Fairport Acoustic Autumn Tour

[GS (Graham)]

The Bein Inn gig on Monday evening was superb.  I see there's been quite a bit of comment on the ticket pricing &, at £30 a pop, the Bein Inn is probably the highest ticket price on the tour but it was worth it!

The price was undoubtedly down to the venue which is very small (holding roughly 60 - 70 people).  It was like having Fairport playing in your front room - well maybe a bit bigger but not much!  It was extreme close up on the band who responded to the intimate atmosphere by playing a blinder.  

Highlights were many - too many to mention although, having said that, I must single out Ric's Ellington/McCartney medley which was beautifully played.  Chris & Simon were in great voice & a splendid time was had by all.

Nice to meet Anna after her epic journey - Hope you've got yourself back home safely or did you just stowaway in the band's van after breakfast?!?

[Anna]

Good gig.  Home safe.

I need to have words with Anji about that Alan Garner bloke though, there was a lot of weirdness in my head yesterday and it wasn't good.  Proper review later, when I've reconciled the download of the sum total of human misery with some level of reality.  Oh my.  I would advise anyone NOT to read four Alan Garners in four days.  I don't do things by halves, me.

[Neil Morrell]

Spoke to Simon last night and he said that the Perth gig was fab!!

Last night was pretty good too!  Only about 60 people in there (most of whom appeared to be TTL family and friends).

I even managed to stay in the room for some of TTL - which I think is progress.  

I have to admit that Beth was pretty good on WKWTTG (the first time I saw it - I boycotted myself from the wintour for that very reason).


The best thing about Alan Garner is that he writes wierd stories about REAL places.  When was the last time you visited Middle-earth?

Red Shift is a bit too wierd though!


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[Anna]

Weird is certainly the word!  And they're ALL Weird, Thursbitch, The Owl Service, Red Shift and Strandloper.  All WEIRD! And very disturbing to this unwitting psyche...  And I'm not visiting any of those places, I'll get stuck. Sucked in. Lost. See?  I'm off again...

I've written my review, but seeing as it's 8 pages long in Word I think I'd better strip it down a bit for the board...  It's more of a "What I Did On My Holidays" than a gig review...  Full text available on request...

[Andy]

Big Dave phoned to say that he'll be at the gig tonight. He's still in plaster, but has resolved to make it.

Sign his cast if you see him!

[Neil Morrell]

Surely you can make it smaller than 8 pages.  And I don't mean by changing the font size!  


Not read Thursbitch or Strandloper. Have you read The Wierdstone of Brisingamen?  

Elidor is good too - that's set in City Centre Manchester.

I first read the Owl Service in a Youth Hostel in a tiny village near Corwen, aged about 15.  It was strangely like the place in the book!!!

[ColinB]

I've written my review, but seeing as it's 8 pages long in Word I think I'd better strip it down a bit for the board...  It's more of a "What I Did On My Holidays" than a gig review...  Full text available on request...

You've got to tell us how you got on with the public transport in Perthshire or did you end up hitching? I can't imagine there's a very frequent bus service to and from the Inn.

[Breezestar]

The St Helens gig was a good one must admit, shame about the turnout though.

[Neil Morrell]

I've written my review, but seeing as it's 8 pages long in Word I think I'd better strip it down a bit for the board...  It's more of a "What I Did On My Holidays" than a gig review...  Full text available on request...

You've got to tell us how you got on with the public transport in Perthshire or did you end up hitching? I can't imagine there's a very frequent bus service to and from the Inn.

That's another 2 pages then!

[johnnysaint (John)]

The St Helens gig was a good one must admit, shame about the turnout though.

You're right Breezestar, the quality of FC's playing was awesome, played with feeling.
Don't know how much the "enforced" change in venue had to do with turnout, maybe confused some people. Having said that it seems hard to get St Helens folk to shell out £17.50 for a midweek gig
johnnysaint

[Neil Morrell]

I think that "Midweek" is probably an off-putter too.

[Chris]

You can attach word docs to a post, just like you can a photo....

[Anna]

Oooh, thanks Chris.  I've got it down to four pages (leaving out most of the angst).  I'll cut it down to just the gig and post that properly, then see about attaching the Word doc...  Hang on...

Bizarrely, the public transport that I used all went virtually perfectly to time (waiting 5 minutes for a bus is not unexpected).  Only one bus an hour from the hotel to Perth but that's not a problem either, so long as you know.

FAIRPORT ACOUSTIC CONVENTION AT THE BEIN INN, PERTHSHIRE

So, after travel and adventures…  I headed into the bar to find GS and his mate Lawrie just starting their first drinks.  We introduced ourselves to each other and started chatting about this and that, stuff, the weather, my walk, abandoned railways, Fairports old and new.  Lawrie ordered another round but they had to send someone down to the cellar for my bottle of Gaymers…  By the time the cider arrived the dining room of the hotel where the chaps are playing was absolutely heaving.  There aren’t three seats left together.  But I got landed with the seat right in front of Chris.  Oh!  What terrible fortune!  The hand of fate (or someone/thing) has obviously been guiding everyone else in the room to leave that end seat in the front row empty just for me…  Of course Chris spied my walking stick flute straight away and was suitably impressed.  It wouldn’t have been worth dragging it half the length of the country and back if he hadn’t been!

