|||
I’m very glad that I have a perfect record so far with Sappyfest and the third year was the best yet for the indie music festival in Sackville, New Brunswick. This year I took fewer photos (but I have a Sappyfest 2008 set) and didn’t blog, but I was able to post short updates as things happened through my Twitter feed. Using my tweets I was able to reconstruct what I saw two weeks ago, since with a lineup of about 60 bands over three days, it’s easy to forget stuff. The rough statistics for me from Sappyfest 2008 are 27 bands, 4 readings, 3 films, and 1 dance performance.
What distinguishes Sappyfest is that it’s a more organic DIY hand-crafted festival. The performers are carefully chosen based on the Sappy Records folks (Julie Doiron, Jon Claytor, and Paul Henderson) having met and admired them. That provides a very friendly and casual atmosphere and at any time the audience is filled with people who will take the stage. The bands aren’t just there to play their songs and leave, but to see the other bands as well. The musicians wait in line like everyone else for food and beer, and there are lots of smiles and laughter all around.
