Bordering on the mildly surreal (visiting Goths, dildos in taxi cabs and requests to turn down the noise of cigarette machines all played their crucial part), the Carlsberg Rhythm & Roots Weekend in Kilkenny succeeds where other festivals fail.
For one thing, the acts are selected not by committee but by people who know their stuff. This is proved by the sight of many a roots connoisseur walking purposefully from one venue to the next, confident in the knowledge that as one door on a great act closes, another door on another great act opens.
A salutary lesson in the pulling power of up-and-coming acts is the other reason this festival is a winner. Commercially, every festival needs its headliners. Yet two headlining artistes - Flaco Jiminez and Beth Orton - pulled out at the eleventh hour, leaving the promoters in the lurch for replacements. The decision not to panic (publicly, at least) was a wise one, and they hoped for the best with what was left.
What was left was a core grouping of acts that defined class, credibility and good times. From early afternoon to early morning battle-scarred guitar cases were opened and closed.
It's justifiable to say that an air of greying melancholia pervades the singer-songwriters. John Stewart's gigs at the Watergate Theatre on Saturday night and Cleere's pub yesterday afternoon were punctuated by as much nostalgia for the 60s as for his cropcircle haircut.
Peter Bruntnell's gigs at the Widows on Saturday afternoon and his brace of gigs yesterday received rare applause for his UK-based take on acoustic Americana.
Mercury Rev's Adam Snyder drew a small but appreciative crowd for his perfect brunchtime sketches yesterday. Guy Davis at the tiny Mousetrap on Saturday night was the epitome of sweaty, driving blues, while Stacey Earle at the Village Inn was an object lesson in simplicity.
Yet there's always one act that manages to steal the collective show. This year it was the turn of the Derailers. From Austin, Texas, the five-piece band effectively ripped the fabric of the festival apart with their vibrant brand of Sixties pop/Buck Owens honky-tonk. If country & western was the Mafia's preferred music instead of American-Italian crooners, then the Derailers would be the godfathers' favourites, the band of bands.
Looking too cool for words in their wedding bar band suits (with diamante-encrusted ties, available through their Website), the Derailers style hounds sound and act as if they are destined for the big time. In a sense, this is what makes the Rhythm & Roots weekend so good: watching authentic, talented people either on their way to bigger, further success, or retreating from it for reasons perhaps best left unsaid. The festival closes tonight with a performance by the Holmes Brothers in the back room of Paris Texas at 9 p.m.
