Fairport Convention

[Gouty (Gary)]

I thought Fairport's 1997 Cropredy set (the 30th anniversary and the one Ashley narrated) was good, but that this year's was better because a) it wisely concentrated on the 'glory years' b) it was mostly but not strictly chronological c) it featured performances of really old songs performed by the current line-up, which not only mixed things up nicely for the audience but also involved Ric, Chris and Gerry from the start and throughout the evening and d) it featured truncated - but not necessarily inferior - versions of many songs and instrumentals, all the better to cram in as much material as possible. The result was quintessential Fairport.

Pre-festival speculation about Robert Plant's appearance - and reports that he was actually there on the day - all led to nothing, but it didn't really matter. It was Fairport's 50th, not his! (Actually, I was more let down by the no-show of Tom Farnell and his 'special' tambourine but, then, as Peggy said 'He's from Birmingham'...)

Absolutely splendid.

[David Bean]

I thought Fairport's 1997 Cropredy set (the 30th anniversary and the one Ashley narrated) was good, but that this year's was better because a) it wisely concentrated on the 'glory years' b) it was mostly but not strictly chronological c) it featured performances of really old songs performed by the current line-up, which not only mixed things up nicely for the audience but also involved Ric, Chris and Gerry from the start and throughout the evening and d) it featured truncated - but not necessarily inferior - versions of many songs and instrumentals, all the better to cram in as much material as possible. The result was quintessential Fairport.

Absolutely splendid.

Spot on!

[StephenB]

Well I think they pretty much nailed it and dealt really well with the intermixing of old and new members. All in all for me a very special and emotive musical experience. An unexpected highlight for me was Time Will Show the Wiser... Full of energy and tight as a duck's bum, and amazing to see five out of six of those original members lashing it out with such gusto and obvious love 50!! years later. Sloth with Richard blew me away, as did Rising for the Moon.

Yes there were gaffes,but if anything they made it all the more human IMHO. All of those members past and present (and suitable tributes to those passed on) brought home to me the true sense of the amazing musical family that is Fairport. I felt privileged to be there to witness such a truly special event, and I'll be buzzing for a long time..

[Will S]

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.

Yes, sorry about that. Got a little confused with my dates!

[Glen S]

The best Fairport Cropredy set I've witnessed, speaking as a relative newbie to the festival (2002).

Brilliant to see Maart on stage...The second time for me in recent weeks, having just seen Mancunia (Highly recommended!) play at the Unicorn Theatre in Abingdon...

Chris While was wonderful as ever, and the finest singer of the Sandy era songs and anything else for that matter...

Richard Thompson...Have run out of superlatives...Incredible !...

Such a privilege to witness the power of the Peggy and DM rhythm section again...

[Danny_C]

If I was to sum it up I could do no better than the comment from StephenB “I felt privileged to be there to witness such a truly special event”

This was the best set I have heard them play in a long-while if not ever in the 10 years or so I have been  regular attendee.  I doubted my back would survive the 3 hours of standing but the enjoyment of being at the front was enough to mask the pain (getting out of my chair to walk back to Field 7 30 mins later told me that it might have been a mistake however!).  Yes there were number I might have wanted to hear and Sir PS went a bit awry but overall it could not be faulted, and it brought back just how tight a unit they were back in the day.

As regards the crowd, unlike some previous years, where I was standing was full of people who actually wanted to listen and enjoy.  If however you were at the left hand side of the stage and your view was blocked by a very tall bloke swaying slightly I can only apologise as that might well have been me.

[Yorkshire Chris]

“I felt privileged to be there to witness such a truly special event”
This was the best set I have heard them play in a long-while if not ever in the 10 years or so I have been a regular attendee.

Totally agree - very special and loved every bit including Richard's joke about Simon and Sir Patrick Spens nearly surviving a shipwreck...!

[RobertD]

It was nice hearing Ballad Of Ned Kelly to represent Trevor and I loved Thompson's joke about Simon being half Irish/half Scottish.

