Barnstomper Day 1

August 29, 2024 0 By Jon

Barnstomper Festival, Cerne Abbas Brewery

Guns Of Navarone / Pronghorn / Black Water County / Flogging Molly

Thursday – Day One

After winning an OMA award in 2023 for the Barnstomper Festival situated at the Cerne Abbas brewery in the shadow of the great chalk giant; organisers Guyer, Lammer and their team knew that they had to pull something special out of bag for this year to keep up their momentum. As the Icicle Works once sung “Be Careful What You Dream of, it may come up and surprise you”; one of Guyer’s all time favourite bands Flogging Molly were approached to headline and after some negotiations, the band – much to everyone’s surprise to agreed perform.

The band needed to get their truck and tour bus down the narrow farm track and today as everyone descends on the Brewery it’s clear that it is mission accomplished. The band have spent the Summer performing at some huge festivals in Europe including Wacken Open Air, Summer Breeze, Pukkelpop, Bloodstock and many more.

Guns Of Navarone 1–2–3–4–5–6

The festival in previous years featured a mixture of regular favourites, along with some new original acts and some highly impressive headliners. This year is no different, I arrive on site after a hard days toil and a few traffic queues at around 6:45pm. The extended Guns of Navarone are on stage, whipping up a storm with their infectious rhythms and brass-led sound delivering crowd-pleasing Ska classics. A few of the members of the Guns are also in the next band Pronghorn, Lamma swaps Saxophone for Banjo and heads over to the main stage.

You really can’t go wrong with Pronghorn, they are a festival band that with over 30 years experience who really know how to entertain. Most of the audience have seen the band many times before and freely dance and sing along with their infectious cowpunk.

Pronghorn 1–2–3–4–5–6–7

A quick dash over to the next stage and we have one of Dorset’s success stories Black Water County, a band that have elevated themselves to the next level from their humble local beginnings. Tonight Brad is temporally incapacitated due to problems with his knee, rather then cancel the gig he plays his electric guitar sitting down. The band are clearly very excited to be supporting Flogging Molly and for some of them they are the reason that they formed this band in the first place.

Their Celtic influenced music sometimes has been known to include a cover or two by their heroes and to be honest BWC was one of the instigators for me listening to Flogging Molly. With a selection of tracks from their first two albums the band romp through the set full of energy, providing some fine instrumentation and impressive harmonies. Playing their ruckus “One More Beer” in a brewery couldn’t be more fitting to end the set. The band take their plaudits from the delighted crowd before climbing down off the stage and make their way over to the mosh pit.

Black Water County 1–2–3–4–5–6–7–8

The crowd on the main stage are huge and there are people who have travelled here from 1000’s of miles away for this event. There is even one chap who made his way over from Switzerland to see Flogging Molly in this intimate setting. The band arrive on stage appropriately with cans of Guinness in their hands, some of which they distribute to lucky members of the crowd. The band are smartly attired and some of them are wearing flat caps and waistcoats looking like extras from the classic TV Crime drama “Peaky Blinders”.

Kicking off with “Drunken Lullabies”, as the song builds the anticipation grows and then the crowd start to move. People of all ages are dancing with sheer abandonment and enjoyment. The infectious mix of military precision rhythms, coupled with melodic Accordion, Fiddle, Tin Whistles, Banjo and Guitars bring their political and historic songs so vividly to life.

Flogging Molly 1–2–3–4–5–6–7–8

Frontman Dave King with his broad Dublin accent in true Folk tradition chats with the audience in-between each song with background to the songs or with just a bit fun of banter. With tracks like “Swagger”; “Life in a Tenement Square” and the thoroughly uplifting “The Croppy Boy 98”, the crowd’s energy increases.

Two clearly inexperienced security guards arrive believing there is a problem and start to push their weight around unnecessarily, crowds like this look after themselves and this is not needed. Guyer and the band soon have a word with them and they soon leave the mosh pit, much to the delight of the audience who are perfectly fine without the need of their heavy-handedness.

The band all clearly appreciate the efforts that the festival team have gone to prepare for their visit and there are plenty of thanks for the Dorset hospitality that they have received. They also take time out to thank the audience for their celebratory support. Guyer with a sloppy smile on his face is stood at the side of the stage pinching himself, to make sure this is not a dream. The reality is that sometimes events like this are possible and Flogging Molly coming to a small sleepy village in Dorset is an event that will be remembered for a long to come. Sometimes the right person asks the right question at the right time. The band continue their momentous set with a song that you would hear regularly coming out of the Dublin Pub’s sessions.

You just cannot stand still to a totally infectious tune like “Salty Dog”. The high energy instrumentation keeps coming as the politically fuelled “What’s Left Of The Flag” keeps the crowd bouncing before the band close with the epic “Seven Deadly Sins”. It’s mission accomplished for the Barnstomper Festival, however it’s just day one and we have two more to go…

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