TalkAwhile - The Folk Corporation Forum

Hello!

According to the Danish booking agency "Art & Music", Fairport Convention is going to tour the Scandinavian countries in April. Eleven gigs, from 17th to 30th April, are listed at the agency's site:

http://www.art-music.dk/eng/index.asp

They will play in six Danish venues, four Norwegian and one Swedish.

I first experienced a live performance by FC seven years ago, here in my hometown Bergen. Since then I have been to Cropredy twice, and now I look very much forward to see the band again in Bergen, on 30th of April. (The tickets for the concert in Bergen will be on sale from 16th of January.)

The Danish site also states that FC will play in Lleida (Spain) 8th March and at the Skagen Festival in Denmark 4th July.

 :)

Halvor

Wow Welcome Halvor

I also noticed this which may be of interest  :D


http://www.art-music.dk/eng/tourplan.asp

So it´s Mellerud again.
Not too far to drive for us in the Gothenburgh area.
A pleasant Monday for a change! ;D

With a full band this time!

I remember that when I saw them in Denmark, November 2002, Chris had been forced to stay behind ,but in Mellerud the last time, a year later, it was the full lineup, and in Elsinore autumn 2005, Vo Fletcher replaced Peggy on the bass. So it's back to Mellerud full band lineup!  ;D
Pity that I must have missed the FAC Tour when it hit Scandinavia some years ago but I must have thought it not worthwile/practical/possible to travel the distance then.  ::)

Today it was confirmed that Richard Thompson will play a concert here in Bergen 21 May. So: both Fairport Convention and Richard Thompson will perform in my town within a period of three weeks. Not bad. ;D

RT has played here at least three times before, but it is more than 10 years since the last concert.

The Bergen gig is not yet announced at Beesweb, but according to the site RT will perform in Sweden 31 July and 2 August. Maybe there will be more Scandinavian dates?

Halvor

Although I have never been to Scandinavia, I feel a certain affinity with the gig to be held on 24th April (see FC website) ;) ;D

Wé will try to get him here at our Cultural Centre in Gothenburgh on his way to or from his other swedish gigs.
Fingers crossed!

Just bought tickets for FC and RT Oslo gigs in april and may respectively. This is going to be an amazing spring. FC were last in this town in 2003. But it'll be worth the wait. I just hope they keep the Babbacombe Lee songs in the set for this tour, as well.

T-R

LOL  ;D ;D

Presumably the set list on 24th April will include:

Western Wind.

Sorry - couldn't resist it!

Tomorrow, Tromsö is the first stop on the Scandinavian tour. I hope to see a review from that gig on this forum late tomorrow night. Not to mention the set list!! ;D ;D

I'll be at the Oslo gig on Sunday and certainly plan a report from that. They are supported by Norwegian folk rockers Loft. Good think the concert wasn't scheduled one day earlier. Cos Saturday I am organising a tribute concert for my late father, who was this country's most famous folk accordionist. I'll probably be knackered from it whan I wake up on Sunday. So it'll be good to have Fairport welcome me back to a normal life. Organising a tribute concert with tons of musicians is quite a way to find out if your organisational talents are what they should be.

T-R

Heres hoping all our Nordic friends enjoy the forthcoming FC gigs, l look forward to seeing their reviews and photo's.

I must admit that my feelings are similar to those I hade as a child when Santa and X-mas was only a couple of days away! 8)

what level on interest is there in fc in scandanavia - I mean it can't be cheap to get them over there from a promoters point of view, how many bums on seats (or by seats) get out to see the chaps nowadays, what sort of venues do they play - glorified folk clubs / arts centres / full on rock venues?



David W

The last time they played Oslo they played the Cosmopolite, which is what you might call a "glorified folk club". I think about 400 people were there - or something like that. The atmosphere was somewhat laid back, but got better towards the end, as always with FC. Two years ago I saw them in a smaller town (Porsgrunn) where they played a tiny club that held a couple of hundred. Sold out, I think. But interest from the media is quite good. Whenever they turn up here I tend to get interview requests from radio stations and newspapers (this time, as well) to talk about the band and my close interest in their music. So we can't really complain about that side of that.