I could see most of Chris’s set list from where I was sitting.  Indeed, I could probably play one hand of his mandolin (badly) if he felt tired, the front row was that close to them.  Further along the row, other people were equally close to Gerry, Simon and Ric.  There’s no room for Gerry to be behind the others.  There seemed to be a lot of shoulders and elbows negotiating their way around cymbal stands – I don’t know how Simon could play at all, there really wasn’t enough room for him, let alone his guitar!  It really was just like having them in your front room!

I can’t remember the set list and am not cheeky enough to nick one.  But some highlights for me were Spring Song (tenuous Fairport link here – the de de de bit at the end is apparently called Rosemary’s something-or-other, and my middle name is Rosemary…  Anyway…).  Close to You was in there, which always takes me to Applecross in my mind’s eye.  Ric’s jazz interludes are gaining ground, I did enjoy Sophisticated Lady/Here There & Everywhere.  It’s amazing how much jazz Paul McCartney has written really…  And Hiring Fair/Summertime is always an absolute gem.  I think I’m going to have to hit another gig on this tour just to bootleg that.  It’s utterly mind-blowing and I can only aspire to play Summertime with such clarity and grace.  By watching Chris’ fingers I learned that there’s a triplet in Portmeirion that I never knew was there before.  If I got my head at just the right angle I could see what Chris was doing out of the corner of my eye and watch Ric at the other end at the same time.  That was educational too.  I could watch those two playing instrumentals all night!

All too soon the gig was over and it was out into the lobby for a last drink and general chatting and stuff.  As the chaps were staying in the hotel it was all more relaxed than the usual finish the gig, talk to the crowd, pack up the van, go to hotel somewhere else scenario.  I bought a Cropredy hoodie (I may have been deluding myself but I think they have come down in price since August) and got a round in.  When the crowd had thinned a little Chris sought me out and asked about the walking stick.  He was genuinely interested in it and complimented me on the tone.  As bamboo goes, it’s got a very nice tone, for which I’m grateful to the maker.  Chris said he’d just obtained a *something* which is a transverse flute style thing, and he was intrigued by the finding the hole and the blowing angle thing.  It is something that a lot of people find difficult.  I have my method, but he was saying he was being frustrated by not being able to just pick it up and blow and get all the angles right every time.  I find that difficult too and have to get ready to play a second before I’m actually going to start, otherwise it just doesn’t work.  I’m sure he’ll suss it before I do though.

After that GS and Lawrie and I sat on the sofas in front of the fire and were just having a general conversation about stuff, I forget what, I’d had four bottles of Gaymers by then…  Simon joined us for a while but after a few minutes we all decided we were knackered and headed to our respective rooms and car.

That’s the gig part anyway!  It was a most marvellous evening.


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[Big Dave]

Shock of my life at the Robin last night, supposedly no support but guess what?................ :oTTL! for a five song set, brilliant!!!!

[Staffan]

Lovely review, Anna.
Couldn´t there be an "Acoustic Off The Desk"!?! There are some tunes and songs that seem to stay in the Acoustic repertiore only.
I´d happily buy a CD with today´s acoustic line-up!

[ColinB]

Ric’s jazz interludes are gaining ground, I did enjoy Sophisticated Lady/Here There & Everywhere.  It’s amazing how much jazz Paul McCartney has written really…  And Hiring Fair/Summertime is always an absolute gem. 

Would have loved to have heard H,T+E and Summertime at Morecambe. That's the trouble of going to a gig at the start of a tour...  

[PL (Peter)]

Lovely review, Anna.
Couldn´t there be an "Acoustic Off The Desk"!?! There are some tunes and songs that seem to stay in the Acoustic repertiore only.
I´d happily buy a CD with today´s acoustic line-up!

Agree full heartedly.

Peter

[Anna]

Lovely review, Anna.
Couldn´t there be an "Acoustic Off The Desk"!?! There are some tunes and songs that seem to stay in the Acoustic repertiore only.
I´d happily buy a CD with today´s acoustic line-up!

I'm totally with you there!  Please, please, please?!!!

Or just a download?

[steve-n]

Shock of my life at the Robin last night, supposedly no support but guess what?................ :oTTL! for a five song set, brilliant!!!!

.........................and Fairport weren't too bad either  

steve

[Ollie]

Anna -  the 'te de de de de' bit in Spring Song is called Princess Royal, not Rosemary's something-or-other. Sorry. It's a morris tune. Oh, and send the review to the chaps. Then they'll have something NEW to put on the site