Into February and one month nearer some higher temperatures, hopefully, but no doubting there is some excellent music to look forward to this month!
Last time at Royston Live we had a memorable evening in the form of a double headline set from Vicki Swan and Jonny Dyer. There was some great support from John Meed, in fine form, and Tennessee Twin. The next gig is Friday 10th February when That Blue Patch will be performing their eclectic mix of Americana, Blues, Jazz, Roots & Country supported by one of my favourite duos, Kelly & Woolley all at the unbelievably great price of just £10 on the door, or an amazing £7 in advance!!
Another great value night out can be had at the Acoustic Club in Bishop’s Stortford where Thursday 16th February is Young Player’s Night with headliners The Exile Club and the cash price on the door is only £5. Have a look at the Unicorn Diary on the main Unicorn Folk website to find out what else is going on in the local folk, roots & acoustic music scene. This includes such venues as The Stables at Milton Keynes and the Unicorn Diary picks out their folk-related concert evenings for you from amongst the wide range of entertainment to be found at that venue.
Fairport Convention are back on the road again and Unicorn Folk has a special treat for all our readers with an interview with Peggy, bass player extraordinaire for the band for over 50 years. Go to the main Unicorn Folk website and find this fascinating insight under Music/Interviews on the top menu. There is a link to the tour details in the article with most of the 26 dates during February and March still to come and some tickets still available – but don’t delay they are selling out fast!
Plans for Ely Folk Festival in July are underway and there is a fundraising event in the way of a festival ceilidh featuring Frog On A Bike on Saturday February 11. Also coming up soon at St Andrews Church, Hertford is the Gigspanner Big Band on Sunday February 19th. You can find details for both these events on the home page of the main Unicorn Folk website under Featured Festivals & Concerts.
You will see that the website has had one or two changes with a new ‘Dance Diary’ which can be found under the prominent new heading ‘Listings’ where you will also find the Unicorn Diary covering around 70 local music events between January to March, and the Festival Finder which shows all the latest announced dates for 2023 folk and folk-related festivals across the UK. We could do with some more entries for the Dance Diary which provides an excellent opportunity for traditional English dance groups and Morris sides to have their activities listed FREE of charge, so do please send us your programmes when sorted to info@unicornfolk.uk but please remember to use the appropriate Word or Excel form when doing so – all the details can be found on the main Unicorn Folk website and the link will take you to the Dance Diary page or just look under ‘Events’ on the main Unicorn Folk website.
Unicorn Folk News 