(Here's Luven trying really hard to not write a Huge Wall of Text)
Wow! What an amazing Shirefest!! I had a wonderful time, it was so much fun!!
Friday started off with Duidhrastir and I dedicating this years Shirefest to each and every single band was about to play, and each band that has ever played at Shirefest in the past.
Without the bands, there is no music! Again...thank you all for playing your music for us!!
Friday was filled with four new bands who had not played Shirefest before; KapATek aNaHuaC, The Midnight Owl Band, The Midget Banshees, and The Midnight Elves. And we were all very impressed! We hope to see all of them play more for us in the future! They set the bar pretty high for the entire weekend. And a raucous Bread & Jam followed that had the Green Dragon packed to capacity for hours!
The Flutterbyes started off our Saturday with "You Ain't Seen Nothin Yet"...soooo apt! And through the day it was hour after hour of awesome music all the way until past 2 in the morning with Savo Lass finishing up the night!
Sunday started with a surprise performance from Breakfast Club, during what would have been Elevenses, and at least to me, those hours just flew by. So many sets thinking, "But that was never one hour just now!". And the weekend ended with us nearly crashing the server with the enormous amounts of fireworks we set off to Mardi Gras Party Band playing their 1812 Overture encore! So many fireworks!
And the music still didn't stop, with an impromptu After Party down at the Green Dragon!
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Duidhrastir and I would like to thank a whole lot of people...
Thank you Phoenix and friends, for putting up with us the entire weekend, streaming the entire event. What an amazing performance of endurance and fortitude. I'm sure every band that played thanks you! We're glad to have you as part of our community! And, even if you weren't streaming, we were happy you were there, to chat and dance with us!
Thank you to everyone in Second Breakfast who helped us take on this colossal endeavor! Thank you Pontin, Kenghis, Applecider, Tanzee, and Larkssong for helping Duid and I emcee bands! I hope you had as much fun doing the intros as it looked like you did, and you all did amazing jobs! If any bands liked their intros, please send your emcee a quick "thanks!", they deserve it! Each emcee wrote their own intros, their kind words are really theirs. :)
Thank you to Dragonne, and anyone else who helped by being there and announcing and porting folks in! I saw a lot of names in WC dishing out info and invites when I was able to peek in for a bit here and there, I love how you Crickets are looking out for others.
Thank you for all those who made food and drinks, or passed out drums and fireworks and pipeweed. We haven't put much thought into those things lately, and we should. We promise to work on being more organized when it comes to some of the other areas of Shirefest, to make it easier and more fun for you to do the things you like to do to help.
And thank you to anyone who came to Shirefest to listen to and cheer on the bands! Our bands absolutely love being appreciated and listened to! Thank you to those in bands who came early to listen, and stayed late to hang out with us. I love you folks even when your not playing, you're all really awesome!
And of course, I personally would like to thank Duidhrastir once again, for doing this with me. You are one of a kind, Sir Duid. :)
Huge, huge apologies if I missed anyone, or misspelled a name, or had an hour off of some time. I've been running on caffeine and adrenaline all weekend. But I had sooo much fun!