Myncen Farm, Blandford Forum
Day 1
The Cursus Festival at Myncen Farm in Blandford Forum, Dorset is the brainchild of Skimmity Hitchers frontman Kev. Each year Kev and his Fuelled By Cider team create this little piece of heaven on this Cider farm, set within a valley surrounded by picturesque rolling hills. This eclectic grass roots event is a 3 day family-friendly festival bringing together good people and great music, along with delicious food and tasty cider. The bar is like a sweet shop of cider with lots of different tastes/flavours to choose from, there is even 0% cider for those wanting to keep a clear head.
The fields is set up with one main stage situated in the large big top, along with a small DJ tent and it all kicks off on this particularly pleasant Friday afternoon and DJ Inbred is setting the scene with some particularly atmospheric tunes. There is quite a selection of food options too with Pizzas, Burgers, Pasties along with a well stocked coffee/cake stall. The festival is family friendly with plenty to do for younger children in their own activities tent, dogs are welcome too and they even get their own dog show on Sunday. One of the most fun exclusive things about Cursus is that is offers Tuc Tuc Karaoke, which sounds great fun.
The musical programme is well spaced apart, so it gives you time to get food/drink and socialise or skip over to the dance tents for a boogie with the variety of interactive DJ’s on offer. This afternoon/evening we have six great hand-picked live music acts to keep us entertained. The first of these is sing-songwriter Millie Watson, with a great sounding 12-string guitar who today is performing with Harmonica aficionado Si Genaro. They both serenade the audience beautifully with some original tunes, along with a couple of popular numbers getting things off to a fine start.
Next up we have Reading 5-piece Alternative/Punk band Missing The Scene, who bring some early energy to proceedings. Lead singer Rachael shows her worth with a fine version of Joan Jett’s “Bad Reputation”, along with original “Ten Years” and a new number called “Never Tried”. The two guitar set-up, coupled with some great rhythms show the band’s varied alternative sound and coupled with Rachael’s vibrancy they are a hit with the audience.
Wilswood Bouys are next, who are a duo of Josh and Joel who have previously performed on stages with Frank Turner and the Levellers. The two accomplished guitarists, armed with a pair of six string acoustics; wow the gathered crowd with some amazing skill, with the fingers going up and down the fretboard at a fair rate of knots. Their lyrics are just as engaging and the pair provide some fine harmonies on the self penned track “Crisis” which is a tune about how shit war is and “Tell Me the truth” tells the pitfalls of relationships. It’s hard not to be charmed by these guys; they are warm, friendly and deliver a mighty fine set of crowd pleasing songs.
Next I am pushed out of my comfort zone and sometimes that’s not a bad thing. We all like what we like and being open to new things can always be a positive, especially when like me you are in your mid-50’s. The Scribes are a Bristol Rap/Hip Hop act featuring Jonny Steele (rapper) and Lacey (beatboxer). The duo of highly talented guys provide some very clever interactions with the crowd, along with some very infectious tunes featuring relevant social commentary. There is some fantastic freestyle rapping about random things held up in the air by members of the audience, along with some breathtaking beatboxing. These guys are fun, beguiling and certainly know how to entertain any festival crowd.
The penultimate band of the evening are also from the West Country in Bristol and are a band I’ve seen many times previously. Imprints sometimes metamorphise into a duo, trio or as with this evening they are a 5-piece with bass, keyboards, drums, guitar and fiddle. Their live performance is just mesmerising; Vince (Fiddle) & Andy (Lead Vocals/Guitar) are the main focal point and provide huge amounts of energy. Vince is clearly the fastest fiddle player in the West. With songs like “Journey Home” and a fantastic medley of Prodigy songs, the band have the highest of momentums.
Vince also ventures into the crowd, running through the audience while still delivering perfect instrumentation. All this and the band give out free T-shirts and a whole stack of free vinyl albums to the crowd. It does not get better than this….Remember the name Imprints – if you see them on a festival bill this Summer, go and see them, I promise you won’t regret it!!
Tonight’s headliners are festival favourites Mad Dog Mcrea, another West Country gem from Plymouth via the Emerald Isle. Imagine a great mix of Folk, Nautical Pirate tales, Punk, Gypsy Jazz and added Irish sparkles. The usual instrumental rudiments have added Fiddle, Flute and Tin Whistle, which gives the band’s songs a real Celtic feel.
“Am I Drinking Enough” opens proceedings, soon followed by the sumptuous trad “Raggle Taggle Gypsy”. The band create a party atmosphere within the first few songs and the tent is absolutely rammed with the celebratory audience. Cosmo Jarvis’s “Gay Pirate” delivers some powerful thought-provoking lyrics and “Coolies Reel” gets the whole tent dancing madly. These are five seasoned musicians who show a real chemistry and huge skilful abilities. What a fantastic end to a great a first day………
Videos
More Videos from the Cursus Festival can be found on our Youtube Channel here.
Links:
https://www.fuelledbycider.com/cursus
https://www.facebook.com/cursusfestival
Article, Media and Pictures by David Chinery (Chinners)
