#korrontzi

– November 17, 2014 Korrontzi

I got home from Cambridge Folk Festival at silly o'clock on Monday morning, and I'm now in mourning.  I hate the post festival blues!

So, purely for myself here's some of my highlights!

I got to the festival site on Thursday in time to catch the end of Kathryn Roberts & Sean Lakeman on Stage 2, I took a seat & waited for Willy Mason who'd been recommended to me on Twitter.

Friday I made my home in front of Stage 1 & settled down with a bottle of sun cream. Korrontzi were first up, with possibly the happiest frontman in the world. Then came Frigg, who I saw locally earlier this year & was looking forward to, they were excellent, as I expected! The next guy really wasn't my thing, so we'll skip right on past that! Then Patty Griffin, again someone who'd been recommended to me, but I wasn't sure was exactly my scene, but I really enjoyed her.  You've got to keep an open mind, music so often surprises you! Then LAPD (Liam O'Flynn, Andy Irvine, Paddy Glackin & Donal Lunny), I do like trad folk, it's never going to be my favourite thing, but I always find it so easy to listen to. We went off to abandon all our stuff back at the tents as we had an evening of heavy dancing planned but I was mighty chuffed to make it back in time to catch the end of Amadou & Mariam because they sounded bloody brilliant. Then, what promised to be one of the huge highlights of my festival, the Levellers came on stage.  Always a good time singing along to all those classics & dancing my sweaty little heart out. Brilliantly at the end of their set we had both the Levellers and Bellowhead on stage together which was pretty special! And we got to finish with Bellowhead being their brilliant selves!

Saturday! One of my favourite things about Cambridge Folk Festival are the Saturday sessions, two & a half hours of many of the weekend's artists playing short sets, sometimes playing together in one big jam session.  This year it was excellent as ever, oh, plus it gives you a really good idea about who you might want to catch if there are new names you don't already know.  It's genius!

I was a tiny bit grumpy because there was a 3 way clash at 5pm so I spent the afternoon trying to decide who to catch! But before that, whilst neatly settled by Stage 2, I saw Heidi Talbot, followed by a second round of Korrontzi.  Then I had my 5pm dilemma, should I go see Steeleye Span, Thea Gilmore, or Phillip Henry & Hannah Martin.  Argh! As the rest of my gang were opting for Steeleye Span, I opted to stay at Stage 2 for Thea Gilmore.  When they returned, I ambled my way over to Stage 1 to catch Heritage Blues Orchestra who I was massively looking forward to and they were as brilliant as I expected. I love a bit of cajun so it was great to catch Beausoleil avec Michael Doucet, then Frigg all over again.  At this point it was raining & I may have been wearing a red waterproof which makes me resemble a tomato.  It's a fine look.  Closing Saturday night were The Chair.  I danced my little heart out, I abandoned the waterproof and danced in the rain.  At the end of one song a lady approached me and told me I won the dancing award, probably for wild dancing!

Sunday! Why does the last day roll around so quickly? We set up at Stage 2 again, starting the day with John Hegley.  Which quite frankly is the most perfect way to start the day.  I laughed until I cried. Le Vent Du Nord were on next & splendid, I do so love Quebecois music.  Then Greg Russell & Ciaran Algar, who were also excellent!  Adding to the amount of CDs I became desperate to own were We Banjo 3 who were on next! Then the fabulous Breabach! It was a great Sunday lineup! Next was Valerie June, who was the person I'd had the most recommendations to see.  I really liked her but the rest of my gang really didn't!  Judging by the comments of people around me, her voice was really challenging for a lot of people, for me, she was really reminiscent of Joanna Newsom. Sadly the sound was a bit iffy and when Martin Simpson came on, he was pretty quiet and it was tough to hear his very gentle songs. But, after that, came possibly my favourite festival discovery, Sketch.  I abso-bloody-lutely loved them. We headed over to Stage 1 to see The Chair close the festival, we danced and danced and danced.