Open House Festival!
So, I've spent a significant amount of time over the past two days at the Open House Festival in Belfast:
Friday night:
Alabama 3, with support from The Pedro Delgados and the 69ers.
The 69ers opened, and are a two-piece country/rock/garage band from Amsterdam. Think the White Stripes with a much more talented female drummer and a bit of a country influence. Also the guitarist/singer looks like Vince Vaughn with comedy sideburns, which was good for a laugh or two.
The Pedro Delgados are also from Amsterdam, and are a bluegrass band with rock n roll attitude. They're really good fun, and also really sound blokes, but more about that when I talk about Saturday.
Alabama 3 were fantastic. They opened up with Mao Tse Tung Said and had the entire place bouncing right away. Too Sick To Pray and Woke Up This Morning were both played early in the set, and they did the "full" version of Woke Up This Morning from Exile on Coldharbour Lane, rather than the La Peste/Sopranos re-mix. The addition of Devlin Love to the band has taken them to yet another level, and classics like U Don't Danse to Tekno Anymore and Speed of the Sound of Loneliness really do gain something with her vocals replacing Larry's. Not to say that Larry Love wasn't excellent, he was, and the very Reverend D. Wayne Love was simply the coolest motherfucker you will ever see. Other highlights were Hypo Full of Love (12 Step Plan), Lockdown, Bullet Proof, Power In The Blood, Hello I'm Johnny Cash, Peace In The Valley, which they finished the set with, and Work It (All Night Long). Quite simply one of the best performances I've ever seen, and if you get a chance to see them you should take it.
Saturday afternoon:
THE CHILLI-FEST!
Music, food, chillis, chilli sauces, beer, fire dancers and a chilli-eating contest. What more do you want?
Matthew and I went up to the chilli-fest, met up with some guys I was at uni with, and had an absolute blast. The first band on the main tent were the Pedro Delgados, and when they hit the stage Matthew and I were the only punters in the audience, firstly because I wanted to see them and secondly because I needed somewhere to feed Matthew. So having bought some BBQ Pork and Beans and sat ourselves down we were the only ones in there, and because of this they gave us a free copy of their CD. By the time they were playing their 4th song the tent was fairly well full, certainly all the tables were taken, and they were in full swing. I can't express how good these guys are, they have so much energy and so much ability that they are worth the effort to go and see. I got to speak to a couple of the guys later on in the afternoon, and they were really sound blokes who were very entertained by Matthew's dancing.
Next up we headed over to the second stage and saw Jackson Cage, with our friend Edelle on vocals and again I was really impressed. They are a fantastic country rock band, in the traditions of Drive-By Truckers and the Allman Brothers. The songs are punchy, catchy and the musicianship is right out of the top drawer. Matthew managed, somehow, to fall asleep during their final song, so when Edelle came down to see us he was out for the count, though he was awake to meet her when she came into the main tent later on.
With Matthew asleep I took a walk around the chilli-fest and sampled a few of the hot sauces. I bought a bottle of Blair's Death Sauce, which had a really nice flavour as well as packing a bit of a punch. Other sauces that I liked were ChilliPete's Dragon's Blood (which is rocket fuel), Dave's Insanity and Dave's Ultimate Insanity Sauces. The hottest one I tried was ChilliPete's Satan's Shit sauce, which is utterly mindblowing, and so I gave the only hotter sauce a miss, which was the Dragon's Blood Batch 37.
I then went back into the main tent, and Matthew stayed asleep all the way through Ivan Ivanovich and the Kreml Krauts, which was unbelievable as they were really loud. They are a band that combines Country, German Oompa-Oompa and traditional Russian music to form a really unique sound. Really enjoyable, but I had no idea at all what they were singing about, as they were singing in German and Russian.
Quick trip over to the Nachos part of the Cajun Cafe for Nachos with Salsa and Chipotle Cheese, topped off with a little Naga hot sauce. Matthew woke up at this stage, so I had to find some Nachos without any sauce on them to give him, and we polished them off while waiting for the next band.
