...in Burford this morning we did exactly the same!

Toots fab, Biscuits fab, Bangles fab, Love Trousers apparently ahead of their time.

Highlights for me yesterday though were the briliant Carbon/Silicon, despite the continual rain throughout their set. And as my wife remarked to me, isn't this the best Tony James has ever looked? Suited, booted & very dapper indeed. Also amused by the way Mr Jones has changed the "coke heads vs red tops in a cultural civil war" line in "War On Culture" to "Cavaliers v roundheads". Added plus: both me & my 13 year old can stand at the front & sing along merrily to all their tunes; this has to be a good thing.

Magisterially good also was Nick Lowe, especially "I Knew The Bride", "Indian Queens" & "I Live On A Battlefield". Oh, and the new (to me at least) very slow version of "Peace Love & Understanding".

He wasn't on for very long though was he? I could have easily taken twice as much, especially in the light of Paul Simon's "don't give a fuck" attitude. He sounded like he'd rather be anywhere else in the world but in an Oxfordshire field.

First time at Cornbury for me and very impressed. Nice size, nice people, good bill. Put me down for next year.

Also amused (although I shouldn't have been, the poor love) by 6Music's Gideon Coe arriving just as Half Man Half Biscuit finished, despite coming up only to see them.

Not a mistake made by David Cameron...

Combination of the weather and aggravating a dodgy ankle picked up at Glastonbury last week forced me home too. That said, most of the stuff I wanted to see was on day one (and mostly on the Word stage as well).

A few thoughts from my perspective:

The Love Trousers - surely destined for the main stage next year. If they can get a new bassist. And singer.

The Beat - really got the crowd going - I know it's not *really* The Beat, but still very convincing and jolly. Loved the sound of the Cornbury massive clapping and singing along to 'Stand Down Margaret' - somewhat nervously, I have to say.

HMHB - absolutely fantastic. Nice to see Tony Robinson is keeping busy on guitar now the Baldrick gig has dried up as well. Question - are HMHB the only band in the world who sound tighter live than they do on record?

The Bangles - remarkably well preserved and played all the hits. Not sure how well they engaged with the crowd who seemed reluctant to join in and half-hearted requests for an encore were ignored.

Eric Bibb - I kept away from Toots for this - and I'm glad I did. The man is a joy, a great guitarist and raconteur. Even managed only mild annoyance at the audience's inability to clap in time on either the on or the off beat. Set of the day for me.

Carbon/Silicon - Eric Bibb is a very smart man, but Tony James has come a long way since hic SSS days and was undoubtedly the most dapper man on display today. Anyway, cracking set, loud guitars and driving rhythms aplenty. First time I've seen Mick Jones since his Clash days and he's still got it, although - how do I put this - I detected a touch of campness that I don't recall 30 years ago?

Beverley Knight - caught a quick glimpse of her and thought she was doing alright actually, but then I didn't have Toots to compare her to. Not really my cup of tea, so back up to the Word stage for...

Nick Lowe - and so glad I did. Lovely man, great attitude, tidy band and smashing tunes. That would have done me, but there was the main act to consider...

Paul Simon - can't decide whether his set was brave or stupid. Brave, because there were no concessions to the festival crowd, he obviously played what he wanted to play, how he wanted. Stupid, because people were streaming away in droves after the first three numbers. Overall, I enjoyed his set - a sublime Sounds of Silence worth waiting for, and it was a bit more challenging (and interesting) than I expected. But I'll bet there were a lot of unhappy housewives in Oxfordshire last night.

Overall impressions - a nice, family-orientated festival with a very obvious (and narrow) demographic - it couldn't be more middle class if it tried. I don't mean that to be disparaging - that's probably my demographic too if I'm honest - but a week after Glastonbury I felt the need for something just a little bit *edgier*.

So - hope the hardier souls had a good day today - I'm missing it a touch but I only really wanted to see Joe Bonamassa and saw Crowded House last week anyway.

Will I go again? Probably - depends on the lineup and timing - I think I need more then three days between Glastonbury and the next festival!

Photos will be uploaded and viewable shortly - will edit with link when available.

Edit - photos at http://s251.photobucket.com/albums/gg313/BluePaul/Cornbury%202008/

Didn't go this year, as I thought the line up a bit uninspiring compared to previous years, especially given the big ticket price hike.

As for Paul Simon, I thought he was a very surprising headliner, and it sounds like I was right. Great as he has been in the past, he was never really going to get a festival crowd whooping and hollering, was he?

Did it sell out this year?

'Fraid we also legged it after endless downpour. So missed Joe Bonamassa and Tift Merritt who I was looking forward to, and KT Tunstall and Crowded House who I'd also like to have seen. Plus generally vibing about of course.

