FOLK BY THE OAK, Hatfield 19/7/26
It was our first time at Folk By The Oak in Hatfield on Sunday.
Beginning in 2008, they have had Waterboys, Nick Mulvey, Frank Turner & The Sleeping Souls, The Staves, Adrian Edmondson & The Bad Shepherds, Beth Orton, Levellers, Amy Macdonald, Billy Bragg, The Proclaimers and Drever, McCusker & Woomble on previous years.
We arrived while Sam Kelly & The Lost Boys were on the Main Stage but we headed straight to the Greedy Vegan to get something to eat, safe in the knowledge we'd be hearing a lot more of that violin vivace throughout the day. It was great to see that this was the only food truck with a queue but like most 100% plant based outlets, it's sadly never as good as the vegan options on offer at the eateries that mainly fund the killing of animals.
It was easy enough to get a table to sit down with our hot dog, loaded jackfruit fries and poke bowl, with a view of the ironically titled Rain Of Animals on the Acorn Stage, which became an additional 2nd stage in 2012 - a marquee, to offer some cover.
After a quick look around the stalls, activities and even a choir practice, not knowing the majority of names on the line up, we lay our blanket down a good distance away in a spacious area to the side of the main stage, yet a big family decided to almost attach their quilt to ours, from behind; dancing all over it to the equally annoying upbeat sounds of Talisk.
It was lovely to see people of all ages enjoying the music but there was plenty of space to spread out so, there was no need to make anyone feel uncomfortable. Talisk were also brilliant at what they did; dance music on folk instruments - but I'm rarely in the mood for it, let alone at 4pm. This did offer a healthy amount of time before Valtos' 8:30pm headline set of similar vibes on the Acorn Stage.
With an impressive set up, we could tell that the festival has been adding improvements over the years but the extra PA speakers on that side (as well as at the back) didn't seem necessary for the site footprint and amount of attendees, and it probably would have been better without.
Jessie Reid, over on the Acorn Stage, directly after that, was exactly what we were after. Accompanied by some perfectly subtle cello playing (a welcome change from the ferocious fiddles), Jessie played a varied set; changing styles as much as she changed guitar tunings - going from delicate ditties to difficult and impressive guitar work, reminiscent of Ben Howard and Newton Faulkner.
As the sun moved to eye level of the Main Stage, it became difficult to see Spell Songs but their material about how birds are like migrants, on a wonderful array of instruments, could be heard just fine.
Leaving early to get a good seat inside the Acorn canopy this time, Adriano Adewale's Rooted & Rising were an interesting collective but I'm not sure why their cellist, who was also expertly playing bass on her cello, sang lead vocal on a song. It may have been seen as endearing but didn't match the musicianship she had for her instrument.
Another interesting choice was the accordion player's narration about a tree, which sounded like that Tenacious D song, without the comedy or decent storyline.
Positive energy was in full force throughout the tent though.
We left in good time to walk back over to the main stage, and breathed a sigh of relief; hearing a no thrills solo/acoustic new [folk] song from Seasick Steve - announcing he had just played it for the first time. As he played a different guitar (or a bit of wood with 1 string on it) for every country blues number, we were also made aware that he was returning to the festival after last being there in 2021 for a post-COVID pilot event.
Another stand out song, away from his expected style, also happened to be a new one, titled "The Last Season of America" (which can be listened to now on streaming sites), and was all going so well until he invited a young girl onstage to sing a song to, which made some of the audience feel a bit awkward.
Hatfield was in the 10% of the UK that got a heatwave in recent weeks, which maybe everyone got too used to, as the typical temperature of an English summer evening led to Black Country, New Road having the smallest main stage crowd of the day at 9:20pm. The best and most interesting musicianship of the day; sharing vocals, swapping instruments and having many different movements within each song, maybe some of those who left during their set couldn't cope with any more high-level abstract concepts. With the open rules of being allowed to bring whatever you wanted to thevone day event (including food an alcahol), most seemed to have enough camping gear and supplies with them to last the year but still ended up leaving early as the bordem set in with the cold, rather than the warmth of feeling intellectually challenged.
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