The Waifs, Peatbog Faeries, Billy Bragg, Levellers

You are, of course, supposed to wash your hands before putting contact lenses in, but I have the distinct impression that a trip to the facilities at Coldham Common would leave you rather less sanitary than before.

More to the point, last night started off with Australians The Waifs, two girls and a guy playing blues-ish music, who were decent enough. Next were the Peatbog Faeries, a band I've wanted to see for several years here but have never quite caught before. Wearing kilts, they came out on stage for an entertaining set of folk slightly heavier than the norm.
They couldn't hold a candle to Billy Bragg, though. "No one ever accused me of being slick." Exploding on to the stage, accompanied by no one but himself, he proceeded to rage against the machine (and the Daily Mail), blasting third world debt, commemorating the miner's strike, calling upon the audience to make a difference. He was one part singer, one part orator, one part stand-up comic: commenting on how the increasing numbers of young people at his shows see him. "Some old guy is singing about Communism. WTF?" For an encore he was joined by folk giants Chris Wood and Martin Carthy. Rounding off the evening we had Levellers (who I must resist calling the Levellers), who straddled an uneasy boundary between rock and folk. I mean, they couldn't be a rock band, because they have a fiddle and mandolin. But then they couldn't be a folk band, what with a pogo-ing, dreadlocked bassist who wouldn't look out of place in Slipknot. But then, folk isn't a sound, it's an attitude, and they had it in spades.