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Even though I slept well, by 10am, the heat was making the smallest of physical exertions a chore. Two hours later, having hardly moved, I was drifting in and out of sleep again, the neighbouring tents also unusually quiet for the first day. In the early afternoon, Gil and I had a bottle of IPA for lunch as we discussed the day’s acts and that seemed to give me the boost I needed. With no interviews scheduled for me today, I could relax and take in the music and vibes and around 2.30pm, I set off for my car to pick up the camping chairs. The field is open but not busy. No doubt this is the combination of the older-every-year age of the festival goers and the heat but it means there is no problem plonking the chairs down at our favourite spot near the bar. That done, it’s time to head backstage for One Fell Swoop’s welcome drink.

Old faces, a few new ones, the introductions and chat between us is good. Over the last decade or so the mainstream media, due to the advent of the social media, have closed ranks. Photographers, journalists, radio presenters et al are all suffering the same effects so there is a coming together now rather than being in competition with each other. Catching up, we quaff a couple of glasses of wine each, most of us opting for ice in it, wishfully thinking, it will help cool us down a bit. Of course, it doesn’t.

 

I stop by the merchandise tent to buy T-shirts before settling down for the traditional opening; Gil gets the beers in, two pints of Hooky Best Bitter, just before Fairport Acoustic take stage. At this point, I overheard a lady nearby say an app on her phone was registering it was 37C; I must admit, it was sweltering. The 50+ suncream I apply just makes a sticky mess on my arms but I discover the T-shirts I just purchased make a good sun shade for my legs. 

 

Across the stage, Ric, Simon, Dave, Peggy and Chris start the ball rolling right on 4pm. Fairport Acoustic's twenty minutes set is always a joy and this year they opt for three traditional songs along with their ‘Questions would be asked in parliament if we didn’t do it’ opener. ‘The Festival Bell’, ‘Banks of the Sweet Primroses’, ‘The Happy Man’ and ‘Traveling by Steam’ are lovingly performed to everyone’s delight; Simon mentions that despite many opting out of the opening due to the heat, it’s nice to see so many people in the field and thanks us for coming. As if on cue, a breeze sweeps the field. Two minutes later, normal service, Dante’s Inferno as Gil puts it, has resumed.

 

Banter can whip up a storm (some of us were wishing they literally could) on a stage but they start slowly, introducing the band one-by-one. Bass-drum, piano, violin, accordion all eventually combine into something quite overwhelming. Then, with a bang, something kicks into gear and the party is in full swing by the second song. There’s a risqué joke when a song about incest is introduced and dedicated to ‘any brothers and sisters in the audience’. This rapidly filling field of music lovers are not easily offended though and it is laughed off. A curious inclusion of The Police’s ‘Roxanne’ works well as does a foot-tapping version of ‘Black Jack Davey’. Job done, the audience is (a-hem) warmed up, Cropredy 2026 is off to a great start.

 

Speaking of The Police, Andy Summers’ ex-band, Soft Machine are up next. The Psychedelic/Prog/Jazz Rockers are a behemoth in all of those categories and it seems today they want to label the point. Open Road is their latest album released a few months ago and they begin with the title track from that album, following it with John Etheridge breaking a string and an improvised bass piece – there’s Classic Rock for you! Next is the opening track of the aforementioned album, ‘Lemon Poem Song’. Both tracks are pleasant with just enough of the unsettling moments to hold the now-filled field’s interest before Ric Sanders – ex-Soft Machine of course – joins them onstage for ‘Turmoil’. This was quite something although exactly what I couldn’t say but everyone was having a good time both on and off the stage so what the hell. The set ended with an audio assault of not only a medley of their incredible music but some of the loudest we’ve ever heard at Cropredy. Fantastic stuff.

 

By now I was not in a good condition. My best efforts to ward off the sun had failed and even though it was now gone 7pm, the heat was relentless. Feeling somewhat weak, I headed back to the tent for a brisk lie down. This coincided with comedian Matt Bragg taking the stage but as the glamping area has rather remarkable acoustics, I could listen to what was happening even if not observe it. Matt’s a modern comic and his material is good but it didn’t fare well with a large part of the audience, particularly those who prefer their comedy pre-Ben Elton. On a cooler day in a different time slot, he may have gone down better but not today. He’s a trooper though and a heckler wasn’t going to put him off; he certainly won that battle.

 

There was a very warm welcome return to Cropredy for Turin Brakes who were last here in 2022 and there was also a very cool welcome return to normality for me. The field was treated to one of those magic English sunsets around 8pm, the same time as Turin Brakes bounced onto the stage like a pack of soppy dogs greeting their owners. Beaming with delight from beginning to end, it’s clear this is one of their favourite gigs and had chosen their set accordingly. ‘Future Boy’ was so beautifully performed that people at the bar stopped talking to each other and turned towards the stage. Of course, their parting shot was ‘Pain Killer (Summer Rain)’, very apt but also, not given that we were standing in a field that hadn’t seen rain for three weeks. Nevertheless, it put jovial smiles on people’s faces.

 

Cropredy has a habit of finding bands with unusual instrumentation: step-up tonight’s headliners, Le Vent De Nord, Quebec’s multi-award-winning combo. A hurdy-gurdy, an Irish bouzouki, accordions and plenty of podorythmie are used along with five voices and more traditional instruments to create what is called, Québécois music. It’s infectious to say the least and it doesn’t matter if you can’t understand French, it’s all in the rhythm. Once that is going, all the singing and playing layer to complement each other, combining into a feast of Folk music, the harmonies are chocolate flakes on the gâteau. Le Vent De Nord were called back at the end of the set for a well-deserved encore, after which, the sun-kissed audience headed to their beds.

 

Bonne nuit!