The good, the bad and (unfortunately) the ugly.

Many things need to work together to make a successful festival. You just hope that scales tip heavily in favour of the good rather than the bad.

Cambridge Folk Festival 2011 had the best bill I seen for a long time and like the current England cricket team this line up batted deep. But having that number of quality acts is only half the story. Due to the excellent planning and scheduling by the festival organisers I found there were fewer clashes of acts I wanted to see than in previous years.

The weather, of course, can not be planned. Even though you can do nothing about it and, therefore, you should never complain, a rain free weekend is always a much nicer weekend. The sun only came out in force on Sunday, the rest of the time it was overcast but the wet stuff stayed away.

Personally, another stroke of good fortune was the time I left the Robin Hood and Little John on Thursday lunchtime and the following slight delay of having been allocated a campervan pass rather than a normal camping pass. This meant that I was asked to pitch my tent in a spot that gave me the best neighbours you could possibly want. As well as the "who do you want to see today" conversation in the morning, the "who did you enjoy today" at night and the general music discussions you get when like minded folks meet I was able to talk cricket to Peter and where you could get the best masala dosas - Elaine says Prasad in Bradford I say Chutneys in Dummond Street, London.

Getting bits of fish in my rice and peas was plain nasty and I probably should have complained. Butter in the sweet potato mash meant no burrito from the Mexican stall but it is hard to be critical of them when their black bean chilli was divine and they offered guacamole instead of cheese. The hole in my airbed made for a couple of nights of less than comfortable sleep as my attempts at a repair on Sunday morning were poor. Finally, I do wish the bar would stay open a little longer. Closing at the same time as the last band finishes means that if you are right down the front at either of the main stages or over at the Den there is no chance to meet up with friends and talk about the day over last beer.

As for the ugly, you do not normally get ugly at Cambridge but booing the sound crew on Sunday evening was. The main stage was running a little late throughout the evening but when the Peatbog Faeries came on stage the PA was not working. Chants of "turn it up, turn it up" and "louder, louder" were good natured and inevitable but when they had to leave the stage the boos started. This was the back end of three and a half days of music over four stages and was the first problem. They were able to get back on after about fifteen minutes and played on for fifteen minutes after the scheduled close. It really was an ugly few minutes.

The Jacket