Live Review: Cambridge Folk Festival, 25th-28th July 2024

While all AUK content is free to access, subscribers who donate a small amount each month to support the site are sent a Spotify/Apple Music playlist each month featuring the best songs from albums we’ve reviewed along with the opportunity to win prizes via a monthly draw. Last month’s winner was Mark Howson who won two tickets to the Cambridge Folk Festival and Mark, in a very generous gesture, offered to write us a review of his experience which we gratefully accepted. Here’s Mark’s summary of his Cambridge weekend.

To say that receiving an email from Americana UK editor, Mark Whitfield, congratulating me on winning a pair of tickets to the 2024 Cambridge Folk Festival was a nice surprise would be more than understatement; I was in fact flabbergasted – such things just don’t happen to me! My second emotion, however, was utter delight. I have often been told how good Cambridge is, but I never had the opportunity to attend before and assumed that it would remain thus.

Standing in a field for four days is not my wife’s idea of a good time, however, so the second ticket went to my friend, John. He is a veteran of countless Glasto’s, SXSW’s, Green Men, etc. but not Cambridge as it turned out, so this would be a novel experience for both of us. We would be sharing John’s camper van, which meant staying at Coldham Common, a mile or so from the main site, and our arrival on Thursday afternoon set the tone for the whole weekend. Any fears we had of traffic chaos and long queues were immediately dispelled and a solitary yellow sign was all that was required to point us towards the campsite, where we were greeted and directed to our spot by the friendliest and most helpful site crew. It really couldn’t have been more stress-free.

Getting to the main site was also simplicity itself, with the ever-present shuttle buses whisking us there in about ten minutes. On arrival we were greeted once more by numerous friendly and helpful staff members and even the guys on bag-search duty were cheerful and efficient throughout the whole weekend.

The first thing to do was to explore the site and get our bearings; something that took about five minutes, as, contrary to our expectations, it is an incredibly compact site. It made me think of The Long Road, but more on the scale of Maverick. The three main stages were just a couple of minutes’ walk from each other and numerous food and drink options were even closer than that; and it was pleasing to discover that the toilets were numerous and, as at the campsite, of the ‘mini-ensuite’ variety instead of the usual plastic horrors. These were kept clean and stocked throughout the whole event by a team that deserve our thanks and gratitude.

Stage 1 would not be in use until the Friday, but the Smith & Brewer Band kicked proceedings off in fine style on Stage 2. Ben Smith and Jimmy Brewer are both excellent guitarists and have been playing together for almost decade, but this was the first time that I’d seen them with a full band and this was the perfect way to showcase old favourites like ‘Life’s Too Short’ and also several songs from their forthcoming new album.

We stayed at Stage 2 to check out Canadian band, The Paperboys, and they were a revelation. Tom Landa, the main man, has an excellent voice and his nine-strong outfit produced an utterly infectious blend of Celtic/Country/Xydeco and probably several other genres that had the packed crowd bouncing; and it was with not a little regret that I had to tear myself away halfway through. John stayed for the full hour and thought they were excellent. The reason for my departure was that Australian siblings Charm of Finches were about to get going on Stage 3. I’d not been able to get to any of their dates on their recent UK tour and so I was delighted when I spotted them on the timetable.

Mabel and Ivy Windred-Wornes have rapidly gained a following in the UK since the release of “Wonderful Oblivion” in 2021 and on the back of extensive touring. Their exquisite harmonising underpins the alt-folk songs on their recorded output and they are able to effortlessly reproduce this on stage; the duo holding the crowd spellbound for 45 gorgeous minutes with a set derived largely from their latest release, “Marlinchen In The Snow.”

By this point what had been a largely spacious festival ground was packed and it struck me that, had everyone wished to watch an act in a tent, several thousand would have been left disappointed. I later realised that the festival caters as much for those who are content to sit in a camping chair outside the tent as for those who prefer the ‘crush’ in front of the stage. The sound quality was universally excellent throughout and carefully positioned speakers piped the music to those outside without bleeding over into adjacent stages. There was a real ‘start of the holidays’ feel to the evening.

