There were two special reasons to go this year. The first was that we were meeting Amanda and Jack there, and it would have been rude not to turn up, and the second was that none other than British treasure Hugh Laurie was playing! He's famous over here for being House and therefore the highest paid actor on US television (following a tradition of past Brits such as Joan Collins and Angela Lansbury) but we know his greatest work is A Bit of Fry and Laurie.
He was at the festival to promote a new blues piano album, being unfairly gifted in music and comedy as well as acting, although I hoped he would do at least a couple of his comedy songs. Sadly not. Still, we stood and waved the Union Jack at every opportunity and did our best to support our countryman.
The rest of the day was spent sitting in the sunshine - yep, sun in SF in October! - eating nice food and drinking beer. Jack doesn't travel anywhere without his well-stocked cooler. We also caught country legend Kris Kristofferson, Broken Social Scene, someone I'd never heard of called Gillian Welch who was superb, and finished off with Texan favourite Robert Earl Keen. Yee haw.
We were not alone.
Hannah and Amanda get into the spirit.
Here's the man himself! He sang in an American accent, but spoke in a British one.
The view from the two-foot square patch of grass that we claimed as our own.
Robert Earl Keen at the more "intimate" Rooster stage.
Doing the Texas two-step.
It's NorCal, so it's organic.
One is country by birth, the other by marriage.
And if you want to see some of what we saw, here's Gillian Welch:
And this is the one song that Hugh Laurie really should have played:
