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Great British Folk Festival

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

Friday

The Fureys & Davey Arthur have had a long and eventful career in folk music, there is no disputing the longevity of the band or indeed the charismatic impact of Davey Arthur, one of those people that can genuinely be described as a character, but in all their years, they've never really made an impact on my record collection, it was time to see if they are a band, best experienced live.

The answer to that would be an unqualified yes, particularly when their time on stage is with an audience with a very intimate knowledge of their material. It allows Davey Arthur not only to be musician and singer but also conductor.

I really can see how bands like The Fureys & Davey Arthur have built up the following they have. There is something about combining the Irish showband thing with the more traditional side of Celtic music and then injecting the sentimentality that really gets to the heartstrings, it's also very easy to sing along too. Even so after a relatively few songs, though still more than I have ever done at one sitting when listening to recorded music, I get the distinct impression that this is not for me. I make the decision that Pie, playing in Centre Stage will have more appeal and call my experiment to a halt.

Normally a trio, Pie have been joined on stage by a fourth musician adding bass to the predominantly guitar, fiddle, percussion line up. The bass player turns out to be a guest, having joined partway through the set and is identified as Robert Brown who played here last year in his own right over in Jaks, the open mic venue. He's also been on the Fatea Showcase Sessions, but enough of the shameless plus.

There is more of an indie rock sound to Pie, though it is not without a feel and connection to the folk sound, The Great British Folk Festival has a broad definition to the term folk as evidenced by the mix of the first four acts viewed. It's also very easy to get into. The band have obviously built up a rapport with the audience in my absence and you can feel a real lift in the air. Whilst the focus of the songs couldn't necessarily be seen as uplifting, there was definitely that element in the way the sound was delivered, job done boys. There was a bit of a gap before Feast Of Fiddles which gave me the chance to catch up with Pie and obtain a copy of their latest live album for review elsewhere in this publication.

That brought me to the final decision of the night who to finish the Friday with, so it's apologies to The Travelling Band and congratulations to Feast Of Fiddles.

Feast Of Fiddles hit the stage sans Brian McNeill playing a raucous version of "The Thunderbirds Theme", that alone told you that this was going to be one of the sets that puts a capital E into Entertainment.

Even without McNeill it's hard not to describe "Feast Of Fiddles" as a genuine folk supergroup. They've got a 19 year history behind them and whilst you're never going to be exactly sure of the line up until the band walk onto the stage, but you can always be assured that it will be quality.

Feast Of Fiddles are unashamedly a crowd pleaser. That doesn't mean dumbed down, there is a lot of really intimate and tricky aspects to their playing, some of it enough to frighten mere mortals by the complexity of the key changes, what it does mean is a fascinating combination of traditional songs, both sung and instrumental and arrangements of familiar songs and theme tunes given that Feast Of Fiddles mix.

More than any other band on the night, they get people out from behind the chairs and tables and onto the flat floor in front of the band dancing. They know their audience, the risky banter between songs also contains a number of in jokes that most people are going to get.

The old adage is to leave them wanting more and Feast Of Fiddles definitely did that, quite a way to end the first night and there's still two more days to come. Because this is Butlins that means we could head back to the flatlet/chalet and get through some of that beer and nibbles we'd bought earlier, get photos etc downloaded and backed up. The welcome warmth of your temporary home is a great addition to the mood after a relatively short walk in the bracing night air.

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