Friday
A lull in the proceedings gives an opportunity for the first beer of the day;
the sun has definitely hit the yardarm. The temperature is rising along with the
humidity. The site is filling Cambridge Friday is coming to life.
Next on the agenda is the Mojo Interview. This is the second in a
series that started last year with Loudon Wainwright III. The subject of this
year's inquisition is songsmith, Jimmy Webb. I use the word songsmith advisedly
as he wrote a book of the same name to inspire new writers.
The Mojo
Interview is a combination of questions by Phil from Mojo, plus questions from
the audience interspersed with songs from Jimmy Webb. Over the years he has
written some classics across a range of genres. The list of people that have
covered his songs reads like a whose who of the music business.
Jimmy's a
very down to earth guy with a great wit. The interview proves to be good value
and hopefully this will become a great festival tradition.
I leave the
interview slightly early in order to watch the kick off on the Main stage. It's
a straight continuation of the Radio Two stage from last night with Hayseed
Dixie kicking off the proceedings.
Once again they bring a great sense of
dynamics to the occasion, but if you turn your back on the band, it definitely
does lose something in the translation. They are a band that suit the heat and
humidity, there rockgrass cover versions go down a storm, particularly on this
occasion, Fat Bottom Girls.
If push came to shove I'd say last night was the
better set, but this was still pretty good. The audience shouted and whistled
for more, buts as usual this was never going to happen. They'd got the audience
on their feet and the Friday off to a flyer.
Continuing the
flight was Cat Empire, the first Aussies at the festival since the Waifs. Whilst
keeping the tempo high they switched the sound from rockgrass to Latin with a
heavy emphasis on funk.
There was a more definite sway to the audience as
they gyrated to the rhythms rather than bouncing up and down. I heard a couple
debating if this was folk, well of course it isn't depending on your definition
of folk, but it's totally inline with the spirit of Cambridge.
Once again it
was the perfect sound for the time of day, it may not have been Mardi gras, we
might have held beer in our hands rather than fancy cocktails, but it felt right
and that's all that matters.
It gets a bit more traditional with the next
band, the Bills. They played last night opening up with a traditional tune,
today; they kick in with the first genuine piece of accapella. It's a refreshing
change from that that's gone before it, a change to a lyric driven piece.
One
of the great things about any given day at Cambridge is the constantly changing
tempos and textures. A bit more of a traditional sound is in order and that's
what we've got.
Th
e band includes a number of textures in their set,
including elements of swing. The Romany influences also got more of an outing
today and it was definitely something different than their previous
outing.
There's more people sat down, but they are definitely enjoying it as
much. The band are very competent, as each band member delivered a solo during
the course of the set, this was confirmed.
The band referred back to the
previous night, they had expected it be more reserved, they hadn't expected the
UK audience to be quite so instant. As another beer mysteriously finds its way
into my hand, I reflect on why this might be the case
Unlike the previous
bands I thought forty minutes was about right for their set. I enjoyed The
Bills, but I didn't think there was enough individuality to set them apart from
a number of other band's of their ilk.