Highlights:
- Nick Lowe - fantastic - warmed me up after driving rain and wind
- The Beat - saw them years ago and that sound never fails to raise the spirits, esp. in the sunshine with small boy on shoulders
- The Bangles - great hits, too far away to see but clearly are doing this regularly as they played tight and well
- Eric Bibb sounded great even from the tent, having dry out/defrost session
- Dare I say meeting Fraser, Kate, Andrew, Rob, "Seventies" Mike and Jerry in the Word tent - plus rapid handshake from Mr. Ellen who was running about frantically. Cheers guys!
- Excellent beers in all bars - grub generally good, queues notwithstanding

Lows:
- Queuing for 30 minutes for a pie in driving rain and wind
- Imelda May - no more than an adequate pub rock singer with half adequate pub rock band - how did she get booked twice for a festival?
- Beverley Knight - probably in the wrong mood, but sheltered under a tree she sounded totally generic soul by numbers, though everyone seemed to like her
- Sound on the Riverside stage - drowned out by the Word stage (HMHB - sorry, in the minority clearly, but beyond general loveableness, didn't do it for me - I do like some sense of melody somewhere along the line) when I was there which was a shame as a bit of folkyness would have been splendid.
- Missed Love Trousers as a 150 yard queue had formed to get into the arena - why, as we all had wrist bands?
- Where were the promised rain ponchos? The Welfare tent suggested buying a Guardian to get a free one but I couldn't see the need for three copies of the Guardian somehow...

Oh, and Paul Simon was a big disappointment - no engagement with the audience, horrible enormous band of session players (as soon as you see a 5 string bass you know you're in trouble) - the best bits were where he sang and played his acoustic guitar. Funny that. I think he uplifted his show from concert halls for PS devotees and tried to graft it onto a festival, and it didn't work.

Overall a promising start, peak with Nick, dreadful weather took edge right off, home in time for mens' singles. TFFT.

Just to add my own halfpenny's worth, I'd like to thank the Word tent for providing somewhere to eat my paella out of the driving rain. It was also nice to meet Fraser and renew my subscription (now that you've got my fiver, maybe you can afford electric lights next year).

I'd stick up for Beverley Knight - not the sort of thing I'd normally shell out for but she was giving it her all and it takes something to keep up that level of positivity when it's pissing down.

Like the others, I wasn't impressed by Paul Simon's lack of engagement, but I don't think he ever has been particularly comfortable up front. I still think it was worth the wait, and I didn't think there was anything that unusual about the set - heavy on Graceland, but then, why not? And what's wrong with a bit of slap bass anyway? It's due a revival.

I thought the Bangles were OK but a little bit slack - it all felt a bit "Here and Now" tour. The unexpected highlights for me came from the Word stage (and I'm not just saying that to be nice). Eric Bibb was a very class act, and Carbon/Silicon deserved a bigger audience (again the rain's fault).

Will I return next year? There's a strong chance, although I'd appreciate it if you didn't clash with the final episode of Dr Who again.

Did the full two days before the mast. Will probably dry out on Friday!!

I also will stick up for Ms Knight. She gave her all to get the crowd going unlike PS who went through the motions, got his cheque and legged it. I thought One Nation under a groove was done very well(try getting the funk in wellingtons)
Agreed The Bangles were very, very good. Did a better job of Mrs Robinson than Mr Simon.

Today, Tom Baxter was very good. Good tight band and a sister who looked like she made the effort.
10cc did a good job of all their hits(You can't fail with Rubber Bullets!) but are they their own tribute band?
Salsa Celtica caught the mood perfectly and got us dancing in the rain. caught 15 mins of Tiff Merrit, top class.
Crowded House, you can;t help but like Mr Finn, gives you everything you want.

Food excellent, Potato Wedges with Chilli and salsa the best. No queues for the bars this year, great.

Hightlight? Crowded House set when some bloke near the front, when asked by a couple of people behind him, refused to lower his brolly because he said his wife would get wet and was given a crash course in festival etiquette and was left in no doubt where the brolly would be going if it wasn't lowered. Cheered up the sodden masses no end!!

Got to say i agree with most comments left. our first visit to Cornbury. impressed with the setup. everybody really friendly. it was never going to be cutting edge in the main (see previous comment) but was pretty happy with the lineup. we bottled out the second day because of the weather, but most acts we wanted to see played on the saturday anyway. really enjoyed the word stage (not just saying that!). The Beat got everyone going. came back to watch Carbon Silicon standing in really crappy weather, but they were on the button. then the highlight of the festival for us, Nick Lowe. he is a bit of a hero in our household. even more now that he dedicated one of his songs to my eleven year old daughter (i know, strange taste for one so young). that's the measure of the man. thanks to whoever it was who passed the request on as well. we got the impression that Nick was a bit pissed off at having to overlap with Paul Simon. not sure why he was worried as there was no comparison in performances.
depending on lineup we will be interested in nesxt year. i think we will probably leave it until the last minute to get tickets as i am getting to old to fight what was bloody awful weather on the Sunday. All in all had a good time.

All things considered, really glad I did. Highlights for me were Tift Merrit. Great set and great performer. She hung around in the rain after her set to talk to the rain soaked brits. She is a rising star (Isn't she tiny!) I got some great pictures of her.

I alo had a contract with my daughter who really wanted to "get down the front" to see KT Tunstil. It meant standing in the worst rain of the day for a couple of hours just to secure the spot and see the set. Job done there.

