{"id":119,"date":"2017-10-26T16:32:24","date_gmt":"2017-10-26T16:32:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/?p=119"},"modified":"2017-11-22T11:43:25","modified_gmt":"2017-11-22T11:43:25","slug":"music-review-lancaster-music-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2017\/10\/26\/music-review-lancaster-music-festival\/","title":{"rendered":"MUSIC REVIEW: LANCASTER MUSIC FESTIVAL"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 9th Annual Lancaster Music Festival started just after our last subtext issue gently settled in readers\u2019 inboxes. This year two of the sponsors were iLancaster (ISS) and Lancaster University Management School and the programme featured University of Lancaster Music Society (ULMS) Big Band, ULMS Brass band, ULMS Choir and the Haffner Orchestra \u2013 Lancaster\u2019s very own symphony orchestra. They played in St. Nic\u2019s arcade on Saturday afternoon, the crowds making it impossible to push a buggy through the shopping mall!<\/span><\/p>\n

Running from late on Wednesday (12 October) to late on Monday (16 October) and featuring over 500 acts at nearly 50 different locations this was an ambitious project and for this correspondent the organisers dutifully delivered. Sprinkled with some international and national acts the programme featured predominately Lancaster bands\/groups\/artists. We have mentioned this previously but it is worth reiterating that it is something of a sociological phenomenon that a place as relatively small as Lancaster has over the years produced, and continues to produce, such an eclectic and talented bunch of musicians.<\/span><\/p>\n

The festival brought together the various tribes of Lancaster and its hinterlands in the city centre. These are distinct groupings of folk who are rarely seen in the city together; they descended upon this temporary \u2018tin pan alley\u2019 because of their love of and\/or curiosity about music in all its glorious forms. The actual range and variety of styles and genres of music was amazing \u2013 to use the old saying, there was something for everyone. Your correspondent was particularly entranced by the Lancaster band EZCP playing \u2018video game music\u2019, something I had not come across before, and from Graz, Austria the very entertaining trio Uptown Monotones who are best described as brilliantly odd. A strange, very entertaining mixture of folk, beatbox, pop and electronic weirdness \u2013 great fun.<\/span><\/p>\n

As well as Lancaster residents it was obvious that people had travelled from far and near to enjoy the festival. We bumped into ex-residents who had come up from London, families from Yorkshire and folk from Manchester, hardly a place devoid of musical entertainment. Visitors could be spotted with their festival maps trying to work out where the various venues were. Some folk obviously, after consulting their programmes, moved on to enjoy a different act elsewhere whilst some festival goers found a venue and stayed put whatever acts were performing. This year there was a shuttle bus service helping people move around the city. <\/span><\/p>\n

During the day it was a very family friendly affair with babes-in arms, toddlers, kids, teenagers, mums and dads and older folk mingling and enjoying what was a wonderful extended weekend of live music. Throughout the Festival the city centre had an entirely different vibe \u2013 it really did feel quite jolly. The weather was generally kind, despite Get Carter (who were, as usual, brilliant) teasing the audience about the threat of rain.<\/span><\/p>\n

The organisers should be warmly congratulated on putting together such a fantastic event and Lancaster University should be proud to be so closely associated with such a widely appreciated extravaganza.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 9th Annual Lancaster Music Festival started just after our last subtext issue gently settled in readers\u2019 inboxes. This year two of the sponsors were iLancaster (ISS) and Lancaster University Management School and the programme featured University of Lancaster Music … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":568,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[73,67,120,66],"class_list":["post-119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-review","tag-event","tag-festival","tag-issue-167","tag-music"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p99sHo-1V","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":921,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2019\/03\/01\/widdens-wonderful-world-of-woodwind\/","url_meta":{"origin":119,"position":0},"title":"WIDDEN’S WONDERFUL WORLD OF WOODWIND","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"March 1 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Review: BBC Phil plays the Great Hall The concert given in the Great Hall on 7 February was the first by the BBC Philharmonic since they were re-appointed as the University's Orchestra in Residence in December. The large audience proved once again that concerts by a full symphony orchestra are\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "contributed article"","block_context":{"text":"contributed article","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/contributed-article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":957,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2019\/04\/02\/an-exceptional-piano-recital\/","url_meta":{"origin":119,"position":1},"title":"AN EXCEPTIONAL PIANO RECITAL","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"April 2 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Review by Martin Widden Some years ago, with help from the Friends of the Lancaster Concerts, the University bought a new Steinway concert grand piano for the Great Hall. Our old Steinway had reached the stage where good pianists were complaining about the state of it, and seemed quite likely\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "contributed article"","block_context":{"text":"contributed article","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/contributed-article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":161,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2017\/11\/09\/lancaster-lit-up\/","url_meta":{"origin":119,"position":2},"title":"LANCASTER LIT UP","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"November 9 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Phantasmagorical. Brilliant. Captivating. Light Up Lancaster was a delight \u2013 two evenings of illumination, art, music, projection and performance in the city centre. Beg, borrow or hire a small child and witness the look of wonder on their faces. This year the theme was the natural world and the city\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "review"","block_context":{"text":"review","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/review\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1104,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2019\/12\/13\/widdens-review-can-music-comment-on-a-political-situation\/","url_meta":{"origin":119,"position":3},"title":"WIDDEN’S REVIEW – CAN MUSIC COMMENT ON A POLITICAL SITUATION?","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"December 13 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Contributed by Martin Widden Some music is composed to celebrate a person - probably the best known example is Beethoven's Eroica symphony, composed in honour of Napoleon, although Beethoven later withdrew the dedication in disgust at Napoleon's declaring himself emperor; some portray an actual event, such as Verdi's opera The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "contributed article"","block_context":{"text":"contributed article","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/contributed-article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1228,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2020\/03\/27\/widdens-review-concert-for-refugee-crisis\/","url_meta":{"origin":119,"position":4},"title":"WIDDEN’S REVIEW – CONCERT FOR REFUGEE CRISIS","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"March 27 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Contributed by Martin Widden Prompted by the refugee crisis across the Mediterranean, the programme for the recital given on 5th March by the twelve-strong a capella choir Stile Antico was focused on John Dowland's set of pavans for voice and lute, Lachrimae, or Seaven Teares. (According to Dowland's contemporary Thomas\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "contributed article"","block_context":{"text":"contributed article","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/contributed-article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":861,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/12\/17\/martin-widden-wielding-his-pen-like-a-knife-to-the-heart\/","url_meta":{"origin":119,"position":5},"title":"MARTIN WIDDEN: ‘WIELDING HIS PEN LIKE A KNIFE TO THE HEART’","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"December 17 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Review: Leeds Piano Competition Winner gives first-class recital The Great Hall concert on Thursday 1 November was a solo piano recital by Anna Tsybuleva, winner of the 2015 Leeds Piano Competition. The Leeds competition has become, in its short life of just over 50 years, one of the world's foremost\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "review"","block_context":{"text":"review","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/review\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/568"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":120,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119\/revisions\/120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}