A Ramble Round Cherry Hinton

Friday dawned and a bacon roll beckoned. Keith set off in search of a hole in the wall, whilst I headed of in search of a clean toilet. The toilets had fared well overnight, most were usable. The early risers began extracting their revenge on the late night revellers by engaging in loud conversations next to the tents with cans around the entrance.

Despite the early hour, Council lorries were already pumping out the toilets ready for the day. A little later it was back onto the site to get a newspaper and check through the programme for the day's listening.

I bump into a few old festival friends and the morning is spent chatting away. Keith returns having discovered that the Unicorn is doing all day breakfasts for the length of the festival, You get to eat off china plates and everything, plus it s cheaper than the onsite breakfast. The early morning routine for the rest of the festival drops into place. Lunch sees an opportunity open up and one of the fine food stalls, this time the Japanese Tempura Bar, visited.

The beer tents have been open some time and the Guinness Tent is racking the pints up at quite a rate. The smell of Mulled Cider starts to drift in our direction and proves to tempting to resist. A few impromptu performances are held in front of the Guinness tent whilst the first juggler of the festival is spotted.

It s the only down point of Cambridge is the juggling. Every year sees more youngsters and the not so young lured into the seedy world of juggling. Balls and clubs weave their silly arcs and diablos are hurled high into the air. Juggling, it isn't cleaver! It isn't needed and those that push the evil habit onto others should have their property confiscated. Rant over!

Acts are in the process of being signed up for the evening session in the folk tent. The site is gradually filling up with people. More tents are being pitched in the surrounding area. The number of different accents is increasing, with a surprising number of Northern European in the number.

Mid-afternoon arrives and it s time to check in with media liaison to start getting the interview schedule into place. All those that should be playing this year are playing, so there s no last minute changes to take care of.

An early interview is arranged for later that afternoon with Peter Buckley Hill. Leaving the media area, I bump into another couple of the regular Cambridge journalists. As with most things at the festival, most of the papers have the same journalists covering the event year after year. The result is that you get used to each other s styles, so that when you are doing a group interview, you know where the questions are better coming from and who best to take the lead.

Evon Brennan who is playing one of the showcase sets in the Folk Tent is handing out leaflets letting people know when she s playing. She s recently released a cd single off her own back and the first blag of the festival duly dropped into my camera bag.

Friday night is traditionally ceildh on Stage Two, which makes it relatively to drop in and out of during the evening. Stage One is a mix of different acts, that tonight includes Jules Holland, Beth Orton and Sharon Shannon.

With the Peter Buckley Hill interview in the can, there's just enough time to get something to eat before going off to catch the first act of the festival proper. There's a chance to learn Cajun dancing at Stage 2, but for me it s Stage 1 and Great Big Sea.

Great Big Sea are a Canadian band that hail from the Newfoundland region. The lead singer informs the audience that there are more people in this tent than there are in his home time. From that point the band launch into a fine blend of driving Celtic rhythms with rock overtones and more laid back material. The band have recently signed to Cooking Vinyl in the UK and sneak in the odd plug for their newish album "UP" . Self penned material moves hand in hand with traditional tunes and the odd cover, including This Is The End Of The World As We Know It , the old REM standard.

There s plenty of frenetic activity and energy on the stage. Great Big Sea try to get a singalong going, but with few in the audience knowing the band s material this falls a bit flat. Undeterred the band resort to the much favoured clap along. This gets the desired results as well as the first people up and dancing. By the time they reach the end of their set, there s plenty of dancing going on. The crowd have warmed to Great Big Sea and there are calls for more. This being a festival with timetables to keep to the requests are turned down. That said the band were due to play a couple more sets over the weekend and this had ensured that people would make the effort to turn up.

Following Great Big Sea are Jez Lowe And The Bad Pennies. Jez and co. are from the North East and are a bit dour for my tastes. They lack the energy of other bands from the same region, such as the Whisky Priests. Fortunately I've got an interview to go off and record, leaving my erstwhile companion to face the music.

Friday Continued...