Submitted by Neil and Cilla Wills – Qld.
The weather was kind for July in Queensland, clear sunny days and cold nights.
Friday night started with a concert after dinner, featuring The Wayward Sisters, The O’Donnell Family, Redland Bluegrass Boys, Pirate Brides, Innes Campbell & Present Company, Groundspeed and closed with Brendan Radford’s Glasshouse Mountain Boys.
The well attended workshops ran through Saturday and many of the artists contributed their time to pass on techniques and other wisdom to the eager audiences. The workshops form an integral part of the festival, giving many of the attendees lots of inspiration to keep on learning and practicing every day.
The walk-up concert early in the afternoon gave many of the performers the opportunity to perform on the main stage and they showed that there is plenty of Bluegrass happening locally in the Brisbane area.
Mid-Saturday afternoon, George Jackson had organised a Tony Rice Tribute and ten different artists / groups presented wide selection of Tony’s well known tunes. The audience was enthralled and it was just great to see the young hot shots like George, Daniel Watkins, Inness, BB Brownes and Lachie Davidson show the more established artists that they better keep looking over their shoulders because these young guys are coming up fast.
Saturday night kicked off with Bluegrass Parkway. The power cut out for a couple of minutes during the set however BGP did not notice and just played on!. The audience loved it and there was a great roar when the lights came on again.
George Jackson & Twisted Oak, Karen Lynne, then Kristy Cox finished off the first half. Interval and the now famous ‘mulled wine’ warmed the crowd before the boys from Nashville hit the stage.
Midnight from Memphis consisted of David Long on mandolin, Scott Simotacchi on guitar, Preston Schmitt on fiddle and Eric Thorin on upright bass. It was such a pleasure to see these four guys in action, often doing some of their own compositions.
As has been the case for the past seven years, the Davidson Brothers closed the concert with fast and furious Bluegrass. These guys just keep getting better and better.
A great weekend was had by all, many of our guests kicked on Sunday night with the traditional jam / party. Monday was R&R on Stradbroke Island whale watching and sight-seeing for the day.
It was an honour to see Midnight From Memphis in action. Their unique style, great own compositions, harmonies, musicianship and single mike theatrics left the audience demanding more.
That was 2010 and now it’s back to the planning for 2011 – Neil & Cilla Wills.
thanks Neil & Cilla for the Redlands report. For those in the southern states, feedback like yours, on key bluegrass events, can only fire the enthusiasm for others to make the journey in 2011