Accrington Folk Festival

Gayle · 21-08-2009, 18:13

Something for the lovers of all kinds of Folk music.

Accrington's Folk Festival on 12th September.

From 1.30pm at Accrington Town Hall.

Tickets £15

Featuring our very own Riotous Assembly - Zero's band. Plus, some other quite big names from the world of folkiness.

Bernard Dawson · 22-08-2009, 09:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gayle

Something for the lovers of all kinds of Folk music.

Accrington's Folk Festival on 12th September.

From 1.30pm at Accrington Town Hall.

Tickets £15

Featuring our very own Riotous Assembly - Zero's band. Plus, some other quite big names from the world of folkiness.

Looks like some good stuff on Gayle. Do you think this could be an annual event if it's successful.

What's Folkiness mean by the way Gayle?

Gayle · 22-08-2009, 17:11

I hope it will be an annual event and hopefully get bigger every year. This year we've got the main event, some buskers on Broadway and one pub involved. If it's successful, I'm sure other venues will be interested in taking part.

Gayle · 10-09-2009, 10:14

Come on - you need to get your tickets and come down to this event.

We need to prove that the people of Accrington want and deserve these events being put on for them.

Gayle · 13-09-2009, 07:40

Well, got to be honest, not a huge success. Very small audience. The ones that came appreciated the music but not sure it was worth the effort.

So what put people off?

The music/acts?
The venue?
The nice weather outside?
The length of the event?
The cost?

Were people aware of it? What did we get wrong?

Or was it simply a combination of all these things and it just didn't appeal in general?

Wynonie Harris · 13-09-2009, 08:10

I'm not into folk music, so I didn't bother going, but just a couple of thoughts -

An event like this, by its very nature, attracts something of a specialist audience. Was it advertised in folk music magazines and on folk music programmes on the radio? The blues magazines I read always carry full-page ads for the Burnley Blues Festival and Colne Rhythm & Blues Festival.

Perhaps, it would have been better to stage a two-day event. If people are travelling from other parts of the country, they might not think it was worth it just for one day. If they could make a weekend of it, they might have been more inclined to come.

Folk is a thriving minority music just like blues, so if Burnley and Colne can make a go of it, I'm sure it could be a success over here. Perhaps you ought to give it another go next year, but chat to the organisers of the blues fests first, for some tips?

Gayle · 13-09-2009, 10:45

It wasn't advertised in the folk magazines but it was promoted on quite a few folk music programmes on the radio.

I do wonder whether we tried to pack too much into one day and should have spread it out over a week or weekend.

One of the organisers of the Colne blues festival was the organiser of our folk festival so he was our expert.

Wynonie Harris · 13-09-2009, 19:59

Would've thought a weekend-long festival would make it more of an event. Hope you aren't too discouraged and try again next year, Gayle. Even though folk isn't my scene, would be nice to see Accy host a nationally regarded event, in the same way that Burnley and Colne do with the blues fests.

Bernard Dawson · 13-09-2009, 20:08

Sorry Gayle, I didn't get there myself. It doesn't sound like it was too successful , but I hope that doesn't put you off trying something similar in the future.

Tealeaf · 14-09-2009, 13:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gayle

The music/acts?
The venue?
The nice weather outside?
The length of the event?
The cost?

Were people aware of it? What did we get wrong?

Or was it simply a combination of all these things and it just didn't appeal in general?

I wasn't in Accy last weekend, so I can only take a long-arm view. I don't know what acts there were, but I would suggest the timing and the venue were possibly misconceived. Good folk music goes down better when accompanied by good ale, so was there a bar selling this on saturday afternoon? And the timing seems peculiar. Most people have other things to at this time. An evening start would have been far better with less acts which would have resulted in a lower cover charge with more people coming in.

Maybe next time you could get a joint venture up with CAMERA at their ale festival.

Oh, and the only publicity I saw for this was that posted on here by you....nowt in the Telegraph or Observer (or at least their online editions)

cashman · 14-09-2009, 15:15

Tealeaf has a good point i reckon, think it does go down better in evening with ale, used to go Jazz club regular to em back in the day always packed. worth considering.

jaysay · 14-09-2009, 15:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by cashman

Tealeaf has a good point i reckon, think it does go down better in evening with ale, used to go Jazz club regular to em back in the day always packed. worth considering.

And there was me thinking you went to the Jazz Club just for the music cashy

Gayle · 14-09-2009, 16:07

There was a big feature about it in the Lancs Telegraph but it may not have been on line. It was advertised in every local paper as well, but they don't put adverts on line.
Plus, just because you saw it on here doesn't mean that it's not a valid way of getting things over - that's why we try to cover as many bases as possible so that you see it in at least one of the places.

The bar was a failing - definitely. There was a bar but it wasn't a specialist bar, we should have done a fine ales bar and promoted that as a feature. Only problem was that the people who have the contract for the bar weren't able to do anything 'special'!!!!

As for keeping it to evenings - I agree. I think a full day of it was too long.

cashman · 14-09-2009, 16:15

its like owt gayle- "Trial N Error" don't be discouraged think it has good possibilitys.

Reamer · 15-09-2009, 13:47

Would've gone to this if I hadn't already arranged something for that weekend some time ago. Agree that combining with an ale festival would help to attract more people.I remember one in Kirkby Lonsdale that was essentially a beer festival with a folk band thrown in. Very pleasant it was too, and noticed as I imbibed freely that 'folkies' do tend to drink copious amounts of beer.
Don't give up on it though Gayle, I'm not sure what people expect folk music to be. Do they think it's all about Dick Gaughan ? Looking at the poster ,'Roots' is given prominence and the artists list featured a jazz orchestra. Sometimes I think people see the phrase 'folk music' and just switch off.