SHERYL CROW

Be Myself (Warner Brothers) Album

American singer/songwriter Sheryl Crow has skilfully walked the line between folk and pop, with the odd detour into country and made a hugely successful career out of it. Now aged 55 it is a vibrant set and probably only a big hit single away from being one of her best. 7 Rock lovers will be glad to hear that this year will see the 13th annual Cambridge Rock Festival take place over four days from August 3 to 6 at a new site at Horseheath Lodge in Horseheath.

Many of the usual features will continue – fully covered stages in large marquees but with an outdoor feel in the grounds of the lodge, real-ale bar, family friendly environment, etc. This year will see the festival using two equal stages rather than a main and second stage. The ‘Rock and Prog’ stage is to be headlined by AOR band FM, who have many albums and worldwide tours behind them, the highly influential Eddie & The Hotrods and the legendary Atomic Rooster who reformed last year after a 32 year break to play last year’s CRF.

The ‘AOR and Blues’ stage will be headlined by Jason & The Skagonauts, regular CRF crowd-pleasers the Buster James Band and blues/rock band Roadhouse, who with over 2,000 shows behind them all over the UK (including Glastonbury) are a CRF favourite.

Whilst most of the event will, as usual, feature original artists, Thursday will again offer tribute bands on one stage and a further announcement will be made.

In total 50 bands will appear on these two stages, other favourites include Son Of Man, Tygers Of Pan Tang, Chantel McGregor, John Otway,Magenta,Deborah Bonham, Space Elevator, Ben Pool, Laurence Jones and many more. The T Clemente Band flew over from California especially to play CRF last year and loved it so much that they’ve asked to do it again and they can be seen on the Friday.

As in recent years, there will also be an acoustic stage predominantly featuring local musicians and planning for that is already under way.

Latest details and tickets can be obtained from the festival website - www.cambridgerockfestival.co.uk