Fairport Convention

[YaBB Master (Colin)]

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[Dan O.]

Overall an excellent set from Fairport despite the field getting colder by the minute. Fairport '67 were delightful, Judy's crochet antics during "Reno Nevada" very funny. Loved Fairport '69's version of "Suzanne".

The "Liege & Lief" section was great, but why they decided to perform "Farewell Farewell" and "Crazy Man Michael" as the current FC and recreate the rest with Chris While, RT, Ashley Hutchings and DM is beyond me, maybe they hadn't rehearsed those two numbers ?

"Full House" FC with Chris Leslie on fiddle and mandolin played fine renditions of "Sloth" and "Poor Will", and they can be forgiven for a slightly uneven "Sir Patrick Spens".

Sally Barker's mid-set rendering of her own "Money Talks" was something that worked on the Wintour but didn't really cut it in the field, desperately imploring a reluctant crowd to "please" sing along. "Rising For The Moon" with Sally's lead vocal was enjoyable, however, as was a surprise version of Fotheringay's "Ballad Of Ned Kelly" led by PJ Wright, and Ralph McTell's moving "White Dress".

The Maart era was ably represented by "Jewel In The Crown" and "A Surfeit Of Lampreys".

One of the best renditions of "Hiring Fair" I've heard in years followed featuring DM on keyboards.

WKWTTG with Chris While was superb, but choosing to follow it with "Our Bus Rolls On" (the terrible attempt at an "Angel Delight" update) killed the mood somewhat, despite being an optimistic statement of intent.

Banjo "Matty Groves" (which has surely had its 5-year lifespan ?) was next, and an emotional MOTL concluded a very decent three hour marathon, although I might've mentioned at the beginning how chilly the arena had become, causing many around us to bail for the warmth of their sleeping bags before the end.

[Albie]

Brilliant!  A couple of duff tracks, but the rest was superb, as were the guests.
RT, what a man, what a guitarist.
In contrast to previous times, very, very few seemed to be packing up early and leaving.
Three hours flew by.

[Jim]

Great.
Proper Cropredy set, the likes of which we haven't seen for many a long year.

No backsliding chaps.

[Mitch]

Agreed. I'd have happily paid my money just for Sloth, the rest was pretty much all bonus. As Albie says, the time flew by.

[Andy Tuck]

Excellent set with enough from most eras to keep us all happy and sorry I like the By the Cherwell and the Bus Rolls On. Sad bit was that as my back was so bad I had to listen to the last two hours laying down in the tent.

[Collstoke (Ian)]

Brilliant!  A couple of duff tracks, but the rest was superb, as were the guests.
RT, what a man, what a guitarist.
In contrast to previous times, very, very few seemed to be packing up early and leaving.
Three hours flew by.

My thoughts exactly

[PaulT]

I really hope that set was recorded and/or filmed.  That's one to remember for the rest of one's days. (Notwithstanding the slight misunderstanding during Sir Pat).

And the first ever crochet solo at Cropredy, I believe.

[Will S]

Brilliant set!  I watched the first hour and a bit from right down the front before my feet called me to bail (I'd been there since the start of Dougie MacLean's set), and watched the rest from higher up the field.  Loved Jude getting the knitting out in RT's solo during 'Reno, Nevada'.

Little bit of a mixup with the words in 'Sir Patrick Spens', and am I right in thinking that during 'The Hiring Fair' Simon sang that he was going to sell his neighbour?  Which would put a rather different spin on the whole song!  

I'm a little surprised that more wasn't made of Swarb's passing this year from the stage.

Great to see all the old members getting a turn, including some nice guitar from Maart.

And arranging for the shooting stars during the set was amazing too!

[mickf]

Thoroughly enjoyable set. Some personal favourites were missing from the setlist, but I'll forgive them as it must be pretty difficult to condense 50 years into 3 hours. It was a real treat to hear songs from the Judy/Iain years - and to hear 'Sloth' again was brill.

