The Destroyers at Sheep Music Festival:19th July

Sian and I must be fans as we have never been to a music festival before and so since we could make this our first, and combine it with seeing the Destroyers, the idea was irresistible. Their blend of Balkan, Gipsy and Klesmer music combined with other European influences creates a unique musical experience. Add their rip roaring speed of attack, and the poetic lyrics of Paul Murphy and you are in for a breathtaking set. With their debut single already out, Out of Babel and an album due any minute now, you should be hearing a lot more of them. Money. The Glass Coffin Burial of Professor Zurinack and Methuselah Mouse were among the dramatic numbers delivered. The audience on Sunday was packed into the festival’s biggest venue and there were few spaces in the crowd. With the forthcoming CD due their set was a great advert for those new to the group. The audience was made up of all ages and we were pleased to see we weren’t the oldest old bloggers present. The group has a good following in Presteigne (Powys,Wales) having appeared here before, but there were quite a few around us who had not had the ‘Destroyer Experience’ before. Needless to say expressions of puzzlement and surprise soon gave way to appreciative attention.

The beat and volume ( excellent level and mix) soon got us all dancing and joining in and I have rarely seen so many people smiling for such a long time while jumping up and down. I am more used to reviewing books rather than festival performances so it will probably be less embarrassing for all concerned if I strongly encourage all those who haven’t seen them live to visit their blog for a list of venues. Get that smile ready.

The strong percussion drives the combination of brass, fiddles, and guitars, not to forget the accordion and hurdy-gurdy. With its klesmer influences the essential presence of the clarinet makes this a remarkable combination of some twelve or more musicians. After an hour you should feel quite in need of a sit down ( that’s probably just us thgough) and wondering how the band have kept playing, dancing and prancing across the stage while producing their unique sound, especially when we learnt this 6 pm set was just one of many gigs in the past week, having just travelled from Bridport in Dorset..

You can check all this out at http://thedestroyers.co.uk/blog/ but this is a band which must be experienced live to get the full musical impact and for the ‘Destroyer conversion’. Although there were many excellent performers still to come in the closing hours of the festival, the impact of this group seemed to dull the senses for anything else and the feelings of exuberation and well being are still with me now as I write this review.

I’ve just remembered, I have been to a festival once before, it was the last Beaulieu Jazz Festival in 1960 which ended in a riot. According to Wikepedia I now learn it was between traditional and modern jazz fans, a ‘sub-cultural clash’. And there was I thinking they were just a bunch of drunks. I left just as the constabulary were arriving.