Friday 31 July 2009

Zu Zu Zu Zutons!


The Zutons finish the evening in the main stage with a bang. Even though they were slightly late coming on stage due to technical issues, it didn't matter. Their energetic and upbeat stage presents had the crowd cheering, waving and dancing. With a leopard print drum kit, Abi (pictured left) had a dress to match and frontman Dave had the crowd singing along to their classic hit Valerie

Demon Barbers end Stare 2 in style


While The Zutons were on Stage 1 it was down to the Demon Barbers to end the night on a traditional English note with a fantastic set that saw the crowd lapping up every sublime moment. Augmented by some traditional dancers the band were a fitting end to a fantastic days entertainment on the stage.

Bellowhead kick up a storm on Stage 1


What a superb set - a real crowd pleaser! With 11 in the band, the energy levels were held to the max with a set that saw the band play around 20 instruments between them and the crowd lapping up every minute, cheering well after the band had left the stage. Not that there was ever any doubt as to why they had three times won the Best Live Act award at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, tonight cemented their position as one of the best live folk acts around.

Stage 2 dances to the sound of gypsy swing with Rupa & The April Fishes


What an eclectic mix on Stage 2. Following a storming celdih set from Steamchicken the evening took a left turn with Rupa & The April Fishes and their infectious mix of gypsy swing, tango, latin and Indian music.


Led by Rupa Marya the band evoked the musical spirit of Moulin Rouge in the tent. Next stop on this stage a traditional end to the night with The Demon Barbers.

Buffy Sainte-Marie signing - Wow-eee too!

Following her set on main stage, Buffy Sainte-Marie travelled over to the Mojo signing and wow, what a queue of fans waiting to meet her!

Buffy Sainte-Marie - Wow-eee!


Well, what can we say? Buffy Sainte-Marie is on Stage 1 right now and she's got the crowd going something good.

With three different instruments in the first three songs it isn't a surprise this talented lady has won a Grammy, an Oscar and has a Fine Art PHD. Most importantly, some might say, she's also appeared in Sesame Street!

Buffy's currently singing her Oscar-winner track Up Where We Belong, from the hit film Officer And A Gentleman, starring Richard Gere. Does is get any better than this? Well, it's only five past eight on Friday night, so there's a pretty good chance it will!


In the country with Hayes Carll


While Susan Tedeschi rocked out with blues on stage 1, Hayes Carll strums the country chords on Stage 2. With himself and one other guitarist on stage, he is modest and witty with a texan drawl and lyrics which are cleverly intoxicating.

Bluesy Susan Tedeschi



Following on from the folkie tones of The Waterson Family is Susan Tedeschi, a blues singer-songwriter from Massachusetts. Susan's rich and deep voice compliments the soulful tracks supported by her band of saxophone, guitars, drums and keyboards, each taking it in turn to perform true blues style solos.

It wouldn't be a Festival without...


....the obligatory Festival hats. Did you know that is actually illegal to put on a Festival without silly hats. Neither did we. It's probably not actually true. But imagine if it was. How cool!

Not all the musicians are on stages.




One of the true joys of the Festival is that the music is not just confined to the bands on the bill. Over the years the Festival has gained its true, unique atmosphere from customers bringing instruments and playing at the Festival - be it in the Club Tent or simply anywhere they happen to find themselves.

Record a song at the Festival




When not watching bands, shopping, enjoying some food and drink, enjoying the Folknet cafe, taking part in a workshop, chilling out...why not record your very own folk song at RockHopper studios - a sound proof recording studio located in one of the campsites.. What a cool (as folk) idea - pop in, have some tuition and come out with your own song. Then appear on Stage 1 (we lied about that last bit though).

Folk royalty take to the stage!

We wanted to take a picture of the Waterson Family on stage at the Festival but to be honest we had forgotten how many of them there are...and we couldn't fit them in the picture! So, here's a video of them instead as they were welcomed on stage.

Ed hope and Friends busking at the Signing Tent

One of the highlights of the festival is the Mojo signing tent. Here you can see Ed hope & Friends doing a bit of busking at the tent and gathering quite a crowd!

