It’s a cold, grey and windy weekend in August – it must be Farmer Phil’s festival! We didn’t buy tickets for the whole weekend this year because we are going to the Midland Gliding Club 75th anniversary dinner on Saturday night, so we would miss the highlight, which is the Bob Marley tribute band. We decided to go for the whole day on Friday, but this is the warm up day and most people don’t get there until Friday night.

We got to see the end of Alice Challiner, local artist who usually plays at the Bridges on a Monday, Nikki Rous and a young guy called Tom who was fantastic. We made a quick exit when the compere mistook us for the next act (what was he thinking?).

The main stage had Goayandi, a didgeridoo dance act from France, who were brilliant, but on too early in the afternoon. We switched back and forth between the stages but stupidly sat through the death obsessed band from Glastonbury before Never the Bride came on. What a voice the singer has! Finally, we had to wait 40 minutes while the Peatbog Faeries dealt with technical issues. I didn’t know if Celtic funk would work, but after the first number they had the place rocking. They wrong footed me a couple of times when I had to switch from jigging to swaying (not easy in wellies on a muddy field), so in the end I did what all the English do when Scottish or Irish music is played – jump up and down on the spot.

See photos of today.

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