[Tony Mc]

Awesome. Didn't understand why Sally sang one her own songs, surely if the guys needed a break Maart could have just done a solo, ah well. Thought it was brilliant, and RT was amazing. One BIG GRIPE...given the significance of the event, there was a crowd of 'blokes' laughing and shouting and generally being a pain up near the back. We couldn't get any nearer with our big gang, and it was more than annoying that people who should have been in the pub paid so little respect for the band, and the other people in the field.
Personal highlights, Time will show the wiser, Crazy Man Michael, Hiring Fair, Sloth and , oddly, The Bus Keeps Rolling.

[Chris]

Tough luck, you must gave found only the second lairy group who hadn't a clue where/why they were there, except that it was a weekend in the country to get pissed at. There was another group of them by the bar, but they did keep themselves together, and it was easy to move away from them. I thought there were far fewer of that type this year, tigether with fewer children but a (lot) more dogs! One each I don't mind under control, but three on three leads just weren't controllable. Leads a-tangle!

Seriously good festival, congrats all round, prob the best in 15 years for me.

[mickf]

One particularly loud group were behind us as we were watching Plainsong. They dispersed in time for Cats in Space (and I wished they would have come back )

[Will S]

Tough luck, you must gave found only the second lairy group who hadn't a clue where/why they were there, except that it was a weekend in the country to get pissed at. There was another group of them by the bar, but they did keep themselves together, and it was easy to move away from them. I thought there were far fewer of that type this year, tigether with fewer children but a (lot) more dogs! One each I don't mind under control, but three on three leads just weren't controllable. Leads a-tangle!

Seriously good festival, congrats all round, prob the best in 15 years for me.

At the front for Fairport this year I was happy not to have had the usual drunk lads pushing to the front and then talking loudly through the set.  Instead there were four Americans to my left and 3 Germans just behind me, all of whom weer obviously taking it all in and enjoying it.  

There was one annoying guy at the front for another band who didn't like being asked to shut up by someone else, but the guy who was asked to do so during Dougie MacLean's set was remarkably compliant - enough so that the lady who'd asked him to be quiet thanked him later for doing so!

[Albie]

Awesome. Didn't understand why Sally sang one her own songs, surely if the guys needed a break Maart could have just done a solo, ah well. Thought it was brilliant, and RT was amazing. One BIG GRIPE...given the significance of the event, there was a crowd of 'blokes' laughing and shouting and generally being a pain up near the back. We couldn't get any nearer with our big gang, and it was more than annoying that people who should have been in the pub paid so little respect for the band, and the other people in the field.
Personal highlights, Time will show the wiser, Crazy Man Michael, Hiring Fair, Sloth and , oddly, The Bus Keeps Rolling.

Similar down the front the night before for RT, except that the larger group was lads and lassies. The smaller group of numpties were old enough to have known better, but didn't. I moved a bit, which is the good thing about standing, you can find a numpty-free zone.

[Jim]

I really hope that set was recorded and/or filmed.  That's one to remember for the rest of one's days. (Notwithstanding the slight misunderstanding during Sir Pat).

And the first ever crochet solo at Cropredy, I believe.

i did mean to mention Jude's knitting, we howled laughing at the perfect recreation a FC set in 67

[David V B]

In recent times, I have started to wonder if I have been falling out of love with Fairport and my affections have strayed. After that I am back in the fold. An absolute joy from beginning to end. I could pick hairs about the odd choice or omission but who cares? I haven't enjoyed Fairport so much for years.

Especially wonderful to hear the '67 set and then Richard and DM throughout. I may even be warming to some of the newer songs which seemed to feel right in the field. (I had thought Summer by the Cherwell was something PJ was glad to be shot of, but then recently it all made sense. Shopping in Tesco a woman I certainly didn't know smiled at me in a very friendly way. "Still got it" I thought and then I realised she had smiled because of the Cropredy t-shirt I was wearing. I remembered the line from the song about "smiles r cognition from people you haven't met" and realised PJ had got it tight after all.)

[Simond11]

Loved the set, very fitting for the 50th

[hendo (Dave)]

Awesome. Didn't understand why Sally sang one her own songs,

In the past the winter tour support act had a solo spot at Cropredy. That seemed to end last year.
Last years winter tour artist joined Fairports to do one of his own songs, so, possibly, the same for Sally.

[Andy]

I'm a little surprised that more wasn't made of Swarb's passing this year from the stage.

Swarb died last June and he was marked by this emotive montage last year.