Sunday

It's time to join my last pit pony trail of the festival to go and see Imelda May, there's still Kila to come on Stage One, but I've got plans to be elsewhere during that, so I take up my position in the pit in anticipation.

Imelda appears to be very much in rock chick mode a shock of black hair rather than trade mark quiff with the streak of white running through it. It's a set that starts off at sixty miles an hour and takes off from there like a Harrier Jumpjet.

She's an artist that's almost as expressive with her hands during a song as she is with her voice and whilst the band is cranking up the tempo she's reaching out to the audience with gestures and expressions as well as lyrics.

The first three songs are delivered at such a high octane that they almost roll into one. It's only when she slows it down for the fourth number you realise how fast this set is going and how out of breath you all seem to be, audience and artist alike.

Imelda May is very much the show woman, she knows when to force the pace and when to hold it all back to make the slower numbers that much more dramatic before building the whole thing again. She also know what a crescendo is and how to end a set, I'm definitely taking a buzz into my next act.

The buzz does nothing to diminish as I head back up to the Club Tent to see Della Mae since I first heard their second album, "The World Oft Can Be", but hadn't previously been able to catch them live. A friend had seen them in Stage Two and declared them to be his band of the the festival. When I get up to the Club Tent they are operating a one in one out policy and the venue is packed to the canvas.

If Imelda May's set was powered on adrenalin and poteen, Della Mae are firing theirs on adrenalin and moonshine and in the tighter confines of the smaller stage, this is going to be as hot and sweaty as an Everglades alligator wrestle.

Della Mae are an all female bluegrass/old timey band with a great line in attitude and a reasonable line in bands discovering the makeup pot, with various stripes and spots daubed on. The excitement levels were palatable and the atmosphere highly charged as Della Mae delivered a set that would have had a dancefloor writhing.

There not being enough space to dance there was enough to do the classic British bounce up and down, adding a bit of sway along the way. I'm beginning to regret not seeing them earlier, with Mike + Ruthy only just holding on to the crown of my live discovery of the festival. This wouldn't be out of place in a New Orleans bar, let alone a field in Cambridge, what an absolutely fantastic night.

There's time to get it one more at the bar. It's a strange quirk of Cambridge that the bar closes before the final act finishes. Most of the team are already in there. My last pint of the night poured into the plastic cup and I join the team. Part way through the last pint I notice a gentleman just finishing his pint in a glass tankard. Chancing my arm I wander across and make him a double your money offer. Now the owner of this year's tankard for my set.

Unfortunately I've got to leave slightly earlier than I would have liked to as I've got a new Fatea Showcase Session:Mirage to launch. It's been a great festival, from my point of view one of the most relaxed in ages. A great selection of bands.

We couldn't do our Cambridge Folk Festival without help before and during the festival. I'd like to give huge appreciation to Flo, Lisa-Ann, Daisy and the team at the Media Caravan, Eddie Barcan and Neil Jones. Cath, Graham and Bernie at Club Tent, Brian and Jackie for the access to the Session. John, Jo, Morag and Matt the Fatea Team. Thanks also to all the other Pit Ponies, especially Jo, Simon, Trevor, Phil and Allan, an absolute blast. Ryan for the t-shirt design. Finally an extra big thankyou to Keith & Sandra without whom none of this would have been possible, hope I didn't outstay the welcome :-)

Fingers crossed, see you all next year.

Neil King