THIS BANK HOLIDAY ! One of The Guardian’s Top 10 quirky festivals of 2012

Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day? As Shakespeare is heard around the world to mark his 448th birthday and Sunday headliner Cara Dillon releases her recording of that same sonnet the weather may not be totally in tune! But Bristol Folk Festival is gearing up for a guaranteed warm, dry, mud, brolley and welly-free event (and cosy indoor camping!) as it goes “undercover” this May Bank Holiday.

It made a triumphant return last year after a gap of more than three decades – a complete leap of faith. Now Bristol Folk Festival (patron Seth Lakeman) is back for a second year with a stellar line up of award-winning musicians and rising stars heading to three stages at one of the city’s most prominent venues, the revamped Colston Hall.

Flying the flag in the year of the London Olympics and Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, artists from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales are all represented over three days and nearly 40 hours of non-stop music on the main stage, the Fred Wedlock Stage and - offering a platform to local and new talent - the Isambard’s Kingdom stage.

In their first appearance since their amazing fourth sell-out at the Royal Albert Hall, Show of Hands (Steve Knightley and Phil Beer) celebrate their 20th year of existence as one of British folk’s most popular ever acts, together with their “fifth Beatle” – Miranda Sykes!

Show of Hands headline the opening day with their special guests –award-winning Scottish singer songwriter Karine Polwart and Rodney (I play two guitars at once!) Branigan – while across at Bristol’s O2 Academy red dreadlocked Newton Faulkner performs a sold-out show as part of the festival.

Sunday will be like another St Patrick’s Day with Irish eyes smiling everywhere as captivating Derry songstress Cara Dillon enthrals the main stage audience, along with her special guests who are all luminaries on the Celtic music scene- exceptionally talented flute legend Michael McGoldrick (left), together with Donal Lunny and Máirtín O'Connor.* An mp3 of Cara’s beautiful take on Shall I Compare Thee to a Sunday’s Day which came out on Shakespeare The Sonnets CD on St George’s Day (contemporary music played on Elizabethan instruments) is attached.

On Bank Holiday Monday the Celtic theme continues but this time fused with the spice and dominant rhythms of Africa as the Afro Celt Sound System make what is due to be their only summer festival appearance  this year to ensure the event’s flamboyant finale.

The enviable line-up also includes the winner of the 2012 Horizon Award (Best Newcomer) at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards – Derbyshire’s unique Lucy Ward; the winners of the festival’s 2012 Isambard Folk Award for emerging talent – Josienne Clarke and Ben Walker – and Somerset teenager Kitty Macfarlane, famous for her “Bus Song” featured on Radio 4.

Other exciting young acts will include Essex “boy band” Mawkin, Lady Maisery, Cole Stacey, 17-year-old singer-songwriter Luke Jackson, Blair Dunlop, Moore Moss and Rutter, The Young ‘ Uns and last year’s Isambard winners, the Welsh surf-folk band Under the Driftwood Tree.

A brilliant line-up of dynamic duos include: Phillip Henry and Hannah Martin, Miranda Sykes and Rex Preston, O’Hooley and Tidow, Maggie Boyle and Paul Downes, Sam Sweeney and Hannah Martin , Katriona Gilmore & Jamie Roberts, Duotone, Alan Doyle and Dave Garner, Walsh and Pound, Wales’s Amy Wadge & Pete Riley and ex Waking the Witch members Patsy Matheson and Becky Mills.Bringing all the fun of the fair to Bristol – the exuberant 3 Daft Monkeys

Other leading names include the hugely popular alt-country band ahab, Cornwall’s 3 Daft Monkeys and Ruarri Joseph, Scotland’s Rory McLeod & Band and Rua McMillan Trio (who also host a ceilidh), the mysterious Ghosts from the Basement, Joe Tilston, Ewan McLennan, Robbie Boyd, Benji Kirkpatrick, Emily Wright, Solarference, Steve Turner and James Froud Band.

The festival will be awash with Morris sides from all over the South West while throwing some theatre and literature into the mix will be “The Bard of Windmill Hill” (Trevor Carter) and a performance of the mummers’ play “ The Lionheart and Prince Albert”. Plus workshops, poetry, a mummers’ play, open-mic sessions, real ale and a market spread across three floors of the Colston Hall. 

Great value weekend tickets are available price £80 (£70 concessions) and £250 for a family ticket (two adults and two children aged 5-15). Day tickets are available at £30 (Saturday), £35 (Sunday) and £40 (Monday) with a £2 concession for 5-15s, students, pensioners, disabled and unwaged).Under 5s go free.Tickets HERE from Gigantic.

Price-beating stand -alone concert tickets for both Cara Dillon’s evening session, including opening sets by Dave Garner and Alan Doyle and Ruarri Joseph are available (£16 advance)and also for Afro Celt Sound System (opening sets by Benji Kirkpatrick and 3 Daft Monkeys) price £18.

Indoor camping is at the impressive St Mary on the Quay church, just a stone’s throw from the venue, at just £12 a night or £30 for the three nights. (under 5s free). Camping tickets are available from the Colston Hall box office 

Go nuts in May at Bristol Folk Festival!