Friday
Even in the two songs I manage to catch before heading off to the Club Tent for instrumental dynamite of Ross Couper & Tom Oakes, I get the impression of a man that can write with controlled anger as well as an open heart. I'm seriously tempted to stay and hear more, but it's a case of damn the clash and move on.
The duo of Ross Couper & Tom Oakes seems like the occasion when chalk met cheese. It's like two side of a split personality have been drawn out to highlight the two parts of the whole. Guitarist Tom Oakes has that gentle giant persona, relaxed and laid back as though he's not got a care in the world, by contrast, fiddler Ross Couper brims over with a real intensity on stage, almost terrier like in the way he attacks the music, those two elements come together to deliver a sound that is to die for.
Couper often pounds out the rhythms with his feet, at times I think he's going to drive a foot straight through the stage. It's also interesting to see how he relaxes for the between song banter, to laugh and joke with the audience and show just what an amiable guy he really is. Also the awareness he has about what's going on around him, how he can just move that focus.
Ross Couper & Tom Oakes really are the archetypal duo, they have such trust in the other musician that they just know that they can go off at a tangent if it feels right and be absolutely sure that it will all come back together.
They are joined on stage for their finale by uileann pipes maestro Jarlath Henderson, whose set at the Den clashes with Patty Griffin, talking to him afterwards, it turns out that he managed to miss own set having been caught in traffic. It is, however a great finale so much drive and passion. Top ending to a really exciting set and hopefully not too long before we get a new release from them, if you see them playing near you, go.
Friday night at Cambridge is ceilidh night. It's split into two sections and I've already missed the first half so time to head to Stage 2 to catch the second half. This year the ceilidh band is the Monster Ceilidh Band with Gordon Potts returning in the roll of caller. Gordon is a great caller for Cambridge, he's got a great eye for when he's got most of the room at a level of dancing where both new and experienced dancers are having a really great time.
Monster Ceilidh Band is wall to wall with top musicians, they already have one album to their name, with another due to pop out of the pipeline imminently. They've got a really contemporary sound, bringing in drum and bass aspects to traditional dance tunes.
Following a couple of band tracks to build up the atmosphere we're into the dancing and the results of a glorious summer are soon there for all to see. As the dancers promenade and swing around a cloud of dust beginning to come up from the ground. It doesn't seem to deter the dancers and everyone seems to either have a beaming smile on their face or a really intense look of concentration.
Rather than risk the dust getting into my throat or the camera, I leave earlier than I want to, but that does create a gap for a genuinely precautionary beer. It also means I've got time to catch some of Malian husband and wife duo, Amadou & Mariam on the big screen, a definite silver lining in the dust crowd.
Soon it's time to make my way down to the press caravan in order to get down front of Stage 1 for a return to Cambridge of the Levellers on the back of their enthusiastically received album "Static On The Airways".
Some three decades back, Levellers pretty much wrote a manual for bands taking control of their own destiny and have pretty much kept to it, refining it as necessary along the way. They showed that it was possible to be musical and political and reach out to a wider audience. Some of that audience has stuck with them over the years and some of that audience weren't born when the band first came into existence.
With so many gigs of all shapes and sizes under their belts, you know that this is going to be a really good show and we're not disappointed as the set bursts into life with some real crowd pleasers, including the highly appropriate "Beautiful Day" before drawing on some of their newer material. It's obvious that a lot of the crowd pressed up against the barrier have made an effort to get there for this one and they are determined to enjoy themselves fuelled by the sight and the sound of Levellers.
Before you know it the first three songs are over and it's time to vacate the pit to watch the rest of the set from further back and lose a good few years bobbing up and down like a good 'un. There's rumours, that subsequently proved to be true that Bellowhead will be joining Levellers on stage for a mass rank of English folk rock towards the end of the set and before Bellowhead's headline set. My plans for the rest of the night are slightly different.