Fairport Autumn Dates

[Leila]

Anyone coming to the Blakeney one? It's the nearest one to us this time, as Norwich wasn't on the list last time I looked.
I'll probably try to keep track of which songs they play for a diary thingy, so if anyone wants to know I'll post it somewhere - especially if you tell me where to put it..

Leila

[Chris]

The setlist would be very suitable in this thread, Leila....

At one stage I was working on making both the Chippy gig and Blakeney (I have friends along in Hunstanton), but it ain't going to happen, unfortunately.

[Leila]

Ok, one setlist!

We got there a few minutes late - hey, we'd never been there before! so might've missed a song of two. But we arrived just in time for Banbury Fair.. then the rest were:
Too Close To The Wind
I'm Already There
Now Be Thankful
Canny Capers
The Wood and the Wire
Fossil Hunter
Slipjigs and Reels
John Gaudie
Hiring Fair
The Dancer

And a few instrumentals I didn't know the names of, and a song which could've been called The Lancashire Hills.. but probably wasn't.
So there you go!

[Andy]

...followed by Matty and Meat & Two Veg, I presume?

[steve-n]

See Chris' set list for Chippy - Matty strikes no more - he's been usurped by The Dancer.

To paraphrase Simon _ MOTL will always end the set as long as he's in the band.

Steve

[Andy]

Oho! Fine by me.

[Anna]

I'm quite fond of Matty as it goes, but the Dancer is a good song too.

It seems the chaps are on form and having a good time up there.  Can't wait for the Grays gig!  15 days and counting...

Meat & Two Veg...  ho ho! 

[Leila]

Just as well my brother wasn't there, really, he loves Matty (though being 11 he'd never admit it) and wouldn't've known any of the others..
I didn't let myself get excited by the Blakeney gig right until the day before 'cos I thought they'd run out of tickets..
Wish Feb would hurry up now! Going to drag the rest of the band along, not that they'll need much encouragement.

[steve-n]

A quick post about last nights gig at Lickey Parish Hall.
The guys were (inevitably I guess) more relaxed than the first night at Chippy. The "flat" lineup means that you can see as well as hear how much Gerry adds to the music without imposing on the acoustic setup. Set list was much the same as that posted by Chris on the Chippy thread although there were a few changes in the order and "Meet" (despite what Simon said at Chippy) has fallen from the ledge - the encore was (I stand to be corrected) the Dirty Linen close which usually follows Matty.

Many highlights, but, as has been said previously, Hiring Fair/Summertime was sublime. Would it be possible for Rob to pull a recording from the desk for a future live release?

Thanks to the lads for a terrific evening and to Paul Edwards of Shiningfriends for pulling it together.

Steve

[Mark]

Anyone going to the 100 club gig in November? My tix ordered. See you at the bar 

MikeC

See you there!

[Sian]

Anybody going to the Newbury gig on 22nd November?

[Suzanne]

Bentley Ben and I are going to Newbury Sian.  I really hope I finally get to meet you.

[Sian]

Excellent Suzanne and BB.  See you there.

[Chris]

I should be trhere too....and the 100 Club!

[steveb]

I'll be at the 100 club and then at Lewes on the saturday.  Has anyone seen the merch from this tour, I'm keen to pick up Ric's trio album and wondered if it might be available from the desk.

[Malcolm]

  Has anyone seen the merch from this tour, I'm keen to pick up Ric's trio album and wondered if it might be available from the desk.

There is one on the FC website.

[bcfc dave]

Set List from Chippenham (well, almost)

Over The Next Hill
Woodworm Swing
Banbury Fayre
Close To The Wind
A couple of tunes - Upton On Severn Jig?
I'm Already There
Sophisticated Lady/Here,There and Everywhere
Now Be Thankful
Canny Capers

The Wood and The Wire
Over The Lancashire Hills
The Rosehip
Close To You
The Fossil Hunter
Slip Jigs And Reels
The Hiring Fair/Summertime
The Dancer
Meet On The Ledge

And a very nice evening it was too, missed Peggy but the chaps made an excellent sound, really loved Gerry's percussion.

[Leila]

I know... no Matty when I saw 'em either!
Tous?! hang on.. If All Must Leave? ....interesting.

[Anna]

Apologies in advance - someone ought to put a word count warning on these posts I think!

GRAYS (FAT SURFER) 15th Nov.

