It wasn't what I'd expected to be doing on a Wednesday afternoon on a patch of grass at Exhibition Park. Ok, so I knew I was heading to the media launch of the National Folk Festival's Ultimate Tent Concert, but I didn't know I'd end up in the tent while glam folkers Sparrow Folk sung their chirrupy little hearts out. Nevertheless, sometimes life throws you a curve ball and the best you can do is take a swing.
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I was one of the first to arrive at the launch. Instructions on the invitation were simple, yet slightly mysterious: Flemington Rd entrance…Just call me on arrival to find out where we are. Easy. You never know though, maybe it wasn't going to be easy. Maybe it was going to prove really difficult and involve complex instructions which I'd have to take in while talking through the speaker phone in my car. As I swing into EPIC I see a fancy tent all primed for some glamping maybe 50 metres ahead of me. That is probably it, I think, but call anyway.
With the tent location sorted out, I park my car. Don't know what I was so nervous about. This bit of the trip has worked out fine. Now for the launch itself. Should be a blast.
The concept is quite a unique one. Dubbed the campfire concert of a lifetime, anyone who books a season camping pass to the 2015 National Folk Festival by Christmas will go into the running to have Sparrow Folk, or one of the other yet to be announced artists, turn up to their tent to perform an intimate concert. And if the early taste those who attended the launch received was anything to go by, the winner is in for quite a treat. Sparrow Folk are so delightful it simply does one good to hear them all up close and intimate. It really does. At one point, while a photographer was taking press shots I was asked to sit in the tent along with a couple of other people, while the pair sang. It was then that I really got an understanding of how good this duo is. My proximity to their natural, unamplified tones gave an experience I'm not sure I've ever had before. And that is what the Ultimate Tent Concerts will be about for those lucky enough to win one. It's about getting a special, close up and personal camp fire experience. I've already had mine.
NATIONAL FOLK FESTIVAL
When: April 2-6 2015
Where: Epic
Tickets: on sale now folkfestival.org.au
