Friday's first night's action concentrated on the main site at Warwick School.

Catching the eye were The Maerlock, a quintet producing much variation, sometimes reflective, more often exhilarating, pacey, modern folk.

Young stars of the first night were Last Orders, full-time students in Leeds, capable of delivering a very mature performance.

Supporting her brother Joe, melodeon player, was Maz O'Connor from Barrow in Furness. Her voice will mature quickly for, as Joe insists, she seldom stops singing at home.

She has perfect pitch and is potentially a future Bella Hardy, one who continues to enhance the English tradition of folk singing.

Similarly working hard to maintain traditions and taking opportunity to put across their political feelings were PJ Wright and Dave Pegg, from the north east. Is it really 24 years since the winter of the miners' strikes?

Top of the bill Oysterband presented a solid wall of sound and brought a vibrant energy to the main stage – probably better suited to Glastonbury or Reading stages. We must hope for more folk and less rock when they return to the Warwick stage.

Flossie Malavialle from southern France closed the evening at the Bridge House Theatre in concert with the inimitable Keith Donnelly. After six years in Darlington, she has acquired a fine Geordie-type accent and doubled up well with her Geordie colleague.
Clive Peacock.

SATURDAY

After last year's torrential downpour, more extreme weather hit the Warwick Folk Festival this time around.

Soaring temperatures turned the main tented arena into a greenhouse and forced many a folk fan outside into the cooler and more relaxing grounds of Warwick School.

Despite the thousands of people enjoying a tremendous variety of folk acts, good organisation ensured it was easy to park your car, walk a very short distance, and enjoy music within ten minutes of arriving. Which other festival attracting 10,000-plus people could you say that about?

One of Saturday afternoon's top acts was the duo comprising Dave Pegg and PJ Wright. Pegg, veteran of Fairport Convention and Jethro Tull, has been touring for some time now with PJ Wright, formerly with the Steve Gibbons band.

Their mixture of original songs and covers was interspersed with anecdotes about life on the road and festival scene. They played a variety of stringed instruments, including a tribute to the ukelele which seems to be enjoying a revival. As the musicians mopped their brows, the temperature rose in the tent.

Add to that the enchanting Panic Circus skills tent, a Morris dancing exhibition and even the chance to paint a van, there was no shortage of entertainment for young and old. And I came away with a bright blue ukelele as well!
John Howes

SUNDAY

Roy Bailey and Tony Benn may be old men now but their stories and songs can still entertain and enthrall an audience.

The two old socialists got a standing ovation in the folk festival's marquee on Sunday after an hour of their show The Writing on the Wall.

Their history of dissent in words and song included human rights heroes such as Thomas Paine, Watt Tyler and the Greenham Common women.

Tony Benn, now 83, retired from Parliament in 2001 after over 50 years. He said at the time that he wanted to spend more time in politics, and here he could not resist a few digs at contemporary politicians despite claiming: "I don't want to be controversial".

His passion for human rights came through strongly as he talked about historical figures who had shown great courage fighting for their principles and ended up being executed.

The whole show was neatly divided into slots of about ten minutes, so after Tony Benn had related the history, Roy Bailey chipped in with a folk song.

Roy, 72, began his singing career in a skiffle band in 1958 and has since performed at clubs and festivals around the world. A retired academic, he is now an emeritus professor of Sheffield Hallam University.

In addition to the tragic stories of human rights battles there was plenty of humour. Tony Benn told how the pair first met in 1976. He had been invited to Burford to give a lecture on the Levellers soldiers who had been executed outside the very church where he was to speak.

When he arrived there, the vicar was outside scrubbing "Balls to Benn!" off the wall. He said the idea that there should be such a radical event in the town had horrified some of the locals.

As performers, Benn and Bailey are getting better with age. And people of all political persuasions can warm to them as grandads who are opposed to war and killing and worry about the kind of world their grandchildren will grow up in.
Peter Gawthorpe