Next up was The Red Stick Ramblers, a Cajun band from Baton Rouge who sang in both English and Cajun French. They were pretty good, and are another bunch of nice blokes as they came down and talked to me about the Saints-Bills game because they spotted me wearing my Bills jersey. They think the Saints will win, but are still pretty nervous as they think that Buffalo can put up points on them. They're partly right, the Bills will put up points on them, and will win.
By this stage I thought Matthew would have needed to go home, but he was really enjoying himself and so we stayed on, and I'm glad we did, because the next act was Lucifire, who is a fire dancer. Between fire-eating, breathing fire and using a fire whip Matthew was completely captivated. The highlight was when she sent a massive fireball across the stage with her fire-whip.
After that finished Lucifire went and got changed and then came out to compere the chilli-eating contest. Needless to be said many people ate lots of chillis and and will have very sore arses this morning. They had to eat Jalapenos, then Habaneros, then Scotch Bonnetts, then Nagas, then more Nagas, then the new Naga derivative created by ChilliPete's which is rated at 1,080,000 on the Scoville scale, which makes it the hottest chilli in the world, then they had to drink a spoonful of Dragon's Blood Batch 37, and by that stage there were STILL two competitors left. What separated them was eating one of the hottest chillis in the world dipped in Dragon's Blood Batch 37 sauce. Which looked painful.
By this stage it was home-time, and almost 6 hours after we had entered the chillifest we left and headed back to the train station. Highly recommend the chilli-fest, and it's brilliant for taking kids to, they even had a portaloo set up with a baby changing table, so I was able to sort Matthew out without having to go across to one of the shopping centres.
I was meant to be going to the Gypsy Hotel club night tonight, but scriblix isn't feeling well, so I'm going to stay at home, thus keeping up my tradition of missing the Sunday night event at the Open House Festival that I have tickets for (two years ago I was going to see Seasick Steve and Tracy went into labour that morning).
Long entry is long.
Friday night:
Alabama 3, with support from The Pedro Delgados and the 69ers.
The 69ers opened, and are a two-piece country/rock/garage band from Amsterdam. Think the White Stripes with a much more talented female drummer and a bit of a country influence. Also the guitarist/singer looks like Vince Vaughn with comedy sideburns, which was good for a laugh or two.
The Pedro Delgados are also from Amsterdam, and are a bluegrass band with rock n roll attitude. They're really good fun, and also really sound blokes, but more about that when I talk about Saturday.
Alabama 3 were fantastic. They opened up with Mao Tse Tung Said and had the entire place bouncing right away. Too Sick To Pray and Woke Up This Morning were both played early in the set, and they did the "full" version of Woke Up This Morning from Exile on Coldharbour Lane, rather than the La Peste/Sopranos re-mix. The addition of Devlin Love to the band has taken them to yet another level, and classics like U Don't Danse to Tekno Anymore and Speed of the Sound of Loneliness really do gain something with her vocals replacing Larry's. Not to say that Larry Love wasn't excellent, he was, and the very Reverend D. Wayne Love was simply the coolest motherfucker you will ever see. Other highlights were Hypo Full of Love (12 Step Plan), Lockdown, Bullet Proof, Power In The Blood, Hello I'm Johnny Cash, Peace In The Valley, which they finished the set with, and Work It (All Night Long). Quite simply one of the best performances I've ever seen, and if you get a chance to see them you should take it.
Saturday afternoon:
THE CHILLI-FEST!
Music, food, chillis, chilli sauces, beer, fire dancers and a chilli-eating contest. What more do you want?
