Saturday
From Ireland we move to Scotland and the massed ranks of The Chair, who have as many banjos as We Banjo 3, i.e. one. This is a nought to sixty in six seconds set. The Chair are very much going for it they've not got a huge time to make an impression, but they are going to make damned sure the impression they are going to leave is huge.
There is a rock edge pounding away on the edge of this particularly Orkney part of the Celtic spectrum. They are not stopping short of haranguing the crowd if they see some one that isn't moving. If they are getting a moment to breathe, nor are you.
The Chair are joined by the rest of the performers that haven't had to head off to another engagement, for example Peter Knight's Gig Spanner are performing at the Club Tent as I type and other acts came straight to the Brian McNeill Session after performing on other stages, so it's time for another massed rank thrash.
I do love the big band thing at the start and end of the Session. Not only does it give a start and end point on the day, it also gives the sense of continuity year on year.
I come out of the Brian McNeill Session too late to catch the start of Martin Simpson's mainstage performance so instead I head off to the Club Tent to watch Blair Dunlop's Showcase. I just manage to catch the last track from Peter Knight's Gigspanner and then see the sound crew get another quick turnaround sorted.
Until now I'd only seen Blair perform with The Albion Band and missed his tour with Larkin Poe, that eventually spawned a joint single, whilst part of me hopes Larkin Poe are going to join him on stage, I know it's not going to happen. He is joined by another guitarist and a fiddle player.
It's standing room only inside the Club Tent which puts the audience within touching distance of the performers and is part of what makes the atmosphere in that venue. From a selfish photography point of view, it also puts a lot of bodies in the way for front of stage shots and some careful negotiation to navigate your way too and from the front, but this being Cambridge the crowd always seem happy to cooperate, for which many thanks, I digress.
Blair won the Horizon Award at this year's Radio Two Awards and it's easy to see why on this performance. On stage is a relaxed, self assured, self effacing musician that makes what he does seem effortless. The trio play some blistering folk that pretty much sits at the rock end of the genre and also showcases Blaire the writer and Blair the interpreter of tunes as well as the performer.
With awards seemingly the order of the day, I decide that I'm going to stay at the Club Tent for Greg Russell & Ciaran Algar, this year's Young Folk Award winners.
Whilst waiting backstage, I bump into Ewan McLennan, who is playing a Showcase up at The Club Tent later that evening. I've got a short while to sit down and chew the fat, so I take a rare opportunity to ease back.
One of the trends I've noticed this year is that many artists are opening their sets with instrumentals and then adding the songs through the set and Greg & Ciaran are no exception to that trend.
They start with a number of instrumentals that really draw the audience in. They have affable ear to ear smiles on their faces, you can tell the duo are really pleased to be here, they want to entertain and they do with everyone in the crowd bought into their dream.
They move onto "The Two Musicians" aka "The Lusty Smith" a regularly performed folk songs with a number of different endings depending on the version you hear.
Greg & Ciaran are definitely made of the right stuff, the set is really well put together a mix of songs and tunes, with some really good banter. I know many artists two and three times their age that haven't got their mastery of the stage.
From the Club Tent I need to get across the site to the Den, which in terms of physical distance is the longest trek on site, but in terms of musical journey it's the one from the Den to Stage 1. This year, that journey is going to be completed by the Staves, but that's a story for Sunday.
I'm off to the Den to catch two artists back to back, Blue Rose Code, followed by Josienne Clarke & Ben Walker, but I'm going to interrupt my trip with a stop off at Stage 1 to catch folk rock legends Steeleye Span a surprise, but welcome replacement for Shelby Lynn.
I catch the last song from Zimbabwe's Mokoomba, who play music based on the Tongan tribal tradition, giving it a contemporary edge. The band all grew up in the same village, but have certainly gained themselves an international reputation in the last year or so, landing the Best Newcomer Award at Songlines.
What I hear of them I really enjoy and I make a mental note to check out their album. It suddenly occurs to me that the last Zimbabwe band I saw was the much missed and much lamented Bhundu Boys, there's a part of my record collection I need to reacquaint myself with.