Cropredy 2015 who'd 'wanna see?

[Gary K]

Funny isn't it? I much prefer the festival now it's not just a "Fairport and Friends" event. I accept I'm a bit of Johnny-come-lately, but I find it far more diverse and entertaining now. I love that we get Alice Cooper, the Buzzcocks, Quo, Steve Hackett, Bellowhead, Seth Lakeman to name but a few.

I like the way it's going. Just so long as we don't get any X-Factor winners!

I can't agree enough!  My first visit to Cropredy in 1993 was as a total Folk Virgin ( other than the sky boat song and Val Doonigan   ) I was instantly hooked and been coming ever since - Illness sabbaticals non withstanding- and it opened a new door to a genre of music that has become a totally enriching part of my life
. As an ageing progger at heart ( sixth form common room Floyd,  Genesis,  Yes,  Camel etc blah blah) this was my favourite festival I've witnessed.  Having said that (don't know how I can top it) I will continue to come to this festival for as long as these aching bones allow and no doubt Continue to be bowled over , as I am every year,  by the astounding talent that graces that stage.
Hence,  for me,  This festival is so much greater for its diversity.  Long may it continue

[Martyn H]

Without going back to check whether they've been suggested already...how about Black Star Riders for Thursday night?

[Ancient Muse (Andy)]

Funny isn't it? I much prefer the festival now it's not just a "Fairport and Friends" event. I accept I'm a bit of Johnny-come-lately, but I find it far more diverse and entertaining now. I love that we get Alice Cooper, the Buzzcocks, Quo, Steve Hackett, Bellowhead, Seth Lakeman to name but a few.

I like the way it's going. Just so long as we don't get any X-Factor winners!

I agree 100 percent sis! Especially the highlighted bit.

[hendo (Dave)]

Funny isn't it? I much prefer the festival now it's not just a "Fairport and Friends" event. I accept I'm a bit of Johnny-come-lately, but I find it far more diverse and entertaining now. I love that we get Alice Cooper, the Buzzcocks, Quo, Steve Hackett, Bellowhead, Seth Lakeman to name but a few.

I like the way it's going. Just so long as we don't get any X-Factor winners!

Hi Brij/Andy, I am wary of rehearsing opinions that have already been aired.
Interesting that you started going in 2004 cos that was the year the fest changed for me, Dave and Christine Pegg splitting up, Christine no longer running the fest. This may be a completely spurious assessment on my part but it was how it felt to me.
The whole reason d'etre of the fest was to bring people associated with Fairports over the years back together, this included artists including Roy Wood and Robert Plant.
Fairports overriding presence at the fest is waning and with the exception of it being just one stage, it is becoming like many other fests. I have said before that I think this is inevitable and I accept it, it is just no longer the Cropredy I remember or recognise. An enjoyable proggy fest, I'm sure it was this yr..
I shall be at the fringe next yr, I've already booked camping . I might even buy a ticket for the field depending on line up but I wish I could have shown you the fest in the 80's and 90's when it was , imho a far more relaxed beast.

[Ancient Muse (Andy)]

I know we'd have loved it then too, hendo. I can't believe it took us so long to get to a festie of any kind, and Brij had been talking about going for about ten years before we actually made it to Cropredy.

[hendo (Dave)]

I know we'd have loved it then too, hendo. I can't believe it took us so long to get to a festie of any kind, and Brij had been talking about going for about ten years before we actually made it to Cropredy.

Cheers Andy, the last thing I want to sound like is an ' old f**t'' and I'm sure I do.
I suppose what I miss is that vaguely 'hippie' 'do it yourself' feel to a fest, 'the big village fete' feel . As someone asked in the early oo's, 'where have all the crusties gone?' and again I use the term with  real affection.
There are other small fests that now give me and Sheen that 'fix'.
I accept that in many ways the lineups are stronger, 'more commercial' ......
My 1993 T Shirt reads (from the bottom up)
Comperes, Bobby Bragg and Geoff Hughes.
 (Saturday)Fallen Angels / The Buttermountain Boys / Stockton's Wing / Robin Williamson / The Martin Barre Band / Fairport Convention with Vikki Clayton, (Friday) Clarion / The Leningrad Cowboys/ Richard and Danny Thompson.
Even I accept some of those would struggle to be on at the fringe now.
Sorry to ramble Andy, I have a lousy cold which is disrupting my sleep, I am banished to another bedroom (!) and this is good therapy!
Oh...and it was £26 including camping! (starting to sound like my mother )The first Cropredy  was £2.50! ( Horlicks was a halfpenny, gas masks had been reduced, small boys, carrying bread,skipped up hills, ...............goes off in to distance, muttering incoherently)

[Ancient Muse (Andy)]

Aw hope you'll be better soon, hendo!

[hendo (Dave)]

Aw hope you'll be better soon, hendo!

Got to gig tomorrow anyway!

[Martyn H]

It is (I expect) a much more commercial exercise than it ever was in the early days, as you say, you can probably tell when the balance shifted. I started to appear about the same time as Andy and also regret not coming earlier even though I knew it existed.
At least one of the Buttermountain Boys is there most years, by the way! They were a great band weren't they?

