Loading

Fairport Convention

Venue: Crosby Civic Hall
Town: Liverpool
Date: 23rd February
Website: http://fairportconvention.com/

It's hard to believe that this is Fairport's 45th year but it's true, they started in 1967 and they are still going strong! I must admit to being a late starter, having "only" first seen them live in 1970 and having seen them on virtually every tour since. Going to see Fairport is like going to a family reunion, not only does the audience consist of a large number of familiar faces but also the band seem to know everyone as well. As I walked into the venue, I was greeted with a handshake from none other than Mr.Dave Pegg !

Fairport have recently issued an album called "By Popular Request " which consists of new studio recordings of favourites from their 45-year back catalogue, as voted for by their fan-base. Their setlist tonight consisted of those songs plus songs from their most recent album of new material, The Festival Bell.

Firstly, we were warmly entertained by support artist, Kieran Goss. Although he is not particularly well-known in England, he is one of Ireland's top singer-songwriters and has been described as a "national treasure " by the "Irish Times. Mary Black had a number one hit in Ireland with his song "Just Around The Corner" [which he performed tonight ] and he had his own Irish hit with "The Reason Why", which he also sang tonight. The crowd appreciated his amusing banter and gentle, thoughtful songs and I am sure that he will attract a large audience when he returns to Liverpool for a solo gig in May.

As is customary at Fairport gigs, the headliners accompanied Kieran on his last song .This was [surprisingly] a cover of the Four Tops' hit "Reach Out I'll Be There ", thus creating a new genre of music: Motown-Folk-Rock! After Kieran departed the stage, Fairport launched into a stream of their "greatest hits." Hearing songs like "Sir Patrick Spens ", "Crazy Man Michael", "Walk Awhile", "Farewell, Farewell" " Genesis Hall", "Fotheringay " and "Matty Groves" transported me back 42 years to when I first saw them. However, the band are not, in any way, going through the motions, as all the songs have new arrangements and sound as fresh as they ever did and they are still an awesomely talented bunch of musicians and singers.

Great as it is to hear the "favourites", it's good that Fairport are not "living in the past" [Dave Pegg was a member of Jethro Tull !] .They played several tracks from "The Festival Bell",including the opening track, Chris Leslie's magnificent "Mercy Bay" about an ill-fated expedition to try to find Lord Franklin . Nobody writes better songs about historical events than Chris and the band's rendition was incredibly haunting. Also from that album, they played "Albert and Ted", an instrumental written by Dave Pegg and violinist Ric Sanders about their fathers who worked at the same school in Birmingham and were great buddies. Ric described it as a new fusion of Country and Rap [ known as Crap ! They also played a second Ric Sanders instrumental "Danny Jack's Reward ", something to do with a popular brand of sour-mash whiskey!

Tribute was paid to the band's former fiddle player, the great Dave Swarbrick, in two songs, Rosie [beautifully sung by Chris ] and Cell Song from the Folk-Rock-Opera "Babbacombe Lee" [ Fairport performed the entirety of this album on their 2011 tour and have recently released a live version of the album recorded on that tour].

Another key figure in Fairport's history is Ralph McTell and the band performed two of his wonderful songs, Red and Gold and The Hiring Fair, both sung beautifully by Simon Nicol.

The main set finished with Matty Groves but as is customary, the band came back on to sing their "anthem", Richard Tompson's Meet on the Ledge, for which they were joined by Keiran Goss.

That was the end of the concert but as every Fairport fan knows, that was not the end, as the band came out from backstage to meet and greet and sign autographs.

All in all, a very fine way to spend an evening, as it was back in 1970!

Peter Cowley
pictures Neil King, not shot at gig, for illustration only