Fairport at the Barbican 2009

[Ronald]

I found several clips of this concert at the Barbican Hall so I searched this forum for reviews and pictures (I take it some members of this forum went there) but so far have not found a thread with reviews etc, so where do I have to look?

[Chris]

Probably deleted now - Poor Colin can't archive everything on his servers, and this was 4 years ago!

[Ronald]

Oh I see, but four years is not that long ago, thanks anyway.

[jude]

Here you are Ronald. 34 pages of Fairport at the Barbican  

http://www.talkawhile.co.uk/yabbse/index.php?topic=30655.0

[quodlibet (Ian)]

And what a show it was. Still grinning.  

[GubGub (Al)]

I'm glad Jude has found it. I was getting ready to reproduce my own reactions. Now I don't have to.  

I am going to read through it all myself for the sake of (albeit fairly recent) nostalgia.

[Chris]

yes, thanks, Jude - you went further than I....

[jude]

yes, thanks, Jude - you went further than I....

I just stuck Barbican and Fairport into the search thing

[Ronald]

A big thanks Jude!!!!!!

I know now why I could not find it, I searched all the pages around the day of the concert but the last post in that thread was two years later.

Nice to read and it must have been quite good because everybody who wrote about it did so positively, but I can't understand that it was not filmed. When a concert like that is organised the people who do realise that it will be sold out and that many more would love to see and hear all the songs (same as the Journey).

When reading the reviews I felt a bit jealous but I have to think that I was lucky to have seen the Liege and Lief, Full House and Angel Delight line ups in concert.

[jude]

There are a few bits on youtube...

[Dan O.]

What a night that was !

A few highlights I remember :

The glory of Fairport '67
A marvellous rendition of Fotheringay (lead vocals by Linde Nijland, Simon and Iain M sharing a mic for unearthly backups)
Chris Leslie's sterling turn as THE fiddler of Fairport, including large chunks of Full House
A powerful Sailor's Life
Another fine Liege & Lief-ing from Chris While (so excited she came in too early for the 2nd verse of Come All Ye   )
The general consensus that this was one of the greatest Fairport-related gigs ever

[Tim Fletcher]

Well that was a very welcome trip down memory lane.  

[davidmjs]

It was musically one of my favourite nights in 3 decades of gigging which included about 50 Fairport performances (inc Cropredy).  Front row in the circle bang smack in the middle....  

Somewhat controversially I might say I think the night was actually improved by Swarb's absence...as Chris was on fire (as good as in '92) in the role he should (if there really was a God) have been filling for the last couple of decades instead of the bizarre non-role he currently fills (all imho, I know many of you disagree fundamentally)

Parts of the gig (Sailor's Life especially) took me totally out of myself and therefore qualify to me as an entirely psychedelic experience despite there being no psychedelics involved.  It was all just about perfect.  One particularly happy memory of the evening I have is of Jude nearly jumping out of her skin when Tyger plugged his bass in  

Several complete recordings exist.

The saddest thing about it was that it finally ruined the current band for me.  I saw them twice in the months afterwards and I'm afraid the contrast was just too great for me, and I haven't seen them since 2010 now...something I would have once thought impossible... C'est la vie.

[GubGub (Al)]

Somewhat controversially I might say I think the night was actually improved by Swarb's absence...as Chris was on fire (as good as in '92) in the role he should (if there really was a God) have been filling for the last couple of decades instead of the bizarre non-role he currently fills (all imho, I know many of you disagree fundamentally)

I understand your argument and don't entirely disagree but I don't think Chris's contribution to the current band can really be described as a non role. He writes most of the songs and takes most of the lead vocals. He is responsible for the majority of the material being generated from within the band after a decade of relying on outside songwriters. He is underused as a fiddle player undoubtedly but Ric is there as of right as that is who the band chose to approach in '85 and Ric had after all filled that role for the RULTS line up of The Albion Band with Simon & DM. The surprising decision was to approach Chris as a replacement for Maart rather than a guitarist. I agree though, the shows in '92 with Chris after Ric's shop window incident were superb.

[davidmjs]

You're right of course, Al.  But he's one of the best 'folk-rock' fiddle players in the country and he's in a role which imho doesn't play to his strengths.  And it saddens and disappoints me (My first 'I wish Chris Leslie had replaced Swarb in Fairport' conversation was in 1985, so I do have form on this particular topic) ;-).  I know it shouldn't.  As long as he/they are happy...that's all that counts really.

[Dan O.]

I believe the band approached Chris for the fiddler's position first, but he turned it down as he was busy with Whippersnapper at the time, so they hired Ric. Have just checked this with Peggy's potted bio on FC's site.

[RobertD]

You're right of course, Al.  But he's one of the best 'folk-rock' fiddle players in the country and he's in a role which imho doesn't play to his strengths.  And it saddens and disappoints me (My first 'I wish Chris Leslie had replaced Swarb in Fairport' conversation was in 1985, so I do have form on this particular topic) ;-).  I know it shouldn't.  As long as he/they are happy...that's all that counts really.

Understood it is all in your opinion David, but I must disagree with this, speaking if only for myself. Chris Leslie is so bloody good he has many strengths-songwriter as Al mentioned, but he is also a really outstanding mandolin player and not a shabby bouzouki player, not to mention his dabbling with flutes, whistles, a little bit of electric guitar, banjo, etc, along with being one of the best folk rock fiddle players in the country. The band hired him to replace a multi-instrumentalist, and what they got is a multi-instrumentalist, just one not as grounded in more of the rock context (electric, and keyboards like Maart was). As you say, if he and the band are happy, it is all that counts. Live he seems to still be able to play fiddle with some regularity, mostly in duets with Ric, but also some where its just him.

[Jay Peter]

Chris has the voice to do Swarb's stuff. I'd loveto hear Jack O'Rion again.

[Jim]

Chris has the voice to do Swarb's stuff. I'd loveto hear Jack O'Rion again.

 No he hasn't, he may sing in the same register but his voice is sugary sweet while swarb's is full of deviment.
while its always nice to hear the current line up do the classics you cant whack the edge that Swarb's singing gives them

[hendo (Dave)]

Chris has the voice to do Swarb's stuff. I'd loveto hear Jack O'Rion again.

 No he hasn't, he may sing in the same register but his voice is sugary sweet while swarb's is full of deviment.
while its always nice to hear the current line up do the classics you cant whack the edge that Swarb's singing gives them

You'll wonder where the yellow went when you brush your teeth with deviment. (for our younger readers )