Scaled down folk festival returns after a year out

A folk music festival has returned after a year's absence with a clutch of star names taking to the stage.

The Cambridge Folk Festival was cancelled in 2025 after making a £320,000 loss.

But a scaled-down version of the festival - put on over two days instead of four - was soon announced and tickets sold out in May.

Run by Cambridge City Council, about 4,000 people are expected to descend on Cherry Hinton Hall over the course of the weekend.

Among the line-up is American singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega, punk and folk guitarist Frank Turner and veteran songwriter Richard Thompson.

CBeebies musician Nick Cope opened the main stage and singer Melody Cole kicked off the festival at the Club Corner stage.

Other acts playing the festival include the return of folk singer and instrumentalist Seth Lakeman, singer-songwriter This is the Kit, singer Amelia Coburn and BBC Radio 2 presenter Mark Radcliffe's partnership with fellow musician David Boardman.

Radcliffe told the BBC: "It's so good to have it back and David and I are honoured to be taking to the stage on Sunday.

"Save us a couple of spiced ciders."

Also performing are Norwich folk duo Christina Alden and Alex Patterson, who are playing on Sunday, and Alden said the pair were "really happy to see it return".

"We've seen some of our favourite musicians from across the world play here, so it's really exciting," she said.

Singer-songwriter Lara Gisborne, from Cambridge, said it was a "real honour" to be playing the festival for the first time, having been invited to perform at Club Corner by the local songwriters who make up The Bridge group.

Cambridge Folk Festival began life in 1965 and in the past has hosted performances from international stars such as Van Morrison, Billy Bragg and Sinead O'Connor.

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