Saturday

Following a good nights sleep, it was time for breakfast. This morning it was a new age Bavarian farmers breakfast consisting of, saute potatoes, oyster mushrooms and halloumi cheese with basil and oregano.
A cock up at the developers delays our return to the site. Unfortunately this meant that my opportunity to improve the air fiddle skills that I had picked up and honed at the Catriona McDonald workshop a couple of years earlier was lost.
On the brightside it also meant that we missed the juggling workshop. My views on jugglers and particularly the people that teach others to juggle have been well documented over the years. I won't go into too much detail here, suffice to say hanging, drawing and quartering doesn't go far enough.
We get on site in time to catch the start of the Malinky set. It's a nice mellow Scottish vibe. It's a great way to ease yourself into the Saturday. It's a traditional sound put into a modern context.
Karine Polwart has a great voice that carries the tune as well as the song and combined with excellent instrumentation goes along way towards explaining why this band are moving from being a best kept secret towards the success they ultimately deserve.
The last time they played, a showcase session, they were up against Dr. John and Heaton and Rotheray, this time it's Mainstage 1 and everyone seems to appreciate the step up they've made.
They're in the process of launching a new album "Ravens" and there's a number of tracks from that to be plugged. Then all to soon it's over. It's time to move across the Irish Sea and Slide.
Unfortnately Malinky are doing a press launch of their new album, so as a traditional journalist, the chance of a glass of wine and a free cd wins out and we get a chance to pick up on what they're doing going forward.
By the time the album launch is over, Slide are well into their set. They're playing tomorrow, so hopefully I'll catch up with them then. It's time to drop into the session.
You never know quite what's going to be going on during the session on the Radio 2, but it's quite a moveable feast. Musicians drop in and out. Brian McNeill is hosting it this year.
When I get to the tent, Ben Edom's playing solo. Ben's a singer songwriter that is hopefully about to make a breakthrough and I really hope he does if everything I heard today is anything to go by.
He's got a good sense of humour, as shown when the first drops of rain start and the tent begins to get even fuller.
By the time I get back to the press caravan the BBC's prediction of scattered showers is showing to be unfortunately accuate. Umbrella's are appearing all over the site and people are moving into the tents. This is Cambridge so people seem to be quite happy to share. Blanket's are rolled up to make more space for people to get in.
Consequently Slide finish to a packed tent. It fills even more as people prepare for the next act, The Be Good Tanyas.
This was one of the acts that I really wanted to see. I thought their debut album was one of the best that I've heard for a good number of years and I wanted to see if they could deliver it live.
The answer was an unequivical yes. They seemed to perform their entire set with their eyes closed, opening them only briefly to look at the audince and smile.
The Be Goods are a quiet band, their sound is quite sparse but it's beautifully delicate and so emotive. There was an extra element added with the accordion playing of Martin Green. Martin has been turning up all over the festival this year without delivering the punchline to the almond dakari joke.