Simon Says....

[davidmjs]

I do wonder if it’s time for Cropredy to come to an end, and the band does a much smaller summer event focusing on them and associated friends/acts, similar to what Show of Hands do at Abbotsbury…

What, you mean like Cropredy was?  

I suspect a new venue though would probably assist in drawing a line and starting anew and reframing what this new event was (rather than seeing it as a 'lesser' Cropredy)

[hendo (Dave)]

I am wary of posting here as I haven’t been a Cropredy regular since2016 but there were almost 30 Cropredies before that.
I could reiterate views here , aging demographic ,a lineup that doesn’t appeal to a wider demographic etc
BUT…..
there is a wider argument.
The way people consume music and I use the word deliberately, is changing.
I look at the numbers going to Costa Fests, that older demographic watching the same bands in the warmth of hotel in a Ibiza etc ,( yes I know it rained this year) …or watching Show of  Hands and Richard Thompson on a river cruise!
Venues are closing , people aren’t risking money on unknown acts . I play at and attend a lot of venues and I feel music is going underground again , music fans creating small venues and finding a niche….Temperance Bar in Leamington Spa is a great example.
Festivals are becoming more boutique …….(!)
This year I will again attend Warwick Folk Fest , lovely setting , gigs in marquees , a line up that appeals.
Sadly it’s same weekend as Cambridge . Cambridge is interesting in that last yr they tried to appeal to a younger audience, hip hop on the main stage, ditching some of the folk tents but this yr they are back to being a Folk Fest.
I am also going to Between  the Trees , nr Bridgend, 1000 people, probably all considerably younger than me, a couple of acts I know and an awful,lot I don’t, cos that’s what appeals to me these days.
Sorry, I don’t want to see Digance , Tony Christie, Wakeman, Buggles, Focus, Feast of Fiddles  again,or Fairports  doing their concert set. Seen that. Ranagri are playing so they may support Christie. I saw them at NFFF a few yrs ago. They were good , he was awful……imho…..but if you do want to sing Amarillo in a field…..people may even stand up…..😇😳🤣🤦‍♀️
Fairports and Cropredy have been a hugely important part of my life. Friends and music I love.
I stood on the field with my best male mate , sometime in the early 2000’s, watching Fairports . ‘ They’re playing well ‘, I said. ‘ Yes’, he said. Simple as that. We had gone to see Fairports. As we had for far too many years. We sprinkled his ( Gareth’s)/ashes on the field in 2012 during MOTL
When Gareth died, his widow gave me his Cropredy Farewell Concert Poster from outside the Brase in 1979. It hangs in our ‘snug’ next to a Fairport Poster with Swarb on it..Tempis Fugit …but that memory……and a thousand others …..will do.
Onwards to whatever music may be around the next corner…..

[hendo (Dave)]

I do wonder if it’s time for Cropredy to come to an end, and the band does a much smaller summer event focusing on them and associated friends/acts, similar to what Show of Hands do at Abbotsbury…

What, you mean like Cropredy was?  

I suspect a new venue though would probably assist in drawing a line and starting anew and reframing what this new event was (rather than seeing it as a 'lesser' Cropredy)

I think the Brase is almost doing that. I’m not sure what will happen with parking if people just drive to the Brase for a day but a lineup that has a Jon Palmer Acoustic Band and Steve Knightlys new band on it , appeals…..You can get in with a Cropredy wristband but ticket holders will take precedence……

[hendo (Dave)]

I also feel the main problem this year is the underwhelming lineup.
I will be there because it is Cropredy after all, but if I saw this prog yawnfest at any other festival I would definitely be giving it a wide berth!

You’re a mate Bill , so I can do this.
So you’re not really going to a fest. You’re going to afield to meet up with some mates and it doesn’t matter if there’s music on or not……?

[hendo (Dave)]

Are that older aging demographic , who do not want to be cold and wet in a field anymore, not doing things like this……
https://www.harmonyvoyages.co.uk/danube-river-cruise-with-fairport-convention-and-anna-ryder/

[Adam]

Are that older aging demographic , who do not want to be cold and wet in a field anymore, not doing things like this……
https://www.harmonyvoyages.co.uk/danube-river-cruise-with-fairport-convention-and-anna-ryder/

Sold out! I must say, it does rather appeal to me….

[Poor Will (Bill)]

I also feel the main problem this year is the underwhelming lineup.
I will be there because it is Cropredy after all, but if I saw this prog yawnfest at any other festival I would definitely be giving it a wide berth!

You’re a mate Bill , so I can do this.
So you’re not really going to a fest. You’re going to afield to meet up with some mates and it doesn’t matter if there’s music on or not……?

The music still plays a large part and there is much that I will enjoy, it’s just some of the headliners leave me a bit cold, but then the festival is not about pleasing me and I know there are  many who are more than happy with the lineup.
As for the meeting friends bit, that is a massive draw for me. There are many who we only see at this one festival and there is nothing that will ever match that Meet On The Ledge moment on the Saturday night.
Talking of friends, it’s been far too long since we saw your good self!

