Agiotfest '09 - Performance

Agiotfest '09 - Lineup

Steve Gibbons (Dylan Project)	Dave Pegg (Dylan Project)	PJ Wright (Dylan Project)	Phil Bond (Dylan Project)	Brendan Day (Dylan Project)
Richie Henderson (East of Memphis)	Sheila McWhirter (East of Memphis)	The Good Old Boys	Jemma Bartlett	Omega 5

It just happened. Almost no-one being aware of the event except for the local English-speaking population. A wonderful evening at the family-friendly plateia of Agios Ioannis, where you had the once-in-a-lifetime chance to see quite a few legendary figures from mainly seventies folk-rock and blues bands.

The Good Old Boys, aka Frank Bloomfield and Russ Bartlett opened the festival with a short set of soft, American-friendly acoustic balladry, the pedal steel guitar playing a prominent role in the duo’s sound. Sweet renditions of Bread and Eagles tunes warmed up the atmosphere, "Make It With You"being the nicest moment of the set to these ears.

Omega 5 followed with a mixture of sixties and seventies rock. A mean lead guitarist stole hearts with stunning crystal-clear solos, notably Hotel California's all-time-classic second part. A harsh-voiced long blond-haired vocalist added a heavier, old metal aesthetics element. A wide range of selections made it interesting trying to guess what sort of a song the next number would be (The Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall, Thin Lizzy's Whiskey in the Jar, Lynyrd Skynyrd's Sweet Home Alabama, Free's All Right Now, Gary Moore's Parisian Walkways, Cutting Crew's Died In Your Arms Tonight and Rod Stewart's I Don’t Wanna Talk About It).

Both the Good Old Boys and Omega 5 took to the stage taking turns twice, the former reappearing as a full band – though much younger now, a surprisingly mature-voiced 19-year-old Jemma Bartlett added, whose rendition of Roberta Flack's The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face will linger for quite a while in my ears. More covers by the band included the classic Superstition and one Duffy number. Omega 5 came up with more 70's and 80's stuff, namely Dire Straits' Money For Nothing, Deep Purple's Smoke on the Water, Lynyrd Skynyrd's Free Bird, Hendrix's Purple Haze, Steppenwolf's Born to Be Wild and Guns'n'Roses' Sweet Child Of Mine before concluding with a frenetic Johnny B. Good. Well played, with a lot of electric and acoustic guitar work but how about some original stuff guys?

East of Memphis, the Scottish duo of Richie Henderson and Sheila Mc Whirter brought quality trad folk to the stage, covering standard folk numbers as well as modern pop ones, like Seal’s Crazy. It seemed like the whole place was vibrating colourfully while everyone sang along to "We’re Never Gonna Survive Unless We Get a Little Crazy", but it was Simon Dupree's psychedelic pop gem "Kites" from 1967 that brought the duo's performance to its highest point, perfectly sung by Sheila's powerful but tender voice, accompanied by Richie's guitar. Other covers included compositions by The Everly Brothers, Ann Peebles, Simon & Garfunkel, Sandy Wright, Sonny & Cher, the Beatles and a modern rock surprise, the Killers' Human.

OK, what about the headliners then? Well, here comes history itself. Steve Gibbons (yes, the same Steve Gibbons of the S.G. Band), Dave Pegg (when I met him at the band's reception I couldn't believe I was talking to the bassist whose band Jethro Tull along with the whole British prog thing made my teenage years a happy period to remember, and his other band Fairport Convention made me start investigating the roots of British folk when I first heard the tremendous Liege & Lief LP of folk covers), P.J. Wright, Steve Gibbons' guitarist (you should definitely check out his excellent collaboration with Dave Pegg titled Galileo's Apology) and an astounding Phil Bond on keyboards. This bunch of old mates is responsible for what is known as the Dylan Project, who cover Dylan better than Dylan himself now that the latter's voice has become hoarser than the old bluesmen and folk singers of his roots. I wouldn’t really have to recite all the great numbers we heard on their well-focused, brilliantly worked out set, but one thing is for certain; Unless it's Dylan's poetry and word puns and tricks as well as a great band to perform, you wouldn’t get middle-aged or even older people sing along and dance to lyrics like "everybody must get stoned" so happily at the square of Agios Ioannis in Corfu.

I hope – and I believe this is everybody’s wish - this year’s Agiotfest was only the beginning. We need more please. Or in Jethro Tull's own words we have "reasons for waiting and dreaming of dreams". Spyros Hytiris

Agiotfest '09 - Photo Gallery