[DaviD J (was geriatrix)]

Went every year from around 1986 to 2007, which was our last year. I remember fondly the early years, turning up at a reasonable (not stupidly early) time, telling the stewards "oh, we always camp down by the stream" and then being allowed to just choose our pitch, right by the stream. The stream has long since been fenced off (health and safety), and the last year we went, the camping space we were allowed to have was hardly big enough for our tent.

Of course I completely understand why and how things change, and the Cropredy festival (was Fairport Convention Reunion) is apparently now a very slick and commercial operation, but I don't think its for me anymore. Having said that I was really tempted by the line-up this year, but as it happens it was sold out, and we weren't around anyway.

I've got a couple of photos of the early years, but haven't been able to find the "attach" button, or maybe I'm just not allowed pics yet.

[jude]

Went every year from around 1986 to 2007, which was our last year. I remember fondly the early years, turning up at a reasonable (not stupidly early) time, telling the stewards "oh, we always camp down by the stream" and then being allowed to just choose our pitch, right by the stream. The stream has long since been fenced off (health and safety), and the last year we went, the camping space we were allowed to have was hardly big enough for our tent.

Of course I completely understand why and how things change, and the Cropredy festival (was Fairport Convention Reunion) is apparently now a very slick and commercial operation, but I don't think its for me anymore. Having said that I was really tempted by the line-up this year, but as it happens it was sold out, and we weren't around anyway.

I've got a couple of photos of the early years, but haven't been able to find the "attach" button, or maybe I'm just not allowed pics yet.

Click on Additional options under the message box, you'll find the photo bit there  

[Bridgwit (Bridget)]

Our first year at Cropredy (2004) I knew hardly any of the acts so didn't know what to expect, but I clearly remember the feeling I had when I first walked onto that field. It's hard to describe but the closest I can get is that I felt amongst friends. I still get that feeling, in fact I can't say I've noticed a massive difference in the way the festival is run now from back then.

I've been to smaller festivals (not many granted) but I still like Cropredy the best. And the music just gets better and better. I am still on cloud 9 about Steve Hackett...  

Long may it continue  

[peter m]

On the basis of last night in York I'd recommend booking The Rails, inviting RT along and seeing whether he and Kami and partner felt like being a trio. That was how the show closed last night, excellent.

[davidmjs]

On the basis of last night in York I'd recommend booking The Rails, inviting RT along and seeing whether he and Kami and partner felt like being a trio. That was how the show closed last night, excellent.

Nice.  What did they play as a trio then?

[DaviD J (was geriatrix)]

I've got a couple of photos of the early years, but haven't been able to find the "attach" button, or maybe I'm just not allowed pics yet.

Thanks Jude, but under Additional Options I only get: Notify me of replies, Return to this topic and Don't use smileys, nothing about attachments.

Anyway, no worries - I have never had the possibility of starting a new topic either. I can only reply to existing ones, so I guess I must be way far down in the pecking order here. Probably a good thing, that.

[jude]

I've got a couple of photos of the early years, but haven't been able to find the "attach" button, or maybe I'm just not allowed pics yet.

Thanks Jude, but under Additional Options I only get: Notify me of replies, Return to this topic and Don't use smileys, nothing about attachments.

Anyway, no worries - I have never had the possibility of starting a new topic either. I can only reply to existing ones, so I guess I must be way far down in the pecking order here. Probably a good thing, that.

After you have made 10 posts you can normally do most things, and you have 175 posts...
Can you not see Attach Choose file (in a box) (more attachments) etc underneath all those things you can see?

[DaviD J (was geriatrix)]

No, sorry, just these three, Notify me of replies, Return to this topic and Don't use smileys with tick boxes. I'd post a screenshot, but ...............  

[bassline (Mike)]

Our first year at Cropredy (2004) I knew hardly any of the acts so didn't know what to expect, but I clearly remember the feeling I had when I first walked onto that field. It's hard to describe but the closest I can get is that I felt amongst friends. I still get that feeling, in fact I can't say I've noticed a massive difference in the way the festival is run now from back then.

I've been to smaller festivals (not many granted) but I still like Cropredy the best. And the music just gets better and better. I am still on cloud 9 about Steve Hackett...  

Long may it continue  

I got that feeling the first time I went in 1990...arriving on the Thursday (in the days when  when there was no music on until Friday), and that was just from getting off the bus outside the Brase and walking through the village and onto Field 2, way before I even got into the arena field the following day. It was 16 years before I attended another sizeable outdoor festival other than Croppers.

[Nick]

No, sorry, just these three, Notify me of replies, Return to this topic and Don't use smileys with tick boxes. I'd post a screenshot, but ...............  

If you'd like to, try it again now.

Cheers

Nick

[peter m]

On the basis of last night in York I'd recommend booking The Rails, inviting RT along and seeing whether he and Kami and partner felt like being a trio. That was how the show closed last night, excellent.

Nice.  What did they play as a trio then?


I don't know, something new. There was quite a bit of banter about 'Now we're doing a family show like the Partridge Family'. I was hoping for A Heart Needs a Home, Kami has got that sort of voice, must be in the genes. RT is clearly still writing--he did some songs based on first world war letters which he said was aimed at 2016. He also played what he described as 'his inferior version' of Who Knows....'. A very good evening.