TalkAwhile - The Folk Corporation Forum

A bit of nostalgic chat. Your favourite Cropredy moment involving Fairport, with or without guests.

Metal Matty 1992

Aussie Floyd with the rain bucketting down on us, and green lasers shining across and up the field with the diamonds of raindrops dripping through...  ipunforgettable.

The last time Sloth was played with the extended Full House lineup (Can't recall the year of the top of my head)

Sorry Jenny, I probably haven't explained myself very well. It is meant to be a Fairport moment. By guests I meant people who played with them during their sets). Unless Aussie Floyd did that? I wasn't there that year.

2007?

The extended lineup playing at the 40th anniversary show.  I welled up with the emotion of it all.  RT, Jerry, Swarb et al.  Bloody marvellous.

Jules

Not there myself but Swarb deciding to play Sir Pat's, nicking Ric's fiddle and making it happen.

RT's last performance, "Tear Stained Letter".

That band was the best Fairport ever, even though it wasn't Fairport.

They did an even better version of that a few years earlier with solos passing down the line and back again. RT, Ric, Chris , Maart, Pete Zorn etc.

That was an epic sing along.

Forced to pick a single moment. RT again.

'Put it There Pal', Richard Thompson, 1996, in a tempest.
There should be a plaque, for the greatest guitar solo ever played on British soil.

Oops.. sorry, but does it matter that much.. it was my fave moment at Cropredy after all....

Fair enough.

I'm struggling to isolate mine. Like Jules I was in tears in 2007 at the wonder of it all and particularly the Friday night Liege & Lief performance.

The band rampaging through Ramble On with Percy in, I think, 1992 is another highlight.

Any performance of One More Chance or John The Gun because they are rare things.

But probably my absolute favourite was Swarb's Lemons anecdote that stopped the set in its tracks and had everyone in hysterics. Not sure of the year. Possibly 2012.

So many to consider. If I'm allowed Broughton Castle '81, it would be the moment they introduced Jude. A complete surprise

Chris & Kellie While's ultimate version of WKWTTG in 2008. Thank goodness it was captured for posterity on a live album.

My first Cropredy in the back garden 1977. A small crowd, the band mingling with the punters. Shortly before the band came on, in the sunset, Sandy and Trevor arrived and I almost stumbled into them when meeting them on the path. ;)

The Friday night of the anniversary two-parter wherein Mrs K, having earlier been generously gifted hot doughnuts by a passing festival goer woke from a deep slumber to be greeted by Ashley Hutchings' narration. "**** me, are we really only up to 1970?" she mumbled, before sinking gratefully back to the turf.

I'm going to vote for this one!

Jules

When they were doing the tribute to Sandy and Robert Plant came on to sing the Battle of Evermore.

this

Same for me. Absolutely brilliant performance!

Dancing like I just didn't care to the Saw Doctors 1997 :-[

Rosei followed by Swarb's slideshow last year..

Can't remember which year, but the playing of Sandy's "Quiet Joys Of Brotherhood", during the Fairport set, dampened many an eye.  :)

All About Eve - 1989

Blimey, Sheen and I were down the front for that. Very wet! We turned round and the field had cleared!

Like button!

 Stretching the definition a little and I have mentioned it before..........
Late 90's , sitting on field 1 having our usual communal breakfast when I heard RT sound checking, so I popped down to the field, in the days when you could.
About 30 of us leaning on the barrier at the front .
'What do you want to hear,?' he asked so we got Beeswing, and Vincent and several more. A magical 30 mins.

And RT and Jerry jamming at a soundcheck , late 80's

Sailor's Life

Yes!! it's either that, or the first time I walked onto the field. That feeling....  :) :)

When the guys suddenly burst into I'm down by the Beatles. RT on lead vocals! Cropredy 2005 i think.

As said, my first Cropredy will always be stuck in my memory, but, I know it wont be popular, I enjoyed Excalibur (especially an exuberant Johnny Logan in his union jack blazer).
The other moment of sheer emotion was when Cat Stevens made his brief appearance with FC as backing band. Nice to see Gerry take the limelight for once.

Yes, that was fantastic, but I think I would go for the following year, Cat Stevens doing Peace Train. The rest of his set was the very dampest of squids, but Peace Train was magical.

... When it all went a bit Jethro Tull in 1987. One of the reasons I carried on going.

Yep. Summed up so many strands of Swarb and his relationship with the band and the crowd. I did wonder at the time if that was his final Cropredy appearance.

Here are my videos of that one:
https://youtu.be/xP-mR1rZk3s (Part 1)
https://youtu.be/xuS89AWhjvE (Part 2)

It's popular with me! I loved Excalibur  :D

The 25th anniversary.
My new girlfriend (later wife, now ex-wife) was completely exhausted by all that weird folkrock music and had fallen asleep in the rain, the Full House line-up played Sloth and RT started his solo....

Or maybe (if I may)

2014. I had a terrible time this year, problems at the job, problems with family. I sat down in the field (with my new girlfriend), Fairport Acoustic came on and started playing and I felt: This is where I belong, life is good here.

Tom , I think that encapsulates Cropredy for a lot of people. In the early and mid 90's it was a real escape for me!

The whole set last year.

Our Lads were really on form. Not surprised they topped the best act poll.

I think that, and the set at Butlins in 2013, were as good as I've ever heard the band.

Getting told off by Ric's mum when I was rather inebriated and shouting "Get your bloody hair cut, Ric'" in '87. "My Ric's got lovely hair" etc etc....At least this is how I remember it anyway.... I'm not expecting this to win.

There will be no winners. This category is not going to the vote. It is just a bit of fun to stimulate conversation.

Did nobody read the introductory page?  ;)

Ha ha!  At what point did you realise she was his mum?

Jules

Don't know why, but I'm imagining Ric's mother telling you off in a Terry Jones 'Life Of Brian voice!  ;D

When she started having back go at me and talking about "My Ric"...

Yep, spot on...At least in my memories!

Not sure how anyone claim a version of a band as "their" version....*checks earpiece* What? Oh...
 :D

OK - bit of a long Cropredy story but true:

In the years when folks would serve up liquer coffees from caravans in the camp sites late into the night a group of us were getting increasingly merry and telling **** jokes, my late friend Nick came up with "Whats the difference between a duck?" - "One of its legs is both the same" much to the bemusement of a couple sat with. Don't worry about it we said, Nick is just trying to be surreal. "What does that mean?" they ask. "Well, if Peggy comes on stage tomorrow playing a banana instead of a bass, well that would be surreal".
Saturday night comes, Fairport bound on the stage Simon playing a box of cornflakes and Peggy playing a banana shaped bass guitar and from across the field we hear a voice, familiar from the night before, shout out "Bloody hell Peggy - that's a bit surreal"

Ha!  Superb.

Great story.  ;D