I've just got back from the FOAOTMAD Old Time Summer Camp at Peterborough after being at Sidmouth for a week, so i've just seen the comments for the first time. I'm astonished that no-one has said very much about the Incredible String Band concert. It was the worst concert I've seen for years. Robin Williamson was, as usual, excellent at everything he did, and if he'd been performing alone it would have been superb. Everyone else on stage was a total waste of valuable time that would have been better spent by me in the right hand (old time) bar of the Bedford. Mike Heron and Clive Palmer were like very average folk club floor spots, while Robin Williamson's wife Rose couldn't hold a note to save her life! Her mike was given a loud part of the mix and she destroyed the harmonies with dreadful off key "singing" that caused a large percentage of the audience to get up and leave well before the end. Very few of the songs were from the early ISB LPs that many of the audience including me and my friends had clearly gone to see and hear. It was a poorly prepared shoddy rip-off.

Lonnie Donegan's concert was very professional, with well prepared new versions of his old recorded songs. I preferred the first half which mostly had the old Leadbelly and Old Time songs that made his Skiffle music such a hit, but even his terrible chewing gum and dustman songs were well performed. Rock Island Line was about as far over the top as its possible to go. His voice is still as it was 40 years ago, and his stage presence and energy are superb for a man in his seventies. I am slightly biased in his favour because the following day he came and had a chat while I was playing banjo in the Bedford bar - a lovely friendly amusing guy. Made my day.

Cheers
Ray