Cambridge A Victim Of Its Own Success

Organizers of Cambridge Folk Festival said the event was a victim of its own success after the local evening newspaper ran stories questioning what they would do to avoid last year’s ticket "fiasco."

The demand for the 10,000 three-day tickets has become so great that even the Fenland university city’s annual council-run event has fallen prey to those who try to buy in bulk and turn a quick profit on eBay.

To say the festival is a victim of its own success is a fair argument, and the logical one for the city officers to employ under the circumstances, as the annual gathering on the seemingly manicured lawns of Cherry Hinton Hall has become a firm favourite with the reviewers (and the readers) of the serious papers such as The Guardian, The Independent, The Daily Telegraph and The Times, apart from the weekly review and magazine sections.

While the Cambridge Evening News focused on the disappointed punters who’d queued for hours, apparently because there were insufficient box office staff to deal with the crowd, the city council staff insisted that everything is under control for this year.

The BBC Radio 2-sponsored event July 26-28, which has developed its own niche in the international folk calendar, has already announced Joan Baez, Nanci Griffith, The Waterboys, Steve Earle, Kate Rusby, Toots & The Maytals, Ricky Scaggs, and Toumani Diabate.