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Great British Folk Festival

Venue: Butlins
Town: Skegness
Date: 30th November - 2nd December
Website: http://www.bigweekends.com

Boyd Up

It's a cold and damp Saturday afternoon on the first day of December. The freezing mist from the Lincolnshire coast is severe enough to make gloves and scarves essential accessories. There's no sign of a campsite and humorous headgear is somewhat thin on the ground. But despite all the evidence to the contrary it really does appear that I am attending a folk festival and, as it turns out, rather a good one.

This is the third Great British Folk Festival to be held at the Butlins resort in Skegness and if previous lineups had been less than inspiring this year bucked the trend and provided a programme with plenty to get excited about. Which is not to say there isn't scope for improvement but the organisers have clearly listened to feedback from the first two events and taken significant steps to enhance both the lineup and the audience experience.

This being a winter festival there is little in the way of alfresco entertainment but beyond the two main stages there are smaller venues offering open mic sessions, dance workshops and impromptu performances. Inevitably though it's the main stages to which the vast majority of the audience gravitate. Opening the weekend's programme in Reds, the smaller of the two stages, Oh Susanna is in fact American-Canadian singer/songwriter Suzie Ungerleider. Suzie takes the stage name from the well-known Stephen Foster composition so it's little surprise that her music is rooted in the American tradition. She gives an assured solo performance and appears genuinely surprised not only at the size of the audience but also at their willingness to listen intently to her quieter moments.

It may be a reflection on my personal tastes or simply the quirks of the festival programming but I find myself preferring the lineup at Reds for most of the weekend. It's here that I see Patsy Matheson charm a still-thawing Saturday morning audience and where I witness a surprisingly enjoyable set from Irish stalwarts The Fureys. Patsy offers up mostly self-written songs with a laid back and vaguely jazzy feel that are characterised by the frailty of her vocal delivery whereas The Fureys are the consummate Irish showband. I doubt they would have got out of the building alive without running through their biggest hit "When You Were Sweet Sixteen" but if this perfectly demonstrates the sugary-sweet aspect of their act then it is occasionally tempered with some more hard edged material from the Irish tradition.

If The Fureys were a surprise for me then the same can also be said for Show Of Hands who headlined the Centre Stage on Saturday night. I've never been a huge fan of their particular brand of acoustic music despite it being firmly rooted in the British tradition but it's hard not to get swept along with the atmosphere they create in this packed venue. Their set is drawn largely from their current album "Wake The Union" which explores the links between British and American traditions and they are joined towards the end by American duo Matt Gordon and Leonard Podolak who have been supporting them on their recent UK tour and who had performed their own set on the same stage earlier in the evening. Newer songs like "Haunt You" and "Now You Know" sit well alongside the likes of well-worn favourites "Roots", "Country Life" and "Arrogance, Ignorance and Greed".

My personal tastes tend towards the English tradition so it's no surprise that my favourites over the weekend fall broadly within this category. Fay Hield and the Hurricane Party present songs from their recent album "Orfeo" and a selection from Fay's earlier solo album "Looking Glass". They explore the darker regions of the English tradition, with the likes of "The Lover's Ghost" taken, one assumes, from the repertoire of Bert Lloyd being a typical offering. They also find room for a version of "The Briar and The Rose", which Fay describes as an "English traditional song written by Tom Waits", but whilst the mood remains marvellously dark it's nevertheless an incredibly enjoyable set and Fay's all-star band are nothing less than accomplished throughout.

Oysterband and June Tabor play to a packed audience at Reds on Saturday evening with songs from two albums recorded a couple of decades apart. Their repertoire draws equally from the tradition and from contemporary writers. Vocal duties are shared between June and the Oysters' usual front person John Jones but it's the strength of June's vocals that impress most. She has a reputation for being dour and this is often reflected in her song choices but she can equally knock you off guard with her wicked sense of humour. The band's versatility and eclectic repertoire make for an incredibly engaging set that I'm convinced will be a highlight for many this weekend.

Ashley Hutchings' influence looms large over the last four decades of the English folk revival and throughout that period he has returned sporadically to the Morris On project. The idea here is to present tunes (and the occasional song) associated with English morris traditions within the context of a contemporary rock band. 2012 marks the 40th anniversary of the first Morris On album and the project's latest incarnation features Simon Care and a couple of current Albion Band members. They are helped by Moulton Morris who demonstrate a few of the group dances and a rather impressive Bacca Pipes Jig. The whole set is another highlight for me and I'm particularly impressed by Tom Wright's contributions on guitar despite taking a worryingly severe on-stage tumble at one point.

Festival headliners and last to appear on Centre Stage on Sunday night are the newly-revamped Albion Band. This also happens to be the last night of their current tour so there's a definite party atmosphere both on stage and off as the band have brought various family and friends along for the night. Not surprisingly their set draws largely from the recent "Vice Of The People" album but also makes frequent dips into older Albion Band repertoire. Vocals are handled mostly by Gavin Davenport and Katriona Gilmore whilst instruments are frequently swapped and changed. It's a fabulously joyous set and is topped off, to absolutely no-one's surprise, with a guest appearance from Ashley Hutchings that ensures the festival ends on a high.

It's worth taking some time here to reflect on both the positive and negative aspects of this festival. In only its third year it does appear to have forged its own identity in a difficult marketplace. The music venues themselves are perfectly fine but there were issues throughout the weekend with soundchecks and turnaround times that meant a number of acts started their sets later than advertised. This is certainly something that needs to be addressed as other festivals manage with little more than a line check and a 20 minute turnaround - we waited over an hour on more than one occasion this weekend. But these are minor gripes that shouldn't detract from the essential success of the event as a whole.

On the positive side, the comfort provided by the chalet accommodation is a far cry from your average festival campsite and I suspect this may be one reason for the slightly higher than average age-range amongst festival patrons as those who feel they have spent their last night under canvas now have the opportunity to return to the festival circuit. The facilities are more than adequate with numerous ready-made options available for eating, drinking and socialising. This year's lineup was varied enough to please a range of tastes, although with a little too much folk rock (early-70s model) for my personal liking, so I see no reason to believe this festival won't go from strength to strength over the coming years.

POSTSCRIPT: "Four days in the life of an over-fed reviewer"

FRIDAY
Evening meal: salad; steak slice & chips; almond tart & cream; bottle of Shiraz

SATURDAY
Breakfast: bacon, scrambled eggs & toast; pan au chocolat
Evening meal: salad; chicken & black bean sauce with rice; Bakewell sponge & custard; bottle of Shiraz

SUNDAY
Breakfast: full English
Evening meal: salad; half a roast chicken, Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, medley of vegetables; sticky toffee pudding & custard; bottle of Shiraz

MONDAY
Breakfast: full English; yoghurt & fruit

Food and drink courtesy of The Yacht Club, Butlins, Skegness
Additional food provided by Andrea Wilkinson
Additional drinks provided by Tesco, Skegness and The Albion Band
Indigestion: reviewer's own

Words & Pictures:Kev Boyd