The only hi-fi stuff that I actually liked at Scalford were the thrown together monster systems. Ultimately I never really want to listen to your music, which I don’t much like, on your hi-fi system, which I don’t much like.
So Lopwell and Settle both ticked the interesting hi-fi, sure, but they had the most important bits, which were social. Giving us the freedom of our own food and drink were huge advances as well. And not having the general public joining us (apart from brownie invasions) is a huge win.
I have fond memories of Scalford, sure, but what we do now is much more fun.
For the many of us that had never seen valve kit let alone unusual speakers or horns, Scalford was really eye opening. There were makes at scalford most of us had never heard of and were unlikely to see and hear anywhere else
It was also a chance to play music fairly loudly all day.
Yes it could get very tedious hearing Alison Krause again, but equally it could be fun following it with the prodigy or something equally different and the reactions when you stuck on music the exhibitor had never tried before could be fun
Each were festooned with a purple cape, we felt this was a mature and gentlemanly take on ‘the old classics’. I realize now this was twisty ‘Heston thinking’. Pilot marker ordered.