Teeing off!



One of the highlights of the Festival is one of the many walkabout characters. The couple of characters are teeing off across the grass in front of main stage, not sure whether they will get a hole in one from here though!

Edward II reign on Stage 1



Back after a ten year absence, Edward II rocked the Stage 1 as the crowd crammed together to get as close to the front of the stage as possible.

A mix of folk, reggae and rock the band used an array of instruments to whip the Festival punters into a Folk frenzy. We need a lie down now!

The Sheeeeeeeeeee!




Up next on Stage 1 were six-piece all-female band, The Shee. Described by the press as 'flirtatiously funky' they proved to be just that with an adventurous set of traditional folk, Gaelic and bluegrass.




Genticorum open stage 1


Genticorum open on stage 1 with gusto! From Quebec, the trio of Alex, Yann and Pascal play the fiddle, flute and guitar in an energetic and foot tapping style described by the band as mixture between French music, brown sauce and real ale!



Frankly, it's all pants!


Here in the Festival Blogosphere we salute our friends on Sales and Merchandise who will be working tirelessly all weekend selling a range of merchandise. As well as our new range of T shirts Festival go-ers can also get the chance to buy some of our fabulous Festival pants! What more couold any self respecting folk-lover wish for?

There far more than just the music...











When not enjoying the music at the Festival, here's a selection of things that Festival go-ers will be enjoying over the weekend.
















The sun is shining!!

Welcome to day 2 of the festival and yes, the sun shining and the mud is looking a little dryer. The arena is slowly starting to fill up this morning with Genticorum kicking off on Stage 1 at 1pm today and in the club tent Topic records and the Waterson Family will be doing the MOJO interview. Fingers crossed that the sun will keep his hat on for today!

Thursday 30 July 2009

Bottoms Up!

Ade Edmondson and the Bad Shepherds ends the evening on stage 2 with mandolin, bodhran, fiddle, pipes and whistles while performing quirky covers of punk era classics in a true folkie style. For those of you that are interested, Ade and the gang will be doing a signing on Saturday at the Mojo Signing Tent so keep a look out around the festival site for times!

So on to tomorrow for another day of folk, mud and music....

California Dreamin'


Alela Diane has just sent the crowd at Stage 2 swaying with her hypnotic vocals. Along with her father, her best friend, the rest of her band and her acoustic guitar, The Californian sung a selection of haunting songs with real feeling and great stage prescence.

Molinari wows Stage 2




What a voice! Pete Molinari arrived on stage armed with just an acoustic guitar and a sublime voice and wowed an ethralled audience. He commented that he had always wanted to play the Festival and was honoured to be here. What a star - Mr M we slaute you! Fresh from a recording session in Nashville, Pete was just the tonic!

Mumford & Sons strum the first notes of the Festival




Folk-pop band Mumford & Sons have just finished their set on Stage 2 - and they knocked the socks off the audience.

From the same music scene as two of last year's artists, Laura Marling and Noah and the Whale, the boys were the perfect Festival opener and got the crowd in the mood for the great weekend ahead!

He's not 'Bottom' of the bill!


In fact, his band are closing the Thursday night. Ade Edmondson caught doing press activities ahead of his set with his band The Bad Shepherds. People are expected to flock to see them later...'flock'...'shepherds'...get it? Er, OK, we'll get our coats. Also look out for Ade's daughter Ella playing later this weekend.

Here was here for the first Festival...


...and he's still here! If you find yourself in the Folknet Cafe over the weekend do say hi to this chap. His name is Andrew Kendon and as well as working in the Festival's internet cafe he also played in a band that were one of the first to play a note at the very first Festival. The band, the Cambridge Crofters weren't actually on the bill that year but as is the tradition with the Festival that doesn't stop bands from playing anyway!

The Wickerman!


The wickerman is back and yes you can see a glimmer of blue sky behind it! hoorah. It's only an hour and a half until the music gets going and the is an air of anticipation at the festival. It may be very muddy underfoot but it hasn't deterred the spirit of the festival goers!

