JUDY COLLINS AT CAMBRIDGE FOLK FESTIVAL

William Prince - image: Joey Senft

The final day of the Folk Festival brought an unwelcome guest. Rain. What had been a delightful summer party in the park rapidly turned into a soggy squib. It was time for the plastic capes and the colourful umbrellas on sale in the festival market were selling like hot cakes (also doing well). Happily the gloomy skies and dripping tents were more than compensated for by the quality of the music and the unquenchable appetite for fun by the thousands of folkies there.

My afternoon began with an eye and ear opening delight. I hadn’t come across William Prince before but his one-hour opening set was sheer pleasure. The singer-songwriter hails from Canada where he is of the First Nation. Little of that comes through in his maple-sweet songs tinged with a pinch of bitter herbs. They are highly personal about his loves, lost and found, his positive take on life and the joy of being a parent – ‘there is no expiry date on love’ he said. His voice is rich and mellow – deep bass ranging up to high baritone. He talks to the audience as a friend and his warmth, humanity and talent shone through whatever grey clouds the jet stream could throw at us. His lyrics are suffused with positive thoughts: ‘you can’t put a price on love’ and ‘time will be the only thing we need’. There was a touching tribute to Elvis and a song about how he met his lifelong love in South Alberta. This was simple but heartfelt and the his solo guitar gave the whole set a rare touch of warm intimacy. I loved every minute and the hour flew by. Bring him back!

Next up was the band Oi Va Voi. They could not have been more different from the princely William. Loud, incoherent, never engaging with the audience apart from the odd lame ‘Everyone get clapping’. We heard no stories about their choice of song and though supposedly famed for the klezmer, we got little of that. There is no doubting their superb musicianship but I came away feeling somewhat disappointed.

Judy Collins and her string quintet

My mood changed dramatically with the next act. Who else but Judy Collins, megastar, idol of the 1960s. She is now 84 and mostly sounds exactly as she did in 1967 with her first breakthrough album, Wildflower. The set was a selection of those songs including the iconic ‘Both Sides Now’. Her voice is remarkable; little sign of age and still sweet as a jar of manuka. There is no diminution in her range and the quality is that of someone decades younger. But singing was not the only thing. The set was like ‘An Audience with Judy Collins’. She told wonderful anecdotes about her life, her close friendship with Leonard Cohen some of whose songs appear on the album. She feigns forgetfulness but we knew this was an act. Her stage presence is matchless and she had the audience roaring with laughter at some of her memories and cheeky asides, ‘Let me tell you something about Leonard – we never did it!’ To see this legend of the 60s flower power generation back on stage, wowing the audience and singing so beautifully had the air of mystic transformation at least for this oldie. She was ably supported by a lovely string quartet and piano. It gave a really classy accompaniment to this top quality set.

Fisherman’s Friends

Next up on Stage 1 were the Fisherman’s Friends doing their usual shanty malarkey. As a chorus ensemble they sound great and there is lively banter between the ‘heave ho’s and ‘haul away me sailor boys’. To be honest I have never quite got their ‘folk legend’ fame as there are innumerable shanty bands equally good (don’t miss the annual Harwich Shanty Festival in October). But they are consummate crowd pleasers and excellent musicians who have helped put Cornwall back on the map.

Kiefer Sutherland and his band suddenly appeared and went straight into their first number. More rock and roll than folk, I find his songs pleasant but not especially memorable. He had the audience dancing in the rain though and it is always good to see a Hollywood star in action.

The problem reviewing this jam-packed festival is that you can’t see everything. Reliable sources said that Le Vent du Nord and Angelique Kidjo were outstanding and I heard great things about Baskery. Maybe next year The Critique will field an army of reviewers so everyone gets a hearing but even better – go for yourselves. It is a joyful and unique experience – Cambridge can be proud. Rain could not rain on this parade.

Kiefer Sutherland

Jim Butler, a local artist shows us his pen and ink drawing of Judy Collins drawn during her set. Photo: Mike Levy