Urban Roots II: a personal report

If there's a better place in the whole Dublin area than the Airfield estate to hold a festival of bluegrass, old-time, and related music, I'd be glad - but very surprised - to hear of it. From where Airfield stands on the Kilmacud ridge, the panoramic view south is dominated by the mass of the Dublin mountains. The other assets - farm, animals, classic cars, gardens, the house and its history - are best described on the website; Airfield is one of those places that simply feels good to be in. And it's about fifteen minutes from the city centre by Luas...
'Urban Roots: Hoe Down on the Ranch' was first held on three June days in 2006; the results decided the Airfield Trust and Sancho Gallilei, their director of arts and culture, to put on an even bigger, four-day event in 2007 with more bands, an open invitation to buskers, and a 'horse whispering' workshop, emphasising the Hoe Down's country roots.

I started on this year's event at the beginning, with the Niall Toner Band evening concert on Thursday 21 June which has already been given coverage on the BIB. Woodbine were playing in the same room on Friday night. The room is both elegant and intimate, and there's an all-listening audience. The NTB brought and controlled their own PA system, and the sound was gorgeous; Woodbine did without PA altogether, and were no less successful - though having been roped in to play banjo with them (which is always a pleasure), I'd have been glad to hear the instrument better myself.

I missed both the early shows on Saturday and Sunday - Fair City Grass and Bray Vista. This is all the more to be regretted as Fair City Grass were introducing a new lead vocalist (singer-songwriter, DJ, and Hank Williams fan Andrew Basquille) and a guest bass player (sound engineer, multi-instrumentalist, and instrument collector Dave Howard). Two Time Polka and Prison Love were both in powerful form - the latter were unavoidably without Mark O'Mahony's harmony vocals, but in compensation had advance copies of their new CD with them, A night in the box. As a bonus on the original programme, master flatpicker Chris Newman gave a two-hour workshop on Saturday. The open invitation to buskers resulted, among other things, in picking sessions on both Saturday and Sunday afternoons in the Art Gallery. Some of those who took part found themselves wishing they could meet and pick regularly in such a location...

Any downsides? The Saturday evening concert was cancelled due to an event no festival can guard against: Broken Strings were prevented from coming by bereavement in Wilson Davies's immediate family. The only aspect of the organisation that may need further thought is the shelter for bands and audience in the courtyard used for the afternoon shows. Uncertain weather makes it necessary for the bandstand, the PA systems, and wet-weather seating for the audience to be inside the main barn, with the side door open on to the courtyard - where, as it happened to be dry, most of the audience was. A band on stage was consequently not facing at least half of its audience. Would it be practicable to have a large canopy in the courtyard, instead of (or as well as) the several small canopies?

The Hoe Down has not yet had really decent weather - chilly in 2006, showery and changeable in 2007. Even with the uncertainty, though, the attendance on Sunday 24 June seemed to be testing Airfield's parking capacity. Third time is the charm (as they say in the States): a good Midsummer in 2008 should see Dublin's own roots music festival pulling in the crowds that it deserves.