Brian McNeill Session

For me the Brian McNeill Session is one of the highlights of Cambridge. It’s something that gives Cambridge it’s personality and gives it it’s edge.
Most years I drop in and out of the Session, but this year I spent most of my afternoon in there, watching the acts and music change in nature.
The Session it’s self has changed in nature over the years. Several years ago it was like a proper pub session on a glorified scale. Musicians from lots of different bands that were playing that particular year formed ad-hoc combos and performed songs and tunes they all knew together. Mostly the whole thing worked, but occasionally, there was a fluff or a miscue.
None of the audience cared about that, the important thing about the Session was it gave you the chance to hear combination of musicians that would possibly never play together again. Musicians from all over the world joined for one fleeting song or two.
Occasionally there was a solo slot or a given band would perform a number on their own before adding new guests to the line up.
Gradually it evolved into more of a sampler session, bands playing elsewhere in the festival, playing a tune or two. There were two great advantages to this approach, it meant that you got to see a band that you may have already missed and that wasn’t playing a full set elsewhere. You got to sample a band that you’ld never heard before to help you make your mind up about seeing them later in the weekend.
The price for this seems to have been the ad-hoc groupings. The guest star piece still happens. For example, Show Of Hands took to the stage with bass player Miranda Sykes, who has been supporting their sound recently, plus guests Martin Simpson and Brian McNeill. They were subsequently joined by rising folk rose, Jackie Oates. This was a combination that you will probably never see again.
What you don’t see is fiddle player x from band y, joined by guitarist b from band a etc. The unrehearsed thrown together back stage stuff.
It’s a shame and it’s difficult to pinpoint the reason for it happening, whilst it’s detracted from the spontaneity, it certainly hasn’t drawn away from the quality.
The Brian McNeill Session always ends the same way. As many of the musicians that still happen to be back and side stage listening to the other musicians are rounded up and join everyone else for a massed band finale.
It’s fun to watch the chaos that ensues as the stage crew frantically trying to get microphones to pick up as many of the musicians as possible. It’s great to listen to, it must be fantastic to be apart of it . It also comes with a tinge of regret as it means the Session is over for another year.

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