The Phenomenal Folk Festival

29th July 2010

The number thirteen may be unlucky for some, but that certainly wasn’t the case at the thirteenth annual Saddleworth Folk Festival! The festival kicked off with a cameo by Bernard Wrigley, comically nicknamed the “Bolton Bullfrog”, who ensured audiences were bursting with laughter with one of his trademark humorous performances. Other bands including The Hometowners and Tony Downes helped bring folk music bliss.

The highlight of the festival was undoubtedly the appearance of Scottish folk hero Dougie Maclean. Audiences were left mesmerised by the performance of his hits, which includes the famous “Caledonia”, made famous in the Visit Scotland advertisements. Organiser Pete Shevlin said “Dougie was so generous, he met fans before hand, played a full set and then stayed singing at Uppermill con club until three in the morning”.

The miserable weather proved no match for the star-studded line-up, with all fifty of the musical events over the three days of the festival being packed out. Mr Shevlin stated “Every year we have people saying to us that this is the best one yet but there has been far more this year. There have certainly been more people than the last few years”. Fellow organiser Jan Shevlin said “It is music that has some meaning, it really does belong to the people, they own it.” Jan added “People can relate to it no matter what period it comes from, and the atmosphere has been fantastic over the weekend.”

http://www.oldham-chronicle.co.uk/news-features/8/news-headlines/44671/the-best-yet