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Scallowawife has already put in a report on the Shetland Folk Festival but here's another one.

I've been regularly going to the festival for 15-16 years now, but this was consort's first time - so it was left to me to choose venues. We had wanted to go to Boddam hall on the Thurs but it was sold out - & could have been several times over apparently.

Didn't get Festival Club membership this year. Last year I'd been there but it was always so packed that you couldn't move. I also got the impression that too many folk were there just for the beer.

On Friday, Vagilased from Estonia visited our school and put on a concert for P7, S1 & S2 pupils. Most of them seemed not much older than the pupils themselves but the kids reacted really well to them. (Including 1 heavy metal fan who was really getting into them, jumping up & down & weaving his hands in the air!!)

At Clickimin on Sat I queued for seats for Consort, Ruthodanort, Scallowawife & myself. Managed to get seats right at the front. Shetland's own Shoormal started off & as usual were excellent. I have their 2 CDs but sadly their 1st one (Indigo Skies) is no longer available. Joyce McDill has the sort of voice that sets your hair on end.

Session A9 (made up of people from Perth, Inverness, Orkney & Shetland) blasted the centre. What energy!! Fiddles were approaching meltdown!

Grammy winner Tim O'Brien & his sister Mollie were next - with Tim's 2 son's, Mollie's husband & daughter, & a really scary looking Texan banjo player & guitarist. They were good but paled compared to their 1997 set. If you want to hear what Tim O'Brien sounds like, listen to his 1999 album The Crossing.

Dougie MacLean closed the show & proved what an experienced performer he is. He had us singing the choruses to some of his songs, singing fiddle bits, etc. Of course he just had to sing "Caledonia" - one of Scotland's other national anthems. It's a far better song than the dirge that is Flower of Scotland - although singing the latter at Murrayfield along with 60,000 others is another thing altogether.

As said before, consort had never been to the Shetland Folk Festival before but she thoroughly enjoyed it & was impressed at the professionalism of everyone.

For anyone that has never been to the Shetland Folk Festival, they are missing a wild weekend. It's well worth the visit, although you have to be quick off the mark for tickets. Many of this year's concerts were sold out way in advance.

I seem to recall Herman Ess mentioning that he'd never been to the folk festival while in Shetland. Shame on him!! He's got the Orkney Folk Festival coming up later this month & I recommend Croft No 5, Malinky & Old Blind Dogs to him.

Orkney also has the Proclaimers coming at the end of June. Saw them in the 1980s & they were great!

I'll get back with a bit about the Sunday night Foys & some photos

Pics from the Clickimin on Sat night

Here are some pics from the Clickimin Foy on 30 Apr. The Foys are when all the visiting acts go between 3 different venues - Clickimin Centre, Lerwick British Legion, Shetland Hotel. A lot of organising & over 5 hours of good music.