It is a long, long time since I last had to show ID to buy a drink and yet I was but three years old when Ralph McTell had first trodden these boards. Despite this his voice is strong and true and the love for him in the Stage 2 tent was palpable. His has always been a familiar name, yet I know barely any of his songs. But, boy, can he hold a crowd, and when several thousand people sang along to ‘Streets of London’ in perfect unison I detected a drop of salty water descending my right cheek. It would not be the only such occurrence over this weekend.

Our Friday entertainment would begin at the front of Stage 1 in the early afternoon, where Bess Atwell was the first act. The vast tent only slowly filled before the music started, but the green outside the tent was already filled with countless camping chairs and people who were content to watch proceedings on big screens and in the perfect weather conditions that we were blessed with. Bess has a lovely voice, but I again had an appointment elsewhere and only caught the first four songs (John again stayed and very much enjoyed her set).

My destination this time was The Den and the contrast from Stage 1 couldn’t have been greater. Set outside the main festival site and wedged between it and the (other) campsite, this was a small circus tent with a stage made up like a front room and was a much more intimate affair. I was there to see Kim Yang and made use of one of the scattered cushions to sit on. These made little impression and discomfort would prove to be a necessary price to pay to hear much of the music both here and in Stage 3. Kim was born in Taiwan before moving to Australia at the age of 15 and much of her musical output covers her cultural journey since (her opening song concerned the nurse she encountered at a fertility clinic while she was up on the table.) She has a wonderful singing voice and the small crowd very much enjoyed her set, which included a call-and-response in Mandarin Chinese. No time to hang about for a chat afterwards, however, as Dean Owens and The Sinners were setting up on Stage 2.

This would be the first time I’d seen Dean playing with a full band (including a drummer who’d driven down from Scotland specifically for this one gig) and the Scottish maestro took full advantage of his opportunity to showcase his considerable talents in front of such a large and enthusiastic crowd. With fine support from his band mates, songs from “Sinner’s Shrine” and the as-yet-unreleased “Spirit Ridge” featured prominently, but older songs like ‘Boxing Shorts’ and ‘Raining In Glasgow’ went down just as well with a crowd largely unfamiliar with his work; and the boos when stage-management said that there wouldn’t be time for one more song was testament to the impact he’d made.

At this point our planned itinerary fell apart, for reasons I can’t quite remember (not drink-related – we had slightly overindulged the previous day and so were mostly abstemious today), and we found ourselves back at The Den to see Madrid-domiciled US singer/songwriter David Burnett perform a laid back set of observational songs, accompanied by Isabel Juarez on viola. A really lovely 45 minutes.

Nitin Sawhney had never been on my agenda, but we somehow ended up down the front of Stage 1 as he and his fellow musicians emerged from the wings. I knew him to be a highly celebrated musician but was utterly unfamiliar with his music beyond vague memories of hearing him on 6 Music. Expectations were thus set low, but what followed was an extraordinary hour of incredible musicianship and I loved every second of it.

At the risk of bringing down cascades of fire and brimstone on my head from an outraged Americana UK community, my relationship with Robert Plant has always been a distant one. I am of course aware of his standing in such circles, but my attitude has always been that he already has his vast fanbase and he probably doesn’t need me, so I am almost entirely unfamiliar with his back catalogue. Therefore it was mostly out of curiosity – and bragging rights – that I stayed put for his set. Not for the first time this weekend I was slightly apprehensive about how a septuagenarian musician would perform on the big stage, but once again such misgivings were quickly swept aside and I walked away 90 minutes later buzzing and marvelling at just how incredibly good he was.

Don’t ask me what songs were played but Plant and his band (I’d assumed Suzi Dian was American, but apparently she’s Portuguese) were utterly superb and I was struck by the strength and accuracy of his voice – I have no doubt that he could still belt out ‘Stairway To Heaven’ if required to do so. And he was funny with it, too; dealing with the numerous cries of “I love you, Robert!” with quick wit and great humour. I started disinterested but ended a convert.

With legs starting to protest we almost headed for the exit, but Locarno were on next on Stage 2 and we decided that we had another set in us.

