Cornbury Music Festival 2010

Cornbury Music Festival, 3-4th July 2010.

Cornbury festival is a very English event described as a ‘dynamic summer festival disguised as a country fayre’ by the organisers or elsewhere as ‘Poshstock’. The event is very family focussed affair and true enough children ran underfoot throughout the weekend. The sun shone brightly for all of Saturday and most of Sunday allowing all performers full rein to ply their talents before a well-behaved and appreciative audience.

Appearing on the bill were:

David Gray
The Squeeze
Noisettes
Buddy Guy
Imelda May
Candi Staton
Dr John
New Forbidden
Staxs (featuring Kiki Dee & Louise Marshall)
Jackson Browne
The Feeling
Newton Faulkner
Reef
The Blockheads
DOHL Foundation
Kathryn Tickell
Fisherman's Friend
Raghu Dixit
Angus and Julia Stone
Lucinda Belle
Barbelith occasional Seth Lakeman.

Stand out performances where delivered by the immensely talented Buddy Guy, party hungry uncles of song The Squeeze, and massively underappreciated Blockheads (honestly these guys should have statues erected to them). Dr John seemed happy-go-lucky but rather somnambulic and Newton Faulkner never fails to be a firm favorite among the uncritical. Reef delivered a barnstorming rendition of competent yet uninspired rock 'n roll and allowed the teenage contingent a good chance to get excited.

The most memorable find of the festival was the traditional folk group Fisherman’s Friend. Sea shanties are particularly in vogue at the moment and they catered to the rapt audience’s whim. Their harmonies were solid as a capstan, onstage banter wonderfully hackneyed and trite (See A Mighty Wind), and their command of the material incomparable.

Special mention has to be made of the farmer’s market apparently it was smaller than last year however the quality of the produce made camping a gourmet experience.

Cornbury is a good little festival that one can easily take small children and old parents to and was thoroughly enjoyable. Toodle pip.