[hendo (Dave)]

I also feel the main problem this year is the underwhelming lineup.
I will be there because it is Cropredy after all, but if I saw this prog yawnfest at any other festival I would definitely be giving it a wide berth!

You’re a mate Bill , so I can do this.
So you’re not really going to a fest. You’re going to afield to meet up with some mates and it doesn’t matter if there’s music on or not……?

The music still plays a large part and there is much that I will enjoy, it’s just some of the headliners leave me a bit cold, but then the festival is not about pleasing me and I know there are  many who are more than happy with the lineup.
As for the meeting friends bit, that is a massive draw for me. There are many who we only see at this one festival and there is nothing that will ever match that Meet On The Ledge moment on the Saturday night.
Talking of friends, it’s been far too long since we saw your good self!

My tongue was in my cheek Bill. I fancy Friday but as you say headliners don’t attract me…..quite simply I’ve seen them before!   and I always tended to go with a group of friends rather than meet people at the fest. That group is now sadly depleted.

[hendo (Dave)]

Only been to the one so I really can't do a deep analysis. But the analysis above is probably very fair, but I wonder if the band would be damned if they went too far in the other direction-only booking acts guaranteed to bring a youth movement in, to get grumbles from people who like their music of a certain vintage. That doesn't apply to the people on this forum I hasten to add. Here is a diverse range of music fans, but using people from my own age bracket as a sampler, most would not be a fan of newer music in general. The new album from an estabilished artist, yes. But a group 2 or 3 albums in...not so sure. I fear the other aspect is that Simon's famous quote about why shouldn't there be a Fairport in 50 or 60 years from now has never happened either, so the steady as she goes approach (much as I like it musically) is not going to shake things up.

The day it tried to adapt to appeal to a very young demographic, it wouldn't be Cropredy any more.

It did appeal to a younger demographic. I was 27 at the first  Cropredy. I’m 72 now . It’s just that younger demographic has aged with the band.,

[Lubiloo (Lorna)]

Only been to the one so I really can't do a deep analysis. But the analysis above is probably very fair, but I wonder if the band would be damned if they went too far in the other direction-only booking acts guaranteed to bring a youth movement in, to get grumbles from people who like their music of a certain vintage. That doesn't apply to the people on this forum I hasten to add. Here is a diverse range of music fans, but using people from my own age bracket as a sampler, most would not be a fan of newer music in general. The new album from an estabilished artist, yes. But a group 2 or 3 albums in...not so sure. I fear the other aspect is that Simon's famous quote about why shouldn't there be a Fairport in 50 or 60 years from now has never happened either, so the steady as she goes approach (much as I like it musically) is not going to shake things up.

The day it tried to adapt to appeal to a very young demographic, it wouldn't be Cropredy any more.

It did appeal to a younger demographic. I was 27 at the first  Cropredy. I’m 72 now . It’s just that younger demographic has aged with the band.,

Absolutely…I was about 30ish when I first went. It was very much smaller and everyone sat on blankets…We couldn’t manage that now, not all weekend, for sure! The trouble is, as I mentioned before sometime, Cropredy might not give many of today’s younger people what they want, in terms of cool stuff to post on Insta!

There are many more trendy festivals around, so many festivals have popped up since those days it’s a bit of a saturated market and I guess artists can take their pick of the most luctrative.

[hendo (Dave)]

A slight aside but Cambridge Folk Fest are  also advertising hard, I was messaged today. Perhaps it’s the larger fests that are hardest hit……

[GubGub (Al)]

I offer myself up as an example of the problem they face. When I first went to Cropedy I was in my 20s. I was was working, had a healthy disposable income was fit, adventurous and enthusiastic. My main emotion was excitement. And that was sustained for about 25 years

Now I am in my 60s. My pension will not really stretch to the ticket cost. My knees ache. My back aches. I have various other health niggles. I don't want to crawl around on the ground or sit in a big field in a rainstorm without shelter with 15,000 other people. It all seems like an ordeal when there are much more accessible and manageable alternatives. My main emotion is foreboding.

I suspect I am not alone

[andrew c]

You do what is best for you. I'm in my 60s and in pretty good health and still looking forward to camping for the festival. Bought my tickets as usual before the line up was revealed but this year has got to be the first year in ages when I've been so disappointed with headliners and sub headliners. Just think the organisers for whatever reasons have not put together a line up that's going to help ticket sales. i hope I'm proved wrong, I really do for the sake of all involved.

[Jim]

I got bored with FC themselves who didn't seem to be putting much effort into the Cropredy sets for the last few years. It started the year they ran out of material with about 15 minutes to go.   The Saturday sets became the winter tour with a guest or two thrown in and not a lot of spontenaity..  The other thing is due to my feet and knees I can't do standing gigs, never mind 3 days in a field in all weathers, anymore.  I miss seeing the friends but, at 71, not the pain.
     Festivals carried on happily without me before I went to Cropredy for the first time in 1997, I hope it managed to carry on, probably changed somewhat without me.

