So how did YOU get into Fairport?

[Em]

My dad's a big RT fan with a bit of FC on the side, so i've always liked them and listened to them. And the older i get, the more interest i take in them and the more i can appreciate the music.

[GubGub (Al)]

Ooh, this is an interesting topic that has crawled out of the woodwork! (Woodworm?) And...... I can't remember the answer but  think it was as follows.

Sometime in the mid 80s I heard RTs Hand of Kindness & Daring Adventures albums. I was immediately hooked and knowing that he had once been a member of FC and being a bit of a student of 60s/70s music, when I saw a poster for their gig at Worthing Assembly Hall that winter I thought I'd give it a go. That night changed my life, musically speaking. It was the Nicol/Pegg/Sanders/Maart/DM line up and the musicianship was outstanding, far beyond anything that I had expected to see at a small provincial gig. But I also loved the bonhomie between the band, the rapport with the audience and the slightly chaotic nature of the procedings. I immediately bought a few albums (In Real Time, Liege & Lief & History Of were my first) and an obsession was born.

Now, every album, hundreds of gigs and every Cropredy (except one, story elsewhere on this board) later and I'm still here. This thing shows no sign of going away.... I'm glad to say.

[Anne T]

I took a school trip to a poetry event at the Anvil in Basingstoke about 3 years ago and saw a Fairport concert advertised. I had heard the name, but never the music, and for some reason impulse bought tickets!  When I heard the music, I realised that this was what I had been missing all my life.

There were flyers for Cropredy in the auditorium and by the time we had driven home after the concert I had convinced my husband that the family canal holiday we had been thinking of taking for several years should take place on the Oxford Canal in August. And so it came to pass...

Very impressed by Ollie, even though he has obviously cost his parents a lot of money! My daughter, who must be about the same age, is also a fan now. Like Ollie's teacher, I am doing my bit to corrupt the nation's youth. The other day I made a slide show about the First World War, to accompany a novel the class are reading, and I used "The Battle of the Somme" from House Full to give it atmosphere. I could hear a few of them humming along by the end!

[Ollie]

Very impressed by Ollie, even though he has obviously cost his parents a lot of money! My daughter, who must be about the same age, is also a fan now. Like Ollie's teacher, I am doing my bit to corrupt the nation's youth. The other day I made a slide show about the First World War, to accompany a novel the class are reading, and I used "The Battle of the Somme" from House Full to give it atmosphere. I could hear a few of them humming along by the end!

If you are doing Private Peaceful, you should check out the Coope Boyes & Simpson and Michael Morpurgo collaoration CD of the same title. and BTW, I haven't cost my parents the money, it was my teacher. We still kepp in contact and she comes to see Fairport with us every year

[Hester]

I was walking down Mermaid Avenue with the ghost of Robin Hood, and then I took a really long detour.

Cheers, Hester
NP: Steeleye Span, "Padstow May Carol"

[Paul]

Ooh, this is an interesting topic that has crawled out of the woodwork! (Woodworm?) And...... I can't remember the answer but  think it was as follows.

Sometime in the mid 80s I heard RTs Hand of Kindness & Daring Adventures albums. I was immediately hooked and knowing that he had once been a member of FC and being a bit of a student of 60s/70s music, when I saw a poster for their gig at Worthing Assembly Hall that winter I thought I'd give it a go. That night changed my life, musically speaking. It was the Nicol/Pegg/Sanders/Maart/DM line up and the musicianship was outstanding, far beyond anything that I had expected to see at a small provincial gig. But I also loved the bonhomie between the band, the rapport with the audience and the slightly chaotic nature of the procedings. I immediately bought a few albums (In Real Time, Liege & Lief & History Of were my first) and an obsession was born.

Now, every album, hundreds of gigs and every Cropredy (except one, story elsewhere on this board) later and I'm still here. This thing shows no sign of going away.... I'm glad to say.

I was there. With a pregnant wife and a group of friends. One of the friends was a tad dissapointed, because he thought we were seeing Fairground attraction. The rest enjoyed it though.

Paul

[peterwales]

Bit too young to fully appreciate 60's hippy-type music at the time, (although always loved Jethro Tull and Led Zepelin from an early age-i.e. 14!) and too old, I think to ever really like punk, (despite being a decadent 2nd. year student at Manchester Poly at the time), I came across Fairport by accident- a chance buy of a compilation CD- can't remember it's name now- but a friend's recommendation to go to Cropredy really did it for me. I took up her offer and went to Croppers 1994; and that was it; I was hooked on the band and more importantly perhaps, the festival itself; what Glastonbury once was, and a celebration of an almost late 60's/early 70's alternative lifestyle and idealogy which many us had thought was sadly forgotten, but happily lives on in an Oxfordshire field, even if only for a few days a year.

