Music Festivals
Going to a Music Festival
I'm sure you grew up with recording
artists and musicians you'd love to hear one more time.
Well, music festivals are the perfect shows to bring back
those memories of 70s, 60s or even 50s music. Going to music
festivals is one of my favorite things about the summer. I
live on the West Coast, and bluegrass and old-time music is
king out here.
Don't get me wrong – it doesn't
get played on the radio that much. Nevertheless, the fans
are die hard. Every late summer and early fall, there are
music festivals all up and down the Pacific seaboard. You
can practically find a festival of music every week, and
sometimes two!
I don't think you can appreciate music
festivals unless you listen to music with some history to
it. There are dance music festivals that are okay if you
like to dance, but that music comes and goes every single
year.
The San Francisco Bluegrass Music
Festival
When I went to the San Francisco
hardly strictly bluegrass Festival, however, I was able to
see some of the legends. People like Doc
Watson, Del McCoury, and Earl
Scruggs – people who really made this music –
performed there in front of a crowd of thousands and
thousands of cheering fans.
The joy of going to music festivals is
being able to see the origins of the music you listen to,
then seeing how it has changed with the new generation.
There aren't that many places where you can do that, but a
musical festival is one.
When I went to Ireland, I went to some
Celtic music festivals. I expected them to be a lot
different, but the feel was much the same. If bluegrass
music has a long tradition, Irish music has an ancient
tradition.
Celtic Music
Festivals
It was actually behind the founding of
bluegrass, and you can hear the ancestry in the music. There
are Irish music festivals in the states, of course, but to
hear the best of it, you really have to go to the homeland.
Many of the best Celtic musicians have
not been discovered outside of their part of the world.
You've got to go looking for them, because they're not going
to come to you.
Although a lot of these have been
national and international music festivals, I like the local
ones as well. Listening to local music is a true delight. It
is important to participate in your own artistic community,
and not just to worship bands from around the world.
Going to live local music festival can
really turn you on to what is going on in your neighborhood,
and the surrounding areas. You might be surprised by how
much good music is made in your part of the country!
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