Saul Folk and Boat Festival

The weather was not kind to Saul, but kinder than last year when the Festival had to be cancelled due to the site being flooded! During the downpours, everyone crammed in to the excellent beer tent, the Drum and Monkey, and listened to whoever was playing in there (usually a blues guitarist or a skiffle band).
Oysterband and Show of Hands were headlining - two of our favorite bands! The Oysterband have apparently been playing for 30 years now - how they still find that amazing creative energy in their performance and music I don't know! The sound was excellent at their gig and we did some pretty wild dancing up in the mosh pit. Our friends Ian and Janet, who were staying with us on the narrowboat (now in it's new moorings just opposite the festival site) also enjoyed the Oysterband, despite not being folkies.
Sadly they could not stay for Show of Hands - a lot of people decided to head off on Sunday because of the weather, but the main tent was still absolutely packed when Show of Hands appeared on stage. They must have brought a lot of their fans from the West Country with them! Steve and Phil were somewhat cheeky to do a medley of about 5 songs when they'd been told they could do one more - but the stage manager was out of order to shout at them during an instrumental. The crowd were going wild and we soon drowned him out with our singing!! I hope Steve and Phil were not too offended and come back again next year.
It was also a pleasure to see Mawkin again but not too sure about Mr Causley. He had a nice voice but seemed to have a bit of a huge ego - and made quite a few mistakes. Maybe we just caught him on an off day. Ruth Notman was on very good form, she has matured as an artist a great deal since I last saw her. Poor sound spoiled Kerr Fagan Harbron's performance which was a shame (we were sat at the back which didn't help) - I know how good they can be when the sound's good! Patrick enjoyed Kevin Brown, a chap from Lancashire who plays blues guitar and composes his own songs - the luxurious location of the Cromwell paddle-steamer's lounge seemed just the right place to listen to him somehow.
Very good festival and the rain didn't spoil it at all for us!