Agiofest Redeemed! (part 2)

Last night, was wonderful!  Unlike the previous evening we didn't arrive too early, but even if we had arrived earlier, it would seem that everything went better than great!   We arrived just in time to catch the last song of the musical set of the Good Old Boys (and the lovely Jemma).

not all the band, sorry

And then we were absolutely blown away by the Manchester group 4 Square!

4 Square is an amazing (and young) group of extremely talented people playing wonderful music that would be hard to describe except to say that there's a strong folk music aspect as well as a fair bit of excellent Irish fiddling with some Stéphane Grappelli overtones (and a touch of Jean-Luc Ponty!), a flavor of American Cajun beat and bluegrass banjo and a lineup of songs that were a cross between traditional and modern with several amazing original compositions.  Anyway you look at it it was a hand clapping, toe tapping band, who kept the audience in the palm of their hands, and they made me laugh out loud with the joy and fun in their music.

they played this song last night - with the audience participation on the "hey!"s

If that sounds like a rave- it was.  I loved 'em.  I figured that they would be a tough act to follow.

~~~

Joe Brown and his son Pete

Actually Joe Brown exceeded my expectations!  He performed with wit, charm and a whole lot of talent.  His son Pete sang a couple of songs as well, and it would seem the "talent torch" is passed to the next generation!

Although the years have flown by (he's been in the music business for over 50 years! gulp!) he's still "got it"!  He played some new things but satisfied his audience with old favorites like "A Picture of You" (this YouTube version will take you back in time, as it's the original Decca version!), and of course the infamous "Henry the Eighth", as well as playing some fantastic 'covers' - one of my favorites being Bob Dylan's "Well, Well, Well" - a really great song...

Anyway he played a couple of other great fav's of mine so I had an absolutely terrific evening.

We had a lovely spot on the grass on the hillside.  Our neighbors all came as well, so there was a group of about a dozen of us perched on the hill, waving to friends who'd look up and recognize one or the other of us!  A cooler was available for supplementary aid but beer and wine were available at the refreshments stand.  (recommendation for next year tho, would be an ice cream bar seller, as, I'm sure with all the children running about, you could have raked in a fortune!)


Joe Brown closed the evening with this song - and it's pretty appropriate...!

a perfect ending...