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Shrewsbury Folk Festival

Venue: Multiple
Town: Shrewsbury
Date: 24th-27th August
Website: http://www.shrewsburyfolkfestival.co.uk/

The evening concert commenced late, which was frustrating after being in a queue for some considerable time, with an excellent set by Jim Moray - the high point of which was his imaginative working of Lucy Wan. Kate Rusby followed but I must admit I spent much of the time during her set in the bar as I am not one of her many fans - though from what I heard her band was exceptionally good and their set of tunes was excellent. The much anticipated special set by Show of Hands, during which they recreated their Albert Hall concert from earlier this year with guests and a superb six piece string section, did not disappoint. Kicking off with 'Galway Farmer' got the audience in the zone straight away and many highlights followed including 'Roots', my current SoH favourite 'Cousin Jack' and an encore featuring 'Santiago'. Once again they demonstrated why they have such an enthusiastic following - my only disappointment on this occasion being the absence of another favourite, 'Tall Ships' - but you can't have everything!

Sunday in the large marquee kicked off at noon with a typically rousing set by the Wilsons , who, as far as I can recall, have appeared at the festival each year - no bad thing in my opinion - any chance to hear the classic 'A Miners Life' is always welcome. Fay Hield performed an accomplished set with her Hurricane Party which featured among others Jon Boden and Sam Sweeney. Swedish all girl bluegrass band (yes really!) were initially interesting but some of their material disappointed and before their hour was up I was getting impatient to see the band that I most wanted to catch this weekend - Jon Boden & The Remnant Kings. I consider Boden's 'Song from the Floodplain' as the finest CD so far this century and to my delight their set included most of the songs from that opus, as well as, not surprisingly given Boden's passion for the tradition, a sprinkling of somewhat older songs. There was also an inspired working of Kate Bush's 'Hounds of Love' incorporating three melodeons! A marvellous set which, when watching again on line afterwards, I could not drag myself away from.

A pleasant hour with Karine Polwart opened the Sunday night concert but things took a turn for the worse when Plainsong (who I had not previously heard of) took to the stage. Though they clearly could play well (including an excellent fretless bass), I found their songs tedious and unimaginative - perhaps they have just not aged well? I did speak to a number of their fans later who had enjoyed the set so maybe its just me!

I have to confess that the first time I saw Richard Thompson play solo acoustic guitar many years ago I could not see what the fuss was about but after seeing the electric band I suddenly got it and have been a fan ever since. Tonight he was really at the top of his game - the experience of one man and a guitar stunning an audience of 2,500 people into silence was one to remember for a very long time! A well balanced mix of crowd pleasers and less familiar songs made the ninety minutes slip by far too quickly.

Monday started with yet another highlight - a Blowzabella ceilidh. Probably my all time favourite dance band they have lost none of their magic over the years with beautiful melodies combining with the perfect instrumental line up of pipes, saxophones, clarinet, hurdy gurdy, button accordion, fiddle and bass guitar. There is something about their music that simply makes one glad to be alive and my only disappointment is that I get to see, and dance to them, so rarely.

Sadly KT Tunstall had to pull out of the festival due to a family bereavement and though I was disappointed not to be able to see her for the first time there was compensation of the highest order as the 13 piece Treacherous Orchestra closed the main stage at the festival. Virtually the entire audience dancing to incredibly high energy Scottish music was the perfect way to end what had undoubtedly been the best Shrewsbury Festival to date.

I have every expectation that next year will be just as good and I hope many of the readers of this will be tempted to join me there!

Words Joe Grint
Images Neil King(Fatea) not taken at festival