Tag: fly yeti fly

7 Hills Spring Festival Comes to Trowbridge

Is it time to start thinking about spring? I think so! Bath music promoters 7 Hills are moving their annual spring festival from the city to Trowbridge’s Old Town Hall. If you’re already buzzing for the 2026 festival season to arrive, check this March offering…..

7 Hills regularly organise music events at The Night Jar in Bath, a glorious bar upstairs at the Bath Pizza Company, part of the hip Green Park Brasserie close to the railway station. Many gigs there have a “pay if can” policy, and present the likes of Luke De-Sciscio, Elles Bailey and Steve Cradock of Ocean Colour Scene. Their festivals are also usually held in Bath, but this coming year a spring one comes to Trowbridge.

Chris Hoar of Courting Ghosts explained he, “reached out to them initially to say I was planning a festival in the newly renovated Old Town Hall, just to check it didn’t clash with them, and Matt said let’s do it together in Trowbridge as a spring festival.”

Concrete Prairie

It’s an all day folk-rock festival, happening on Saturday 21st March, tickets are on sale now at £39.50. There’s a number of acts new to me on the lineup, which is good; The Delines, Our Man In The Field, Joseph Arthur, Hannah White, Leander Morales Music, Chris Greenhalgh, Bluebeard and the Desperate Hours and Biff Country. Some to tick off my must see list, like AQABA, and others which I will never tire of witnessing, particularly Concrete Prairie, Thieves, Fly Yeti Fly and Matt Owens, with Chris’s band Courting Ghosts, of course!

Courting Ghosts

Following an extensive and transformative refurbishment, the historic Old Town Hall will host this inaugural 7 Hills Spring Festival, a landmark cultural event marking a renewed era of artistic ambition for the region. Conceived as a celebration of world-class songwriting and contemporary creative excellence, the festival assembles an exceptional line-up of internationally esteemed performers and compelling new voices.

The Delines headline, widely regarded as one of the most evocative and accomplished bands of their generation. Praised for their cinematic soul, lush arrangements and profoundly humane storytelling, critics have called The Delines “one of the finest Americana acts working today” and hailed their work as “exquisite, elegant and utterly transportive.” Their appearance at 7 Hills Spring Festival promises a rare opportunity to witness a band consistently described as “among the very best songwriters and performers on either side of the Atlantic.”

They are joined by Our Man in the Field, whose transatlantic Americana and increasingly acclaimed live performances have captured audiences across Europe and beyond; the distinguished American singer-songwriter Joseph Arthur, celebrated for his poetic intensity; Matt Owens & The DVP, whose dynamic blend of modern folk, rock, and richly crafted lyricism promises one of the night’s most electrifying sets; and multiple AMA UK Award Winner,  Hannah White, widely recognised as one of Britain’s most profound contemporary songwriters. Rounding out the bill are Courting Ghosts, an emerging band whose growing reputation reflects a bold and distinctive artistic voice.

Fly Yeti Fly

Showcasing newly enhanced performance spaces, architectural restoration, and a revitalised artistic vision, the renewed Old Town Hall stands as a major cultural milestone. 7 Hills Spring Festival will not merely highlight the building’s transformation, but also usher in a bold new chapter for Trowbridge’s cultural landscape.

With the absence of Bradford Roots Festival this coming year, usually in Feb at The Wiltshire Music Centre, I think I can pad it out until then; maybe go into hibernation until March!

Tickets HERE.

Trending…..

Rooks; New Single From M3G

Chippenham folk singer-songwriter, M3G (because she likes a backward “E”) has a new single out tomorrow, Friday 19th December. Put your jingly bell cheesy tunes…

Burning the Midday Oil at The Muck

Highest season of goodwill praises must go to Chrissy Chapman today, who raised over £500 (at the last count) for His Grace Children’s Centre in…

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Alex Roberts and Fly Yeti Fly @ The Barge Honeystreet

Ben Niamor 

First time for me in the barn venue, it’s a great space. Alex is no stranger to this place, and it feels like a really relaxed gig among friends. Alex played a good bit of material from his most recent release for us, Meridians and superpowers, the title track among the very best. And a mix of older songs and the odd cover. 

I love One More Miracle, inspired by terrorist legislation changes a little way back and how Jesus,  should he of come back at that time, could have been mistaken for a terrorist.. as usual some deeper thinking with wry humour infused to keep it positive and the lyrics flowing. 

“He said he couldn’t walk on water, I said he should learn to surf like me..!?” Understated and reflective as we have come to expect. 

Hacking back to the wild – about the peregrine falcon, words reflecting on the beauty and majesty of wild birds of prey. 

Love too strong, a sincere note of adulation to his wife. Sharing such a heartfelt song whilst his muse is in the room is a wonderfully inclusive thing to offer the rest of us, and always feels special somehow. 

I have highlighted but a few of the wonderful songs in this set, enough for any curious mind to look into this incredible musician, an artist I share with many looking for music that’s meaningful and well considered. 

Gorgeous harmonious three piece tonight, Fly Yeti Fly, with a cello alongside. Relatively new to me, but well known in the folk scene, and playing some great venues. A light hearted and delicate touch with the audience, some great songs with a running thread of nostalgia and positivity. 

They sang songs about his dad, his old man a hippy soul, who they quipped if he had visited Honeystreet would most likely never of left, and Blue yonder – a fun ode to the thoughts of our dogs… rousing and I think accurate musing in the mindset of dogs and their wanderlust and passion for adventure and new friends. Something reflected in the lives of many folk fans I think. 

Songs of mischievous mermaids luring Cornish choir boys to the icy depths in an incredibly harmonious manner …

Firewood – about the harder aspects of life on the cut. The cold and the worries of being iced in.

Thankfully most of us will not experience tough times on the water, that result in burning our furniture for warmth. 

But it makes for a bloody good folk song. 

I could ramble on about this lovely band, but this is just a snapshot of a good evenings live music, a fix of the kind of music that helps balance all our daily concerns and strife with some free thinking and perspective often with an historical context. Surely that’s a definition of the folk tradition? And one pleasingly well upheld by these artists and this well established venue. Thank you all.