View From The Field - Ollie

Well, back from my first Cambridge Folk Festival...

I'll admit that I approached the weekend with quite a bit of trepidation, having heard other's comments about it being too crowded, not folky enough etc etc. However....

I really enjoyed myself. It felt quite a lot like Cropredy, just on a much smaller site. Admittedly, the site is too small, but it was certainly manageable, and there are some things that just make no sense at all (hmmm, yes, let's hold 3 ceilidhs in a tent with a raised path running through the middle of it...), but on the whole I had a very pleasant experience.

It was very weird walking on site on Thursday lunchtime. I know Cherry Hinton Hall fairly well; I played there as a child and we occasionally did cross country around the park, but I became completely disorientated as soon as I'd got my pass sorted out, but I found my way around the site eventually. Only managed to catch Chris Wood on Thursday, who was fantastic as usual.

Friday I managed to get down to The Den for a bit, which was a lovely little venue, where I saw a short set from Nick Hart, a local young traditional singer and box player. Tickled Pink were fantastic, but [ceilidhsnob] the dancing (whilst enthusiastic) left a lot to be desired . Weirdest festival ceilidh ever. [/ceilidhsnob]. I'm sure Robert Cray and his band are good at what they do, but I'm not sure I really like what they do. Felt a bit like being back at Steve Winwood. It was worth standing through though as Bellowhead were awesome as usual.

Saturday was the best day for me, musically. Started off with a storming set from Spiers & Boden with Saltfishforty. They should definitely tour together more often. Following a short food break, I went back to Stage 1 and stayed there for a few hours. Penguin Cafe were fantastic, great music for a lazy summer afternoon. I hadn't seen Kate Rusby for ages, and she was as lovely as ever and obviously not only genuinely glad to be there, but bowled over by the audience reaction. The new band line up was great too. This was then followed by a storming set from Richard Thompson. Again, fantastic crowd and he seemed really pleased with the reaction. Odd seeing him at 6:30 in the afternoon though! The only other band I managed see (well, hear... the tent was rammed) was The Spooky Men's Chorale, who were hilarious as usual. I (for my shame) missed Pentangle as I just wasn't in the mood. Hot chocolate and cake went down very well instead.

Spent most of today Gogging, which was great fun, but managed to catch my mates Fair & Square (http://www.myspace.com/fairandsquareband) - if you like Flight of the Conchords or others of that ilk, then you'll love them - down at The Den, and then sat sidestage (because I could ) for a storming set from Home Service. God they're going to go down well at Cropredy!

So yeah, if you treat Cambridge as a music festival, rather like Cropredy, and don't mind a bit of over-crowding, it's actually really quite good. I wouldn't've gone if I'd not had a free ticket, but I'm really glad I did go. Would I go again? Line-up and finances depending... yeah, I probably would.

Ollie