AT SELBY'S first arts festival, a folk star and one-time Mercury nominee at the Abbey was a significant appearance, and it was no surprise to see a crowd gathered for the Seth Lakeman’s Saturday evening gig.

Lakeman and his band were ably supported by Fiona Lee, playing her biggest gig to date in her home town, and doing so with impressive composure and style. Her last song, Sugar, was especially eloquent.

Lakeman’s own set ranged widely from the traditional numbers for which he is known, to the more challenging and intense material from his 2016 album Ballads of the Broken Few.

Starting with The Courier, from 2014’s Word of Mouth, it moved to the traditional tunes like Stand by your Guns and the painfully poignant Shores of Normandy.

His famed fiddling skills were in evidence too – particularly when the abbey’s acoustics tempted Lakeman off the stage and into the audience to play first the tender Portrait of my Wife, and later the launch into “Scrumpy Set” jigs.

A slower paced start with those melancholy traditional songs moved skillfully into a crescendo of fiddle playing and the energy of the later tracks.

In a venue like Selby Abbey, it was no surprise the surroundings became as much as part of the show as the performers. Lakeman and his band were almost upstaged by the lighting engineer.

Making the most of the stunning backdrop, a succession of colours and lights lit up Norman arch after Norman arch. It left the audience often turning away from the stage and to see what was being lit up, craning their necks up and behind while the show carried on.