'The people's festival' - Athy 2010 reviewed

Thanks to Sharon Loughrin for this personal report on one night of the twentieth Athy Bluegrass Festival:

Athy Bluegrass Festival has certainly notched up yet another successful weekend of great bluegrass music. Unfortunately we could not make it down until Saturday, but friends tell us we missed a good night on Friday. Host band Woodbine got Saturday night off to a rousing start with the usual good craic and friendly banter adding to a strong and varied performance. Great music combined with the ability to get lots of laughs make for a good beginning to any night!

Niall Toner and his band delivered a professional performance of mainly original material which demonstrate the great songwriting skills of Niall, Dick, and Clem backed by fine musicianship (Clem O'Brien performed solo on Saturday afternoon to great acclaim). It's always good to hear the personal anecdotes from Niall that led to some of his creations.

High Plains Tradition rounded off the night with a breathtaking performance, the very essence of traditional bluegrass - superb vocals and picking coupled with impeccable timing in true bluegrass fashion. Athy seems to have a soft spot for wee Bobbie, but the audience loved them all! We also thoroughly enjoyed the Sunday morning gospel concert with the band in the Carlton Abbey Hotel, a fitting setting for such wonderful gospel and a cappella numbers.

For us as regular festival-goers, each festival brings its own unique quality - while it's a thrill to see the plethora of big names playing at some festivals, perhaps it's fitting that Ireland's oldest bluegrass festival is very much the people's festival. Athy places great emphasis on local talent, and was recently described to me as 'the pickers' festival' - we certainly enjoy the impromptu sessions around the hotel and the pubs as much as the organised concerts.

Long may Tony O'Brien continue to pull people in from all corners to support this event - a place to catch up with old friends and make new friends.

We hope to post photos and video material from the festival on the BIB shortly. Has anyone taken some good shots of the NTB on stage at Athy, in particular? The band would be glad to get copies.