Returning to Dudley Town Hall for the first time since the end of 2022 when they celebrated Peggy’s 75th birthday, Fairport Convention closed out their annual Wintour with a show that took the audience on a journey through the bands illustrious past, that began all the way back in 1967. With Fairport nudging towards their 60th anniversary, and with so many line-up changes across the years, the last thirty years have proven to be remarkably stable; Simon Nicol and Dave Pegg are still there, of course, along with Ric Sanders and Chris Leslie, with Dave Mattacks returning to the drum stool in 2023 to begin his fourth stint with the band.
The night was opened by acoustic husband and wife folk duo PLUMHALL, who provided an entertaining half an hour or so, before they were joined by the headliners for their closing number ‘One Star Awake’. This led directly into the first half of Fairport’s set, beginning with longtime opener ‘Walk Awhile’ from 1970’s classic Full House, Peggy’s first album with the band and their first since the departure of Sandy Denny. Simon then delivered a wonderful vocal on the Richard Thompson penned ‘Genesis Hall’, that goes back to 1969 and another terrific album Unhalfbricking. Other highlights of the first set included ‘Festival Ball’, Chris Leslie’s tribute to the bell of the same name that rings in St Mary’s Church in Cropredy when the festival opens its gates. They took us into the interval with the atmospheric prog folk of ‘Sloth’, the Dave Swarbrick / Richard Thompson epic that was augmented by memorable harmony vocals and Dave’s sophisticated drumming.
The second set saw more of an emphasis on the bands most recent material, with three songs from 2020’s Shuffle and Go, their last studio album to date. These were Chris’ ‘Dont Reveal My Name’ and ‘The Year of Fifity Nine’, along with Ric’s superb ‘Steampunkery’, introduced by the writer by way of his usual few minutes of stand up comedy. From then on it was back to the classics with Ralph McTell’s ‘The Hiring Fair’ offering another opportunity for Simon to shine, and then the traditional romp through ‘Matty Groves’ before it was time to ‘Meet on the Ledge’ once again. Fairport always provide a wonderful night out, and hopefully when they do reach their 60th anniversary they will be rewarded with sold out signs up and down the country.
The annual Cropredy festival returns in August, headlined by Rick Wakeman, Trevor Horn and Fairport themselves. For tickets and full line-up details head over to https://www.fairportconvention.com/
Setlist:-
Walk Away
Genesis Hall
Bankruptured
Hawkwood’s Army
Sir William Gower
The Festival Bell
Sloth
Polly on the Shore
The Happy Man
Don’t Reveal My Name
Crazy Man Michael
The Year of Fifty Nine
I’m Already There
Steampunkery
The Hiring Fair
Matty Groves
Meet on the Ledge
