FESTIVAL DIARY - FRIDAY
Fresh from their earlier workshop and dressed all in white, Swåp are second on the main stage. Their dynamic and dramatic instrumental sets are as good as ever, and you don't have to understand Swedish to know that Carina Normansson's vocals are packed with personality.
The backstage area is a flurry of recognisable folkies, including Richard Thompson and rising group Uiscedwr, winners of the 2002 BBC Young Folk Award. They're getting ready to go busking, but have found time for a chat with Mike Harding about their newly-released second album, 'Circle'. Asked about the Cambridge showcase they played as part of their YFA prize, singer and violinist Anna Esslemont tells Mike: 'just to get to come to this sort of festival was fantastic, and playing was such a leg up.'
The fledgling stages of Richard Thompson's career are a considerably more distant memory - he's telling Nick Barraclough that surprisingly little has changed since he first played Cambridge in 1973 - and he shares a laugh about how it feels to be known to some younger music fans merely as 'Teddy Thompson's dad.'
Back on the main stage, North Carolina's Tift Merritt is next up. Accompanied simply by a very fluent young English guitarist, her soulful roots-rock songs are an instant hit with the ever-deepening audience, who seem transfixed by her sassy presence. Well-aimed quips like 'What's a woman got to do to get a rise out of you people?' break any trances and only endear her even further to the Cambridge crowd. Even the excessive heat does nothing to temper her energetic performance, and by the chorus of 'Wait It Out' she's got us all a-whooping and a-hollering.
Someone who knows all about the rising humidity is Seth Lakeman; the poor chap has just spent two hours stuck in a car on the M25, causing him to arrive just 10 minutes after the end of Tift's set. The crowd can barely contain their excitement and he's whisked onstage to explosive applause, launching into an intense 'Take No Rogues'. A bow-shredding performance of 'Kitty Jay' raises the bar yet higher, and the crowd are in raptures.
Radio 2 presenter Matthew Wright is one of many packed into the backstage area to enjoy the Mercury-nominated young man - but Seth's show is by no means the only thing going on at the moment. Out in the crowd, Gary and Lee - aka Ticklish Allsorts - are entertaining youngsters with their friendly puppets. 10-year-old Megan and 6-year-old Danielle from Rotherham are here as a surprise treat for Megan's brithday. What does she like most about the festival? 'All the music!' Of course!
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