2007 Festival Merchandise Blow Out!

We have a small number of shirts left over from the festival this year – we sold a large number of shirts over the weekend, but it’s inevitable that we would have a limited number of styles and sizes remaining.

We’re offering these shirts at just
£4 for adult sizes and
£3 for the child shirts
postage is £1.50 regardless of how many shirts you order.

We don’t have a huge amount of anything left, but those that are very limited are highlighted in italics and greyed out. As we sell out we'll remove the item (or size) from the blog.

If you'd like to order any of the items below please contact Sandra, email and phone details are on the main festival website, thanks.

The details of availability and sizes are below, if you'd like exact measurements these are listed in the comments section of this post.

Blue Small Logo
Small , Large, XLarge

Brown Small Logo
XLarge

Childs Logo Shirt Orange
Medium, Large

Green S*F*F fitted girls/ladies shirt
Small , Medium, Large, XLarge

Green S*F*F - unisex
sold out

Black Large Logo
Medium, Large, XLarge

We also have a small number of posters available;
these are rolled in a tube and cost £4.00 plus £1 postage.

Artists' report - part 4

The festival’s patron, John Jones of the Oysterband, came to check out the site and was full of praise for the new home of the Shrewsbury Folk Festival.

The Oysterband played the festival in The Quarry last year but John said the new location had sealed the success of the event.

“It’s a fantastic venue. I have walked around the site and looked at it and it’s great, everything in one place.”

John also had great words for the main stage at the showground site – “Any artist would want to perform on that stage – the lights are good, the sound is great, it’s a brilliant venue to play.”

A stalwart of festivals and an artist who has performed many times at the festival is comedian and musician Keith Donnelly. He performed on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday and reflected on the festival he has seen to grow over the years.

“I’m never happier than at a folk festival,” he said. “A folk festival is the best audience bar none – I really enjoyed this year but I’ve never been heckled by so many dogs before!”

Keith, who performed at the festival in its town centre location last year, summed up the 2007 event. “It feels like the Shrewsbury Folk Festival has come home.”

Artists' report - part 3

Kathryn Tickell was another artist who made the long journey to Shrewsbury – despite a 5.30am start from her North East home, Kathryn and her band had the festival audience on their feet. She’s no stranger to Shropshire having performed in Bridgnorth several times before, but it was her first time at Shrewsbury.

She said the early start had been worth it: “I really enjoyed the gig. I had the feeling it was going to be a disaster – one of the band had been performing the ceilidh tent for two hours and one had to run over to be in time and had been at Shrewsbury on Friday, then at Towersey on Saturday and came back to the festival on Sunday. But it was a really good crowd.”

Another group delighted with the Shrewsbury set-up was contemporary folk duo Megson, who performed on the main stage on Sunday afternoon before carrying out a songwriting workshop and another set in marquee two.

Their fresh approach of combining traditional folk elements with influences like Simon and Garfunkel received rousing support with the Shrewsbury crowd.

“This is the nicest festival we’ve performed at this year, “said Stu Hanna. “The site’s very good.” The other half of Megson, Debbie Palmer, enjoyed the backstage facilities too: “Some of the places we’ve played you end up having to change and put up your make-up in the toilets – it’s not glamorous!”

The “really good” crowd vibe continued into the final day of the festival on Monday which saw the event culminate with legend Paul Brady receiving a standing ovation for his incredible set which marked the end of a hugely successful festival.

Earlier, the American bluegrass four piece Crooked Still had got a rapturous response for their storming performance which saw cello player Rushad Eggleston strip to his underwear - having only started in a shirt, boxer shorts and a hat!

Despite having jetted in from Denmark following three days at the Tonder festival, the performance was one of the highlights of the festival, packing out the main stage on Monday afternoon. The band’s catnap backstage in their hired van helped them catch up from their 4.30am start for their flight to Manchester.

Rushad and banjo player Greg Liszt both said a lack of sleep often gave the band the adrenaline rush they needed to perform well.

“It was a great audience, a great feeling,” said Rushad. “You could feel the energy.” The artists’ facilities also got the thumbs up from the group despite their fleeting visit – with Rushad’s high jinks with sugarcubes, washing up liquid, and leaping over tables livening up the backstage complex! .”

Artists' report - part 2

One band adding an international flavour to this year’s festival was Canadian trio The Wailin’ Jennys. Their set included everything from an Emmylou Harris classic to a song inspired by a mosquito at 4am and ended with ‘One Voice’, a song that perfectly illustrated why the Jennys are enjoying such outstanding success.

Nicky Mehta, one of the founding Jennys, said the crowd at Shrewsbury reflected the growing popularity that folk based music is enjoying across the UK and the rest of the world.
”We did a handful of concerts in the UK last summer but we’ve been busy in the US and Canada this year. It’s great to be in Shrewsbury.
”Looking out at the crowd, there was a real mix of ages including young people. You can really feel the resurgence of folk and traditional music in England.”

Acclaimed singer/songwriter Richard Shindell travelled from Buenos Aries to perform at Shrewsbury – his first performance in England in 10 years. Shrewsbury was the only folk festival he played on a whirlwind tour of seven concerts in the UK.
Despite very little sleep because of his gruelling schedule, Richard and his guitar held the audience in the main stage spellbound on Sunday evening, with a set that showed his talent as a writer and performer.

Speaking after his afternoon performance in marquee two, he said the audience had been attentive and he had been looking forward to performing on the main stage.
“It’s virgin territory for me, very few people know who I am. Out of the thousands in the audience maybe a couple of hundred will know who I am. I like that – it gives me a chance to show what I can do, and they won’t have heard my jokes before so they’ll laugh!”
Richard, who also did a ‘meet the artist’ session, was full of praise for the festival. “It seems a great place, everything is wonderful!”