Live: Ladyfest in Cardiff, UK
Sunday July 2nd 2006
Ladyfest is a really good attempt of a fun filled festival, spreading feminism everywhere. There is a vegan BBQ, art workshops and exhibitions included in the ticket price. The people are happy and pleasant and seem to really enjoy themselves. It was just a real shame about the music.
No. That’s a bit harsh. There was some good stuff. A couple of the solo artists were very good. A lady singing and playing acoustic guitar, another playing the flute. Our flute player would be very good if she would just stop screaming down the microphone after every number, not very professional love. Besides this, it was the bands that blew your eardrums and the speakers. How anybody can call that screeching, nails down a blackboard, hair-splitting noise music I really don’t know. I was really, truly distressing. Though thankfully not for long as they would all shut up for a while for Nick to get some more speakers. Nevertheless, it was not long before he returned and the torture continued.
The appearance of a woman dressed as a drag queen showed the promise of a little bit of light relief, my God was I wrong. We were then subjected to plastic acting about a plastic girl in a plastic house and a plastic car with a plastic boyfriend. Geez. She was banging on about things that people are steering away from anyway and was just depressing, take a chill pill and stop being so plastic.
Thank God for Dirty Revolution, we actually started to enjoy the night from that point on, they played well and were a lot easier on the ear than next doors cat crushed under a car tyre. The guys showed great sport by dressing up a woman, scary, but fun. The DJs rounded off the night and I have to say, I could listen to them quite comfortably, the sounds reminded me of when I lived in Spain and all I had to do was close my eyes and I could see the low white seats and lamps in chill out corners of Pacha.
Verdict: If you are into this kind of thing, the festival is well worth the money and the atmosphere is relaxed and comfortable. But I'm not.