...and yes, it's true that the Wickerman nearly came a cropper this year thanks to the Festival's Production Manager Andrew who drove one of the Festival buggies, how shall we say, a little too close to it...actually, no lets be honest, he clipped the side of it, making the poor man do a wicker wobble!

Nice weather for ducks!


Yes, it's official - the weather has gone mad officially mad. In the space of 15 minutes its gone from sun tan weather to hail stones to being wintery cold. As we type if we look to the left there is blue skies and if we look to the right ...er...there isn't! Still, the ducks in the Festival duck pond are happy enough.

Hail all folk lovers

Yes, it is officially hailing at the Festival! This video is taken of the main stage from the Media Liaison caravan just a short while ago. Now the sun seems to be breaking through the dark clouds again and we are all wondering how many rainbows we are going to see this year...

Festival welcomes first customers


At 12 noon exactly the Festival opened the arena for the first customers to come in. Weather wise, it's a bit of a mixed bag. Frankly, we don't know whether to wear T shirts, coats, or even diving gear for the odd downpour. Hrumph! It's not putting off the Festival-goers though who are pitching tents with gusto and already checking the shops and...yes, the bars!

It's Folk Festival time!!!

The day is finally here - it's Day 1 of The Co-operative Cambridge Folk Festival! It's just after 9am and so far the weather is looking OK here in Cambridge. A bit cloudy but we are keeping our fingers crossed.

Check back thoughout the day for exclusive news and pics from Day 1 of the Festival.

Wednesday 29 July 2009

One day to go!


So, here we are on site...and yes, it's raining (boooooo!). This picture was taken was at approx 4pm this afternoon (Weds), and you can see we have a stage...which is always useful. The main arena opens at midday tomorrow and you will be able to hear the first of 5 podcasts in the morning so do check back to the site then. If you are on your way to the Festival then we will see you soon.

Dont forget to join the hundreds of people who have already sign up to the Radio 2 text club as something rather special will be happening over the weekend - see here for details: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/cambridgefolkfestival/2009/text-club/

Tuesday 28 July 2009

Only 2 days to go!

With only 2 days to go until the Festival,the weather has been sunny for most of the day so far so fingers crossed it will be sunny for the festival! Nigel Cutting, The Head of Cambridge City Council's Arts and Entertaiments has a few words to say on how it is going and what he is looking forward to at the Festival.

Monday 27 July 2009

Somewhere over the rainbow...


It's a little bit wet in Cambridge today, but we're hopeful the weather will brighten up in time for the weekend (the five-day forecast is looking OK at the moment - fingers crossed it stay that way!)

Everything's a bit frantic here. We're all involved in last minute preparations for the Festival, writing lists upon lists and having meeting after meeting, to make sure this year is as great as the last 44! We just can't wait for it all to kick off, it's so exciting.

Why don't you comment below and let us know what you're most looking forward to at this year's folk Fest...?

Wednesday 22 July 2009

The grass is always greener...


Yes folks, this is what Cherry Hinton Hall looked like just a few days ago. The team are now busily working to get the site ready for the festival which starts in only 8 days time! Hope you are all looking forward to it.

Friday 17 July 2009

2 weeks to go...and BBC Radio 2 new text club being launch soon

Yes folk, just 2 weeks to go til The Co-operative Cambridge Folk Festival. Excited? We certainly are!

Our good friends at BBC Radio 2 will shortly be launching a special Cambridge Folk Festival Text Club which will be used across the weekend. If you have a ticket for the Festival we would suggest that you sign up (details to follow soon)...as you may miss out on some rather exciting announcements if you don't!

Oooooh, mysterious!!! More info soon.

Monday 6 July 2009

4 weeks to go!

It's not long now until The Co-operative Cambridge Folk Festival! As the folk festival team are busy preparing for the end of the month, we are looking forward to some of the highlights of the festival including the fantastic MOJO interviews. This year, not only will they be interviewing the Waterson Family, but they will also be interviewing Topic Records who have just won the MOJO Roots Award.

Not long to go now...