We continue our multi-part preview to Fairport’s Cropredy Convention 2024 as we look at three more acts on the bill.

We are huge supporters of Fairport’s Cropredy Convention. The annual event is one of the great British festivals. There are many reasons why this is so. To get a flavour of the festival, check out our reasons why it is one of the best, here.

The festival has been taking place for the best part of 50 years and we hope that there are many years of life left in the old feller yet. One thing’s for certain, as long as there is a Cropredy Festival, At The Barrier will be there to absorb, report and – most importantly, enjoy the event. It’s a musical highlight of the year.

However, with the constraints of the world being felt, the UK festival industry is finding life tough. The expenses involved in organising and running a festival are vast and many festivals have sadly folded. Fairport Convention haven’t had to do this, and they won’t – provided that they continue to attract lovers of great music in sufficient numbers.

Fairport co-founder, Simon Nicol, recently shared a message about the potential plight of Fairport’s Cropredy Convention in the future. You can read the full message here. Please take the time to read his vital message.

Here, we will take a look at some of the artists who will be treading the boards at ‘The Friendliest Music Festival in the Country’. In the meantime, look out for more previews from us in the build up to the festival. To secure your ticket, you can click here.

Next up, we put three more acts in the spotlight. You can read part one of our preview here and part two is here.

THE TREVOR HORN BAND (SPOTIFY / APPLE MUSIC)

Trevor Horn is becoming somewhat of a regular at Fairport’s Cropredy Convention. After a turn in 2017 that went down incredibly, The Trevor Horn Band retuned to headline in 2022. In 2024, Horn and his band will take the top slot again on the Friday night at this years event.

Boasting a musical CV bursting at the seems, Trevor Horn builds his set with songs that he has been involved in, be it writing, performing, producing etc. When you look at what his setlists could be, every single track points to one of the biggest jukeboxes known to all.

Yes, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, The Buggles, Paul McCartney, Grace Jones, Seal, Rod Stewart, The Pretenders, ABC, Eddi Reader, John Legend, LeAnn Rimes, Pet Shop Boys, Robbie Williams…the list is huge. You can bet your bottom dollar that after a day in the sunshine (all being well), The Trevor Horn Band will bring the good times. Expect Relax, Kiss From A Rose, Can’t Fight The Moonlight, Video Killed The Radio Star, Slave To The Rhythm…and that’s just for a start.

There might be a choice special guest or two as well. Horn regularly invites gests to come and sing with the band. Seal, Grace Jones and Robbie Williams have all been known to perform with The Trevor Horn Band. You’ll have to be there to see what transpires.

What gives this set a little more edge this year is that Trevor Horn released a new album in 2023. It contained reworkings of some of the songs you associate with him. There are different vocalists including Rick Astley doing ‘Owner’ and Toyah and Robert Fripp helping take on Relax. One of the highlights of the album is Horn’s take on the Kendrick Lamar track Swimming Pool (Drank). What’s more, Tori Amos delivers a stunning vocal atop the melody and lush strings. This could be a real showstopper.

Cropredy is only for three days, and in this currently grim world it is even more important for us, as peace loving people who love music, to meet in that field to send some love into the world.

Gerry Conway on his memories of Cropredy, July 2022.

RICHARD DIGANCE (SPOTIFY / APPLE MUSIC)

As usual, the dry humour filled spot and ‘bring your hanky’ moment that is very much a part of the annual Richard Digance set, will bring a sunny start to the Saturday show (even if its chucking it down!) Richard has the gift of finding humour in everyday life and marrying it with pertinent observations which can resonate with your social conscience too.

The final day of Cropredy isn’t the same without Richard’s opening spot. Even when he couldn’t attend in 2022, the traditional Morris still happened.  His jaunty songs will have the huge crowd singing along and even though the future of festivals like Cropredy is causing concern there will still be a rousing rendition of What’s The Use of Worrying? Again, we will be looking forward to hearing how Richard’s ruminations on the world have been worked into new songs.

It was such an amazing feeling. My biggest emotions were of love and gratitude… The vibe from the crowd was so warm and positive. Here we all were again, back where we belonged, celebrating music.

Chris Leslie on returning to Cropredy post-COVID, January 2023 (ATB’s Full House Interview)

KATHRYN TICKELL & THE DARKENING (SPOTIFY / APPLE MUSIC)

Kathryn Tickell, perhaps the greatest living exponent of the Northumbrian Pipes makes a welcome return to Cropredy for her first appearance since 1995. She’s a fiddler too and, this year, she’s making her first Cropredy appearance for 29 years.

Kathryn Tickell took the UK folk establishment by storm when, in 1984, aged just 17, she released her debut album – On Kielder Side – to vast and universal acclaim. Things got even better a couple of years later when her follow-up album, Borderlands (1986), swept everything before it, hitting the Folk Roots chart immediately after its release and remaining there for over a year. Since then, Kathryn has become a national institution, a multiple award winner with around 20 albums credited to her and to her her various projects.

In 2015 her contribution to music was recognised with an OBE and her music continues to garner glowing reviews whenever she performs. She’s been described as “The Madonna of the Northumbrian pipes” and – she might not appreciating us mentioning it – but she even appeared as a guest star in a Viz Comic photo strip back in 1988!

Her Thursday evening Cropredy appearance, accompanied by her band, The Darkening, promises to be one of the weekend’s highlights. Make sure that you’re in your favourite spot in the field and ready to enjoy it!

Cropredy is a great festival for us to introduce to our audience, young acts that they may not be familiar with. We are always on the look out and when we see performers that we enjoy and therefore our audience might we do our best to get them on the Bill. Thumping Tommy’s who we saw at Costa del Folk fitted this category perfectly and gained lots of new fans as a result.

Dave Pegg on artists gaining new fans at Cropredy, January 2023. (ATB’s Full House Interview)

That’s three more. Three acts we can’t wait to see at Fairport’s Cropredy Convention. For a great weekend of music, fun, revelry, community and guaranteed good times, you can get your ticket here. If you are a first timer and wondering what it is like at the festival, check out our First Timer’s Guide written by Fairport Convention themselves! You can find that here.

Check out our Spotify playlist of artists appearing at Fairport’s Cropredy Convention below.

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