Co-Operative Cambridge Folk Festival
Saturday
It's time to ring the changes and bring in Jon Boden to up the body count.
There's a dark element to English folk and Boden revels in it. I guess revels is the wrong word, but you know what I mean. There is something strangely alluring about the darker side of music. It's something that tends to be lost in more contemporary music. There's an element of it in rap, but that tends to glorify rather than comment.
There are a lot of songs written about soldiers, most have them involved in illicit affairs and abandoning the girl before the final verse, but there's also the songs of record. Songs about soldiers being hung or shot for dereliction of duty, there are a few that record a soldiers crime against his regiment and that's where Jon starts his short set with a song about a soldier hung for killing a fellow soldier in his sleep
"Barbara Ellen" comes next, a song about a man dieing of unrequited love and then the source of that love being so guilt stricken by the death she has caused that she follows him into the grave.
Jon lifts The Session again with a cover of the Tom Waites song, "Jersey Girl" which he introduces as 'This is not a Springsteen song, it's a Waites song". "Jersey Girl" remains remarkably death free.
The Treacherous Orchestra almost big enough to be the Session finale on their own, whilst the stage is being set for them, Brian, Adam, Ewan and Lorne come back on to do a version of the title track from Brian's now released "The Baltic Tae Byzantium"
It doesn't take the incredibly hard working Stage Two Crew long to get the stage ready and before long the Stage is regaling to the sound of one of Scotland's biggest acid croft bands. The band are pretty much a supergroup of the genre featuring members from the likes of Croft 5, Shooglenifty and Salsa Celtica, amongst others. I'm sure I spot Ross Ainslee amongst them, might need to check that.
Acid Croft is a fusion of traditional Scottish music with more dance orientated music, its introduced a new generation of Scottish fans and musicians to the folk genres as well as powering a great number of festivals across the UK. Treacherous Orchestra are down to close Stage Two tonight and Stage One tomorrow
The atmosphere in Stage Two has been great all afternoon it's pretty much standing room only onstage as well as off as as many of the musicians that have played and are still around squeeze onto stage for the finale.
Normally trying to find a vantage point to watch is the preserve of the tall. Others have to work their way to the front to get to the barrier. Viewing The Session as a person of short stature can become really difficult, unless you happen to be enterprising and not only find yourself a great place to view but also get an incredible camera angle.
Well that's the end of The Session and it's one that's going to stck in my mind for a long time. Decision time Cara Dillon or Jon Boden? For the first time this festival I'm going for split sets, start with Cara, end on Jon.