One thing you can always rely on at Boia is shocking weather. Does it matter? Not a jot, because as the wind howls and the rain batters, you are safely inside the range of super venues that are a mere stone’s throw from each other. The storms outside serve to emphasise the cosiness and friendliness contained within. Boia has always been a great event, but this year they upped their game in spectacular fashion with a selection of the best that that elusive butterfly called Roots-Americana can possibly offer. Merely printing a list of the acts would suffice to show you the brilliance of the experience, but I’m going to try and convey just what a feeling is like to be in such a lovely place among truly inspiring people.
St David’s is a stunningly beautiful city. Surely one of the greatest experiences imaginable is the moment you walk through the arch at the bottom of the High Street and gasp at the majesty of the vista that suddenly appears before you. The imposing cathedral and the Bishop’s Palace are spread out across the valley as if the intervening centuries had never passed. But we are here for the music, which doesn’t mean that you should eschew the delicious Welsh cakes and coffee to be found in the cathedral refectory.
Beverages of a more dangerous kind can be found in the hostelries on what’s called the Boia Trail, where band after band of astonishingly high quality entertain enthusiastic and highly lubricated audiences, for free. If you’re very lucky or have good planning skills, you can see some of the stars of the main paid-for shows doing mini sets on the trail. The main hub is the Bishops, a labyrinthine pub that clears out one of its dining rooms and turns it into a music venue. This is an effective way of enabling enthusiasts to enjoy the music and also to socialise in the other rooms.
Pretty much next door is the Farmers Arms, which is like a small version of the Bishops with an Irish pub vibe, very homely and – er – compact. Round the corner is Grain, which effectively is a tented pizza restaurant. It doesn’t really make much in the way of concessions to the music lovers, so this is the place where you are most likely to get irritated by talkers, although you do get very nice pizza and beer. At one stage, Gwenifer Raymond was serenading a dozen birthday party attendees playing Pass The Parcel.
The first “proper” concert venue is the Tabernacle, which I discovered actually has two separate auditoria, but for the purposes of Boia, only uses the main church. It has very fine acoustics, pin-drop attentive audiences, punishingly hard seats and a uniquely atmospheric vibe. The big shows take place in the City Hall, which makes up for its slight lack of beauty by having great sound and sight lines and has the genuine feel of a real concert venue (complete with an expert bunch of junior skateboarders during the sound checks).
Unlike some festivals, you buy an all-in ticket for an extremely reasonable price, and that gains you admission to everything. Quite how it’s possible to present such an impressively strong line-up for such a modest fee is a mystery that I’ve never inquired about, but I’m pretty certain that local arts organisations must subsidise the venture – and quite rightly too, as it brings much-needed trade into the city during the low season. St Davids is classified as a city, by the way, although the feel of the place is more that of a quaint Cotswold village, so that while you’re enjoying the music you can also feel that you are on holiday.
There is, however, no getting away from the range of apostrophe issues that present themselves here. St Davids determinedly but inexplicably omits its apostrophe, while the Bishops pub leaves room for debate and interpretation, but I’m afraid the Farmers Arms pub has no conceivable excuse.
Anyway, enough of that and please enjoy Paul Dominy’s photographs (he came all the way from Oklahoma, folks) and special guests Kalina Saraiva de Lima (CMA pic) and AUK’s own Keith Hargreaves (Sam Amidon pic). We’ve also included my mini comments on the acts that we caught, some of them several times. Apologies for not mentioning everybody!
This Is The Kit
Waving goodbye to a lengthy gig schedule and also to their long-serving tour manager Ben Perry, TITK were on majestic, well-drilled form, their unique blending of sweet folk and blinding guitar-rock almost knocking the scaffolding off the front of the building.
Laura J Martin
Gorgeous pastoral melodies with a psych-folk tinge.
Small Town Jones
The heartfelt singer-songwriter’s palate has expanded with the help of a three-piece band, contributing CSN-style vocal harmonies into a mesmeric live show performed four times to thrilled audiences.
Gwenifer Raymond
Arguably the weekend’s most distinctive performer, her gripping acoustic instrumental psychedelia was irresistible.
Scott Lavene
Sardonic, Ian Dury-style lyrics, accompanied incongruously on a Flying V.
Peter Bruntnell
Performing solo, Peter explored some deep cuts and new songs to rapt audiences.
Sam Amidon
This was an uncharacteristically wacky set, during which the audience was expected to learn the lyrics to each song and accompany him, quite an intimidating task, actually.
Kathryn Joseph
Omnipresent. Kathryn’s new synthy duo format oddly makes her more Cocteau-ish and less distinctive, until performing a bleary Sunday morning set on a grand piano in a posh hotel. Her wilful over-sharing happily remains intact, including all you could want to know about Mogwai’s toilet habits.
Willy Mason
He has many incarnations. This was an electric duo set, catching the laid-back Sunday night groove.
Dominie Hooper
In the week of the release of her debut album. Dominie performed her powerfully sensitive songs on electric guitar and cello.
John Bramwell
With his impressive white mane, his wickedly impish humour and his intricate guitar skills, John spread goodwill wherever he went.
The Gentle Good
Welsh acts are a very, very important aspect of Boia. The Gentle Good topped the poll, living up to their name with sublime harmonies and the pastoral vibe of a Welsh Midlake. Also to mention: Adwaith performing a riotous set over the road in the tiny Dead Sea record shop.
Seamus Fogarty
A Boia institution, the whimsically eccentric Irishman entertained with stories and performed the song that got him dropped from his record label, “Nuns”, before purveying some natty tea-towels.
BC Camplight
The nearest this festival has ever got to workmanlike melodic rock in the style of The War On Drugs. He clearly sees himself on a Father John Misty-style trajectory to fame. I’m not so sure.
Katy J Pearson
Climaxed Day 1 efficiently with an energetic and cheerfully melodic full-band headlining set.
Courtney Marie Andrews
Best act of the weekend. There, I said it. Premiering fantastic new songs from “Valentine”, the huge-voiced star charmed the packed Tabernacle along with great understated guitar from Jerry Bernhardt. They then joined in enthusiastically with the hard partying in the Bishops, what troupers.
Top review Oliver you have captured everything about a magical weekend Thank you Who needs Mojo ?
A very good read, Oliver, thanks.
Saw Courtney Marie Andrews at the Take Root Festival in Groningen in Holland on Saturday then in Arnhem the following evening. She was terrific – she just gets better and better.
I should know better but asked for yet another photo with her to add to the collection. She didn’t mind at all. Star quality.