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Cambridge ’09
T
he hats aren’t so good this
year. Green elfin hats, that’s
what this festival lacks. And
where are the pointy witches
jobs? And angel wings? What’s
up, does nobody wear angel wings at
Cambridge any more? Now it’s all flowery
designer boots, sensible cagoules and
Another year, another festival field full of blankets and
bulging hampers. That’s the trouble with
folkies… they have no fashion sense.
garden furniture! This time round it was a triumph for
Still, in these troubled times it’s reas-
suring that some of the sacred old Cam-
the home team but a ‘could do much better’ for the
bridge traditions go on. Ye olde blanket
wars are at full tilt all weekend as those
who prefer their festival experience in
Americans. Words: Colin Irwin. Photos: Judith Burrows
lounging mode absorbing the ambience
are berated by those urgently trying to
get to the front so they don’t miss a sin-
gle enthralling bon mot from Beth
Nielsen Chapman. This inevitably leads to
the annual calls for big screens, more
stages and a larger venue. No, says Cam-
bridge organiser Eddie Barcan, they’re
not cramming in more people than
before, it’s just that people take up more
room now. You know, what with bringing
most of their garden furniture, the con-
tents of their local library and a mobile
cafe with them and all…
“Cherry Hinton is integral to the festi-
val and we won’t be moving,” says Eddie
later. “The question is how to make Cher-
ry Hinton more comfortable for people.
Feedback is useful and the festival is
always evolving so we’re looking at what
improvements we can make. But I
thought it was great this year – there was
a wonderful relaxed atmosphere and a lot
of amazing music.”
After a troubled year in which Cam-
bridge City Council had to swallow a
£600,000+ debt on the previous year’s
event, after the online booking company
selling tickets went bust, the last thing the
festival needed was a monsoon. But on
Saturday evening, somewhere between
BNC (as us groovy ones refer to Beth
Nielsen Chapman) and Booker T (hey, that
Soul Limbo thing is just like the Test Match
Special theme – he must like cricket!), the
downpour arrived and the astonishing
Treacherous Orchestra took on a new rele-
vance as we skated around the place risk-
ing either drowning in mud or death by
umbrella. Barcan goes all gooey when I
mention the Treacherous Orchestra, the
huge new young Glasgow-based outfit
who took the festival by storm with their
closing sets on Saturday and Sunday
nights. “That was a Martyn Bennett
moment for me,” says Barcan, recalling
the late Scottish piper/ fiddle player’s leg-
endary hardcore set of 1998. “Putting
someone completely unknown late at
night who don’t even have a record out
and watch the audience go crazy for
them… Cambridge gives you the freedom
to take a gamble like that.”
Cambridge has certainly never worried
about ridiculous definitions and has a
proud history of broadening our horizons.
It’s just that those earmarked for the job
this year didn’t really deliver. OK Eddie, I’m
talking about the Zutons. I was one of the
few who remained to watch the entire
Zutons’ set, but was still left wondering…
why? “It was unfortunate,” he says careful-
ly, “that they didn’t play a slightly different
set – other sets they’ve done have included
acoustic elements. This was the second year
running they’d put themselves forward for
the festival and they seemed to show a real
understanding of it in advance. I accept it
wasn’t as popular as I’d hoped but there
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