Here's a quick post about the Festival Interceltique.  After last year, we knew we had to go this year.  We had such a great time, and there were several bands that I wanted to hear, or hear again.  Plus our friends were playing as well.  Each year the festival invites one of the celtic countries as its special guest and this year it was Galicia, which isn't either of our favorite type of celtic music, but it isn't like that is the only thing happening either.  And we were surprised to actually enjoy some of the galician bands.  But, oddly enough, the two concerts that I had most wanted to see were the two that were most disappointing.  The first was the Welsh band that we had loved last year, Taran.  Unfortunately, the bombard/shaum player wasn't with them this year and that alone left a certain hole, plus the sound mixing was just horrible for that concert.  And the that was the same problem for the other concert.  The mixing for those two concerts was just excruciatingly disappointing. The second concert was Gwennyn, a Breton pop singer.  I'm still glad to have seen both these concerts, but I just wish the sound had been better.  They deserved it.  I have some pretty good photos of Gwennyn that I could post, or can be seen on Facebook.

Ouor biggest surprise was the Manx band Skeeal.  We hadn't ever heard of them, but since we had never heard Manx music, I thought we should go.  They are a five piece band, two singers, two flute players and a guitarist.  And even tho the music is simply arranged, it really works.  They sing in all three gaelics, Manx, Scottish and Irish, which is unusual, and very cool.  We bought both of their albums, and I haven't stopped listening.

We also saw a bit of FullSet, an Irish group and wow, they were some of the best musicians I have ever seen.  The best uilleann piping I've ever heard, I think.  They are the only ones that I took any video of and you can barely make out any images, but the music is there, so I'm sharing it with you.


And of course I got to hang out in a kilt and even had my picture taken with some vacationers.  We had a really great time, between the sunburns on the beach and the concerts in the evenings.

Yes, I've been on silent mode recently.  Lots of things happening.  I have thousands of photos to get online. 

So what's been up?  We did Gay Pride in Paris at the end of June and had a blast.  And then next day, we drove out into the counrtyside and took a nice walk between the fields and when we got back, found our back windshield had been broken in. 

We are leaving tomorrow after Tristan finishes work for Brittany.  I've been craving this since being sick this winter.  Interceltic Festival, finally getting to have a real place to wear my kilt and the beach.  I'm so excited.

I'm looking forward to the music, and the air.  Just need to decompress.  And maybe when I get back, I'll be less antisocial.

Edit:  Oh yeah, I just bought a new monitor for our computer.  We went from a 17 in screen to a HUGE 24 inch screen.  It is awesome, and it was so cheap!  I'm loving working on it.