This obviously by way of Radio Oxford's stream, of which I managed to catch about 2/3 of it

[Paul]

Excellent set, and I loved all the early stuff. Hoping for a bit of Babbacombe Lee, for two reasons. It was the first Fairport I ever heard, and my son's partner comes from Babbacombe, and hasn't heard it yet.   Apart from that, wonderful.

Thought Chris While did very well to do the impossible, and stand in for Sandy.

Paul

[DarrenWilliams]

When Simon was introducing the current line-up towards the end of the set, and said 'Dave bl00dy Pegg' - made me smile.

[Chris]

Possibly realising that the next anniversary is Peggy's, not Simon's....Peggy having had a longer single stint in FC that he has. Peggy's 50th in 3 years time (2020)

[markwood]

Hats off to Chris Leslie too, who had to do another impossible task. Where he sometimes put "twiddly bits" into the singing of some of the earlier songs these days, he sang them straight and true to the original versions on Saturday and no-one could have bettered his fiddle playing.

[Andy]

Hats off to Chris Leslie too, who had to do another impossible task. Where he sometimes put "twiddly bits" into the singing of some of the earlier songs these days, he sang them straight and true to the original versions on Saturday and no-one could have bettered his fiddle playing.

Well, Swarb might have. Chris did a mighty Swarb impression, though. And indeed, he's a very nice man.

[davidmjs]

Hats off to Chris Leslie too, who had to do another impossible task. Where he sometimes put "twiddly bits" into the singing of some of the earlier songs these days, he sang them straight and true to the original versions on Saturday and no-one could have bettered his fiddle playing.

Well, Swarb might have. Chris did a mighty Swarb impression, though. And indeed, he's a very nice man.

A very long time ago.  He hasn't had the energy for playing well with Fairport since before his first erroneous Obit.

Chris is a brilliant Swarb substitute.  It's a tragedy of immense proportions that this isn't (generally) the role he has filled.

(All imho only, of course).

[Andy]

Ric has freely admitted (in this years programme I think) that he can't "do" Swarb as well as Chris.

[Bridgwit (Bridget)]

FWIW I don't think anyone needs to "do" Swarb or be his substitute - Ric and Chris are their own musicians and put their own mark on what they're playing.

I enjoyed the FC set, particularly the very early stuff. I also thought everyone looked tense when RT was there, but relaxed when he wasn't. If you look at Chris in F of F he's grinning his head off, he wasn't Saturday night  

Would have liked Red and Gold but you can't have everything!

[davidmjs]

I enjoyed the FC set, particularly the very early stuff. I also thought everyone looked tense when RT was there, but relaxed when he wasn't. If you look at Chris in F of F he's grinning his head off, he wasn't Saturday night  

I suspect that's just concentration.  Without being disparaging, FoF are all absolutely brilliant musicians...they could do that stuff in their sleep.  He was out of his comfort zone and with a lot of responsibility on his shoulders playing the early Fairport stuff.  I don't think i'd have been that relaxed either...  

[Andy]

FWIW I don't think anyone needs to "do" Swarb or be his substitute -

Well someone needed to, on Saturday night.

[markwood]

What struck me (and I might be imagining this) was the way that Simon and RT always seem to work together with what seems like effortless ease, although they do both look to be concentrating very hard! A sign of two extraordinarily talented musicians who have worked together a lot over 50 years of course but there always seems to be some underlying "chemistry" there. I know RT has said some very complimentary things about Simon in that regard in the past, Saturday night showed why.

To me, the question that came to mind after Saturday night though is, when is the original 1967 line-up (with DM) going to record their long-awaited second album? No slight on any other Fairport incarnations intended at all but given the performance they put on (and everyone played an equally large part in it), that would or certainly could, be something VERY special indeed!

[Amethyst (Jenny)]

I knew it would be good, but I didn't expect it to be that good... it really was the best ever (since 1990).

The whole three hours went by far too quickly though, at double the length of time it would have been too short for me.

What a delight to see RT with them again, and Ashley who without whom...
Brilliant to have Maart up there again and DM, and, well, everyone...

I am still in Cropredy heaven and will be for a very long time.

It must have taken so much emotional effort on the part of everyone on stage to have made this so perfect, we forget that they are all human just like us and so huge congrats to each and everyone that gave us such a wonderful night.