The first half of Prom #4, earlier in the day, was (apart from the exceptional Bella Hardy) a disastrous attempt to fuse folk music with more traditional Proms fare. It’s strong enough on it’s own merits and we don’t need an interminable mezzo-soprano piece to tell us different.
Things brightened up in the second half and by the evening Prom things were getting really good. Bella Hardy returned and was utterly charming. Martin Simpson’s songs were both sad and uplifting and his guitar playing has a quiet sort of genius.
Bellowhead had only 25 minutes but wrung every last drop of energy and theatre out of it. Things started off gently with a new song Fakenham Fair before getting progressively more rowdy until they finished with my personal favourite Frogs’ Legs and Dragon’s Teeth. We also got an unbroadcast encore of Prickle Eye Bush. I await the day they lay claim to that stage with their own show because they really look like they belong there.