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Great British Folk Festival

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

Sunday

Following the obligatory full English, it's time for some Morris Dancing, not personally of course, but following a gentle stroll to the Skyline Pavilion, to watch the Grimsby Morris Men going through their paces and keeping this wonderful English tradition alive. They were described in the program as being Moulton Morris, but that side appeared yesterday.

I have to say it was an energetic display of colour and even watching, it looked like an excellent way to burn off the calories and exorcise that Sunday morning torpor. From there it was once again for Reds that I headed and setting up for the early part of the afternoon. Bumped in Simon Nicol and found myself helping to put Fairport flyers all around the venue.

Fairport would be playing two sets back to back, though I would imagine there would be a number of people with a similar plan to me, watch one set and catch either Billy Mitchell & Bob Fox or Steeleye Span on the other stage with the latter being the most likely strategy, particularly as Steeleye have just released the Terry Pratchet inspired "Wintersmith" album out.

The music starts with the Blues Band's Gary Fletcher, who made a late night run following that band's gig in Weston-Super-Mare on the Saturday. If he's feeling the distance there's no sign of it as he kicks into a set that is surprisingly political and a great experience to feel that the Great British Folk Festival is a place where artists can feel fully at home playing a wide range of songs.

About a third of the way in, Gary is joined by fiddler, Tom Leary, probably best known from Feast Of Fiddles, but also a multitude of other combos. Tom adds some additional bite to the sound and they really show themselves to be a duo that's stronger than the some of it's parts, even when those parts are as impressive as this.

The flavour stays blues, but does take on a more folky influence, similarly the subject matter of the songs seems to get that bit darker as well. Blues is at its best when its focusing on injustice and I think it would be fair to say that there is a lot of injustice around at the moment for the like of Gary Fletcher to work with.

There are a good number in the audience that weren't alive when Fairport Convention made their first tentative steps into the folk world, that said there's a good number who were and probably have every album the band have produced in the intervening forty five odd years and many more that have discovered them along the way.

Having come to the band really in the post punk era, I really view the current line up as my Fairport Convention and at some fifteen years of continuity, it's also the most stable, though my musical connection to them started with Sandy Denny and her second stint with the band and I'm glad that they also played some material from that period during their first set.

The thing I like about them is their ability to pass the baton around between the band, exchanging the lead to make sure they always sound fresh and their ability to constantly update their sets, knowing that they'll never be able to play everyone's favourites in any given one.

Their opening set was a master class in ensuring that you don't let nostalgia overwhelm the requirements of your creative processes and becoming your own tribute band. Listening to Fairport Convention is answering your own question about that longevity. The performance is great and i wonder if I'm going to regret making the choice of missing the second set.

A number of people make the move to Centre Stage to catch Steeleye Span, unfortunately some of them would have to make their way back again as that venue reached its capacity, even allowing for those that had watched Mitchell & Fox heading off to Fairport.

There was a time when I felt Steeleye had become their own tribute band, but not anymore, the band's new album "Wintersmith" has gone a huge way towards slaying that particular demon. The album, loosely based around Pratchett's "Tiffany Aching" books about a trainee witch sees Steeleye Span rediscovering their darker, more mystical side and as I watch the band perform it occurs to me that this is the last time I'm going to see the band perform with Peter Knight at the helm and can't help but feel he's got a real high to go out on.

"Wintersmith" dominates an impressive set. "Dance The Dark Morris" is a real earworm of a song, one that really digs into the psyche and seeing Maddy Prior beating the hell out of a drum during it, just enhances that sense of drama, all in all one of the best afternoon's of any I've had at GBFF over the years.

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