Keeping with tradition, Fairport Convention closed out their touring activity for the year with a run of acoustic shows, ending up here at the lovely Regal Theatre in the small Worcestershire town of Tenbury Wells. This current run featured the core quartet of Simon Nicol, Dave Pegg, Ric Sanders and Chris Leslie and, with the absence of a drummer and the band remaining seated throughout, it all made for a very intimate setting. And while all of the Fairport staples were present, there were several tweaks to the setlist from the shows earlier in the year to keep things interesting for both band and audience.
The Regal Theatre is blessed with excellent acoustics, each instrument and voice sounding crystal clear, and they began with the customary ‘Walk Awhile’. The show was a blend of songs from the bands long and distant past such as the Thompson-Swarbrick penned ‘Now Be Thankful’, more recent efforts from Chris in the form of ‘I’m Already There’ and ‘Banbury Fair’, and several covers that included Ralph McTell’s historical epics ‘Around the Wild Cape Horn’ and ‘Red and Gold’. Although he has been a bit under the weather during this tour, Ric still drew plenty of laughs and groans from the audience with his usual dreadful puns and jokes during his introduction to ‘The Rose Hip’. And throughout the evening there was the usual wonderful interplay between Ric and Chris, with Simon in excellent voice and Peggy treating us to his full repertoire of face and hand gestures to accompany the lyrics.
The second set featured more top-notch songwriting from Chris, including his jaunty Sci-Fi inspired opus ‘The Year of Fifty-Nine’ that took us back to a UFO sighting over Banbury more than sixty years ago. Simon led the band into a cover of James Taylor’s ‘The Frozen Man’, a song Fairport have played live infrequently over the years but has returned to the set list in recent times. Peggy led the band through his quirky instrumental ‘Bankruptured’, and Simon paid a moving tribute to Sandy Denny with the wonderful ‘Who Knows Where the Time Goes’. The evergreen ‘Matty Groves’ and heartfelt ‘Meet on the Ledge’ rounded off what was a terrific evening of the highest quality folk music performed by some of the very best musicians around. Next years sees a couple of milestones with Fairport marking their 60th anniversary with celebratory shows in May, that includes a date at Birmingham Town Hall. Then, at the end of the year, Dudley Town Hall will host Peggy’s 80th birthday party with a line-up of special guests to be announced. Tickets for both and shows and more are now on sale, for the full information on Fairport’s activities in 2027 head over to https://www.fairportconvention.com/
Set 1:
Walk Awhile
The Happy Man
Now Be Thankful
Slip Jigs and Reels
The Rose Hip
I’m Already There
Around the Wild Cape Horn
Banbury Fair
Red and Gold
Set 2:
Over the Lancashire Hills
The Year of Fifty Nine
Fotheringay
Bankruptured
My Love Is in America
The Frozen Man
John Gaudie
Who Knows Where the Time Goes?
Matty Groves
Encore:
Happy Birthday to You
Meet on the Ledge
