WinTour 2013

[Neil67]

Chesterfield Winding Wheel tickets now on sale for 27th Feb. Front row stalls tickets available as I type!
http://purchase.tickets.com/buy/TicketPurchase?agency=POMEGRANATE_val=26786=list%20%3Chttp://purchase.tickets.com/buy/TicketPurchase?agency=POMEGRANATE&organ_val=26786&schedule=list

[Amethyst (Jenny)]

Thanks Neil.. will sort these tomorrow!!

[Suzanne]

Leamington Spa for me, Ma and the bears.  Sad to see that Oxford, High Wycombe, Swindon and Chichester are missing from the list; ditto any dates in Scotland as friends up north of Edinburgh have found that their nearest gig is Berwick-upon-Tweed..  Plus there's nothing at all near Robert (who is just outside Whitby) so it's not as if I can take him to a gig either.

[KascadeDan]

Sadly we won't be going this year as we are moving very soon. The Stables is very near to us, and it's where we would normally see them but it's sold out, and the Tunbridge Wells venue is right near where we're moving to, but unfortunately, we are in a position where we don't know whether we will be down there by February, so we are giving this tour a miss. They are playing Dartford on the 'acoustic' tour however, and seeing as though there is very little difference between the 'acoustic' set and the normal set it shouldn't be too much of a loss.

[Tim Fletcher]

Tickets obtained for The Union Chapel - slightly panicked when I saw a tweet indicating they were down to the last 100. Looks like it could be a sell-out - which is splendid.  

[GubGub (Al)]

Here's an odd thing. I have just had an email from friends to whom I had suggested going to see Fairport to say they are not free on the date in question and I realised instantly that I don't want to see them badly enough to go on my own. I had already decided not to do Cropredy this year.

I have seen Fairport live at least twice every year for nearly 25 years but suddenly I am not bothered. What does all this mean?  

[davidmjs]

You've done your time, Al....simple as that.  It's happened to several of us over the years, I'm sure.  Sad, but there we are.  I still have a yearning for that yearning if you know what i mean, but as a great man once wrote, All Things Must Pass...

[RobertD]

Here's an odd thing. I have just had an email from friends to whom I had suggested going to see Fairport to say they are not free on the date in question and I realised instantly that I don't want to see them badly enough to go on my own. I had already decided not to do Cropredy this year.

I have seen Fairport live at least twice every year for nearly 25 years but suddenly I am not bothered. What does all this mean?  

Doesn't have to mean anything per se Al. Was it the winter tour or the acoustic tour I seem to remember you missing out on last year due to illness? Maybe you equate Fairport with feeling ill   I will gladly trade places with you however!

But seriously sometimes I get to saturation point on bands I like and I need to give it a rest for awhile, which means not listening to them, or giving them a pass live. Right now I can't tell you the last time I played Hot Club Of Cowtown, one of my favorite bands, whom I have seen several times (though not at your level of seeing Fairport). At this moment I just cannot bother to listen to them, but I know it will be the perfect thing to listen to one day again. As routine as the Fairport year can be-planning for Cropredy, Winter Tour, Spring Tour, maybe a few European dates scattered in there, maybe doing some recording, they can still come up with some surprises. Bet you wouldn't have said that two years ago when they were getting ready to do JBL live for example, and look how good that was. So my advice, take the rest if you really feel you need it, but don't think its a sign of anything in particular. And hey, as I type this Fairport towers just mentioned on FB the Thursday announcement is imminent!

[GubGub (Al)]

Here's an odd thing. I have just had an email from friends to whom I had suggested going to see Fairport to say they are not free on the date in question and I realised instantly that I don't want to see them badly enough to go on my own. I had already decided not to do Cropredy this year.

I have seen Fairport live at least twice every year for nearly 25 years but suddenly I am not bothered. What does all this mean?  

Doesn't have to mean anything per se Al. Was it the winter tour or the acoustic tour I seem to remember you missing out on last year due to illness?

It was the Wintour but I did catch up with them elsewhere last year. I am certainly not tired of the band. I play stuff by their various incarnatons all the time and, as you say, the JBL shows (& live album) were terrific. I just can't get enthused by the Wintour for some reason this year. I don't feel like it is going to offer anything new. The JBL shows aside, the gigs have been pretty similar for a decade or more. I think maybe the format needs a bit of a shake up.

[Barry]

You've done your time, Al....simple as that.  It's happened to several of us over the years, I'm sure.  Sad, but there we are.  I still have a yearning for that yearning if you know what i mean, but as a great man once wrote, All Things Must Pass...

Sums it up nicely, David.

I have no desire whatsoever to go to Cropredy again.  

I have great memories from the 24 that I did go to, though, and I don't want to spoil them by going through the motions.

For those who still love it, great.  I envy you that excitement and satisfaction.  But not for me anymore.

[Mr Cat (Lewis)]

You've done your time, Al....simple as that.  It's happened to several of us over the years, I'm sure.  Sad, but there we are.  I still have a yearning for that yearning if you know what i mean, but as a great man once wrote, All Things Must Pass...

Sums it up nicely, David.

I have no desire whatsoever to go to Cropredy again.  

