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Great British Folk Festival 2014

Venue: Butlins
Town: Skegness
Date: 5-7/12/14
Website: http://www.bigweekends.com/

Friday Saturday Sunday Gallery

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Closing the introducing stage for the evening were another band, Merlin's Keep, another band from this neck of the woods, Grimsby to be precise. They are the band with the most history being introduced tonight, with a good series of releases behind them.

Whilst the sound, rich in harmony and melody, is definitely towards the rock side of the genre, the narrative of many of the songs veers not only towards the traditional, but also the mystical. Many coastal areas have an abundance of myth and legend and that tends to merge a bit with the social history and Merlin's Keep really do capture that well.

They are a band that you feel could adapt easily to almost any environment. They were also the only band on the Introducing stage that had been on a Fatea Showcase Session. Unfortunately I missed the end of their set as I needed to head to Centre Stage to catch a band that I've been waiting to see live for quite some time, Salt House.

Salt House are, at the time of writing, holders of the Fatea Debut Album Of The Year, with "Lay Your Dark Low", but this is my first opportunity to catch them live and I'm seizing the moment with both hands. Even before a note is played it seems to be the right choice as there are issues in Reds.

Reds is running late, with a sound issue, whilst GBFF has had these issues before, this year has been the smoothest I've seen it, with great sound throughout. It turns out the issue is not with the crew, but with the band. It seems that there are more instruments and/or people than in the submitted pa specs and it looks like it's going to have a knock on effect. There is one silver lining, it's going to stagger the stages a bit more which will mean both Ray Jackson's Lindisfarne and Eddi Reader will have more of my time than otherwise.

Salt House are just such a great collection of musicians, a real powerhouse of voices and instrumentation, they are like a stick of rock with the word quality running right through the middle. As with a lot of music that draws on the folk traditions it has to be said happiness is not high on the agenda and it's become a cliché to talk about the death rate in songs, but a lot of Salt House's material is beautifully dark, it's the juxtaposition of both the banter and arrangement of songs that lift the set. Not only that but the more contemporary touches, including jazz influences really give it some distinction.

It's going to be a real good night for acts from north of the border with Eddi Reader and Justin Currie still to come, though not to be out done England are giving us Ray Jackson's Lindisfarne and Home Service, fantastic variety and Salt House have given them a lot to live up to.

I take advantage of the interval to catch up with the band before a smooth transition brings Ray Jackson and company to the stage. I have to say I'm impressed. I can't say that I'm not a fan of Lindisfarne, I've probably never given them a fair chance, they weren't part of my musical education when I was younger and novelty associations with Gazza put me off exploring their music, Ray Jackson has changed that and I need to look out some of their albums when I get back to the Fatea office.

Eddi Reader is an artist that rarely fails to entertain and tonight was no exception. GBFF is pretty much an end of year celebration and Eddi was very much in the mood to add fuel to the party atmosphere.

A combination of great songs and great patter ensure that this is a great set. I've seen Eddi perform a number of times this year, but this really did seem to catch her at her most relaxed , her and her band's performance was fluid, almost effortless, and will take a long time to come down from.

I'm staying with Scottish acts and moving back to Centre Stage to catch a solo performance from Del Amitri's Justin Currie, an act that is, arguably the biggest gamble on the bill. Unlike most of the acts, Justin Currie has very little direct history with a folk audience, coming to the folk rock genre from rock and indie, rather than through the folk hierarchy, but he's only part way through his first number when you realise by the response that he's definitely found his mark.

Both performing on his own and when he invites his band to the stage, he shows that if you know how to write songs and know how to deliver them, the audience will come to you. It helps that he has a self effacing sense of humour, but the music he takes very seriously and the crowd give him a lot of respect.

Once he's finished, I get tempted to head off and catch Home Service, but instead I bump into some old friends and that drifts off into the night.

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