GREETINGS FROM PLANET KNOCK

First and foremost forgive me for the incessant obsessive reason to rhyme,
It was the theme of the weekend while we were having such a good time,
Had to capture the essence of our ridiculous lyrical stint, bring it to print for a glint of our review,
In honour of the words contributed from my somewhat greetings card influenced, assistive crazy crew,
You are out of this world and I love you.

Knockengorrach festival, nestled in scenic Scottish meadows,
Was a stunning feast of fun and sunshine for every visiting fellow,
The shining yellow orb, that hung solo in the cloud free sky,
Gave everyone the smiles of life, to be so high and dry.

Some days were all about the music, some days were just perfect festival fun,
At Knockengorrach festival you can have so much of either one,
It doesn’t matter what you look like, or where in fact you are from,
The festival in the Galloway hills is a top experience for everyone.

Bo-Airigh is the beautiful grass roofed main stage with its crowning Highland Coo,
The children free to roam and play, so much for them to do,
Along with Tallyn, Sheiling, Weirdigans and the Lang Whan house venues too,
Plenty of stunning locations and a broad variety of musical options for you.

Even with all the music, the atmosphere, the activities and the crafts,
Knockengorrach is really all about the people, the scenery, the doggies and the laughs,
You can swim in swirling river ponds and lay with your pooch among the grass,
As you feel a blanket of magic wash over you as a thousand unicorns stroll past.

But first we must get to the detail, the wonderful things we got to do,
And share with you our adventures of all we tried to consume,
Because Knockengorrach may be a small festival, but its heart is big and true,
It has the most beautiful setting, yet its always the people that make it special and unique too.

Friday

Indigenous People

The African sounds from the group Indigenous People got the festival started in full swing,
The sound so uplifting, drifting, gripped us in its trance enhancing healing,
Their drums struck out a demanding beat getting people up on their feet,
Dancing, prancing, so rhythmic and entrancing with their beauty in each beat.

The sun scorched down on our faces, a slight breeze blowing through our hair,
The Indigenous People made us consider the community cohesion that we share,
Their world mission to bring a sense of cultural security in their people because they care,
To challenge the effects of discrimination putting diversity rather than uniformity right out there.

The Inexplicables

Next The Inexplicables on the Bo-Airigh stage, completely and utterly blew us away,
Strong urban beat, our uncontrollable feet, beat boxing treat, over a sublime melodic beat,
Utterly stunning sexy saxophone keeping it tight,
This modern hip hop Bristol band set the mood for the rest of our night.

The level of funk and influences in this incredible dance group’s unique amazing flair,
We were skanking, raving, reggae strutting, dancing free, coz we really didn’t care,
The crowd were all in rapture with their arms and even some legs in the air,
The Inexplicables gave us all a gift of memories we embraced and were blessed to share.

Blanty

Inside the Froach Bar we found the gritty sounds of Lancaster artist Blanty,
Who continued our fun with some toe tapping, leg slapping shanty,
With a tongue twisting word whipping monologues of witty slanting,
His view on the world got us all laughing and dancing.

Lyrical satirical meaningful thrills,
As he plucked his guitar with beautiful skills,
Energetic rhymes increasing in speed gave us the chills,
Or perhaps it was the dancing and the beers that we spilled.

Sheelanagig 

Sheelanagig back on Bo-Airigh stage hit us up with beautiful banging folk tunes to the willing congregation,
Song title ‘The Manc Monk’ was a soulful funk filled flute spectacular demonstration,
Seemed just the dedication, to offer up some MCR love for the recent attack on the nation,
Their 14th century punk rock folk twist of a variation of generations, was a brilliantly executed musical sensation.

Tribal Drumming

Time to find a workshop to engage the childrens minds for their thrills
To keep their brains developing, thinking, creating, listening and climbing hills
Tallyn tent delivered via the Tribal Drumming community collective workshop skills
With perfectly choreographed crescendos, fun involvement for the kids while our energy refilled

RURA

Bo-Airigh stage for RURA as the sun began to drop,
Not that it stopped any one from enjoying this Scottish folk lot,
They were expertly fiddle-tastic with exciting powerful pipes skills you’d never knock,
And such powerful tempo and energy our attempts at Scottish dancing we sadly could not stop.

The crowd grew considerably larger, the ambiance swelled with traditional rugged high tempo sound,
Had everyone jumping around and around,
Twirling and swirling all over Knockengorrach ground,
As RURA rocked the evening in spectacular Scottish folk dance and we jumped, contorted and cavorted abound.

Molotov Jukebox

Quickly energised to continue our fervent appreciation,
When Molotov Jukebox in the headline slot took the musical genre out of the nation,
Delighted us as they pumped out global influenced tunes with enthusiastic collaboration,
Jolly and uplifting female vocalist who played accordion with a selection of brass sensation,
And bringing out our best dance moves to be dropped in sheer admiration and excitation.

The rest of the night was a concoction for sure,
Of wonderful memories and the odd bucky blur,
The fire, the Shielding, and Maddaigh’s Mash Tree,
Were all the places that I know I’ve been.

All the details of the in-between things that I did and said,
Have yet to return to my sizzled over stimulated head,
To all those I do remember, I thank you for so many laughs,
We all danced and grooved and bantered until I slipped over dancing on the grass.

My LED trainers even broke in the furore,
As I stomped and attempted break dance spins on the headphone disco dance floor,
At that moment I knew it was time to make my way back home,
Before the excessive fun actually broke one of my bones.

Saturday

When we rose we went straight to enjoy the tumbling river, all the ladies, we jumped right in,
And washed away our hangovers, the external rushing cold water refreshing our souls and our skin,
A sense of being with nature as the wagtails and swifts joined in,
The hydro bubbles of the bumbling brook kick started our enthusiasm to start partying after our swim.

