50:50@50 Tour

[Amethyst (Jenny)]

I was at the gig reviewed above... and am saddened by the whole tone of the review.

Call me a sycophant if you wish, but for goodness sake this band has been on the road for 50 years... that half a century...  give them some credit please!

Ok maybe the reviewer had a few gripes, and some of them may be relevant...  the DIY song I agree is not the best to put it mildly.  But much of the review to me sounded like a personal attack for no real reason.

Could the reviewer do any better?

Sally Barker is, to me, one of the best Wintour guests they have had for a while, she plays for us too and is a lovely lady with a great voice.

For me it was another brilliant night at a lovely venue, with a perfectly enthusiastic audience. Yes there were a few empty seats, but so what?

I just wonder why the reviewer would want to write so rudely about this band and their show.  They do their utmost to bring us joy and have never failed to make me and all our friends happy.

I am glad he says he won't return to the Winding Wheel...  and very glad that he wasn't seated anywhere near me.

If you don't like something at least try to be pleasant about it!

[Chris]

I read no personal attack. Lighten up, Jenny?....I do see what he means.

[Shane (Skirky)]

Could the reviewer do any better?

To be fair, if one only reviewed things that we could do better, there'd be hardly anything reviewed on here at all.

[GubGub (Al)]

Call me a sycophant if you wish, but for goodness sake this band has been on the road for 50 years... that half a century...  give them some credit please!

Well...no they haven't. Not really. This band has been on the road for 20 years.

I just wonder why the reviewer would want to write so rudely about this band and their show.  

Because of the point I made here.

For many people that name sets up an expectation of something that this line up are never going to deliver and have not done so since about the turn of the century.

I agree that there is no need to be rude and some of the invective was over the top but in the eyes of many whose love of the band was cemented between 1967 and 1979 or even up to 1996, what the current band present is little short of fraudulent.

I don't entirely agree but I can certainly understand the point of view.

[David W]

Maybe in soft drinks terms we are now experiencing Diet Coke Caffeine Free as opposed to the full fat version of Thompson and Swarb and the slightly less fattening Diet version with Maart before the caffeine was also removed with Chris taking over.

[Bingers (Chris)]

The arguments being put forward are understandable but to me it's a bit like comparing Peter Gabriel-era Genesis with the later, more poppier version...both eras have merit and flaws. Similarly with FC, I like parts of the earlier vintage and parts of the current line-up but I hope I am discerning enough to acknowledge this and not make sweeping statements to the effect that the current FC is "rubbish" compared with pre-Chris Leslie days

[Amethyst (Jenny)]

Fairport today is what they are...

If you don't like them then don't go to their gigs...
But don't be so rude about them.

As I said.. I was at that gig... so I felt it necessary to respond, and as for me lightening up Chris Bates.. it is surely the reviewer that needs to lighten up, not me?

On a happier note it was lovely to see the great David Hughes there and looking so well, nice to have a chat with him.

[Bingers (Chris)]

If you don't like them then don't go to their gigs...
But don't be so rude about them
[/quote]

Exactly and more succinctly put than myself    I was at the Union Chapel gig last Saturday and came away happy. I was not expecting a rock band and got what I was expecting...if you go to see FC and expect expect something like LED Zep you are in the wrong place

[Chris]

But don't be so rude about them.

As I said.. I was at that gig... so I felt it necessary to respond, and as for me lightening up Chris Bates.. it is surely the reviewer that needs to lighten up, not me?

Everyone's entitled to their opinion, Jenny - as you say, if you don't like it, don't [read] it (all) - it was prefaced such that you could work out what he was about to say. He wasn't rude, as in nasty, sweary. It hasn't been removed by Mods....

