The Big Session Festival 2010

18th-20th June 2020

The annual folk-fest returns to Leicester’s De Montfort Hall and gardens...

Despite mixed weather and a Saturday marred by a depressingly awful performance by England in the World Cup, this year’s Big Session festival saw the usual plethora of folk artists, both established and rising, descend on Leicester’s DeMontfort Hall and gardens for another great weekend of laid-back tunes and folk-fuelled brilliance.

Now in its sixth year, Big Session’s reputation for attracting some of the biggest names on the folk scene is well earned, with this year’s bill seeing legends such as Kate Rusby, Dervish, Dreadzone, The Proclaimers and of course, festival regulars Oysterband. Couple this with low-case showcases for a variety of emerging artists, such as the amazing Jackie Oates and Nancy Elizabeth, as well as Orange Tree stage frequenters Alexia Chellun and Jess Morgan, and there really was something for everybody.

For those less musically inclined, a variety of food and souvenir stalls made for a great mooch, with wine tasting, real ale and plenty of grassy patches perfect for basking in the sunshine making it easy to while away the hours whilst listening to the melodic acoustics of some of the greatest roots artists the country has to offer.

The environmentally-conscious festival-goer was presented with a variety of recycling options, at what is a truly green festival, having received the Greener Festival Award Kite mark each year, with all recyclables collected by voluntary litter pickers for Complete Wasters (www.completewasters.co.uk).

We sent our reporters Rosanna, James and Craig along to check out the action over the weekend.

Coverage from Rosanna includes interviews with nu-folk quartet Pog and the amazingly talented Alexia Chellun, as well as a round up of some of the weekend's key performances.

Craig's coverage includes an interview with with singer-songwriter Jess Morgan, a review of Megson's perfomance and a reflection on the whole weekend

Thanks very much to Gail Cooke and the rest of the DMH press team.

By Rosanna Pound-Woods