Well, what a fantastic night!  After finding the club by asking in the petrol station…  I found that I’d arrived at just after 7pm (2 hours from Uxbridge across the middle of London in the rush hour – pretty good I reckon).  Doors opened at 7.30 so I formed a queue for a while.  Looking through the front door I could just see Chris sound-checking, and I thought to myself that I’d be happy to be this close to the band any other time.  I knew I was in for a treat.

When I got in to the club the very nice and helpful organisers allowed me to use a store room for changing out of the bike gear and leaving the kit in there wasn’t a problem.  Nice one guys, it made for a stress-free evening not being wrapped up in thermal bike gear and not having to cart it around with me all night or worry that it might not be where I left it, or getting trampled on etc.

Got a beer and found that JJ had very kindly saved me a seat in the front row.  I really can’t thank you enough JJ, it was the making of an unbelievable gig for me.  Oggies are on me at Cropredy!  Virtually within touching distance of the stage – it was a real privilege.

A bit about the club.  It is indeed an intimate venue.  200 people?  Maybe a few more.  It’s a very normal working men’s club, so the beer was indeed cheap.  Although I had to restrict myself to one half of cider and coke for the rest of the night as I was on the bike.  Even the coke was reasonably priced for a bar, at 70p a half.

I think the set-list was much the same as posted earlier in this thread, but no Lancashire Hills.  Matty is still on vacation, but we got Meet as the encore.

As JJ said in the other thread, it was great to be able to see Gerry properly.  The man is indeed a master of his craft.  He had all sorts of strange hanging bells and shells and things that went “thock”; tambourines, bongos.  Very much worth seeing.  All of the chaps seemed to be enjoying the gig.  Simon especially enjoyed the chance to say “Hello all you Fat Surfers” at the beginning, having waited, apparently, 38 years for just that opportunity…

My personal favourite moments included Woodworm Swing, the morris tunes, Ric’s jazzy interludes and The Rosehip.  But every song/track was most enjoyable.  I hadn’t heard Close to the Wind before, so now I’ll have to go and get the appropriate album as obviously I don’t have it yet.  All the chaps were in fine form, and I especially enjoyed the opportunity to study some of the more background things that they each do.  I just cannot get over Simon’s vocal range.  He was doing some of the most amazing bass rumbling in some songs (sorry, I can’t remember which ones now) and it seemed like he’d go off the bottom of the scale into the subsonic at times.  It just doesn’t come across on recorded media.  As ever the Hiring Fair sent my knees to jelly.  There was a lovely “jazz moment” after Hiring Fair where Ric had gone off into a soaring solo and Simon was waiting for the right moment for Summertime to start.  Ric suddenly thought of a new way to segue into the song and put a couple of extra bars in.  The communication between the two of them was fantastic to watch.

One moment that really made me smile (among many, many such moments).  The horse that the gypsy woman sees in her crystal ball at Banbury Fair has grown somewhat – it’s now 17 hands high.  It can probably gallop a bit wilder and freer now.  (Pedant moment – a “hand” is 4 inches, so a horse that is 7hh – hands high – translates to 28 inches; 2’4” at the shoulder.  There’s only one breed of horse – pony – this small so far as I know; they’re kept as pets rather than ridden.  17hh is more like 5’8” at the shoulder and is a proper horse size.  No, I’m not converting that to metric.  Horses are built in imperial measurements, that’s all there is to it.)

And I got to have a lovely conversation with Chris after the gig about his native American flutes.  They are gorgeous.  When I’ve finished this I’m straight off to find the Oregon (or was it Oklahoma?) flute school on the web…  They’re all different, the flutes from the different tribes (ahem, peoples?) with different fingering systems and sounds and the way they’re made and everything.  It’s fascinating, the variation that can be achieved with a hollow tube with some holes in.

So once again, thanks to Soundmanjim for pulling this off.  I sincerely hope you can get them back another time.  It really was a magical evening for me and I’ll move mountains to repeat the experience.  I wanted to thank you after the gig but you’d disappeared upstairs, seemingly never to return.  I will catch up with you one day and buy you several beers.  Thanks to the chaps for just existing really, and bringing such evenings into our lives.  If only I could get to every gig, everywhere in the world.  I will admit to vaguely hoping somebody would steal my bike during the gig…  I know it’s bad to tempt fate and so on, but hey, if you’re bike’s gonna get nicked, there’s worse times for it to happen you know?  Like when you’re wanting to use it to get to a Fairport gig…

Anyway, I’ve blathered on quite enough now.  It’s London tonight (100 club?), so I hope all those that are going tonight have just as marvellous and magical an evening as I did last night!

[Anna]

Arrrrgh!  Pedants - spot the error I wasn't quick enough to modify!