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Great British Folk Festival

Venue: Butlins
Town: Skegness
Date: 2nd-4th December
Website: http://www.bigweekends.com

Saturday

Time to switch venues again to catch a far more established artist, Cara Dillon, as well as the first onstage view of a Lakeman brother during the course of the weekend, Cara's partner Sam Lakeman, Seth and Sean are due to play on the other stage tomorrow.

The stage is running slightly late due to pizza issues, the band's food had been slightly delayed in getting there and it's not good to start a gig on an empty stomach, two slices the bare minimum needed to get started.

Cara is both a stunning vocalist and whistle player, she's got the between song banter right and with the likes of Sam Lakeman and fiddler Emma Forman in her band, a group of musicians around her to bring out the best in both song and tune. That said, as she proved so often during the set, she can turn it on when just accompanied by just piano or no instrument at all.

Cara Dillon is one of the most expressive singers you'll ever hear, she can change the mood of a song with just a little inflection in her voice here or convey the impact of a love lost with a different emphasis there.

It was the sort of set you could get lost in, time doesn't exactly stand still during her set, it just moves in a mysterious way. You find yourself taking in the announcement that this will be the last song , but that they will be signing cds after they've had another couple of slices of pizza. You find yourself thinking no way could that be it all and then a glance at your watch confirms it is.

As has seemed to become a trend at festivals of late, the headliner isn't always the last act on. Outcast are supposed to be closing the night or at least that's what the programme said. I was going to go back to Reds to take in the African rhythms and twinkling guitar of Kanda Bongo Man, but notice that Outcast have been replaced by Rusty Shakles, a group of lads from Newport in Wales, a total unknown quantity. I decide to stay, turned out to be another good decision.

To date the band have released one EP and have an album due out in the new year. If it can capture anything like the performance of tonight, it's going to go high up my priorities list. Confidence is definitely not something the band lack. There was a real swagger about them as they took to the stage and they were about to justify it.

The flat floor area at the front of the stage was pretty empty when the band came on. Those that were there were pretty much sat down, giving the photographers the run of the pit, well certainly for the first couple of numbers.

Rusty Shackle were well aware what the score was as they announced after the first song "I know you've not heard of us, we've barely heard of us." Their attitude pretty much had the crowd warming to them from the off. This was a band that seem born to play festivals.

In the next hour or so they ran through a whole load of the acoustic spectrum calling on anything from pop folk, through the blues and old timey. They pretty much filled the pit to the point where it was difficult to move and being the last band on, got to comeback for an encore, where they played a cracking version of "John Henry". If the audience weren't aware of who they were before, they were now.

Whilst that was the end of the music proper, we had an invite to head back to Allan Wilkinson's unit for a beer or two and a little bit of a sing around. Allan edits Northern Sky which if it isn't on your regular reading list, should be.

It's amazing how many people you can get in one of those apartments and still feel comfortable. In addition to Allan's family and friends, the guests include, Jessica Lawson, who has the lead track on the current Fatea Showcase Session Winter 11:Inspirations, her partner Phil, Jeremy Lindsay(JT Nero)(Christmas In Prison, John Prine), Allison Russel(lPo' Girl) and Austin singer/songwriter Joe(JT Nero).

After a few beers and something to eat the singing started. I performed my first song in about twenty three years, half remembering a couple of songs from my one and only band, This Hero's Shell. By far better performances followed. I'd been talking to Allison Russell earlier about the links between Dorset and Canada and she performed a wonderful song about Newfoundland.

There were songs to join in with and songs just to listen to in amazement, Jeremy's cover version of John Prine's "Christmas In Prison" had to be heard to be believed. Everyone was having such a good time it was a shame it all had to close, but this was only the second day of the festival and there's another one still to come. Special thanks to Alan and family for hosting such a wonderful event.

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