Friday
From one festival regular to another, The Michael McGoldrick Band. Mike McGoldrick is one of those rare artists who could probably be employed twenty four hours a day, three hundred and sixty five days a year, we'll give him Feb 29th off. Hailing from the Manchester Irish community Mike has been exposed to many musical influences. Pretty much the rule is that if you can blow it and it aint made of brass, the chances are Mr McGoldrick can play it.
It's one of the reasons why he's in such demand as a sidesman and session player, but it's when he's with his own band that he's at his freest. During the course of his set he switches mainly between flute and whistle, but he kicks the set off sat down playing the pipes.
As you would expect, the set is founded on traditional tunes, mainly of the dance variety. These are interspersed and blended with influnces that Mike has picked up when playing with bands such as Flook and, more crucially, Afro Celt Soundsystem.
It's a set played with power and passion. McGoldrick has brought a really strong line up with him, including a number of one of his other bands, Capercaillie.
It's real foot tapper of a set, there's plenty of dancing going on towards the back of the tent and out in the field. The occasional showers seem to have detered some of the set up and spend the day at the same spot crowd. Consequently theres's plenty of space in the field for those that want to get up and twirl, the same can't be said of those at the front who have to content themselves, by and large with rocking in time to the music.
Just before the end of the Michael McGoldrick Band I head off to get a lamb and potato curry from the onsite Indian, I've timed in to perfection, there's no queue.
As in the vicinity I head to the Club Tent to check the boards and see whose got a session. I've promised Cruel Folk that I'll catch their set and notice another act that are on the Fatea Showcase Sessions free download Duos, Ember, are on two bands before them. Further down the bill is Marina Florance, whose debut album we recently reviewed. Unfortunately she clashes with the Levellers.
Stomach refilled it's time to take advantage of the slight lull in the music to catch up with old friends and get up to date on the news and gossip.
It's getting ready for the evening, time for a t-shirt change and the notorious and rare Fatea Pink disappears into the bag for another year and last year's crew shirt makes it's appearance. As a tip, if it's hot and clammy and you can't get to a shower, a t-shirt change really helps freshen you up.
The Waifs are opening up the evening on the Mainstage. The last time they played they were virtually unknown, but had been booked to play pretty much every stage that year. It was 2003 and they blew the festival away.
They went down an absolute storm, setting a new record for the most cd sales for a festival act ever. They would have sold more, but they ran out of stock.
There would have been a video diary of their appearance at the festival, but the camera was left in the back of a taxi, never to be seen again.
On their first appearance the band consisted of the two sisters, Donna Simpson and Vicki Thorn together with Josh Cunningham. This time they've brought the rhythm section with them.
The band open with the title track of the new album "Sun Dirt Water" and it's soon clear that this time around, people know who The Waifs are. There's a number of people singing along to the first number, something that becomes more noticeable as the set progresses into songs from earlier albums.
With all three of the band happy in front of a mic, as well as playing, guitars, percussion, gob iron, whatever, The Waifs are a band more than geared to variety. Their folk/country/blues sound with an Australian drawl is a sure fire hit with this audience. It's plain to see why they've become such a phenomenon since their last appearance, long may it continue.
I want to stay 'til the end, but I've promised Ember I'll be there for their fifteen minutes of 44th Cambridge Folk Festival fame.
If you're a musician that doesn't manage to get a booked session at the festival, all is not lost, The Club Tent, is run by a number of local folk clubs and if you're prepared to give up part of your festival to queue for a slot then you can get yourself a Club Tent Session.
The slots are roughly ten to fifteen minutes long, normally enough for two or three songs. There's no real opportunity, but the hard working team on the sounddesk have got bucket loads of experience turning acts around.
There's a bloke that's collecting his instrument from an earlier appearance in the Club Tent. He'd caught the start of The Waifs but apparently they weren't Australian enough, whatever that means. Maybe it was a lack of wobbleboards or no didge, maybe he was expecting Rolf Harris, still I guess you can't please everyone.
Ember, plug their instruments in, get a quick intro and are ready to go. They start with "We're Ember. Goodnight" and turn to leave. A quick shout of more from the audence brings them straight back to the microphones.
It's easy to see where the duo get their mad as a brush reputation, but that's forgotten as they move into a vocal only rendition of a Gaelic song. To say it's sublime would be an exercise in understatement. It's one way to grab a crowd's attention, you could hear the proverbial pin drop.
The second song explains the reputation and more. They've picked up their instruments, but most of the song is carried on guitar. The other member of the band is very enthusiastically through the actions required to accompany the song, it's audience participation time and the audience is going to be a train. There's plenty of whoo hoos and arms circling at the side, forget inhibition Ember are on stage.
Song number three sees them reigning themselves back in. A trio of songs is not long enough to do Ember justice. From the first song it was obvious we were going to be left wanting more and we were.
Ember are an act that busk a lot you might have seen them playing other parts of the site or Coldhams Common during the course of the festival. If you did catch them hopefully you'll find a chance to purchase one of their albums.