Woodford in review: Day One

28 December 2009 by Max Easton

Straight from the heart of the Woodford Folk Festival comes part one of our daily updates from the festival site.

And so begins the Woodford Folk Festival 2009/2010. Cutting a long introductory paragraph about the weather, the music, the workshops and the 'spirit of Woodford', we've been having a blast. Having built a bar, salvaged an old futon and laid down the carpet from Richo's living room as grounding, the first couple of days pre-festivities have been a lesson in luxury...or over-the-top ridiculousness depending on where you stand. So when the time came to actually leave it all behind and see this festival thing that we've all travelled to, it seemed to be more of an effort than it should have been; but that effort was rewarded ten-fold.

Having made our way in to stroll around the site and absorb the sights and sounds of one of Australia's most professionally prepared  festivals, we sat down for Nano Stern, a Chilean singer-songwriter with the voice of the White Buffalo and the feel-good vibes of Loren. Since I'll be writing another six of these, I'll take it easy on the play-by-play, stopping only to mention the quality of Melbourne singer-songwriter Angie Hart (joined briefly by Something For Kate front-man Paul Dempsey,) Whitley's set of distorted guitars and ethereal soundscapes and a rain-sodden set by the Panics. The music kicked off  with an absolute bang, and there's even more solid gold to come in the days ahead.

If you're at home reading this, it's likely that you might be thinking about making your way along to Woodford for a day. In the past, the deciding factor for day ticket sales move seems to have been the weather. Thankfully for the organisers of Woodford, it's been as close to perfect as you can get. Days of sunshine with intermittent rain followed by an interrupting sun shower, another hour of sun, and a  sprinkling of cold, cold water; all sitting well below 40 degrees. It's been exactly as you'd want a week of Summer camping (pending a waterproof set up) and there's absolutely no excuse for not making it  down.

If you're still not convinced, keep checking back each and every day for photos, feature articles, reviews and perhaps an interview or two  if we get around to it.

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