The Den

It may not seem so but The Cambridge Folk Festival has always been about small changes, small improvements, innovations that do not get shouted about. They have always been able to blend the traditional with the fresh. Usually this is shown in the programme, rarely a year goes by with out an eyebrow being raised at some act on the bill and the accompanying mutterings of "that's not folk". This year saw the first new stage in over thirty years (there is an aerial shot of the festival from 1978 that shows the two main stages plus club) and possibly a lot longer. Curated by Festival and Hope Street Music - who run The Living Room - and BBC Radio 2 Folk Club of the Year The Magpie's Nest.

The programme notes tell us that it "is a brand new stage for emerging talent with younger audiences in mind". Whilst this was certainly for emerging talent during the time I spent in the red marquee there was a mix of all ages (I wonder how many of the younger audience were present when Laura Marling was cementing her position as leading light in the latest folk revival?). The fact that the festival's target audience did not monopolise the Den was probably to do with its location - past the Folknet café, just before the duck pond it was seen as something of a sanctuary away for the hustle and bustle of the main site.

As I quickly discovered, if there was anyone you particularly wanted to see it paid to arrive early. I wanted to see Sean Taylor but in the time it took me to get from Stage 1 after seeing Justin Townes Earle this proved impossible. I could hear him fine but the inside of the marquee was full and the crowd was half a dozen deep outside. Taylor gave, as usual, a virtuoso guitar performance exemplified by his take on Richie Havens' 'Freedom'.

If there was a prize given for most sustained promotion it would have to go to Maia. Throughout Saturday there were an increasing number of their posters appearing around the site, in the bars, on the sides of marquees, on the 'Guardian sold here' sign just to get their name out. Then, later on in the afternoon they were walking around handing out leaf-lets (leaves with their name stamped on them). This hard work paid off as at one point during their set of 'Sci-Fi Folk' they had to plead for people move up to allow others into the tent.

Heeding my own advice I got to The Den early to see Polly & The Billets Doux. This meant I caught the last couple of songs from The City Shanty Band. Imagine, if you will, a cross between The Pogues and Fisherman's Friends and you may be able to get a flavour of these lads from Hackney.

Polly and The Billets Doux never fail to amaze me at just how much a soulful band they are. This set was radically changed from when I've seen them before; completely acoustic and only a three piece for this show they delivered a spell binding set especially when the three part harmonies kick in

Somehow I managed to miss in all of the pre-festival publicity that Revere was playing in The Den and it wasn't until the umpteenth reading of my programme that I realised that there were. This was the perfect set for me. Covers of 'The Beast In Me' and 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' that I had not heard since seeing them play as a three piece at Monkey Chews in Chalk Farm years ago, 'The Escape Artist' played acoustically, not as the eight piece they were (down to seven members now and performing as a four piece here) and 'A Road From A Flood' a new track that I had not heard before. In their forty minute set Revere captured all that is good about Cambridge: old songs, new songs and songs done in a different way.

Last year I would not have thought that The Cambridge Folk Festival needed a new stage. It seemed that it had the bases covered from the biggest stars with decade's worth of experience and millions of album sales to any singer who is prepared to queue for a 15 minute slot in the club tent. In between you have artists who just come in for their set and artists who play a couple of times over the weekend and get involved with one of the sessions and possibly as workshop as well. But someone noticed there was a gap, the need for a space for artists not big enough to command a place on either of the main stages but who deserve more than just a quarter of an hour. Now I cannot imagine next or any future year's festival without The Den.

The Jacket
Picture Credits: Sean Taylor:Neil King, Polly And The Billets Doux:Allan Wilkinson