Locarno is Tom Landa’s side project and featured several members of The Paperboys. It turns out that Landa spent his first 15 years in Mexico City before emigrating with his family to Canada, and he concentrated on assimilating to his new surroundings before being encouraged to rediscover his Mexican heritage several years later by members of Los Lobos. The result is a tight and hugely entertaining ensemble that fuses numerous South American genres to brilliant and exhausting effect.

We were now halfway through the festival, but where was the folk music? In truth, opportunities to see traditional British folk had been numerous and you are rarely more than a few feet away from a guitar or fiddle in Cherry Hinton Hall Park, and things would soon turn in a Celtic direction. Before that though, I had an appointment with Sorrel Nation in The Den. I had heard only good things about this Americana songstress from Tunbridge Wells and a good crowd was on hand to hear her set in the circus tent. And she didn’t disappoint; possessing both a gorgeous voice and the talent to pen fine songs. A bright future awaits and I’m looking forward to catching her again when she tours the UK in October.

The last time I saw The Transatlantic Sessions I was perched in a tight seat off to the side of the Dress Circle in the Buxton Opera House, meaning several musicians were out of sight, but my viewpoint couldn’t have been better as Jerry Douglas gathered his amazing folk supergroup on the spacious Stage 1 (and it was hugely impressive to see the crew clear and then set up the stage for a 15-piece band in just 30 minutes). And a huge bonus was the realisation that both Tommy Emmanuel and Aoife O’Donovan would be taking part too.

If you’ve never seen The Transatlantic Sessions then make sure you rectify that ASAP. For the next 90 minutes we were treated to some of the most gorgeous traditional music you could wish for, performed by some of the most talented musicians around, and once again those troublesome salty droplets were in evidence; most notably when Phil Cunningham led one of his tunes which had been written for a friend suffering from ill-health. Utterly gorgeous.

One of the guest musicians was an Irish singer by the name of Niall McCabe and he sang one of his own songs, ‘Stonemason’, with the Transatlantic Sessioners on accompaniment. We were so impressed by his performance that we checked out his set on Stage 2 soon afterwards.

Accompanied by Rory McCarthy on keyboards and Mike McGoldrick on flute, McCabe quickly proved himself to be an artist of impressive range. He has a strong and versatile voice, a repertoire of excellent songs and a confident and entertaining stage presence and he had the crowd singing along to one of his songs with barely any cajoling. His songs teeter on the folk/country border and it is clear that he is likely to be equally successful on either side of it. Definitely one to watch. Our last trip of the day to The Den was to see Gareth Dunlop, with the Northern Irish singer/songwriter and his band producing a fine set of songs derived largely from his 12 years as a professional songwriter in Nashville.

Although the festival would not conclude until shortly before midnight on the Sunday, prior commitments dictated that we would need to leave before the evening. Even so, that was enough time to make some great musical discoveries.

One of my favourite acts of the weekend arrived on Stage 3 in the form of Irish musicians Laura Quirke and Claire Kinsella, aka Lemoncello. With just a guitar and cello, and with really quite dark songs delivered by Quirke in an idiosyncratic voice, this was a most esoteric and unexpected delight and their eponymous CD was soon in my possession.

A final trip to The Den saw a fine set of indie-folk songs from Joey Mac, including one written about a recently-deceased houseplant called Ferdinand that turned out to be a great folk/pop song about heartbreak. She knows her way round a guitar too and we left very impressed.

Together, Mike McGoldrick, John McCusker and John Doyle comprise one fifth of The Transatlantic Sessions and also form a mean trio in their own right and they have long been on my must-see list; and so it was that we were once again front and centre of Stage 2 late on Sunday afternoon to see them in action. There followed a truly stunning and enjoyable 60 minutes of Celtic music that was a true privilege to have witnessed, and it seemed fitting that we should end our festival on such a high.

As with all festivals there was regret at missing many of the other amazing acts on offer – Peggy Seeger, Larkin Poe, Leyla McCalla and Darlingside among them – but we were certainly not disappointed by what we had seen.

My huge and sincere thanks to all involved with the Cambridge Folk Festival for delivering such a fabulous event, and to Americana UK for enabling our visit. It certainly won’t be my last.

Thanks to Mark for his review and for his pictures. You can subscribe to AUK for the chance to win some goodies in our monthly draw, all details here.