Sound At St James 2 – St James Concert Hall – 22/02/20

This is an excerpt of an article written by Tom Girard The first Sound At St James festival, a little under a year and a half ago, marked something of a relaunch of St James (or at least the perception of it) as a venue for more than classical music and rather staid, traditional entertainment. Since then a range of...

Vale Earth Fair Weekend 2019 – 24-25/08/19

This is an excerpt of an article written by Tom Girard The Neville Staple BandFor the third year in a row the Vale Earth Fair expanded to a two day event with the main festival, this year celebrating 43 years, in its usual place at the Vale Castle on the Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend but with Sound...

Vale Earth Fair 2007 – Vale Castle – 26/08/07

This is an excerpt of an article written by Tom Girard BabyheadAs we approach the 2019 Vale Earth Fair, and I noticed some of my first review of the festival back in 2007 has dropped off the BBC website, I thought I’d revive it here. From the sounds of this it was a packed year and I can only imagine...

Woodstock: Three Days Of Peace And Music – Director’s Cut

This is an excerpt of an article written by Tom Girard To say 1969 was a landmark year for several aspects of culture would be an understatement. Less than a month ago (as I write this) we marked the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing, the Stonewall riots in New York ushered in a new era for the LGBT+...

Sound At St James – St James Concert Hall, Guernsey – 27-28/10/18

This is an excerpt of an article written by Tom Girard Of Empires on the main stageFor as long as I can remember St James, the impressive looking former church on the main road into St Peter Port, has been the home of classical music in Guernsey with rarely anything even bordering on pop gracing its impressive main hall, or...

Sark Roots Festival 2018 – 14-16/09/18

This is an excerpt of an article written by Tom Girard Sark Roots FestivalFor a third year a field at the north-eastern most point of the tiny island of Sark was converted for the weekend into one of the most relaxed and convivial festivals sites I’ve ever encountered, for the Sark Roots Festival. Once again the event featured three days...

Vale Earth Fair 2018 – Vale Castle – 25-26/08/18

This is an excerpt of an article written by Tom Girard Imperial Leisure at the Vale Earth FairFor the second year in a row the 2018 Vale Earth Fair, marking the Channel Island’s longest running music festival’s 42nd year, was split across two days with the first day again being run by Sound Guernsey and the second being the long-established...

Chaos 14 – Pleinmont, Guernsey – 29/06-01/07/18

This is an excerpt of an article written by Tom Girard Now in its 14th year I think it’s safe to say that, after the Vale Earth Fair, Chaos (aka Chaos Weekend or Chaos Festival) is one of the most established events in the Channel Islands music calendar regularly attracting visitors from Jersey, the U.K. and mainland Europe. Over that...