[GubGub (Al)]

If you don't like them then don't go to their gigs...
But don't be so rude about them

Exactly and more succinctly put than myself    I was at the Union Chapel gig last Saturday and came away happy. I was not expecting a rock band and got what I was expecting...if you go to see FC and expect expect something like LED Zep you are in the wrong place
[/quote]

But how do you know any of that until you go and see them? If all you know of their work is their 70s output and you decide to go and see them based on that (and let's face it, their publicity does lean heavily on their status as the pioneers of British folk rock, which the current band then play down on stage), you are likely to be disappointed.

If you bought a ticket to a band billing itself as, let's say Wishbone Ash as an example, you expect to hear Blowin' Free and Phoenix and The King Will Come and Sometime World etc alongside some new material and that is what you get (from both versions). It is not unreasonable that for some punters who buy a ticket to a band billing itself as Fairport Convention they will expect to get at least one electric guitar consistently and hear Walk Awhile and Sloth and Polly On The Shore and The Journeyman's Grace and Run Johnny Run and Tam Lin (name your own list), the music that made the band's name,  and they will go away disappointed because this isn't really the same band.

[Bingers (Chris)]

If you don't like them then don't go to their gigs...
But don't be so rude about them

Exactly and more succinctly put than myself    I was at the Union Chapel gig last Saturday and came away happy. I was not expecting a rock band and got what I was expecting...if you go to see FC and expect expect something like LED Zep you are in the wrong place

But how do you know any of that until you go and see them? If all you know of their work is their 70s output and you decide to go and see them based on that (and let's face it, their publicity does lean heavily on their status as the pioneers of British folk rock, which the current band then play down on stage), you are likely to be disappointed.

If you bought a ticket to a band billing itself as, let's say Wishbone Ash as an example, you expect to hear Blowin' Free and Phoenix and The King Will Come and Sometime World etc alongside some new material and that is what you get (from both versions). It is not unreasonable that for some punters who buy a ticket to a band billing itself as Fairport Convention they will expect to get at least one electric guitar consistently and hear Walk Awhile and Sloth and Polly On The Shore and The Journeyman's Grace and Run Johnny Run and Tam Lin (name your own list), the music that made the band's name,  and they will go away disappointed because this isn't really the same band.
[/quote]

Point taken but there things called reviews and there is YouTube and you can listen to the current albums so you can get a very good idea about what you are going to see

[Shane (Skirky)]

Point taken but there things called reviews and there is YouTube and you can listen to the current albums so you can get a very good idea about what you are going to see

As you say, there are reviews - and this is one of them. At the outset it was pretty much stated that the visit was made more in hope than expectation, and that was always going to be a pretty good indicator of the tenor of the piece. Inferring that someone shouldn't have gone to a gig in the first place isn't the way we're going to encourage civil discussion between folk who have differing subjective viewpoints about what they thought they saw.  

[Andy]

The mantle of great folk/rock innovators has long passed from Fairport's collective brows. What they do, they do very well, although  the songs themselves are not in the same vein of 30, 40 years ago.

Whether collectively or with other musicians, they have all been on the stage and touring for many years and this has undoubtedly taken its toll. Simon's voice was liquid gold at Brecon, but a cold may have robbed it of nuance at other points of the tour. Both he and Peggy have taken to exaggerated mouth shaping in the past couple of years, possibly in order to maintain their voices (Simon more successfully than Peggy, IMHO) and I can't help but think they've had some help from vocal coaches in this regard.

If anyone went to see any band based upon the output in the early 1970s, then they'd be listening to a different sound entirely. Robert Plant's voice is nowhere near what it was, Elton John has abandoned any range in his singing and Ian Anderson's is a hoarse untuneful echo of the past that should be retired.

People should be realistic. This version of Fairport is probably the last and, apart from the occasional guest appearance by RT or Maart (or indeed child prodigies), the days of vibrant electric guitar in the band would seem to have passed. I intend to cherish what we have in front of us at Cropredy and not walk around saying that it were different in the old days.

I find it rather contradictory that when Fairport do play old stuff, they're accused of not having produced new material and, when playing new material, are accused of not playing the old stuff. They can't win, but they can certainly entertain.