But it's nothing like the 70's when they headlined our biggest rock festival (1974) and charted with several albums around the same time.

T-R

This year and in 2005 the only gig they play(ed) in Sweden is the Arts Centre of the small town of Mellerud, because there lives and works another Fairport fan, Lars. I tried to book them into our local Arts Centre here in east Gothenburgh but we lacked space and backline for a Fairport effort. We can take 120 seated but I guess that last time in Mellerud the concert hall was almost full, around 250 people I guess.People had travelled from all around southern Sweden to get there. Local media do write about the band when the gig is imminent,but mostly because of its glorious history. Reviews are of the "pleasantly surprised" kind and leaves a lot of goodwill. But it was a long time ago that I heard latter-day Fairport being played on the radio, apart from the odd "ring-in-and-we-play-your- request" when one of us FF have been on the phone.
I guess you could say that around here,  Fairport has a rather small but very loyal fanbase! :D. I guess they know us all, by sight at least.... ;D ;D

I went along to see FC at Parkteatret Scene in Oslo tonight. Not really knowing what to expect, I'm happy to tell you they were bloody brilliant. They were clearly enjoying it and the set list containing what was, for me at least, several surprises. Didn't write them all down, but here in no particular order are the songs I can recall:

Walk awhile (opener)
The happy man
How many times
Doctor of physick
Banks of the sweet primroses
South Dakota to Manchester
The Eynsham poacher
Mock morris
Who knows where the time goes (for the sad anniversary you know)
Reynardine (absolutely stunningly beautiful vocals from Chris)
Breakfast in Mayfair
Cell song
Hanging song
John Gaudie
Instrumental medley '85
Rocky road (opening the second set)
Matty
Bowman's retreat (yes, retreat - not return)
Meet on the ledge (encore time, of course)

I think there was another one from "...occasion", but unfortunately I can't recall which one. Anyway, very little recent stuff was performed.

One delightful moment arrived at the end of Matty. Where the lyrics suddenly included the line "Bloody hell, I've broken a string". Simply because he did. So abruptly at the end of Matty Simon fled the stage with Chris to find a new string. Peggy, Ric and Gerry remained on stage and decided to "make some noise", as Ric put it - while waiting for the others to return. Suddenly Ric starts playing Sweet Georgia Brown, with the other two joining in to the audience's delight. Until Simon came back on and they went right back to where they were and tore into an absolutely rooftearing version of "The bowman's retreat".

Good turnout! This was a club I'd never been to. I'd hazard a guess it holds about 400 people and the place was packed. The crowd was good and the chaps were clearly inspired by the nice atmosphere. All in all a wonderful night was had by all - including the Fairports. Who, as always, stayed behind after the show to talk to anyone who remained inside.

If they're on this form every night, the Scandinavian tour will have been a pure enjoyment from start to finish. My only bummer is I missed opener Loft, who went on much earlier than I'd have thought. I'd looked forward to hearing them. But it was a wonderful night.

T-R

Forgot to tell you they also got handed a note by someone in the first row containing the words to the Norwegian folk song "Per Spelmann" (a ridiculous traditional folk song about about a fiddler who traded in his fiddle for a cow). Which they duly went on to perform in Norwegian - well, sort of, anyway. Won them one of the evenings' greatest cheers. A good laugh - off and on stage.

T-R

Thank you so much Thor-Rune and StaFCarin for those wonderful gig reports. {:-) [;-)

