Murphyfest 2

This weekend saw the second Murphyfest take place at the wonderful Soldiers and Sailors in Sawley, and I think it's fair to say it went off without a hitch! Russ, Michelle and Ella did the heavy lifting in terms of organising, designing, booking and arranging - as well as forging relationships with the two amazing charities we were ultimately raising funds for. Life Commitment Dog Rescue were integral in the festival's namesake, the amazing Murphy, and the Canaan Trust do amazing work to ease the burden of homelessness in the Long Eaton area.

Murphy - best boy and gentle soul

Murph was a special boy, who won the hearts of everyone on our festival scene. This photo shows him just after we collected him from a rescue - a poor neglected and mistreated lad, who retained his wonderfully gentle nature and trust in people despite how awfully some had treated him.

He went on to know a truly loved life with Caroline, long walks and runs in secure fields, and countless festival trips to spend time with his gig-going friends on both two and four legs. So, in Murphyfest we honour his memory and hope to help other dogs, as well as other worthy charities.

We (Alan and Ella) arrived early to help the set up - getting soundchecked early with the ever amazing Ollie would make the day go more easily so we set about doing that. Excitingly we also have physical copies of our album on CD now so for most of us that was a first look at those - they look great! We took the opportunity to commence operation sign-the-CDs. Some of them smudged a bit (oops) which might make them collectors items in the future!

Ellie gets down to signing, whilst Jamie looks thrilled!

With doors due to open and plenty of folk already in parked up at the venue, it was time to clear up and get the room finally ready for visitors. At the front of the venue there's snooker and pool tables, a bar and big screen - our room was a big space with a good sized stage, a dancefloor and plenty of seating and its own bar. It's a cracking space, and the team working there were absolutely brilliant.

We'd got ourselves set up and sound-checked in ahead of time (what a luxury, typically at festivals and even some gigs we tend to get a very quick line check ahead of going on) - it's such a boon to be able to prepare to play knowing that the sound is going to be sorted from the off.

First up on stage, though, was the amazing Andrea Kenny along with Helen on keys and backing vocals. And wow, what a start - Andrea's acoustic guitar and powerful vocals perfectly blended with melodic keys and harmonised vocals. It really drew the amassed crowd into the room and set the tone for a lovely evening of music, with a slew of original songs and a mesmerising cover of Heart Shaped Box by Nirvana in there.

Alan having a go at being even taller (photo pinched from Ben)

Darwin's Rejects were up next - we launched into our set deciding to stick to all originals. Wow that stage was warm, as evidenced by an exhausted Warren on the floor of the stage at the end. It went well though, and folk said lovely things afterwards. Admittedly we're infront of a very friendly crowd, but plenty who aren't afraid to give us honest feedback (which is appreciated!). Alan and Ellie went walkabout with Russ at the end of the set thanks to wireless devices - Jamie foolishly electing to lift Alan up on his shoulders.

He might look slender, but he's deceptively heavy! We left the stage very happy though, and a bit warm!

Brian Stone and the Masters of None were up next to keep the party ticking and definitely elevate the dancing and crowd participation. With Ewan twiddly diddlying on assorted stringy things and Maty bringing the beat on his biscuit tin lid, feet were tapping and people whirling on the dancefloor to a mixture of familiar classics as well as being treated to an outing of an in-progress song in instrumental form. For feel good grassroots vibes with more than a little smattering of pirate-infused shantyism, there's really no substitute!

Brian Stone and the Masters of None. Photo pinched from Brian's Facebook, and taken by Jus Carroll

Which left the mighty Headsticks to close out the evening musically with an absolutely barnstorming set. With Tom being out of action for a while due to an injury, they burst into the room musically like an unleashed beast - probably relishing the opportunity to be back at it making noises - and it was one hell of a tight set, packed with energy as well as a bit of sentiment. Paper Flowers is a treat for me at least - but the whole set just blew me away. I still think Tom needs more cowbell though. Love a good cowbell. I'll keep working on Jim to incorporate one into his array of things to hit with sticks!

Headsticks unleashing the final set of the evening - photo pinched from Becca

Meanwhile folk had been incredibly generous with raffle prizes, Ellie in particular did well out of this, there were assorted games to raise money too which Michelle had been diligently creating, and so many people were adorned in the amazing t-shirt design Ella created - all of the proceeds from which went to our charity partners. The upshot of the evening were a lot of smiling faces, tired organisers and performers and - most importantly - £1,275 for each of the two charities we were supporting.

At the end of the evening Russ announced there'd be a third installment of Murphyfest next year - so keep an eye out for announcements on that. The look on Michelle's face as he did this was a picture - but well, I think it's safe to say that we're on to a good thing here - so it would be rude not to do it all over again!