Highlands Fest Show

First off, I have to say that I'm a little disappointed in this years Highlands Festival show. Now, I've got to cover my bases when saying that - keep in mind that I've only gone to two in the past and that's been probably three and four years ago. When I went those two times, my buddy was in a bagpipe band, so I went up with him and got into the festival free. Back then all of the closing night concerts were still on the festival grounds, in a huge tent, didn't cost any extra money and was just a good time with a lot of beer and dancing to some kick ass, rockin' Celtic music.

This year was a little different. And not in a really great way. Seven Nations was playing again, which was cool, since they hadn't played the festival in three years, but the closing show that they were playing each day took place at the Estes Park YMCA, which is a good 20 minutes outside of town and quite far away from the actual festival grounds. So I had quite a bit to do Saturday, so didn't go up for the Highlands Festival during the day, but just went up to see Seven Nations because it had been awhile since I'd seen them. The auditorium that they played in was fairly comparable to a high school auditorium. There was a light above us that the fuse didn't work, so it couldn't shut off. At first glance, the majority of the people there were older - and no offence to the elderly, but they're not necessarily the hard core dancing, cheering crowd at a concert. There was no food or drink in the auditorium which was probably most disappointing to the bands, although towards the end Seven Nations seemed to ignore that 'rule'.

The opening band was a group from Australia called Brother. I don't think I've ever seen as many didgeridoos in one place at one time. It's a four piece band and I don't really even know how to describe their music. Call it Australian/Afro/Celt. They had a drummer on a trapset, a guy who played synth and didgeridoo, a rasta/Australian guy who played guitar, bag pipes, penny whistle, didgeridoo and sang, and then another guy who played bass, electric guitar, bag pipes and didgeridoo and sang as well. Very weird melodic styles, some of the melodies almost reminded me of Gregorian chants and old English melodies. Really good though - I liked them a lot, and now I'm starting to learn anew how to play the didgeridoo. Thought that was pretty sweet.

Then Seven Nations came out. Now I've seen Seven Nations probably over 10 times. This was not their best show. It just kind of seemed like they were tired after playing two days at a festival, and then the sound guy was pretty much terrible, so that didn't help their attitudes at all. Now, don't get me wrong - the music didn't suffer at all. They played a brand new song that was incredible, all their old stuff was great and the even brought out "Under the Milky Way" for their encore with Brother. But you could just tell by watching them that they weren't having the most fun that they've had. One funny thing about it was that Scott - their bagpiper - requested a jig set that Dan - fiddle player - always brings out his tap shoes and does a great jig to towards the end of the song. After Scott requested it and said that he wanted to play it, Dan said no way, and gave Scott the most hateful look ever. But the played it and Dan got on his shoes and busted out his dance that was incredible, but you could tell afterwards that he really didn't want to do it. I think Scott just got a kick out of making Dan do something that he really didn't want to do.

But it was a good show and I'm glad I went. I was able to get front row on the dance floor, just because there wasn't a lot of people who felt like getting out of their seats and dancing. So that was pretty cool. Also really glad I got to see the band Brother. If any of you hear of them coming around and get a chance to see them, I would totally jump on it. There a bunch of fun guys and play some really cool music.