Saturday
By the end of their set the crowd have well and truly had the cobwebs shaken out.
It's time to drop into the Session for the first time. I manage to catch Four Men and A Dog giving it their all.
It’s been a while since I’ve seen them play, but it doesn’t take them long to remind me how good a band they are. It also makes me realise they are one of the few bands playing the festival that didn’t actually make an appearance on the Fatea Crew shirt, a fact that Gino, the bodhran player, reminds me of several times, but always with a twinkle in his eye.
I need to reacquaint myself with the songs of Four Men And A Dog, there’s only so much they can play in a quick session, I’ll be back to the Radio Two Stage tomorrow to hear a full set.
The great thing about the Session is that you're never quite sure what you're going to get. The times you see on the board are at best a guideline.
A timing cock-up on my part means that I miss Ruthie Foster; fortunately I can catch up with her tomorrow.
Very much an upside of this is that I can catch the final part of Last Orders in the Session.
It's easy to see why they won the Radio Two Young Tradition award. The playing is of an incredible standard and it's obvious that the lads really what they are doing and they communicate that through their playing.
A highly knowledgeable audience warms to them and they get a great response.
I decide to commit the rest of my afternoon to the session. My reward is to catch another artist that I missed on Thursday night, Emily Maquire.
A singer songwriter on the rise Emily is joined on stage by a bass player and harpist.
Her gentle vocals are a juxtaposition to that that's gone before. It's delicate, but not without strength.
Three songs is more than enough to tell me that I must have missed something special on Thursday night, this is proving to be one hell of a catch up session.
The next band become my highlight of the session, if it were only Show Of Hands on the more intimate Radio Two Stage that would be something exceptional, but it's not just Show Of Hands, it's Show Of Hands with Miranda Sykes and guests Martin Simpson and Brian McNeill.
They start with "Columbus" a regale against 500 odd years of oppression. Accompanied by two of the UK's finest fiddle players and guitarists, I've never heard it played better.
The audience look and listen in rapture, this already has the makings of being my, albeit short, set of the festival.
That position looks like being confirmed when Jackie Oates is brought on stage to play fiddle. Brian switches instruments and the band launch into a cover of "Corina Corina".
There's audience participation, the atmosphere is hotter than a desert day during a sun spot. It positively sizzles. Quality will out and it's bursting through aplenty here.