Thursday, September 3, 2009

greenbelt '09 - part one...

we're back from the greenbelt christian arts festival.
throughout the year i've been involved in the festival organisation as the deputy visual arts co-ordinator bloke, and for the first time sue worked at the festival as a volunteer on the info desk in the hub [greenbelt's dedicated visual arts and literature venue]

i'll post a more detailed report later maybe, once i've got my head around everything that went on there, but in the meantime here's a list of my festival highlights...

billy childish
the welcome wagon [missed them on the mainstage, but caught them in the more intimate performance cafe venue and they were superb]
dans le sac vs scroobius pip on the mainstage.
gav mart and the saturday vandals in the hub.
david shillinglaw - painting 'live' at the new leads event in the hub and up on the grandstand... fantastic.
the visionaries exhibition [jaw-droppingly great]
our photoflashswap which went off brilliantly well for a first stab. we'll definitely be doing it again in 2010...
pie minister [serving possibly the finest pie and mash on the planet]
stan's cafe - all the people in the world exhibition [terrible venue but a great show]
camping with good mates, and meeting up with old friends [cliff, matty, tonymate and cathy, stuart, jenny...]
the va volunteers who are an awesome bunch

some of my festival stats...
sightings of steve lawson - 1
meetings with steve lawson - 0 :-(
sightings of simon mayo - 0
sightings of nick park in dark glasses hanging around outside the beer tent trying to look inconspicuous - 1
visits to the over-priced beer tent - 2
showers - 0
pie minister pies consumed - 3
times i saw gav mart and the saturday vandals play - 4
gav mart and the saturday vandals shows that i missed - 2

[more soon...]

update : i forgot to include haronell and dubb in the proost lounge in my highlights list [missed dubh as i was dragged out to the music store while he was on...]

meantime this review of the festival from artrocker magazine is pretty much on the money imho. sums up why greenbelt is great so much better than i ever could... :-)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ooh... the festival is too big to see the same things (that's a good thing).

I would add the Christian Aid rice exhibition, the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Douglas Alexander and Tamsin Omond. And the final 2 Pilla songs!

Didn't see Steve Lawson or Nick Park but saw Mr Mayo once.

Twice to the beer tent, once for a pie (I always save it til the last day, mmm!). I weighed in with a hefty two showers...

Big Ed

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the photo swap - loved taking part and will be looking out for something to contribute next year. It was a lovely feeling to go into the tent and see that someone had taken my photo. It really boosted my confidence.

Sarahxx