Friday

Next up are one of my big tips for this year's festival, Australian band, The Waifs. This is a band that has suddenly appeared in the public conscious. Like a lot of bands that have apparently appeared from nowhere, they've put in an awful lot of hard work before hand.
Like Spiers & Boden before them, this combo will be playing all three stages during the course of the weekend.
Live they've added a rhythm section to complement the original trio that are The Waifs. The songs are drawn from all parts of the catalogue with all albums and eps checked somewhere along the line.
My hunch about them being one of the big hits of the festival seems to be spot on. The audience are really responding to them. I've got so into what they're doing that I lose all track of time. Before I know it they're introducing the final number. They leave with the people clammering for more.
After the set they're off to the Mojo tent for signing session. The queues are massive to the point where they offer to do a second session on the Sunday to ensure everyone gets their cd signed.
It's time to get something to eat and consequently I only manage to catch Berroguetto as background music. I liked what I heard and fortunately there would be chance to catch up with them tomorrow.
Following on, it's Robert Randolph and the Family Band and the first blues of the festival. This is blues of the up-tempo variety that's verging on the edge of rock.
This is also blues with a southern twang and in this case that's the gospel flavour. This is a chance not only to rip it up on stage but to get down and dance.
A fair selection of the audience is doing just that. There are a couple of dodgy moments when the axe player showcases his vocal talents and I find myself wondering why.
Overall this is a set where the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. I enjoy it and by the reaction of the audience, I'm not alone.
It's back to music with a Celtic flavour, this time the music of Erin, the band, Dervish.
Dervish play a heavy mix of tunes and songs. Unusually they run triplets of songs together in the way other Irish bands run tunes. It's quite strange to hear this happen in a vocal form, you're just getting into the narrative and it suddenly changes.

It's not something you notice as much when they're singing in Gaelic; you tend to pick it up by the change of phrase or a key change, because most of us really don't understand it enough to pick it up from the lyric.
This is good dance music and there's a good percentage of the audience bobbing up and down. There seems to be fewer chairs in the arena this year which allows more people to get closer to the bands.
I pop off to the Radio 2 stage to catch a bit more of the ceilidh, but as it's Bob Fox and the Hush playing I leave again.
By the time I get back, Dervish has finished and Sage 1 is being set for La Bottine Souriante.