Monday 4 June 2018

Sounds Of The Strawberry

We're back to Strawberry Fair today, after our brief excursion to the agricultural show(!), to show you some of the bands playing there. Most of them usually make their music in the pubs and clubs in and around Cambridge. 


 Alter The Sky
....are a Cambridge hard rock band with a dynamic stage presence. There used to be a time when AC/DC's Angus Young was the only guitarist in the world who wore shorts!



Cambridge Groove Orchestra
In the Hatter's Cafe the Cambridge Groove orchestra were playing swing and jazz and getting a few people up to dance, no mean feat for a midday session.



Jack
On the Flying Pig Stage (the Flying Pig is a Cambridge pub that is known as a music venue) were a band with the simple name of "Jack" playing rock and blues. Very good guitarist.



Paul McCaffrey
I always used to enjoy the Cambuskers Festival in streets of Cambridge, but now it's part of Strawberry Fair with a small stage and artists doing twenty minute slots. There's also a tendency these days for a high percentage of street musicians being acoustic guitarists, very few being as accomplished musicians as Paul McCaffrey.



The Scissors
They describe themselves as a "indie psych garage freakbeat band" and if you don't understand any of those terms you probably won't like them much, but they are one of Cambridge's best live bands.



Big 10
With a dedicated band of enthusiastic fans, who filled the big marquee to capacity, Big 10 play covers of ska and two-tone. And if such music is not known beyond the shores of Great Britain then think an energetic, fast, insistent reggae kind of beat with a brass section and three big men taking themselves not-too-seriously on vocals.



Alutepena Hughes-John, also known as just Pena
Back to the buskers' stage where Pena was entertaining with her quirky songs and astonishing vocal exploits.



For The Hornets
And, talking of "astonishing", For The Hornets were belting it out on the Rebel Arts Stage.



The Garden Birds
Cool music for a warm afternoon was provided by the Garden Birds.



The SGs
The SGs are a laid back reggae band from the Stevenage area and are highly recommended by my brother who goes to see them at the Green Man!



Max Bianco & The Bluehearts
Excellent singer-songwriter Max Bianco and his band on the Flying Pig stage. I saw several other acts too but either forgot their names or got some lousy photos. And there were many, many more besides that I didn't manage to see and hear, Oh, and the man below was doing some of the introductions!



Take care.



10 comments:

  1. You sat through all of this? Hmmm.....

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  2. Dell Boy!Sounds like a wild time, John--I would have enjoyed this.

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  3. I enjoyed looking through them. I would like to have been there. Thank you.

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  4. There’s always an interesting event for you to take in, John. This one looks to have been a musical delight.

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  5. Wow - that's a musical extravaganza for sure. Thank you for your descriptive comments John - as you correctly assumed, some of those phrases are not familiar to some of us outside the UK :-)

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  6. That sounds like a good festival to go to

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  7. I wish we had a 'Strawberry Fair' such as the one you have obviously enjoyed John! A delightful colourful fair and what sounds like a varied selection of musical talent!
    Thank you for sharing.

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  8. There's something for every taste in music there. Amazing to think Angus Young is the only remaining member of the original ACDC. I would have enjoyed seeing you up and groovin' John 😊

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  9. Cheers for mentioning The Scissors! Nice overview of the day :)

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