Exile Music Fest

We are extremely lucky to have the joint winner of the BBC     2012 Folk Awards 'Best Original Song' with us at this this years Exile Fest in the presence of Steve Tilston, master songwriter and self-professed wind errosion expert.

You can see the whole ceremony on the BBC here - if you dont want to watch all of the ceremony, go straight to the 1 hour 20 minute mark to see Steve accept his joint award.

Or - take a look at the event coverage in The Guardian.

From Steve's site:

We’re delighted to announce that Steve was awarded the gong for “Best Original Song” for The Reckoning in last night’s BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards  - he was joint winner (with Bella Hardy).  Folk Awards history was also made as this is the first time that two nominees received the same number of votes and two awards were presented in one category. It was also the first time that the event was held outside of London – at the Lowry in Salford Quays, a stones throw from MediaCity UK, the BBC’s new home in the North and open to the public.

Hello Exile fans - we have almost finished finalising the 2012 line-up so take a look on the Stage Page.

This info is still subject to change, but not so much now.

Wrong Trousers

If you're in a band and we have the wrong link or a photo you don't like up on the Stage Page -

- please let Gareth know asap.
   

This is just a quick post to keep you up to speed. More later.

It's all over and it was fantastic! The weather was just beautiful which was the icing on the cake but for the rest...

All the bands rocked. The visitors, well you were wonderful. The stewards worked a treat. The sound was most excellent. The visuals were, of course, awesome. The site was fantastic. The location worked totally. The traffic lights didn't let us down. The beer and cider, well, yum. The fire and police have given us a clean bill of health, and we hope you all had a great time.

Leave us your feedback comments about anything and everything Exile below, thanks.

Photos - lots of your pictures are going up and getting onto the Flickr 2011 page, go take a look. I'll put up a quick first slideshow below but there will be more to follow, keep in touch.

Remember you can get your own photos up by using your own Flickr account, find full instructions here.

Lost Property
We have a few bits and bobs left behind, if you want to report a loss please get in touch on 07983 250980.
Worth a particular mention is a remote access tag for a national bank, if you can identify it, get in touch.

The site clean up took place on Monday, thank you to all you guys who stayed to help.

More later, but for now, wow!

We had an absolutely storming Friday night, the music was perfect for the new setting and it was great to be able to host a late night session in the beer tent after years of being unable to on the Belper site.

In further news, Online Ticket Sales are no longer available - we were a bit late taking this facility down but we have been pleasantly overwhelmed with sales this year - a Big Thank You to all our faithful and new visitors.

If you are thinking of visiting us on spec please try and call the Festival Hotline before leaving home  on 07983 250980 although the mobile reception at Sabine Hay is truly awful, one bar or less, so again, please have patience. 
Thank you.

We will be posting further pictures and reports as and when but remember, please call the Festival Hotline if you are thinking of visiting us on the spur of the moment.

Today's the day and the festival site couldn't look better. Anyone still reading this who is coming along tomorrow or even later tonight can take a look at the scene on site below.

The sun is out, the car parking is smooth, the beer is cool, the cider is lovely, bands arriving, sound checks starting and all looks good.

First we brought you the Drive To Video and now we have the Walk Nearby Picture as well as - due to some extra impressive oneupmanship by Nigel, the Exile Fest Sound Engineer - the Fly Over Picture.

(Click on the pictures to see big versions.)

Thanks Nigel, nice one.

We are headed up to supervise the main marquee arrival in a moment; build the stage; put up lighting etc etc. Last time we visited I made a quick video showing direction of travel from Matlock, to help people find the Exile site, or just to amuse, either way here it is.

Fast and furious, the video starts just after leaving Matlock on the A6, heading towards Darley Dale, and finishing at the Exile Fes site ... like real time street view.

Thanks to Fangio 'del Si for the exemplary driving.

(Of course not! It's speeded up to twice normal. Doh.)

The Exile Fes team had our penultimate meeting before the fes commences just a couple of days ago, and it's all looking good.

The beer tent is going up at the end of this week, obviously, getting the main priorities sorted hasn't been a problem; then a few days later the big marquee and fencing are going up.

The Fantastic Mr T (you know who you are) has done wonders with electrics and too many other bare essential amenities to mention, all us Exile guys can't thank him enough, but here goes - Thank You Mr T.

We have had a small line-up change as, due to circumstances beyond their control Evangeline who were due to appear on the Saturday afternoon have had to drop out. 

We are very fortunate to be able to report however that the amazing (we are reliably assured) Salmagundi will be taking over their slot.
The Running Order download over at the Info Packs page has been altered to show this, so get an updated download now and Stage 2011 reflects this change.

Look forward to seeing you all there.

(P.S. - Thanks to Russ for the use of his beer tent pic above. More pics on his Flickr although this is no way to travel for man or beast.
Russ is the def guy to call if you need a diesel motorbike and trailer or Arduino fix though.)

Thanks to all the Online Ticket Purchasers for their patience whilst we sorted out the PayPal and email notification problems we have been experiencing recently - all should now be resolved to your satisfaction but if there are any remaining queries please get in touch.

Online Ticket Sales now up to speed - Check it out.

Exile Fes Tickets are finally getting to the post right now after printing and drying in the sun; look to your letter box over the next four or five days.