Last night´s gig in Mellerud - the only swedish stop on this Scandinavian tour - took place in a 200-plus-something theatre. The lovely weather hadn´t stopped people from filling it up, with only a few seats to spare. There were hardcore fans from different parts of southern Sweden- Gothenburgh, Stockholm, Munkedal - but also a fair amount of local people. The quick greetings before the show told us that the band were a bit tired, maybe an explanation why opening "Walk awhile" got off to a false start!  ;D. But from then on it was Fairport with flying colours (the setlist btw identical to the Oslo one Thor-Rune has provided) . The warm feeling of the Fairport Family was imminent with the band being happy and inviting, allowing us in the audience to share their love for music. The interval came after Mock Morris and the two Fairport virgins we had brought were worried that there wasn´t much more to come. But it was! After the interval the band just got better and better! Simons introduction to "Who knows"  probably put a tear in more than my eyes, especially it being the day it was. All too soon it was over, strong applause and standing ovation got the lads in for "Meet on the ledge" and I bet there were several new Fairport converts in the audience. Afterwards the usual socializing took place. Lots of photos taken, autographs written and a wonderful time was had by all. Our friends got to tell Chris how much they enjoy the St Agnes music that has come to them from a close source, Carin got her photos of her and Ric together and his autograph on the arm ( she says she´s thinking of going to the local tattooer... :o) and I was just happy for having been put in a warm happy music heaven by the band I hold so high! Another lovely Fairport gig to bring back warm memories for a long time to come.
Staffan
P.S. Hope to post some photos later. D.S.

To echo Gower Flower, many thanks to Thor & Staffan for your excellent reviews, good to know the chaps are being well received.

In the setting sun! Interval in Mellerud. Famous bass player and admirer!

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"Carin The Sandersfan" achieves her goal.

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Awwww, loverly pic. {:-)

Oh, isn't he the sweetest? And his performance absolute divine...
//Carin

My friend Jan-Olof Karlsson took plenty of photos. This is one of the first that has arrived.

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What was Ric doing in that photo?? ;D :o

Isn`t this him saluting after one of his "Platoon-helicopter-sound-re-creation" violin excursions ? 8)

What's he got on his head though  :o?

Isn't it the cloth he uses for his bow?

not hair that's for sure  ;)

"Per Spelmann" is certainly NOT a ridiculous folk song- it has great morale, especially if you are a musician! Per realizes he has done a bad deal, swapping his fiddle for minimum financial security, zero quality of life and utter boredom, symbolized by the one cow. He then let go of his cow, gets back the fiddle and take the plunge back into the world of live performance. The 2 next verses only highlights how rewarding it is to play for a responsive audience (which I'm sure you were in Oslo) and in the last 2 verses he says that however old he gets he'll never make that mistake of swapping his fiddle again.

I'm really pleased that Fairport did "Per Spelmann" in Norway and sorry that I was not there to hear it. And even more pleased that they never swapped their instruments for cows so that we all can go to Cropredy or to their gigs when they tour near and far. So there!

Thanks for a great review from my once upon a time hometown. I didn't know that Parkteateret had turned from cinema into a venue!

Kind regards,
Bea

Hello Bea and welcome.  :)

I like the sound of the song - you never know it could find it's way into the setlist!

LA OS FESTA BEA!!! Nice to see you here at last!!!

Do can gret min hor  :D

Triv

Thanks, Bridgwit - no, I hadn't really thought that would happen, what a surprise! Gave it to Peggy just before they left -so far my only "contribution" to the Fairport repertoire,he he! I think it was really brave of them as none of them had actually heard it and in a foreign language too!!

Cheers!!

Oh, hi Triv, nice to hear from you. Only the clippers has been similarely brave and done a song in norwegian at the Tall Ship Festival as I recall, even though the public turned out to be dutch! How was the day of dance this year? I was doing my duty as a responsible citizen collaborating with our really nice local police in writing a report at their station so I missed out on it this year D.O.D in Adderbury, unfortunately - many sides??

Du kan gre mitt har (the middle letter in last word needs a circle above it) though after all this rain today you would probably need a detangler.

Cheers

Hi, Ulla -what a nice picture of you! I think you're right. Looks to me as if Ric is doing a jazzy version of morris dancing with it. And why not?

Cheers, Bea

Berit, you have a custom title after only 4 posts. :o

Blimey!

Sorry mods, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay OT. :-X

Hi Gower Flower, do you think there is a BIG BROTHER watching us?   :o

I could tell you. But then I would have to kill you. 8)

Welcome, btw. {:-)

Ironically, at Cropredy the local farmers do the precise opposite and swap their cows for Fairport for a few days!

It is certainly a wonderful mutual benefit for all parties involved, in particular for the cows who has evolved to be able to stay out of passers-by sight all year round. It is said this amazing trait is based on their fear of having folk songs written about them for more than 30 generations. Cowards!