Sunday
Already the ground water is bubbling up into puddles both inside and outside the arenas, well certainly in the backstage area. It's also impacting the other stages and walkways. There's rumours of a lake forming near Fiddle Fox, one of the two large wicker sculptures on site, the other Banjo Wolf.
The mood is not improved when one of the people in the backstage bar is heard to loudly remark that the downpour had only lasted ten minutes in Peterborough, Cambridge was well over twenty minutes at the moment and still counting.
The knock on effect of the weather is that most of the pit ponies (The collective nickname for the regular photographers at Cambridge) aren't prepared to make the long trip down, which means that it's a quiet pit for Ruthie Foster, which is a real shame as Ruthie has a reputation for being a really dynamic gospel blues performer. The last time I saw her here, she pretty much covered the whole of the stage, but could you expect any less from an artist that once released an album called "The Phenomenal Ruthie Foster".
She's brought a band with her on this trip having performed as a duo the last time she made the trip from Texas, she looks determined to really enjoy herself and make damned sure that by the time she finished there wouldn't be anyone talking about the weather.
Foster delivers a set that can easily be considered electric, not only does she work out both blues and gospel numbers, but there's a folk element to the sound as well. She's dominating the stage a shake of her hair sees the dreadlocks flying, she really is putting every part of herself into the performance.
Cambridge Sunday's seem to bring out the best in the blues and gospel players and Ruthie Foster lives up to her reputation as one of the best. It's been one of those one sets that seems to be really affirming and she definitely achieves her objective of making sure the conversation isn't about the weather.
The rain does appear to be easing off. According to the bloke from Peterborough there's no sign of frogs or pestilence on the way. I suspect the people that struck camp first thing are breathing a sigh of relief.
By the time Seth Lakeman (an ironic name given the circumstances and amount of surface water) came on the rain had stopped. Due to being involved helping out with getting a pushchair to a drier path, I manage to miss out on the chain of photographer going through for Seth. I briefly consider just going back into the archive and using one of the shots in which he wears the appropriate, white, black or grey t-shirt and go with that, but almost instantly dismiss it.
I'm a huge fan of Seth's recent album, I think it's a real tour de force and return to form. Whilst he plays all of the instruments on the album, he's touring with his usual array of musicians. It's a very stripped and direct sound. In places the set almost sounds angry, there is a punk attitude that comes through in the performance that speaks of injustice and making a fight of things.
Seth has grown up since "Kitty Jay" but there is still a lot that informed that album that comes out in both this set and the new album. There is an attitude, almost a swagger to the performance, it's not arrogance though, this is the self-confidence of a man that is really at home in his skin and in his music.
I cut Seth's set short despite the fact I'm really enjoying it. I've seen Seth play a number of times over the years, including a couple of times recently, Anais Mitchell on the other hand has eluded me, until now. Time for a trek through the quagmire to Stage Two.
Arguably one of the most thoughtful singer/songwriters of her ilk in America at the moment, she is also one of Americana/alt.country's big creative at the moment. She seems to have taken the Bruce Lee approach to ultimate fighting and applied it to the acoustic genre.
It's something that's most notable on her folk opera "Hadestown", based on Orpheus in the Underworld and I was really pleased when she announced that she was playing two tracks from the album. She also mentioned when she staged in reasonably recently in London that Jim Moray had taken part in it. She mused as to whether Jim was there, cue a number of his friends pointing out in the crowd.
For a brief moment, I thought Anais was going to invite him up on stage, but it was not to be, what it was was a brilliant performance. Anais seemed genuinely excited to be performing at Cambridge, there is a real bubbling enthusiasm in both her between song banter and her performance.
The crowd responded to her and you could really feel the vibe getting into that real two way loop. She makes her material sound fresh, almost as if she just discovered it that morning and wanted to share it with the world. Her song have a great simple, feel, although they aren't always that simple, and were beautifully performed by Anais and another guitarist, whose name I stupidly forgot to write down.