If you haven’t yet had your annual Winter Fairport fix or feel that a single serving of Fairport with Plumhall isn’t quite enough to satisfy your folk-rock cravings, then despair not. There’s still time to slot in a show. But hurry – time is running out fast. The Fairport Convention Wintour 2024 ends on Sunday 10th March and tickets are still available for their shows in Wrexham, Brecon , Tewkesbury and Dudley (check here for details).

We caught up with the tour at Harrogate Theatre on 1st March and The Playhouse, Stratford upon Avon on 3rd March.

Fairport’s Wintour 2024 has been a memorable affair. With Dave Mattacks back on the drumstool, a host of genuine surprises and deeper cuts in the setlist and the wonderful Plumhall around to open the shows. Even when Fairport were faced with the challenge of having to take to the field a man short after Simon Nicol succumbed to the dreaded COVID on the night of their Southend show, they came through with flying colours and now, as the tour eases towards its conclusion, the operation is working like a well-oiled machine, albeit one that makes some pretty marvelous sounds…

We’ve already brought you the stories of what happened when the tour party visited Southend, Liverpool and Manchester and, to round off our courtship with this year’s tour, we popped along to Harrogate and Stratford Upon Avon to have another look and listen. Having already divulged the musical treats in store at the shows, here are a few random observations of nights in Harrogate and Stratford with Plumhall and Fairport.

Not just in town for the show – Harrogate offers multple delights and a favourite record shop – Evil Eye – with a particularly outstanding collection of Prog goodies just arrived in stock. Money and goods were exchanged. They even knew of Fairport – remembering the “female singer” of yore. Hugely recommended and an essential stop off when in town.

The Harrogate Theatre itself boasts a varied and impressive bill and remains one of those classic – yes, old fashioned – venues that must be a treat for bands to play. “I hope you come here when we’re not on,” laughs Simon Nicol. The songs remain resolutely the same with much engagement from the row in front that contains the other halves of Messers Nicol and Leslie and there’s a strong turnout from the Plumhall appreciation society and FC author Nigel Schofield is in the house. Phone lights are swaying as we reach Meet On The Ledge (meet ont’ ledge maybe in these parts?) and a realization that the next FC encounter (bar Stratford) will be in a field in the sun(!) come early August.

Stratford Playhouse probably isn’t the most famous theatre in the town – the honour is jealously guarded by the Upstart Crow place, down on the riverside – but it’s a pleasant venue, compact and intimate. The perfect location, in fact, for a Sunday evening in the company of a favourite musical ensemble.

We owe Plumhall an apology. In the first draft of our review of their opening spot at the Southend show, we suggested that the husband and wife duo hail from the city of Hull. The reason why is now lost in the mists of time. But to clarify matters: Michelle and Nick aren’t from Hull, they’re from Bierley in West Yorkshire, a small town to the south-east of Bradford. Sorry for the confusion…

What more important is that they sound wonderful; their voices combine deliciously, Michelle’s harmonies are heavenly and, in case you haven’t noticed yet, Nick is pretty handy on that guitar of his, especially when he cuts loose on one of his raga-like solos, as previously observed during the Uniondale showpiece. Their songs sound as fresh now as they did during the early days of the tour, with Nick continuing to bring a touch of local colour to the proceedings. The new album, One Star Awake, is a corker. Check it out or, better still, pick one up from their merch stand at one of the remaining shows on the tour.

Fairport remain the sartorial avatars they’ve always been, with Peggy in a dapper checked suit, Simon tonight in a vivid green checked shirt and Ric in his Pretty Damn Cosmic tee shirt and signature baggy strides, but it’s the music, rather than the catwalk, that brings us here. There’s been a thorough overhaul to the set, with strong songs like Hawkwood’s Army, I’m Already There (Chris’s tale of the Franklin brothers from Banbury separated by their contrasting desire for adventure) and Genesis Hall (still a struggle to believe that Richard Thompson was only 19 when he wrote it) all making welcome returns to the live stage. Perhaps the biggest – and most welcome – surprise this time around has been the resurrection of Sir William Gower from the oft-overlooked Angel Delight album. According to Simon, it’s a song that hadn’t been performed live for over 50 years and they’ve made a grand job of refurbishing it.

While several Shuffle And Go songs can’t be squeezed it,the current setlist still retains such solid-gold gems as Sloth (which gets better with every rendition), Crazy Man Michael, Year Of ’59 and The Hiring Fair. When your canon is as fully-loaded as Fairport’s is, disappointments are inevitable but the potential to surprise and delight is limitless.

The reintroduced material may be around for a while longer now the songs have been rediscovered and, if the set that has been polished during this tour is to form the framework for Fairport’s Cropredy set, then we’re all in for a special evening on Saturday 12th August.

This being a Fairport show, the quips and one-liners were fired out almost as quickly as the songs. Simon’s suggestion that Peggy’s unbroken 54 years of service on the bass demonstrated a stability that’s seldom emulated in Westminster caused a few heads to nod knowingly and his riposte to Peggy’s observation of Stratford’s proximity to the ‘celestial city of Birmingham’ (“Yet so very, very, different…”) raised a chuckle. Particularly amusing was Simon’s observation that the members of Fairport were: “In our 20s in the 70s, and now we’re in our 70s in the 20s.” Well spotted! But Simon raised perhaps the biggest laugh – outside of Ric’s standup spot, when he observed that, despite Chris Leslie’s vaunted ability to sing, play and morris dance all at the same time, men can only usually multi-task by “dying in their sleep.”

It’s been another great Fairport WinTour, and the year has, of course, only just begun. All seems to be set fair for another wonderful Cropredy; we’ll be there – make sure you are, too.

And it’s worth mentioning, for anyone who may not be aware, that Fairport have a new CD available, featuring live recordings made during their October 2023 tour. 17 tracks – more or less the complete Autumn tour set recorded at different locations – and the sound quality is spot-on. For Fairport completists, it’s unmissable and for those who may have popped along to a show out of curiosity, it’s a wonderful souvenir of Fairport at a specific point in time. So far, the CD has only been available at the shows, so if you haven’t got yours yet, that’s another reason to get along to a gig before the tour ends…

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