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Great British Folk Festival

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

Sunday

Having been burnt by Hunter Muskett, I approached String Driven Thing with a certain amount of trepidation, it couldn't have been more misplaced, String Driven Thing folk 'n' rocked. It may be the fortieth anniversary of the band signing to Charisma and touring with Genesis, but they are definitely not a band content to rest on past glories.

This was a band that seemed intent on creating a few more happy memories for both themselves and their audience. This is a band that have a real enthusiasm for their music and the talent that allows them to convey that to the crowd.

The post dinner slot can be a difficult one, this set a standard for how it should be done. Hit hard, make an impact, smoke and smoulder for a couple of numbers then feed in the oxygen and let the whole thing flaring. This was also a band that was pretty much intact from their earlier career, though they don't always have as many playing as were here today and even the newer members have years with the band. Songs from both periods of the band drove the set onwards and upwards, permeated by some decent banter to get everyone up to date with good humour. String Driven Thing were absolutely the right call. A buzzing room, job done.

Coincidently forty years ago was also the year that seminal folk rock album "Morris On" was released. The album featured the electrification of traditional morris tunes and songs and featured the likes of Richard Thompson. Ashley Hutchings, The Governor, links the forty years and it's no coincidence that he returned to the latest incantation of The Albion Band to provide much of the instrumentation, along with top accordionist and morris man, Simon Care.

Ashley Hutchings & Morris on kicked off the proceedings with great gusto, The Albion Band's Tom A Wright literally took a trip out from behind the drum kit, to play guitar when he took a tumble going arse over tip courtesy of a guitar lead.(6:38 into video on the right). Fortunately man and instrument are made of hard stuff, there was no appeal for a penalty he just got back to his feet and played on, bouncing around like nothing had happened.

Of course you can't have a celebration of Morris On without morris dancing. Unfortunately timing changes meant that the Belles Of London were no longer able to be the illustrating side. They were replaced by Moulton Morris, a young side from Northamptonshire.

If you have negative preconceptions of Morris, put them to one side now. Morris dancing is a great tradition and one that we should be proud of. Just watching a top morris dancing side is knackering, let alone actually taking part. In basic terms we had both hanky and stick, as well as a pair taking it in turns to dance over the churchwardens pipes. It would have been a very expensive audience to have bought each and every member a drink for, had they get it wrong and broken the pipes.

The whole show was a fusion of sound and visual, traditional tunes and songs sit very well on rocking out electrical instruments. It was definitely one that will live long in the mind as well as a reminder that the English do have great traditional songs and dances that stand equal with the best from anywhere in the world. We would be foolish to forget or mock and here's to Ashley Hutchings for pulling the show together and doing so with such panache.

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