It’s that time of year again. We should all be getting our shopping lists ready for tents, wellies, sun cream, cheap food, sunglasses and comedy hats as the Great British Summer is fast approaching, and with it, a slew of very different and varied festivals all over the country.
I have been fortunate enough to sample various types of festival over the years, from the heavily corporate superfestival that is Scotlands T in the Park, to more locally driven family affairs with an international twist, like Oxfordshires Truck Festival, and this year, it’s time to sample one of the great truly English festivals this country has to offer, the Cambridge Folk Festival.
Now the name alone shouldn’t fool anyone as to what you can come to expect, but despite being entitled as a “folk” festival, you can find the cream of the crop of established and upcoming singer-songwriters, world music and flowery sunshine pop among the more traditional folkies. This isn’t a festival for metalheads to come and rock out, but it is a fantastic excuse to come down for four utterly packed days of music and have what is more of a true holiday than other festivals may allow.
Cambridge Folk Festival has played host in the past to some of the finest talent music has to offer in the past, including Wembley Arena sell-out star Frank Turner, this years Glastonbury festival headliner Mumford and Sons, the legend that is and was Joe Strummer, and some of folks biggest and most successful names in living memory, such as Laura Marling, Seth Lakeman, Emmylou Harris and Kate Rusby, this is not just some jolly in a field. No, Cambridge Folk Festival is a very big deal indeed.
So, what can you come to expect this year? Well, if you’re looking for a party atmosphere then The Mavericks will never, ever disappoint. One of Scotland's greatest ever singer-songwriters KT Tunstall, and one of the best live acts I’ve ever seen in Bellowhead, an act I’ve enjoyed so much, I gave them a 10/10 review for their set on this very website for their Truck Festival show in 2011. Not forgetting the legendary bands The Levellers, and The Waterboys to complete your headline-strength performers.
Among this heavyweight list of stars, you also have the sublime Thea Gilmore, who is undoubtedly one of the star attractions of this years bill, one of Frank Turner's up-and-coming favourites Emily Barker & the Red Clay Halo, the award-winning Staves, two of Mali’s greatest ever exports (who have supported Blur at their legendary Hyde Park comeback gigs in 2009), Amadeau et Mariam and one of the founding members of Mercury Music Prize nominated act Portico Quartet, Nick Mulvey. As well as that list there’s somewhere in the region of sixty other acts playing over the course of the four days.
Of course, being a festival about the people, and not so much about the profit, Cambridge also invites a lot of its artists to play more than once over the course of the festival, so if there’s any unfortunate clashes, it often doesn’t matter as you often get a second chance to see your favourites perform. Also, in the past, members of the audience have also been invited up onto the stage to give their talents a public airing too. This is the epitome of a festival for the people.
So if all you want to see is Slayer, or all you want to do is drink gallons of cheap beer at a not cheap price and pass out, or all you want to do is rave all night, then Cambridge probably isn’t for you. If you want to spend £126 (which is very cheap by comparison to many much shorter festivals) on a four day break to soak up some of the finest music this country and the world has to offer, in a beautiful setting in the English countryside, then Cambridge could well be the best festival you’ve not been to yet.
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I have been fortunate enough to sample various types of festival over the years, from the heavily corporate superfestival that is Scotlands T in the Park, to more locally driven family affairs with an international twist, like Oxfordshires Truck Festival, and this year, it’s time to sample one of the great truly English festivals this country has to offer, the Cambridge Folk Festival.