I have great memories from the 24 that I did go to, though, and I don't want to spoil them by going through the motions.

For those who still love it, great.  I envy you that excitement and satisfaction.  But not for me anymore.

These comments appear to be particularly apposite re the Cropredy line up thread: I would bet that back in the 80's and 90's few Cropredy attenders based their decision on whether to go on the line up - basically it was a fun weekend out with a load of beers, FC and usually RT and guests.  Any other great acts were something of a bonus.  Now it seems the decision to go for some is based entirely on the line up, which I suspect reflects getting older, having other financial priorities and so forth.

If I happened to be in the UK in August I doubt I would go for the reasons expressed by Barry and also because my liver would explode a la Duff McKagan were I to spend 4 days knocking back beer and other booze..

[GubGub (Al)]

Now it seems the decision to go for some is based entirely on the line up, which I suspect reflects getting older, having other financial priorities and so forth.

It certainly has something to do with that. For me though it is partly to do with the format of Cropredy itself. In the context of other modern festivals Cropredy can be quite gruelling (single stage, big field, no shelter, general scale) especially if the weather does not co-operate. It was fabulous in 2012 but it needs a really special line up to overcome those reservations. I just don't find it relaxing any more in the way that it was when the bill consisted largely of people you had barely heard of and you could lie in the field in the sun without getting regularly trodden on.

I understand why it has had to change. The big names subsidise Saturday night which would no longer be financially viable on its own and is a justifiable self indulgence on Fairport's part but it has definitely changed and personally I no longer feel that vibe that used to keep drawing me back irrespective of who was on the bill.

[David W]

For me it is simple - I haven't really enjoyed a FC gog outside of Cropredy for a few years now, last year I decided not to do the Wintour - for the first time since '88 or '89 and I really didn't miss it. There was a simple inverse proportion between cost (rising) and enjoyment (falling)

BUT

If anyone said to me they had nevrr seen Fairport and should they bother going I would absolutely say they should - just not for me any more.

DW

[Jamie]

Just heard from John Watterson, AKA Fake Thackray, that he's going to be doing a blog while on tour with Fairport. You can subscribe by going to:

http://www.fakethackray.com/blog.html

[Andy Tuck]

If you're going to the Leicester gig and haven't got a ticket yet, De Montfort Hall are having a sale over the next couple of days and you can get £5 off per ticket.

[KascadeDan]

Any reports from last night? Or a setlist? (I'm not going so I wanna know what I'm missing out on   )

[Shankly (Peter)]

Any reports from last night? Or a setlist? (I'm not going so I wanna know what I'm missing out on   )

I'm going to New Brighton tonight, so I'll report back tomorrow

[JJ (Joanna)]

2nd night of the tour at Tunbridge Wells was fab   Sound and lighting superb, Peggy full of anecdotes and fun, Ric still telling the cheesy jokes, Gerry has had a haircut!

As for a set list, I can only recall some but song after song made a wonderful evening. There were Fairport newbies sitting next to me who only went for Fake Thackery (not my cuppa tea but he was good...) and at the end they said "You are right they are brilliant, we'll come again!"

Think Simon may have the beginnings of a sore throat and his memory disappeared for a few lines on Mercy Bay but professional as ever that was the only blip! He remembered all the verses of Ralph's Wild Cape Horn! (no mean feat)  

Songs that I can recall, in no particular order are John Gaudie, Patrick Spens, Rosie, Banks of sweet primroses, Walkawhile, Who knows.. Fotheringay, Matty, Danny Jack's Chase, Wood and the Wire, Festival Bell, Hexamshire Lass, plus a surprise song, never heard from Fairport by me was 'Eynsham Poacher' apparently originally brought to Fairport by Chris and his brother John Leslie when they were a singing duo in Banbury many years back.

You will enjoy the evening.

Met with Martin Driver at the bar.  

[davidmjs]

"New Brighton & Salford Quays both SOLD OUT" (Fairport on FB).

[Mag T]

2nd night of the tour at Tunbridge Wells was fab   Sound and lighting superb, Peggy full of anecdotes and fun, Ric still telling the cheesy jokes, Gerry has had a haircut!

As for a set list, I can only recall some but song after song made a wonderful evening. There were Fairport newbies sitting next to me who only went for Fake Thackery (not my cuppa tea but he was good...) and at the end they said "You are right they are brilliant, we'll come again!"

Think Simon may have the beginnings of a sore throat and his memory disappeared for a few lines on Mercy Bay but professional as ever that was the only blip! He remembered all the verses of Ralph's Wild Cape Horn! (no mean feat)  

Songs that I can recall, in no particular order are John Gaudie, Patrick Spens, Rosie, Banks of sweet primroses, Walkawhile, Who knows.. Fotheringay, Matty, Danny Jack's Chase, Wood and the Wire, Festival Bell, Hexamshire Lass, plus a surprise song, never heard from Fairport by me was 'Eynsham Poacher' apparently originally brought to Fairport by Chris and his brother John Leslie when they were a singing duo in Banbury many years back.

You will enjoy the evening.

Met with Martin Driver at the bar.  

Pangs of regret after reading your post JJ....sounds really good....unfortunately we couldn't make it to T.Wells last night
Maybe Margate...let's hope so