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SATURDAY
Among the stranger sights on Saturday is a children's entertainer at Coldham's Common campsite. Kitted out in transparent pacamac and crash helmet with a colander fixed on top, he's got a see-saw plank with a fresh egg balanced at one end. Small children jump on the plank propelling the eggs towards the colander. A successful catch results in a be-egged entertainer and hilarity all round. Two dozen eggs and a very eggy chap and they're still going... Strange way to make an omelette.
Our very own Mike Harding has a lucky find. Whilst clearing out his cavernous cowshed cupboards, he came across a 20 year old credit note from Hobgoblin music. Marching up to their stall, he manages to redeem it for a spanking new Dobro Mandolin, which he proceeds to play with gusto at any given opportunity. No such luck with credit notes from the beer tent, but he'll keep looking.
Wandering about the site with a beatific smile is Paul Pennington, lead singer from the Glossop-based blues-rock band Bad Dog. He's at Cambridge for the first time with his partner and band-colleague Lesley Davies (ex-Kashmir, Mrs Ackroyd Band) and they're having a great time. Best things so far, he reckons, are The Waterboys, Eric Bibb's songwriting workshop and the coco-fibre hats on sale at the stalls. Paul and Lesley are happily camping at Coldhams Common, but having to drive around for an hour and a half to find the site wasn't on the top of Paul's Cambridge Favourites list. What happened to the signs, Eddie? But the cybercafe and variety of music at the festival get a big thumbs-up. Good luck with the band, Paul.
We're also visited in the Radio 2 Online portakabin by Rachel Goodwin, an up and coming singer making her debut in the club tent later. She's already being tipped as the British answer to the all-pervasive Eva Cassidy. Fresh from support slots with the likes of Christy Moore, she's confesses to being terrified at the prospect of playing the club tent. We don't get to see her, so we can only hope the nerves didn't get the better of her.
From new talent to more established - if anyone can claim to be a veteran it's the very lovely Norma Waterson, who made her Cambridge debut at the very first festival in 1965. Highlight for her, apparently, was watching The Clancy Brothers arrive in an open top jeep through the midst of the crowd, playing all the way like an Aran sweater-wearing version of the A-Team.
Chumbawamba get prize of the festival for right-on-ness. Apart from having the musical taste to work with samples of such excellent folkies as Coope Boyes & Simpson, Dick Gaughan, Kate Rusby, Walter Pardon etc, they made considerable effort to track down Jock Purdon's widow to pay her his fee. They've also ploughed back huge amounts of cash earned from commercial advertising into ethically-run concerns. Nice one, guys.
Thoughout the day the rain mercifully holds off, but ever darkening skies eventually open midway through the evening. The guy who owns the welly boot stall is no doubt rubbing his hands with glee...
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| Creative wet weather gear
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| Still feeling blue?
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| Mike shows off his latest acquisition.
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| Paul Pennington
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| Rachel Goondwin
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| Cheerio!
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