Matthew and I went up to the chilli-fest, met up with some guys I was at uni with, and had an absolute blast. The first band on the main tent were the Pedro Delgados, and when they hit the stage Matthew and I were the only punters in the audience, firstly because I wanted to see them and secondly because I needed somewhere to feed Matthew. So having bought some BBQ Pork and Beans and sat ourselves down we were the only ones in there, and because of this they gave us a free copy of their CD. By the time they were playing their 4th song the tent was fairly well full, certainly all the tables were taken, and they were in full swing. I can't express how good these guys are, they have so much energy and so much ability that they are worth the effort to go and see. I got to speak to a couple of the guys later on in the afternoon, and they were really sound blokes who were very entertained by Matthew's dancing.
Next up we headed over to the second stage and saw Jackson Cage, with our friend Edelle on vocals and again I was really impressed. They are a fantastic country rock band, in the traditions of Drive-By Truckers and the Allman Brothers. The songs are punchy, catchy and the musicianship is right out of the top drawer. Matthew managed, somehow, to fall asleep during their final song, so when Edelle came down to see us he was out for the count, though he was awake to meet her when she came into the main tent later on.
With Matthew asleep I took a walk around the chilli-fest and sampled a few of the hot sauces. I bought a bottle of Blair's Death Sauce, which had a really nice flavour as well as packing a bit of a punch. Other sauces that I liked were ChilliPete's Dragon's Blood (which is rocket fuel), Dave's Insanity and Dave's Ultimate Insanity Sauces. The hottest one I tried was ChilliPete's Satan's Shit sauce, which is utterly mindblowing, and so I gave the only hotter sauce a miss, which was the Dragon's Blood Batch 37.
I then went back into the main tent, and Matthew stayed asleep all the way through Ivan Ivanovich and the Kreml Krauts, which was unbelievable as they were really loud. They are a band that combines Country, German Oompa-Oompa and traditional Russian music to form a really unique sound. Really enjoyable, but I had no idea at all what they were singing about, as they were singing in German and Russian.
Quick trip over to the Nachos part of the Cajun Cafe for Nachos with Salsa and Chipotle Cheese, topped off with a little Naga hot sauce. Matthew woke up at this stage, so I had to find some Nachos without any sauce on them to give him, and we polished them off while waiting for the next band.
Next up was The Red Stick Ramblers, a Cajun band from Baton Rouge who sang in both English and Cajun French. They were pretty good, and are another bunch of nice blokes as they came down and talked to me about the Saints-Bills game because they spotted me wearing my Bills jersey. They think the Saints will win, but are still pretty nervous as they think that Buffalo can put up points on them. They're partly right, the Bills will put up points on them, and will win.
By this stage I thought Matthew would have needed to go home, but he was really enjoying himself and so we stayed on, and I'm glad we did, because the next act was Lucifire, who is a fire dancer. Between fire-eating, breathing fire and using a fire whip Matthew was completely captivated. The highlight was when she sent a massive fireball across the stage with her fire-whip.
After that finished Lucifire went and got changed and then came out to compere the chilli-eating contest. Needless to be said many people ate lots of chillis and and will have very sore arses this morning. They had to eat Jalapenos, then Habaneros, then Scotch Bonnetts, then Nagas, then more Nagas, then the new Naga derivative created by ChilliPete's which is rated at 1,080,000 on the Scoville scale, which makes it the hottest chilli in the world, then they had to drink a spoonful of Dragon's Blood Batch 37, and by that stage there were STILL two competitors left. What separated them was eating one of the hottest chillis in the world dipped in Dragon's Blood Batch 37 sauce. Which looked painful.
By this stage it was home-time, and almost 6 hours after we had entered the chillifest we left and headed back to the train station. Highly recommend the chilli-fest, and it's brilliant for taking kids to, they even had a portaloo set up with a baby changing table, so I was able to sort Matthew out without having to go across to one of the shopping centres.
I was meant to be going to the Gypsy Hotel club night tonight, but scriblix isn't feeling well, so I'm going to stay at home, thus keeping up my tradition of missing the Sunday night event at the Open House Festival that I have tickets for (two years ago I was going to see Seasick Steve and Tracy went into labour that morning).
Long entry is long.