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Fantastic first night at DylanFest

Posted Saturday, June 30, 2007

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Moville's DylanFest

Ireland's first ever DylanFest got off to a cracking start last night in Moville.

It was a bit late in starting with the Chris Winters Band not starting till after 9 o'clock instead of the scheduled 8pm, but once it got going it didn't seem to matter.

The Chris Winters band just played a 45 minute set in order to let The NewFools from Belgium play their full set.

According to Dennis from The Plea, Donegal's top Dylan influenced band "These guys are ****ing good".

Split

The Chris Winters Band had officially split up after differences in practice but they had wanted to play Moville's DylanFest so much that they had got together for one last weekend so last night was their penultimate performance.

Their final performance as a band will be in the Malin Road tonight.

Musical Differences

I saw Chris Winters Doran after his gig watching the Belgians and noticed that he was on his own and the other members of the band were in a group elsewhere.

I asked him how he thought it had gone and he said that he thought they would be tighter for tonight. I told him I'd asked a few people in the audience and they all thought it was great.

I passed this on and he seemed grateful if a bit surprised.

"We don't normally play as a Dylan band" he said. Perhaps they should.

The New Fools

Belgium's top Dylan band The New Fools took the stage just before 10 o'clock and after a few minutes of tuning up they began their act.

The Belgians played as a 6-piece band and were able to generate even more sound.

I had thought that the DylanFest would be perfect for this time of the year because it remained light for longer.

However, the atmosphere increased enormously as the light faded. Perhaps we should hold it at a different time of year next year.

Worries

The gardai had been worried about the size of the crowd that might have come to Moville, and they were ever present as they drove up and down, but there were no huge problems last night

There were problems before the start last night as the Belgians weren't happy with their accomodation and promptly walked out and booked into the Foyle Hotel demanding to be at least partly compensated. I said I would see what I could do.

Amp Short

They were to reuse the gear that the Chris Winters Band were using but they discovered that they were a guitar amp short and I had got a call to come up to the square early.

Where was I to find a guitar amp?

Luckily George from Anchor Windows had told me ealrier in the week that he had a Fender Guitar amp and I got his friend Eddie Harkin to phone him to ask for a loan of it.

He wasn't home but his wife let us in to get it.

She asked us not to tell anyone that there was dust on top of it and we assured her that we wouldn't.

Eddie pointed out the great view that the house had of Lough Foyle and I noticed that the doors and windows were pretty good too. They must get a special deal.

The New Fools

The Belgians were great when they actually got going and they played on almost to 12 o'clock.

The atmosphere increased as the night went on.

Womenly Pressure

After the Belgian band finished in the square I had wanted to go and see The Plea at Rosatos but both my wife and daughter, who is over from America, said they felt duty bound to go and see the 29-year-old French guy, Steph Buhe, that they had picked up from the Airporter bus at Derry.

I noticed that Rosatos was packed on the way past.

I was told that the Bar-A-Cuda was pretty crowded too.

Great Act

There was a good crowd when I went into Rawdons and that increased later on. Few people left.

Steph was absolutely great. With apologies to Paddy, Sean and Tim, there hasn't been a night like it in Rawdons for a long time.

The crowd were great too as they sang song after song along with him.

Two More Gigs

Steph has two more gigs, both in the Bar-A-Cuda, and I can guarantee they will be well attended.

I suppose that as an online reporter, and as organiser of the event, I should have at least gone to see a snatch of the other bands playing, but I was having such a great time at Rawdons that I didn't bother.

Knowledgable Audience

Steph had a great time too. He said that he was surprised how many people knew the words of the Dylan songs he was playing.

He wasn't used to this from playing in France.

He, himself, is a big Dylan fan and so this was a delight for him.

Big Day Today

Friday night was always expected to be the quiet night of the DylanFest as Saturday is the big day and night so I'm really looking forward to what is taking place today starting from about midday.

It will be interesting to see Lauren Murphy, the fifteen year old that all of those from Moville who saw the Rory Gallagher festival at Ballyshannon are raving about.

Big Acts

Finbarr Clancy and his cousin Collie Power will also be playing. I spoke to them in the square last night.

Michael Gray, the world's top Dylan expert and author will be arriving for his one-man-show too.

And then the Chris Winters band and The Phantom Engineers will be playing in the Malin Road.

Great Start

It was a great start last night but his is the big day today and we can expect even more people to show up.

I'm looking forward to it.