There's a lot of amazing local festivals, but my favourite by far is Cambridge Folk Festival.
I've been going for the past 4 years and it's always such an amazing atmosphere!
The first time I played there was during an open slot on the Milkmaid Stage when I was 15, and it was actually my first time playing my songs in front of an audience! The past couple of years I've had booked slots on the stage, and this year Sam and I were one of the Milkmaid showcases :D
 |  Heres a photo of the Milkmaid tent before it started filling with people later in the day! |
Our set was at 11:30pm on the first night of the festival, but we stayed for the whole weekend to watch everyone else play and there were some amazing acts!
Some of my favourites were: Frank Turner, Joan Baez, Rhiannon Giddens, Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino, Skinny Lister, Hattie Briggs, Passenger, Joan Armatrading, Anna Pancaldi, The Demon Barbers XL, and The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain.
I know there were lots of other amazing acts too, but unfortunately we couldn't see everyone - the only downside of festivals!
Some of my favourites were: Frank Turner, Joan Baez, Rhiannon Giddens, Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino, Skinny Lister, Hattie Briggs, Passenger, Joan Armatrading, Anna Pancaldi, The Demon Barbers XL, and The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain.
I know there were lots of other amazing acts too, but unfortunately we couldn't see everyone - the only downside of festivals!
The weather was beautiful :)
I decided to sign us up for an open slot in The Den, which is a lovely tent at the festival for more 'acoustic' acts, completely ignoring the fact that both of us were coming down with colds.
We only had time for 3 songs so we got through it and had lots of fun, but went straight back to our tent afterwards and made ourselves some lemsips! We were determined not to let it ruin our weekend.
There's always something so magical about CFF. I think it's the fact that everyone is there for the music, and that the standard of the music is always so incredible! Everyone's so polite to each other too, and it's such a happy place - especially when the weather's as nice as it was this year!
There's always lots of great options for food too which always helps :D
You can tell that so much work goes into this festival (something I also noticed with Secret Garden Party this year).
We only had time for 3 songs so we got through it and had lots of fun, but went straight back to our tent afterwards and made ourselves some lemsips! We were determined not to let it ruin our weekend.
There's always something so magical about CFF. I think it's the fact that everyone is there for the music, and that the standard of the music is always so incredible! Everyone's so polite to each other too, and it's such a happy place - especially when the weather's as nice as it was this year!
There's always lots of great options for food too which always helps :D
You can tell that so much work goes into this festival (something I also noticed with Secret Garden Party this year).
 Trying to decide who to see! |  |
I really enjoyed the mix of music at the festival this year - it really pushed some of the boundaries of 'folk' which I thought was great, and there were lots of unique bands and artists.
Rhiannon Giddens comes to mind straight away, because a lot of her lyrics were from traditional English folk songs but the music had a real rootsy, world music twist to it. Her band were playing a really interesting combination of instruments too!
Joan Baez and Joan Armatrading were amazing (as I knew they would be), and both managed to fill the main stage as soloists throughout lots of their songs. Passenger actually played his entire set with no band! There was a lovely moment in Joan Baez's set when she sang 'Imagine' by John Lennon and everyone in the audience sang along. The same thing happened with House of the Rising Sun. and it really showed the community spirit of the festival.
I also feel like I need to commend Passenger and The Ukulele Orchestra on their stage banter because it was hilarious!
You should definitely check out all the acts I've mentioned in this post :)
Rhiannon Giddens comes to mind straight away, because a lot of her lyrics were from traditional English folk songs but the music had a real rootsy, world music twist to it. Her band were playing a really interesting combination of instruments too!
Joan Baez and Joan Armatrading were amazing (as I knew they would be), and both managed to fill the main stage as soloists throughout lots of their songs. Passenger actually played his entire set with no band! There was a lovely moment in Joan Baez's set when she sang 'Imagine' by John Lennon and everyone in the audience sang along. The same thing happened with House of the Rising Sun. and it really showed the community spirit of the festival.
I also feel like I need to commend Passenger and The Ukulele Orchestra on their stage banter because it was hilarious!
You should definitely check out all the acts I've mentioned in this post :)
If you get the chance to go to Cambridge Folk Festival in the future I would really recommend it. It's always one of the highlights of my year, and I leave it with so much inspiration for my own music!
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