The Woodford Files: 2

The Tiny Top, originally uploaded by Ampersand Duck.

This is where I spent a lot of my time, The Tiny Top. It was a very small venue, as it's name suggests, which was most refreshing after venues packed with hundreds of people.

The Tiny Top had little 15-minute shows ('all-natural acts') every half hour from about 4 in the afternoon. It held no more than 50 people, most of whom would have to stand at the back behind the seats. You would have to line up outside in a roped-off area for 15 minutes while they stood on the stage and regailed you with jokes, songs and general loudspeaker spruiking, and then you were let in for whatever show was slated on the blackboard. After 15 minutes of excellent entertainment, you were let out to either wander off and find something else to do, or line up again for another 15 minutes of al fresco entertainment until the next snippet of exotica. Most of the people performing would do longer shows in other venues through the festival, so it was like a very intimate sampler. We went so much that they would treat us as part of the act outside. I think of the 12 varieties of act offered, I only missed 4. Examples of their acts follow above...