We slowly but surely glammed up, for my best friends golden year day,
With glittering long frocks, sequins and cardboard instruments to play,
We celebrated her 50^th year ahead in style with friends and unicorns array,
With so much mythical magic, mental and mysterious moments made for a very special mad cows day.

The sun was beating down, fighting against a cloud of doom and grey,
The massive clap of thunder surprised the crowd and for a moment frowning faces turned away,
Then all around us people broke into songs or began to play,
The variety of lyrics all related to the imminent looking rain,
Amazing how one sound from the sky can inspire lyrics that connect everyone again.

Knockengorrach smashed the Guinness record, the sight was quite surreal,
Of the largest gathering of people wearing unicorn horns in one field,
The numbers were higher than 999 but the counting tickets ran out,
The multitude of homemade horns was really what its all about.

The were big ones, small ones, blacks ones, glitter ones and some were really silly,
Some just looked like you know it was meant to replace a gentlemen’s willy,
Some were really beautiful and some looked knocked up just then,
It didn’t really matter, it was the ingenious and creative effort that everyone put in.

Once the officiating unicorn count was done the music resumed across the sight,
We wandered around the craft stalls and enjoyed the Nether end of the site,
The exodus of unicorns made for an amusing less mystical display,
We strolled and sat amongst the gentle musicians lulling and lilting outside the Longhouse to play.

Tantz

Crepes and ice creams later, erratic frantic bohemian Balkan sounds caught our ears,
Off we went again to the Bo-Airigh stage to be highly engaged to the point of appreciative cheers,
Tantz do things differently, up and down tempos with awesome gypsy folk jazz instrumental gears,
The human maze creating crowd motivating instigating knees up bonkers band with beards.

The kids went wild and so did the crowd,
This band are equally melodic and loud,
We got bound inside a spiral of people dancing around and around,
Hand in hand no exit to be found,
While Stan the dog watched from a safe distant his head held high and proud,
As we got down low and jumped up high to the wonderful exciting sound,
Before Tantz finally beat us and we collapsed to the ground.

Zion Train DJ set

A shuffle left and a jiggle right,
Everywhere the party was in full flight,
We caught Zion Train DJ set at Maddaigh’s Mash Tree, what a fright!
My heart was fair exhausted but my body was in dancers delight,
The beats and funk a tease for seeing the legendary Zion Train for reals later that night.

Exhausted and needing sustenance, my persistence to dance was running low,
I waved away to the DJ and went to find food and a change of clothes,
Time to prepare for the night shift and get away from midges for an hour or so,
Came back into the arena in time for the finale act, the mighty Max Romeo.

Max Romeo

His crowd were busting out their reggae moves in force,
Max’s vocals wowed them accompanied by an impressive band and backing singers of course,
The dancing went as far back as the fire pit where even the seated people swayed,
The field so full and fun, a great finale for the Bo-Airigh stage.

Zion Train

I zoomed into the Beat-Root Cafe opposite where Zion Train were on stage,
No way I could miss the awesome sounds of this legendary dub dance craze,
Such old timers in my life’s memories, the years of tunes right through my age,
I sat with new friends and watched the crowded Sheiling tent and felt blessed and amazed.

More dance moves cut in the Tallyn tent where the headphone disco stations compete,
Its hilarious to see other peoples dance moves not match your tunes that you strut with your own feet,
To have people singing in your beamer and swinging your hand out of beat,
As you flick through all the channels to try and match with their fancied musical treat.

No matter where we ended up, there was always something going on,
From dancing strange alien creatures, to whole congregations jamming around fire pits breaking into song,
The energy and vibes in the early hours are truly unique to the world of Knock at night,
Its no wonder you just cant keep still and get tempted to the extravaganza of extraordinary experiences all across this eclectic site.

Space Cassette Disco in Manchester - and to bed

The pumping chaotic crazy Space Cassette Disco Takeover in Sheiling, made me lose my mind,
I danced as if I was dying with all the friendly faces of new and old friends I could find,
At sometime whenever it was off to bed through drizzle, the sun up, a huge smile on my face,
I fell into my camper, literally thump, passed out, no sign of grace.

Remember it hadn’t rained back in that moment, or rained all day at all,
Neither in the evening did the thunder storm rain fall,
But early now in the morning, when most were tucked in tents,
Not even drawn into Maddaigh’s Mash Tree, our dance aches and pains intense.

The quiet sneaking storm clouds finally dropped its raindrops on our heads,
It didn’t really matter as we were on our very last legs,
Stumbling over dry ground to flop into our beds,
The sound of rain on a hard top roof lulled us to sleep after many slurred words were said.

Sunday

I slept away the morning but crawled out just in time for the midday sun,
And sulked around the camper for a bit because I knew I had to cut short my weekend of fun,
For reality called in the morning, the day job required an eight o’clock start,
So all this hard core enjoyment was going to have to stop but I did not want to depart.

I made the most of a few hours, chilling to the musicians outside the Longhouse and the tepee,
Enjoyed the kids procession led by the incredible 25 piece band Sambayabamba’s rhythmic energy,
Then one more ice cream for the road before I took the track for the last time my heart full of glee,
What a wonderful time I had, it didn’t matter that I would miss the finale.

Like a Tardis seems small from the outside,
The planet knock has a huge heart on the inside,
Kindness, friendliness, and an energetic vibe of sumptuous beauty,
The 20^th year of Knockengorrach absolutely enthralled and truly entranced me.

*Disclaimer: this review only rhymes if you have my weird eclectic accent. Natch.

Review by: Lou Hyland