Eric Bogle (SkinnyFest3)

Eric Bogle is a folk veteran: his songs have been covered and made famous by bands as diverse as the Furies, the Pogues and forgotten punks the Angelic Upstarts. Tony Blair cites Bogle as his favourite anti-war poet, an irony that is not wasted in Bogle's introduction to 'The Green Fields of France'.

Ably accompanied by fellow Scottish exile John Munroe, Bogle works his way through a series of undemanding, sentimental tunes: his song writing is neither flashy nor original and his guitar lines are solid. He ruminates on growing old, political activism and- the subject that he is known for- the First World War, without achieving much passion. His rhymes are functional: this is easy listening folk, smoothed and tamed, dealing in generalisation and rarely evoking poignancy.

Bogle takes his life's experiences and polishes them into serviceable numbers, but his songs feel too vague and calm. His politics and musical structures are rooted in the 1970s, and even his newest pieces lack immediacy and depth. He delivers on his audience's expectations but does little to inspire the unconverted.