The Riverkicks folk it up at Goatfest

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Yesterday was finally the day that my band @theriverkicks played at Goatfest. This is a small festival in the village of Codicote that is not too far from where I live. It started at The Goat pub and has been running for fifteen years, but this was my first visit and we just went for the day although it was on all weekend with people camping.

They had four stages. We were on the Goat Stage in a small circus tent. The main stage was outside with plenty of room for a big crowd. Near that were a range of food wagons and some stalls selling various items. People like to dress up at festivals, so there were lots of interesting and strange outfits. Many people had flower headdresses, some of which lit up. One guy I noticed was wearing a Union Jack mini-dress that went nicely with his tattoos and bald head.

This was only our second gig and our first at a public event. It was all well organised and we just had to turn up at the tent about half an hour before our set. As soon as the previous band finished they moved their kit out and we could set up. I only needed to bring a snare drum and cymbals as they had the rest of the kit set up. This was my first time playing with microphones all over the kit and I had to attach one to the snare. The sound guy did a pretty good job in a short time as our band needs lots of microphones and instrument channels. We actually started right on time and played for 45 minutes. The time went quick and there were a couple of songs we did not have time for.

I had no idea what audience we would get as we have not built up a following yet. We brought along some friends though. People wandered in as we set up and more came as we were playing. I reckon there were 40-60 people there. Many were singing along with some of the songs and some were dancing. We have flutes and clarinet as well as the standard pop instruments of drums, guitar, bass and piano. The lineup is:

• Bob on flute and piccolo.
• @purplesinger on piano and vocals.
• @daniellemurray on clarinet and recorder.
• Myself on drums and vocals.
• Anne-Marie on guitar, flute and vocals. She flew in from Ireland for the gig.
• Paul on bass.
• Ray on guitar and vocals.

@anna-newkey would have been with us, but is recovering from a broken arm so would not be able to play guitar. She has been doing some other performing, so check her posts.

I sang one song and three of the others sang too. Our material is a mix of early folk tunes, traditional songs and a few more modern songs. You will get a flavour from the video thanks to my other half. She only took short clips, but there may be other video later from other people.

I do not have a photo of the crowd, but it did fill up a bit.

We do not get paid for the gig, but we got something for travel expenses and could make use of the backstage 'bar'. There were drinks and some snacks where we swapped verdicts on how it went before people left. The consensus was that it was a success. We were between a young rock band and a country band, so there was plenty of variety. We may offer something different.

My other half and I stayed on to check out the other music. Some of the acts we enjoyed were:

• Dreamwalks doing some nice acoustic songs.
• Two Headed Horse Band who mixed pop attitude with some traditional instruments.
• Germein Sisters from Australia who were very good. They have done some big tours.
• Tunde Baiyewu who hit it big as singer with The Lighthouse Family. He gave us the hits and went down well with the crowd.
• The South that features original members of The Beautiful South. They also did their hits along with some interesting covers.
• Keala Settle has performed in many Broadway musicals and was the bearded lady in The Greatest Showman movie. There were several people dressed as ringmasters in the crowd. She did some classic songs that showed off her amazing voice and finished with her hit from Showman.

There was lots more that we did not have time to see. I have to say that the sound from the main stage was pretty good. We were lucky with the weather as Friday was really windy and Saturday was wet.

I had to buy a shirt as our band is on it (down the bottom).

It was a really fun experience and I would happily play there again. Our only other pending gig for now is at a private event next month, but I think we are all up for doing more. We do this for the love of music.

Rock on!

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