Cambridge Folk Festival 2009
Thursday 30th July to Sunday 2nd August 2009Cherry Hinton Hall Grounds, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, CB1 8DW, England MAP
£104 for full weekend
Cambridge has a very full programme of workshops for budding musicians as well as activities to keep the kids occupied in the morning while groggy parents blow off the cobwebs. We didn't quite make it to the fiddle or juggling workshops, but did arrive in time for the opening of Stage 1 at midday. A small crowd had already assembled behind the crush barriers at the marquee's entrance and they listened attentively to the safety announcement. The barriers are removed and the crowd rush forward as if at the first day of Harrods' sale to claim territorial rights to their favourite position. A Cambridge tradition apparently.
Buffy Sainte-Marie takes us across the Atlantic to the sounds of the North American plains with her first native backing singers and possibly the festival's first mouthbow performance. Her solo encore of the 45 year old anti-war song 'Universal Soldier' was a moving reminder that the world still has a lot to learn about pointless military conflicts.
The Zutons are an interesting choice for a folk festival, even one as eclectic as Cambridge and a few eyebrows were raised when the booking was announced. The background of a £618,000 loss from last year's festival due to the collapse of the ticketing agency may have influenced the organisers to book a bankable act to ensure ticket sales this year. Whatever the reasons, the indie popsters from Liverpool make no concessions to the hard core folkies and run through their set of hits in a rocking style. There's not much musicianship in the class of some of this afternoon's earlier acts, but that's not really what The Zutons are about.
review by: Douglas Coulter
photos by: Douglas Coulter
Latest Updates
Cambridge Folk Festival 2025
festival details
festival details
last updated: Tue 30th Jul 2024
Cambridge Folk Festival 2024
line-ups & rumours
line-ups & rumours
last updated: Mon 1st Jul 2024
Cambridge Folk Festival 2024
festival details
festival details
last updated: Mon 1st Jul 2024
Cambridge Folk Festival
festival home page
festival home page
last updated: Thu 14th Sep 2023
Cambridge Folk Festival 2023
line-ups & rumours
line-ups & rumours
last updated: Wed 19th Jul 2023