The year Jools Holland played it was packed on the Thursday but noticeably quieter Friday and Saturday, which suggest people paid in full just to see him. I hate it when the field is so packed you can't move, so quieter the better for me.
We made the disastrous decision to just do the fringes this year. What a failure. It was like licking the sweet shop window and not being allowed in (especially when we were turned away from field 8!). Having said that, I do think the festival is now becoming just another festival and moving away from the Fairport celebration it was meant to be. They compete with far more events throughout the summer than 25 years ago, certainly I don't remember so many festivals going on. If you want to win customers you need the big names, or crowd pleasers...I suggest Kaiser Chiefs, or Simple Minds would do it (for those who want Percy, he is old hat as well these days, the youngsters don't know him...Brian Wislon drew a blank with some of my younger friends)!
He went down well at Bearded the other week, with peeps of all ages as far as I could tell. As did Jimmy Cliff btw, the young 'uns by me were singing along with the crowd-pleasing hits as were the old farts. Ditto the Monkees and Beatles tributes I have seen in recent years.
I think some of these young blighters know a lot more music than we often give them credit for. Video games and films feature all sorts for instance.
I'd be happy with Simple Minds though, haven't seen them since 1984.
