To You, and while the performance comes across a tad predictable at times, there is no denying the rapport Butler holds with his fans, and the generosity of his spirit, as he tries to incorporate the audience as a part of his show as much as the music.
A group that could be easily mistaken as One Direction's doppelganger's follow John Butler at the Grande Stage; The Raw Dance Company. Five guys in their early to mid twenties hit the stage with a mission to prove that tap dancing is still cool and masculine, pairing their dancing skills with a three-piece rock band and beat boxer. Tapping away to jazz, rock, pop and Spanish themed tunes, each dancer is given the opportunity to show his individual style and flare, whilst sharing the stage as a group brilliantly. The MC styling and beatboxing from Dr Rhythm is an unexpected delight, as he singlehandedly performs a mash up of tunes including the Star Wars theme tune, Benny Benassi's Satisfaction, Jamie Foxx's Gold Digger, Justin Timberlake's Sexy Back, Reel 2 Real's I Like To Move It, and finishing up with an adorable Tickle-Me-Elmo impression.
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Over at Blues Town, just as dusk is setting in, the air is cooling down and the party vibe is loosening up and Dillion James Band perform to a small, yet grateful audience. This is a band who are obviously happy to be jamming together, feeding off each other's talents and energy to create some mesmerising and groovy tunes, which in turn inspires some dedicated dancing by fans near the front of the stage. Seamlessly blending their roots, reggae and blues styles together, the group leave the audience chanting along with "I feel a party comin on" – the chorus to one of their songs – toward the end of the set, which is a rather fitting way to bring on the festivities of the night.
With the night now fully set in, the perfect stage is created at the Village Green for The Dream of Zedkat Nabu, a piece of work created by Linsey Pollak; performed by four singers, and four rhythmic operators. The performance is visually stunning; the singers are situated on glowing podiums which light up gradually throughout the show, whilst creating the illusion they are floating on the river. The rhythmic operators are dressed in white and are wearing what looks like inflated surgical gloves on their heads, as they strike bamboo like trees to create some interesting sounds and beats. While the purpose of the performance may be a little confusing for those who are not familiar with the story, the beautiful lighting and sounds created by the group are enough to keep everyone entertained.
The Amphi stage plays host to Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings later in the night, which proves to be the place to be for those who want to get their groove on. Jones is arguably one of the finest front-women around at the moment, with her energetic movement and bold, beautiful voice coming as naturally to her as breath. There's a playfulness to her as well, demonstrated brilliantly when she is joined on stage by a young, attractive, male dancer for her song Give It Back, which proves to be a highly comical showcase. The energy she brings to tracks The Game Gets Old and Better Things is commendable, and yet she somehow manages to step it up a notch for her finale, where she kicks off her heels and demonstrates her true dancing abilities to the almost tribal beat provided by the Dap Kings. Absolute magic.
Monday 31 December
The morning of New Year's Eve proves to be a little less crowded than usual, presumably because campers are catching as much shut eye as possible before the festivities to come later tonight, which has the effect of creating a nice and peaceful vibe for the morning.
At the Songlines stage, Indigenous duo Stiff Gins create some beautiful vocal harmonies together. The remarkable storytelling abilities of the pair is demonstrated in the breaks of each song, as Nardi Simpson and Kaleena Briggs explain the meaning behind each of their songs, whilst being very open about their personal lives and journeys. This unabashed openness creates an immediate bond between the girls and their audience, who now feel as though they are simply hanging out with old friends (whilst also having the pleasure of hearing some amazing melodies).
Brisbane based band The Rusty Datsuns, who formed as a result of the Brisbane floods a few years back, bring a commendable crowd to the Duck Stage later in the morning. The group are visibly suffering the effects Woodford can invoke after a few days, most evident in their delirious, yet amusing banter between songs. The audience however, is very sympathetic to their cause, with a member of the audience going so far as to offer the group a flask of scotch to help them through the set. There is some beautiful crowd participation in a number of songs throughout the set, particularly with the track Lay Me Down. They finish with an encore performance, which turns out to be a cover of M.I.A's Paper Planes, much to the delight of the crowd.
Later at the Grande Stage, Die Roten Punkte, a brother-sister duo from Berlin, have begun entertaining their audience before their set is due to begin. As he is setting up, Otto Rott is casually chatting with the audience, particularly with a group of children that have hovered around the stage. He is offended to discover one of the children thinks he is only the second best act at Woodford –after the John Butler Trio – and pleads with him to discover how he can top John Butler, which becomes more amusing when John Butler's PR agent joins the conversation. When they finally begin performing, the crowd is graced with an extremely loud, high energy, and highly comedic show. With tracks like The Situation (with its “Get your finger outta my ass” refrain), Second Best Friend and Burger Store Dinosaur, it's hard not to be entertained by this crazy pair.
At this stage of the night, more people are starting to flock to the Woodfordia grounds, and the New Year's Eve buzz is starting to set in. Emma Dean and Jake Diefenbach who form Gepetto are in the process of taking the audience on a mystical journey to a fairy tale world they have created through their music and stage performance at The Parlour. Through incredibly dramatic piano, violin and vocal work the pair travel to the darkest midst of their souls, creating an amazing tension in the crowd.
The party kicks up a gear when Electric Empire hit the Songlines Stage. With a sound reminiscent of the Delfonics, this four-piece group have the power to turn every lady in the audience into jelly with their incredibly seductive voices and groove; and they know it! Performing hits from their latest EP including title track Changin', Taking it High and Hello Mr Morning, the group have the audience in the palm of their hand for the entirety of their set. Things get exciting when a didgeridoo is brought on stage for a stomp-inducing solo, followed by a cover of Jay Z and Kanye West's No Church In The Wild, performed with the help of a talkbox.
The Amphi Stage gets ready to bring on the New Year with a string of acts working together to build the hype for the evening. Flamenco Fire, Gramophone Man, Warsaw Village Band and Green Man Theory perform together to create some great party sounds and visuals, and at this point pretty much everyone is moving and dancing in some form. Australian based sword swallower Space Cowboy briefly steals the stage to demonstrate his insanity, swallowing two swords at once for the applause of the crowd.
At 11.30pm, there is 3 minutes of absolute silence, where the festival goers light candles that have been distributed throughout the day, and all the sound systems are turned off. This time is used to reflect on the year 2012 and to envision any goals and hopes for 2013. It is amazing to go from loud party dance music one moment to stillness and silence the next; it is a truly beautiful and calming experience that is hard not to be moved by.