Bellowhead were great but I could only hold out for a few of their songs following the KT Tunstil rain.

The team in the word tent were really friendly and approachable. Mark seemed to be on call all the time and displayed the great social skills of making time for everybody. Clearly one of lifes great "connectors" he made sure that he involved my wife and daughter in the conversation too. It was just like being part of the podcast. He seems genuinely interested in people and what they have to say. He and my other half swapped storied about their experiences at the Wheely festival back in the early 70's.

Low points for me were the 4 hours to get there on Friday evening from Essex. Bloody M25 did its usual thing. Aside from the weather my main low point was going for a healthy easting option so grabbed a nice pice of corn on the cob for two quid. Bit into it and snapped a tooth off completely. Now I'm so rock n roll that I look like Shane Macgowan. If i decide not to keep the look, I'll be a couple of hundred quid worse off by the end of the week.

Finally got home at around 12:30 AM last night. Hot baths all round. We're all spending today trying to avoid what happend in doctor who before we watch it tonight.

Good festival. Ageing demographic. Great experience. Would consider going again but the cost of festivals is getting prohibitive. Will probably try a different one next year.

Martin

Why do festivals go on till 11pm on Sunday nights? Some of us have jobs to go to. I was gutted at having to leave Crowded House mid-set but desperately wanted to avoid car park queues and to get some shut-eye before getting up for work this morning.
Also, leave kids on shoulders alone. Children's tickets were extortionate this year so why shouldn't they get to gaze in wonder at KT Tunstall like the rest of us? Just crane your neck or use your big, adult body to push your way to the front! Finally, leave Beverley Knight alone too. I wasn't expecting to be impressed but she really made an effort to get a cold, wet crowd in the groove and enjoying themselves. Paul Simon could have a learned a thing or two from watching her set - although I expect his limo breezed in shortly before he went on stage (20 minutes late).

My review of Cornbury is here. Hope you enjoy it.

Right, first of all I need to say that the only reason we contemplated going to this festival at all was because Joe Bonamassa was playing. The rest of the line-up held little or no interest at all for us. I was lucky enough to win tickets so we gave the whole festival a chance.

I don't understand why some festivals continue to late Sunday when there isn't a bank holiday following it, yet have nothing on the Friday - doesn't make sense to me. We (mistakenly) only took our summer sleeping bags unfortunately, so a 3rd night couldn't be contemplated and we were desperate to get home to our own bed on Sunday night.

We watched the Bangles on the Saturday and thought they were quite good. Having actually little interest in the rest of Saturday's main stage line-up we spent most of the day either at the tent or wandering around the arena checking out the smaller stages. A big disappointment was the fairground music spoiling things.

Some Sunday morning sun to wake up to would have been nice but wasn't to be, never mind. We had breakfast and packed up the tent to take all our stuff back to the car. Unfortunately, due to the distances involved, this actually took a couple of hours. The arena being so far away too meant it wasn't a case of nipping over to watch a couple of bands and coming back again, it was such a trek it had to be planned for! We went over at about 3pm and watched Joe Bonamassa at 4 till 5pm. Shame 10cc were on afterwards as we wanted to see KT Tunstall as well really, but we didn't really fancy hanging about by then.

Having said all that, Joe B was fantastic and it made the festival worthwhile, but I'd be unlikely to go to Cornbury again unless I like more than one of the artists.

well hi to all on here from a blog virgin , never written one before so here we go
first of boy was it wet !!!! I was taking pictures for the press so had the luxuray of a press office to duck in and out of between acts but every time I entered the main stage pit the humour from all the "paying" public was inspiring (singing in the rain was heard on several occasions ) water poncho's were non existant even though as pointed out in other blogs they were announced as being available by the main stage .
the new "word stage" was a vast improvement no more smelly tent , and the acts were superb starting with the Beat , wonderful as per usual all the way through to Tift Merritt whom was my last act up there (it was just too wet to venture up ) the line up was inspired Carbon Silicon and Eric Bibb stand out Nick Lowe was how everthe high light for me,
the main stage was well lit (always the photographer ) and sound was good high lights discovering Joe Bonamassa's talents (stevieray vaughn could have a contender there) K T Tunstalls improvisational skills singing along to 10CC whilst trying to take pictures the bangels (same thing ).
the lows

being told fiveminutes before act time that paul Simon would not allow any photographers in the pit to snap him (stand behind the crowd at the mixing desk and you havetwo songs only PLEASE !!!
he was one of my top 10 artists to photograph before I die an icon I grew with who now has sunk low in my esteem . the fact that he was spotted sat in his dressing room 20 minutes after he was supposed to be on stage did nothing to enfuse my admiration of him .
other lows have to be the weather not nice for anyone or cameras !!!

anyway if you are interested ihave posted a selection of images on my website
www.concertphotography.co.uk

the link www.photoboxgallery.com/festivals willtake you directly to my storage area where you will find this years Cornbury images and previous years

hope this is ok now my cherry has gone so to speak