The fifth annual Off The Tracks Spring Festival took place over the Bank Holiday weekend at the Park Farmhouse Hotel, Isley Walton. After a Friday night of cross-Channel musical entertainment from the Ockbrook Village French Session, Saturday kicked off with some emergency stage repairs, made necessary by the strong winds. As the crowd got stuck into the selection of 45 real ales, Cheshire four-piece Dulaman got festivities under way, mixing guitar, mandolin, fiddle and double bass on a selection of traditional tunes and their own songs. Fola, were up next, with Andy and Kate blending their Black Country and western Irish heritage to good effect. Saturday's bill also saw two storming sets from Seth Lakeman, performing solo on guitar and fiddle and a rip-roaring set from The Goondocks, offering danceable folk-funk with a very contemporary twist. Chumbawamba were on in acoustic format and turned in a set altogether more folky than their full-band incarnation. Although the ceaseless diet of left-wing politics can grate on some, they're to be commended for staying true to their beliefs and the crowd reaction certainly bore that out. Bringing the main stage to a close on Saturday were Osibisa, in some ways the grandfathers of world music, while Sonka Kristina (ex-Curved Air) and Mask enthralled the Big Barn with a live film installation concert. Sunday's bill included acoustic guitar virtuoso Stuart Ryan - added to the bill at short notice due to the illness of Eric Roche - as well as the rhythms of Kasai Masai, local word and roots outfit Prego, Caliko, 422 and - bringing the festival to a close - the Scottish whirls of Shooglenifty. *The Off The Tracks Summer Festival takes place at the same venue on 2nd - 4th September, when for the first time the 21st Century Silk Road Stage will bring together the finest in world music. Click on the gallery link to the right for photographs from the festival. | 