By the way, I fully support anyone who has paid out good money to see a band being able to criticise that which they have paid for,

[Bingers (Chris)]

Point taken but there things called reviews and there is YouTube and you can listen to the current albums so you can get a very good idea about what you are going to see

As you say, there are reviews - and this is one of them. At the outset it was pretty much stated that the visit was made more in hope than expectation, and that was always going to be a pretty good indicator of the tenor of the piece. Inferring that someone shouldn't have gone to a gig in the first place isn't the way we're going to encourage civil discussion between folk who have differing subjective viewpoints about what they thought they saw.  

I think you are mixing me up with someone else...I actually thought that the review was well put together and I can understand the points being made. Just because I don't agree with them all is my prerogative

[Bingers (Chris)]

The mantle of great folk/rock innovators has long passed from Fairport's collective brows. What they do, they do very well, although  the songs themselves are not in the same vein of 30, 40 years ago.

Whether collectively or with other musicians, they have all been on the stage and touring for many years and this has undoubtedly taken its toll. Simon's voice was liquid gold at Brecon, but a cold may have robbed it of nuance at other points of the tour. Both he and Peggy have taken to exaggerated mouth shaping in the past couple of years, possibly in order to maintain their voices (Simon more successfully than Peggy, IMHO) and I can't help but think they've had some help from vocal coaches in this regard.

If anyone went to see any band based upon the output in the early 1970s, then they'd be listening to a different sound entirely. Robert Plant's voice is nowhere near what it was, Elton John has abandoned any range in his singing and Ian Anderson's is a hoarse untuneful echo of the past that should be retired.

People should be realistic. This version of Fairport is probably the last and, apart from the occasional guest appearance by RT or Maart (or indeed child prodigies), the days of vibrant electric guitar in the band would seem to have passed. I intend to cherish what we have in front of us at Cropredy and not walk around saying that it were different in the old days.

I find it rather contradictory that when Fairport do play old stuff, they're accused of not having produced new material and, when playing new material, are accused of not playing the old stuff. They can't win, but they can certainly entertain.

By the way, I fully support anyone who has paid out good money to see a band being able to criticise that which they have paid for,

Agree totally with everything you say!

[Shane (Skirky)]

I think you are mixing me up with someone else...

Hi Chris - apologies, the 'quote' boxes got a little muddled back upstream and in unblocking the flow I think someone else's text got misattributed to you.

[Bingers (Chris)]

I think you are mixing me up with someone else...

Hi Chris - apologies, the 'quote' boxes got a little muddled back upstream and in unblocking the flow I think someone else's text got misattributed to you.

No worries  . Finding this conversation fascinating and I sill love FC and the new album (well not every track TBH) but I'm happy to skip over those (such as Danny Jack's Reward)

[GubGub (Al)]

I think you are mixing me up with someone else...

Hi Chris - apologies, the 'quote' boxes got a little muddled back upstream and in unblocking the flow I think someone else's text got misattributed to you.

Yes, Chris's and my posts seem to have got swapped somehow. I am furious as my very insightful opinions now look as though they came from someone else!  

[Bingers (Chris)]

I think you are mixing me up with someone else...

Hi Chris - apologies, the 'quote' boxes got a little muddled back upstream and in unblocking the flow I think someone else's text got misattributed to you.

Yes, Chris's and my posts seem to have got swapped somehow. I am furious as my very insightful opinions now look as though they came from someone else!  

It was probably my fault as technology is not my strongest attribute

[ColinB]

Despite my earlier rather flippant comment about Simon's voice I have to say that for someone who started off as the band's rhythm guitarist (and presumably never imagined that one day he would be their frontman and vocalist), he has done an admirable job over the years.

I was listening to Off The Desk yesterday and I'd have to say that, in my opinion, Chris has the best voice in the current line-up but Simon has my respect especially for singing the Sandy-era songs. It can never have been easy getting up on stage to sing songs like Genesis Hall or WKWTTG with all the memories he must have of hearing Sandy sing them all those years ago.