Loading

Great British Folk Festival

Venue: Butlins
Town: Skegness
Date: 29th November - 1st December
Website: http://www.bigweekends.com

Saturday

Fed and watered or wined and dined, take your pick it was time to head back to the music. Having seen Take 3 relatively recently, I thought I would take the opportunity to check out Allan Yn Y Fan, a Welsh Quintet, who hadn't previously come up on my radar.

I couldn't fault the quality of the performance, it was difficult, nay impossible, to fault the quality of the performance, neat and tidy, every not in its place, there was a real precision to their delivery, but by a couple of songs in I was also finding a lack of passion in it too, so I beat off in the direction of the security afforded by Take 3, a trio consisting of Jaqui McShee, Gerry Conway and Alan Thompson, now there's a trio that you could never accuse of lacking passion.

Take 3 are, in short, a good honest trio that takes more than a nod towards the folk rock of Pentangle and give a it a mellower, almost more homely sound, I guess warmer may be a better word. The trio play like they believe in the songs they are delivering, they have a passion for the music and if a few notes go astray so what, this is live, something to be experienced in the here and now.

I've already decided I'm going to split my time over the next two sets. I really can't decide between Cara Dillon, who has never let me down and The Springfields, who I've only ever heard of records from the days Dusty was still with them and curiosity is definitely playing a part.

It has to be said, there was only one thing disappointing about Cara Dillon's set, the lighting. She played a brilliant combination of old favourites and carefully mixed in songs from her new, forthcoming album. There was a real sparkle in her voice as you got the feeling she was letting her new babies out to play and getting a real buzz from the audience metaphorically going ahh.

Cara Dillon and her band, which includes husband Sam Lakeman delivered an excellent set, raising expectations and I'm sure advance sales for her new album, but for some reason delivered the set under subdued lighting, that denied part of the audience, those further back, the real sparkle in her eyes, though to be fair, they may have lit the stage better in the second half, by which time I was already with The Springfields.

As I wandered between venues, I contemplated the elephant in the room issue, how do you replace Dusty, well the simple answer is you don't. I don't think the current Springfields would have worked had they tried to insert a dusty clone into the act, far better to have a good singer with her own voice than to try and replicate someone that very much had her own sound and sound the worse for it.

The set was very much a biography of the band during their heyday, but also more than nostalgia. The songs were well performed, but they had something of today about them because they were being honestly presented. It showed the Springfields for what they were an honest hard working folksy trio, with a world class vocalist amongst their number. Without that vocalist they were still a damned fine combo that knew how to deliver songs and that's what we saw tonight.

For mind the last two acts of the evening were on the wrong stages, Edward II who were on at Reds were going to attract by far the biggest number of dancers, the Strawbs would arguably benefit more from that close proximity to the audience, who would predominantly be sat down, were on Centre Stage. Either way, I knew it was Edward II that were going to get my time.

The curse of the last band seemed to bite again as the start of Edward II was delayed by sound problems, the difference though was the attitude, rather than faffing about Edward II focused on the issue and as they felt the crowd getting restless went for it. Whilst they continued to make adjustment throughout the set, they didn't seem to let it detract from their performance.

Right from the off they were determined to have a good time and were determined to take their audience with them. The blend of folk and reggae almost guaranteed to get you moving. This is what late night at festivals is all about, throwing away the inhibitions and getting into a real quality groove from one of the UKs best live acts. Goodbye November, hello December a real start to the festive season.

More