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Great British Folk Festival

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

Sunday

Sunday started pretty much the same way as Saturday, except far later in the morning. The team headed across to The Yacht Club to get a full English inside us to set us up for the day. There was some time to catch up with old friends and chat about, life, the festival etc, as well as get a few leaflets out on the tables.

The first act up in the afternoon was Fairport Connects, an ensemble of Fairport related acts, playing session like under the stewardship of Dave Pegg. If reputation was anything to go by, it wouldn't be a case of whether the band would overrun, more how much by. There was quite an array of musicians listed in the program, aforementioned Dave Pegg, Gerry Conway, Anna Ryder, Anthony John Clark, Bob Fox, P.J. Wright and Steve Tilston, it looked like it was going to be a squeeze to get them all in.

Peggy and PJ were first up starting the proceedings with their 'We're the Everly Brothers, he drinks everly' nodding at Dave, 'And I smoke everly' gag. And from there it was into the music and not a little between song banter. Dave particularly regaling in his tale about how he was brought into Fairport to up the Brummie factor in the band and how that lead to him learning the mandolin. I won't give you the story, because if you heard it you'll know it and if you haven't heard it yet, you probably will do.

Following a couple of numbers on their own, PJ & Peggy are joined by Anna Ryder, the only woman taking part in the Session. She provides additional instrumentation for a couple of numbers, before being left the stage for her own.

Initially she starts of her routine with a few songs from behind the keyboard before moving forward again to perform her party trick of playing accordion whilst knocking out a tune on the trumpet, it's quite clever and actually I'm impressed, but generally her set feels a bit flat. Whether that was an issue with her sound or an off day, but she's not doing anything for me.

PJ and Peggy return to the stage, having changed their shirts whilst waiting in the wings. I also notice that Gerry Conway has climbed in behind his kit to give a bit of percussion for this part of the gig. The set includes "Celtic Moon", a song penned by folk duo Red Shoes and adopted into the Fairport Convention repertoire, it's a shame Red Shoes weren't here to perform it themselves, but in their absence a fine job was done.

Bob Fox is currently in a long stint providing the music for the stage play of "Warhorse", using the original John Tams music, rather than the John Williams soundtrack that the film went for, so I was a bit

surprised to see him here, as London is a bit of a Run from Skeggy, then I remembered he gets Sundays off the day job and so he joined us at the Great British Folk Festival.

A glance at the watch indicates that those predicting a long over run are likely to do well in the sweepstake. There's already talk backstage about dropping songs later in the show, but that's for later.

There is a reason why Bob Fox has longevity in the folk world and why he gets to do thing's like "Warhorse". Predominantly the reason he gets both is because he's very good at what he does. As a performer/entertainer he is a consummate performer. He knows how to put a set together, the right balance of serious and funny. He's totally at ease with an audience and relates to them like a friend.

He's a Geordie, black and white to the core and there's his almost obligatory dig at those from the better half of the North East footballing divide. More importantly, he's a wonderful, if understated musician. His music isn't in your face like some, his is a far more subtle almost intricate sound, especially when he's performing solo. He's an artist that dominates a stage, something that always impresses me when it's just one person and a guitar, but he can also slot into a band role, easily becoming part of a wider team and leaving his ego at the door.

The stage starts to refill again, first of all Bob is joined by Peggy, bringing his bass to the proceedings, for a couple of numbers as a duo, before being joined by pretty much everyone that has been up so far and the suave debonair form of Anthony John Clarke. We're quite rapidly approaching the point at which it's supposed to end, but apart from cutting down on the between song banter, time doesn't seem to be an issue on stage.

The mass ranks perform a couple of numbers that include some really good harmonising before Irishman Anthony John Clarke, a recent Fairport support act gets the stage to himself. He endears himself to the crowd by announcing himself to be a bigot and almost immediately he's into the self depreciation.

He's quite a revelation, out of the camp of artists that I'd not seen before, he's witty and charming and, as his songs prove, a shrewd observer of life. Incest is a strange topic to write a song about, but no matter where you are in the country, there's an isolated community that bears the but of a certain type of humour, Norfolk, Portland, Forest Of Dean etc. And it is really difficult not be amused by song where the protagonist ends up being their own grandfather, it certainly had the audience in stitches.

He also had them eating out of the palm of his hand. Pretty much from the first note of his first song he had the audience on his side. He's got a cheeky smile, he understands human nature and he can sort of catch both elements in his words and music. I know if he's down my way anytime soon, I'm heading along. Anthony John Clarke has dropped a song from his set to try and make up for lost time, but that battle is long since over. Steve Tilston takes to the stage for the first time long after Fairport Connections are supposed to have finished.

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