[steve-n]

I offer myself up as an example of the problem they face. When I first went to Cropedy I was in my 20s. I was was working, had a healthy disposable income was fit, adventurous and enthusiastic. My main emotion was excitement. And that was sustained for about 25 years

Now I am in my 60s. My pension will not really stretch to the ticket cost. My knees ache. My back aches. I have various other health niggles. I don't want to crawl around on the ground or sit in a big field in a rainstorm without shelter with 15,000 other people. It all seems like an ordeal when there are much more accessible and manageable alternatives. My main emotion is foreboding.

I suspect I am not alone

You are not alone..😉
Pretty much sums up a similar situation here, albeit tinged with a hint of sadness......

[Shane (Skirky)]

And another thing….
Much as I love the occasion, there is an opportunity to sit back in your own armchair, raise a glass to absent friends and listen to the whole thing live online on Radio Oxford who - for all their perceived shortcomings - comprehensively cover the event without the need to pack up a tent the day after. This is working on the assumption that this will be a thing this year.

[Dubai Danny]

I hate to say it, but even if it could be guaranteed that the Cropredy weekend would have fantastic weather, the lineup doesn't make the considerable expense worth it for us.

And if, as appears to be the case, tickets just aren't selling in the numbers needed, a decent weather forecast might just make the difference in terms of last-minute ditherers/walk-ups.

On a wider note, it's been stated before that Cropredy is the engine of the band, providing the financial backing that supports them through the rest of the year. If it turns out that the festival just can't continue, what happens to FC?

[Amethyst (Jenny)]

PLEASE EVERYONE …

Buy your tix this year so that we can all be there again next year!

The thought of losing Cropredy is horrifying!!

😥😥😥

[JJ (Joanna)]

I got bored with FC themselves who didn't seem to be putting much effort into the Cropredy sets for the last few years. It started the year they ran out of material with about 15 minutes to go.   The Saturday sets became the winter tour with a guest or two thrown in and not a lot of spontenaity..  The other thing is due to my feet and knees I can't do standing gigs, never mind 3 days in a field in all weathers, anymore.  I miss seeing the friends but, at 71, not the pain.
     Festivals carried on happily without me before I went to Cropredy for the first time in 1997, I hope it managed to carry on, probably changed somewhat without me.

Jim you've said it word for word for me. Haven't been now for 10 years, the line up just doesn't appeal, it's such a lot of money we can have a weeks holiday for that!

I love and cherish the good times and line ups we enjoyed as a family.

[hendo (Dave)]

PLEASE EVERYONE …

Buy your tix this year so that we can all be there again next year!

The thought of losing Cropredy is horrifying!!

😥😥😥

Hi Jenny , at the risk of sounding like a Trump supporter MCGA , ( make Cropredy great again!) there have been some very interesting comments on here re people’s feelings about Cropredy.
We all have our fave times for different reasons.
I had a big gap between early 80’s and mid 90s .
95, I had met Sheena and we did our first Cropredy together, in the awning of a friends caravan ! Caravan field!
96 , we were sitting in a local pub , our backs to a couple and I heard the words Fairport. I turned round and we chatted music for 1.5 hours . They became very firm friends. From then on we were part of 18 people ( it varied) who travelled in convoy from S Leics to field 2. Special times. Friendships . 2 day fest so Thurs was spent in the village. Trad lunchtime pint on the  gravestones by Red Lion , quiz from the Canal club . Camped in a circle in field 2 , gazebos, village hall tables, candelabra, white picket fence , gnomes!
People were kidnapped and forced to drink wine if they invaded our space, some stayed for hours!!!!!!
These were the days when the fest was stewarded by volunteers ……you could wander on and off main field before it opened. I stood with 30 others watching RT sound check whilst he asked what we wanted to hear……30 mins of Vincent , Beeswing  etc.
So of course the fest changed when Peggy and Christine split, when it became a 3 day fest, when pro security  arrived and when the Thurs night headliner became more important than Fairports. We went cos it was Fairports Fest.
Yes of course I’m an old f**t , wallowing in nostalgia but they were halcyon days. Many of those friends have gone, aged, moved, died.Travelling and being with those friends, listening to music, some new to me, were special times. I thought Cropredy would always be important but as has been said, people, tastes and fests change.
My Cropredy went a long time ago. 2012 ,Sheena didn’t want to sit in seried ranks , we had lost friends , other fests called. Lamar Tree, Folk in a Field, Ely, NFFF, Langdale, Festiva on  the Edge, Warwick, camebridge, Magpies……. I came to Cropredy  on my own for a few years .camped opposite Bridge stores. Made new friends….
I saw Fairports tour last yr when Mattacks had put them on good form …
So, I hope it happens. I hope you have a wonderful time.
With real affection for the past and the fest…