Anyone following us on facebook or twitter will get it by now, we had a blast at Pigstock 2011. We thought that as means of giving us some closure we'd bring you our ten remarkable things about this year's south Down shindig .
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10. The Body Popping Maestro -
Who doesn't like the robot dance? Nobody, that is who! The guy who stood at the main stage for the majority of the Saturday body popping was probably the biggest non-hero of the weekend, bar festival organiser Johnny Tate. We demand at least a knighthood, if not a canonisation.
9. The Cinema Screen -
I (Phily) found myself at 4:45am in the morning sitting on my hands, partially shivering but grinning like a fool watching 'The Last Waltz' on a massive cinema screen. Good work Pigstock because if hadn't of been for that many punters may have harmed each other after having to spend two days in the close proximity of a small tent.
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Main Stage, Saturday May 28th 10.15pm
Describe in a tweet: Dramatic wouldnt be in it.
What happened?: Everything happened. Not even halfway into this headline performance, Johnny Black announces that bassist Herb is leaving the band. There had been a palpable sense of 'something' going on from the opening bars of the set and clearly this had been playing its part. As always, Lafaro are an awesome machine to watch. Every member of the band is a draw, from Alan's frenetic drumming, Dave's hair (which seems to have become a living, independently headbanging entity atop his head), Johnny's laconic snarl and of course the dervish-like Herb at the head of a rhythm section pincer movement, flanked by guitars. Once the departure is announced it seems to have chased an elephant from the room and they open up, rattling through new material like 'Easy Meat' as if they were setlist staples. Familiar tunes such as 'Mr. Heskey', ' Great Conversations Remembered..' and 'Leningrad' are all like being repeatedly pinned down by the ears and given a punishment kiss. While some gripe at, and some adore the corny stage banter, musically, there is no flab. Its all essential. 'The Ballad of Burnt Dave' and especially 'Tupenny Nudger' are now simply something akin to national anthems. This band are special, their chemistry is unique and there is going to be one hell of a sizeable pair of shoes to fill for Lafaro over the summer.
Silk Purse: The songs. The songs. The songs.
Sow's Ear: The fact that the Lafaro juggernaut needs to be halted - albeit temporarily - is a frustration, given the immense sound of the new material that has been showcased in recent gigs. Simultaneously more riffage and more punk attitude bodes well. Herb, take a while, think about it and come back home.
Pigstock Rating: 9/10 (and thats because we dont want to have THAT argument again).
Main Stage 9:05pm Saturday
Tweet: The shank hits the target.
What happened? Some of us turned up ignoring the football and saw a trio with at least one madman going a bit bonkers in a really friendly way.
Silk Purse: From our masked bassist going wandering in the crowd in the first track we know there's a bit of chaos here. But they're sweet with it, holding up a squeaky pig in between their punchy, frantic, math-madness. It's intense, tight and bludgeoning, but they're always happy, in the same way that the Joker is. We also believe they may have special powers over animals as the nearby sheep appear to bleat in time with them.
Sow's Ear: We could do with a few more people here at the start, and it's a bit of an unsatisfactory conclusion to the set, just finishing and shuffling off rather than the fireworks they should be setting off.
Rating: 8/10
