MaW’s Blog

‘What,’ I hear you cry, ‘happened to day three?’

Quite simply, I was at a wedding. I just blogged about it.

So, the folk festival. After the drive back from Nottingham from the wedding, I was pretty tired. I got on my bike and went over to the folk festival though, and was just in time to see the start of Lúnasa’s set. They were great (so I went and bought one of their albums), but they clashed with Karine Polwart, who I really had to see. And she was well worth missing Lúnasa for. Stupendously good performance, and we got to sing along too which is usually fun. Not on the sad songs though, and Karine Polwart does an excellent line in sad songs.

Good thing she finished off with a happy one really — What Are You Waiting For? is a great way to finish a set which was otherwise quite depressing, beginning with a song about a mother and her children who were killed by Bosnian Serb troops during the war in Yugoslavia.

She was followed by the Old Crow Medicine Show, who are awful, so I went and got myself another chocolate and banana crepe (strongly recommended), some nachos and a big hunk of watermelon, talked to Dave, Mike and Fara, who were all getting different things out of the festival, and then wandered back in time to see Altan, who are much like Danú in many ways, but a bit more energetic on their instrumental sets. Good live, wouldn’t buy their album though, as that style of singing grates a bit with me.

After Altan was the lovely Kate Rusby, every bit as good as Uncle Chris says. She launched her new album at the festival that day, and so we were able to buy copies a whole month before it’s out in the shops. Can you get any better than that? Well yes, you can, but only if you don’t arrive too late to ask Kate to sign it for you like I did.

She’s excellent live though, her voice is superb, and she’s extremely funny. Guests such as Idlewild’s lead singer (who’s name I cannot remember, he wasn’t interesting enough) and some brass players from the Coldstream Guards added some variety. We were encouraged to sing the chorus of Canaan’s Land and I Courted A Sailor, and Kate finished off her set with a highly charged rendition of Underneath the Stars, a song I’ve loved since I first heard it. Bit tearful there!

Blazin’ Fiddles were next, but they failed to capture my interest sufficiently to keep me there when I was having difficulty standing upright due to general tiredness, particularly mental tiredness, so I got back on my bike and cycled home. And went to bed.

Today I had the day off work, and a jolly good thing too!

So, day two of the Folk Festival. Today I went for the start of performances at two, and saw Hayseed Dixie, who I missed last night. They were okay, but I wouldn’t seek them out again. Then it was The Cat Empire, an Australian group who had some very strange load of reggae and ska thrown in. Talented, but I wouldn’t seek them out either.

Then The Bills, who I also saw yesterday. I didn’t pay much attention to their performance, except to enjoy the first song, which was the one I liked most last night (last night they didn’t do it first though).

Fourth band of the afternoon (this is all on stage one, very conveniently, although I did wander around the festival during the intervals and less interesting groups as well, for food if nothing else!) were the marvellous and amazing Kathryn Tickell Band. One of the main reasons I bothered to go the festival at all, they completely failed to disappoint in every possible way. Although their first number (Herd, from the album Air Dancing) had some sound glitches, by the end of it they’d got it all sorted out and stormed their way through an excellent set, gaining the most positive audience reaction of the afternoon. A couple of good new tracks in there as well as fantastic older ones, so things bode well for their next album. They finished their set with a rendition of Peter Man, which can also be found on Air Dancing, but extended and considerably faster at the end, getting almost the entire tent to their feet and stamping and clapping and dancing along. Fantastic.

They were followed by The Unusual Suspects, a 22-piece folk big band from Scotland including four singers (who also play assorted instruments), a pianist, a harpist, three pipers (Scottish bagpipes of course, quite a startling sound after the much mellower Northumbrian smallpipes played by Kathryn Tickell), a horn section, a strings section, percussionist and drummer, and a few other people too. At least part of their closing number appeared to be the same basic melody as part of Peter Man, except their version was considerably louder, due in part to the horn section and the advantage of numbers (Unusual Suspects 22, Kathryn Tickell Band 4).

Then we had KT Turnstall. Nominated for the Mercury Music Prize this year, she made me think that she’s probably what you’d get if you got Katie Melua and added about half a folk singer and a Scottish accent. She garnered a response from the audience which topped Kathryn Tickell’s although I don’t personally think she was as good. It’s all down to taste of course, she was easily the second best of the day.

I didn’t see the final two acts (Mavis Staples and the Proclaimers) because I left, being quite tired and having not much interest in Staples’ gospel/soul music, or the enough in the Proclaimers to stick around while Mavis Staples did her set.

Tomorrow I’m off to x3ja’s wedding, so back at the folk festival on Sunday for Karine Polwart, Kate Rusby and Blazin’ Fiddles.

The Family Mahone — very entertaining. The Bills — top-notch hideously complicated music from Canda. Martha Wainright — heart-stopping emotional stuff, just a voice and a guitar. Beautiful, although a little too much reverb…

This afternoon the loud noises start at 2, and I’m hoping to see a fair few acts. The one essential today is Kathryn Tickell. The Bills are on again, KT Tunstall should be good… and there are THREE celidhs. One would probably be sufficient.

Tomorrow morning the 41st Cambridge Folk Festival begins, and I’ve got a full festival ticket and the appropriate time off work. Wahooo!

Might not be masses of excitement tomorrow, not sure, depends what unlisted artists play I suppose. Friday should be ace though. Saturday I miss because of x3ja’s wedding, but Sunday I’m back and will be lapping up Kate Rusby, Bellowhead and assorted other must-sees.

And mud, of course. The weather forecast looks… less than encouraging.