The Cornmarket Acoustic Club has been part of the Liverpool spirit of music for three years and yet somehow a festival has been missing from the clubs social calendar – until now.

With music being a central point in Liverpool, perhaps only matched by the abundant love shown towards its two football teams, there is always somewhere to go, some alleyway in which the sound of a pleasing saxophone, the gentle guitar or demanding vocal drifts to the music lover’s ear and takes root and begs to be explored. The Cornmarket Acoustic Club feeds on this and gives so much in return and whilst they have travelled far from the early ethos of being a folk club, music is still very much king and is benevolent enough in which even the art of poetry gets to share the stage.

The festival opened with nine members of the fantastic Ukulele Club Liverpool giving a scintillating appearance and thrilling the early crowds with cover versions of tracks such as Moldy Peaches’ Anybody Else But You, The Pogues Dirty Old Town and Toto’s seminal Africa.

This wasn’t ever going to be a day in which the elder generation of music lovers and players would get their way all day and in amongst the much praised music from the likes of John Williams, Mary McCombs , Gary Edward Jones or Sean Redmond, it was a chance for the younger future life blood of Liverpool’s music to stand up and show exactly what they could do and in Eleanor Nelly, Izzy Ryder and Ella Fradgely, the music was so well received that at one point it was almost possible to imagine the future and what a profound statement of musical intent it will be if these younger musicians keep true to the cause.

With poetry and music standing side by side in the whole of the Cornmarket pub and with the chance to learn some new styles and tips being on offer, this inaugural festival more than made its mark on all those who passed through during the course of the day, it showed that even the best days out don’t have to be grandiose in scale, all it takes is an idea and music, something that Liverpool has by the bucket-load.

Ian D. Hall