The festival opened with a short acoustic set by Fairport Convention. My favorite song was a parody of Steeleye Span’s a cappella hit Gaudete, which they called Crudité.

I’ve been a fan of Gryphon since they were active in the 1970s. They reformed in 2009 after a break of forty years. They play a mixture of medieval and modern instruments, with a distinctive crumhorn, recorder, and (electric) harpsichord sound. Favorite song: Kemp’s Jig. Will Kemp was a clown, who played the comic roles in many of Shakespeare’s when they were first performed. On a bet he danced a jig all the way from London to Norwich. (Why Norwich?) It took him nine days, and he wrote a book about it called The Nine Days Wonder, a term that you still see used sometimes for something that is briefly successful, though it has been largely replaced by, “Fifteen minutes of fame”. Anyhow, that was the tune that he is said to have danced to.

Coco and the Butterfields paly a fusion of folk, pop and hip hop, with fiddle and beatbox heavily featured. favorite song: The one where Dulcima was playing the fiddle so energetically she smashed the bow against the corner of the soundbox and broke off a large chunk of wood. She played the rest of the gig with a seriously damaged fiddle.

Hayseed Dixie, a bluegrass band that covers music from other genres, from Black Sabbath to Mozart. Having established early on that the only songs worth singing are about drinking, cheating, killing, and loving (or something like that), the bass player says he wants to play one of those, “Sweet, beautiful, killing songs.” They tell us they are going to play the best killing song ever. “You may not agree, and you’re entitled to your opinion, but you’re wrong.” They they launch into a bluegrass version of Bohemian Rhapsody. You know what? That is the best killing song ever.

Madness closed the night. They look like a bunch of toughs in suits who would be at home in a London pub planning a bank heist. They have been popular in the UK since the 1980s, but have only had one hit in America, Our House. There was a serious brass section (the original heavy metal) and a thumping rhythm. Favorite song: House of Fun.

This is how jugglers report on festivals:
High: Crudité and Bohemian Rhapsody
Low: Long lines for the food stalls, apart from the Ostrich Burgers
Crush: Dulcima, because she was the only woman performing 🙁
Goal: Get our folding chairs close to the front again today
Bane: The English climate.