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Eric Bibb
Friday 8pm
 Watch the performance.
"Cambridge - we gotta turn up our love!"
So speaks Eric Bibb, just before launching into Needed Time, which inspires a mass outbreak of singing from the audience. It's emblematic of a set which is perfectly suited to a balmy summer evening in Cambridge. Eric has already set out his stall, telling the audience that there should be more people just getting out there, playing music and being together. In these troubled times, it's a sentiment which strikes a chord.
Eminently relaxed, Bibb plays and sings with a style so natural, so laid back and so good humoured it's impossible not to warm to him. Earlier in the day he's hosted a workshop in the club tent on the roots influence in songwriting. Given his key place in the revival of acoustic blues in the 90s, it's hard to think of someone better suited. Needed Time rolls by like the adopted son of Mississippi John Hurt, backed by gently evocative accordion.
Bibb is also set to play another (solo) set on the Radio 2 stage, but for now he's backed by an excellent band. On the penultimate number, Good Stuff, they cook up a delicious New Orleans groove, swaggering like a drunken high roller down the pavements of Bourbon Street.
A fine perfomance by a great guitarist, fine singer and all round nice guy. What more could you ask for?
Mick Fitzsimmons
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