Folk artists conjure up midsummer magic
The grounds of Lincoln castle echoed with music and applause as the first Midsummer Magic folk concert held the rain at bay.
Despite warnings of thunderstorms, nearly a thousand picnic-carrying folk fans came to the Midsummer Magic event on Saturday.
The crowd was small compared to those drawn by previous Midsummer Magic acts such as the Sugababes, McFly and Hayley Westenra, but folk fans said this was the largest folk audience ever seen in the city.
Owner of the Old Bakery and event organiser Alan Ritson said: "I was so pleased to get involved with this.
"It is the first time we've brought folk anywhere as big as the castle and it is great that so many people turned up.
"What we're trying to build on is the audiences who have come to our other venues.
"Chris Moreno very kindly said he would give us a day for folk music and I am so thrilled we got Kate Rusby who I think drew the crowd in."
The music evenings are put on by Chris Moreno Ltd and there are three more Midsummer Magic events scheduled for the end of August.
Faustus launched proceedings with songs about pirates, wicked weavers and sheep stealing.
Second act Lau were winners of BBC Radio 2's best group award in the 2008 and 2009 Folk Awards.
Lincoln regulars, the group are coming back for the third time to play at Lincoln College theatre on October 2.
For more on Midsummer Magic, see Monday's Echo.
2 Comments
by Alan Ritson, Lincoln
Wednesday, July 01 2009, 8:15AM
“It is disappointing that Cameron appears to view this recent Castle concert as a negative event since an audience of virtually 1000 people for a folk concert in this city is indeed a major positive achievement. There is little doubt that with the current difficult economic climate in which we all exist, the major names in the pop and rock world would represent a financial challenge to any potential promoter and indeed there have been many events already cancelled throughout the country this year due to relatively poor advance ticket sales.
Over the past couple of years, support and encouragement by the local audience population has transformed the City of Lincoln into a major player in the national scene of folk music with LAU, Rachel Unthank and the Winterset, Martin Simpson and Andy Cutting, the Ian McMillan Orchestra, Battlefield Band and many others all scheduled to appear at various venues in the city prior to the end of this year. Lincoln is now in the very proud position to boast that it is a major player within this increasingly popular music genre and can look forward to an extremely bright future. Facilities offered by venues such as Lincoln Drill Hall, Theatre Royal, Lincoln College Knights Building, LPAC and the Engine Shed rival anything offered throughout the country for this type of event. Therefore the recent Lincoln Castle concert can only be viewed as an outstanding success and a catalyst for a very exciting future.”
by Cameron, Lincoln
Monday, June 29 2009, 2:29PM
“It is a shame that bigger acts couldnt have been brought in and that there wasnt as much marketing of this as there could have been either.
The concert was starting to become a name for itself in the music industry in recent years with some great UK names appearing and with the right funding and promotion could have grown further into the future. But sadly we seem to have lost the names, as such the appeal is lost, the promotion of it was lacking because of the lost appeal and although a good turn out for a folk audience, a folk audience of around a thousand is barely going to break Echo headlines let alone make any impression on bringing in tourists or revenue to businesses from national awareness of the event, I cant see the future being a long one for this event if it is sliding backwards this quickly.”