[davidmjs]

I was hooked on the band and more importantly perhaps, the festival itself; what Glastonbury once was, and a celebration of an almost late 60's/early 70's alternative lifestyle and idealogy which many us had thought was sadly forgotten, but happily lives on in an Oxfordshire field, even if only for a few days a year.

That's interesting...I've never really thought of Fairport in those 'hippie' terms...in fact in some ways the folk(-rock) scene is actually quite a conservative one (small c please, dear God)... There's a decent doctoral thesis in there somewhere!

[Bridgwit (Bridget)]

I was hooked on the band and more importantly perhaps, the festival itself; what Glastonbury once was, and a celebration of an almost late 60's/early 70's alternative lifestyle and idealogy which many us had thought was sadly forgotten, but happily lives on in an Oxfordshire field, even if only for a few days a year.

That's interesting...I've never really thought of Fairport in those 'hippie' terms...in fact in some ways the folk(-rock) scene is actually quite a conservative one (small c please, dear God)... There's a decent doctoral thesis in there somewhere!

I could feel the "vibe", for want of a better word, the first time I walked into the main field at Cropredy. It just felt nice and safe.
 
Maybe one day I'll take the degree I should have done 25 years ago and do the thesis on Cropredy! How on earth would I fit THAT into earth sciences ...!

[GubGub (Al)]

I could feel the "vibe", for want of a better word, the first time I walked into the main field at Cropredy. It just felt nice and safe.
 

Same here, though I think that "vibe" has been less apparent more recently. 2004 especially. Or perhaps I am just getting old and my cynicism gene has kicked in?

[Bridgwit (Bridget)]

I could feel the "vibe", for want of a better word, the first time I walked into the main field at Cropredy. It just felt nice and safe.
 

Same here, though I think that "vibe" has been less apparent more recently. 2004 especially. Or perhaps I am just getting old and my cynicism gene has kicked in?

Well, 2004 was my first year and I loved it! I'm just peeved to think of all those years I missed. I first heard about FC and Cropredy in 1989 but never got around to going.

Never mind. I have this year's ticket and I can't wait!

[GubGub (Al)]

Sorry, I've lost track of what year we are in! I meant 2005. 2004 was indeed great and very emotional as I recall.

Topic drift...

[Bridgwit (Bridget)]

Couldn't go in 2005 so can't comment.

But 2004 was great!  

[Amethyst (Jenny)]

Been going to Croppers since 1990 and the vibe is still very much as it always was for me...  it's almost a magnetic pull ...  just love it.. every minute of it.. and every year something special happens and i meet more and more new friends...

Ohh how long til we are there again??

[mik]

Been going to Croppers since 1990 and the vibe is still very much as it always was for me...  it's almost a magnetic pull ...  just love it.. every minute of it.. and every year something special happens and i meet more and more new friends...

Ohh how long til we are there again??

I agree

I first went in 85 with a couple of mates. But I enjoy it so much more now what with meeting all the lovely people off this board. I am safe in the knowledge that should I ever go on my own I will meet people I now know most of the weekend. Its great now - it really is! but for different reason

see you in a few weeks!!

[Big Dave]

Sorry, I've lost track of what year we are in! I meant 2005. 2004 was indeed great and very emotional as I recall.

Topic drift...

Methinks that was the year that the problems with "oiks" started to get a little more serious.  Also wasn't that the time of the major changes to the structure of the festival?

[GubGub (Al)]

Yes. And it rained really hard all Saturday afternoon, though that is not the fault of the festival.

I was a bit discouraged and just did a day trip on the Saturday last year but things seemed to have got back on track and I shall be there for the full three days this year..

[fat Billy(Bill)]

Sorry, I've lost track of what year we are in! I meant 2005. 2004 was indeed great and very emotional as I recall.

Topic drift...

Methinks that was the year that the problems with "oiks" started to get a little more serious.  Also wasn't that the time of the major changes to the structure of the festival?

I did not get any sleep on the thursday night due to a bunch of arse holes who had no interest in the music. they just got pissed and obnoxious

[Bridgwit (Bridget)]

Sorry, I've lost track of what year we are in! I meant 2005. 2004 was indeed great and very emotional as I recall.
Topic drift...

Methinks that was the year that the problems with "oiks" started to get a little more serious.  Also wasn't that the time of the major changes to the structure of the festival?

I did not get any sleep on the thursday night due to a bunch of arse holes who had no interest in the music. they just got pissed and obnoxious

Sorry fB I won't do it again this year.  

[fat Billy(Bill)]

Sorry, I've lost track of what year we are in! I meant 2005. 2004 was indeed great and very emotional as I recall.
Topic drift...

Methinks that was the year that the problems with "oiks" started to get a little more serious.  Also wasn't that the time of the major changes to the structure of the festival?

I did not get any sleep on the thursday night due to a bunch of arse holes who had no interest in the music. they just got pissed and obnoxious

Sorry fB I won't do it again this year.  

if they had been half reasonable I would have joined them.