The next in our series of multi-part previews 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. To read part three, click here.

EDDI READER (SPOTIFY / APPLE MUSIC)

By our reckoning, 2024 will mark the 4th appearance of the former (and now, happily, the once-again current) Fairground Attraction vocalist on the Cropredy stage. Her last showing was back in 2002; it’s been far too long…

The last time she was here, Eddi, ably assisted by long-term accomplice Boo Hewerdine, treated us to a blissful hour or so on a sunny Saturday afternoon, with a set that, as well as featuring a selection of songs from her then-current Simple Soul album also included a spine-tingling version of the Fairground Attraction no.1 hit, Perfect. Eddi hasn’t been idle these past 22 years – she’s released half a dozen albums, including her genre-defining Eddi Reader Sings the Songs of Robert Burns, an album that, as well as contributing to a resurgence in interest (and not just amongst the Scottish population) in Scotland’s National Bard, also saw Eddi being awarded an MBE in the 2006 New Year’s Honours List.

Now comes the news that Fairground Attraction have reformed and will be touring Japan and the UK this year. Will this latest development have any influence on what Eddi performs at Cropredy, we wonder? Whether it does or doesn’t, one thing is for sure: come 7pm on Saturday 10th August, Eddi’s heart warming voice will, once again, be resonating around the Home Farm field. It’s great to see her back!

The speed of festival casualties in 2024 shows no sign of slowing. We are witnessing the steady erosion of one of the UK’s most successful and culturally significant industries not because of a lack of demand from the public but because of unpredictable, unsustainable supply chain costs and market fluctuations,.

Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) CEO John Rostron

SPOOKY MEN’S CHORALE (SPOTIFY / APPLE MUSIC)

The Spooky Men have the job of bridging the gap between Big Big Train and the Friday night headliner Trevor Horn. A big big spot to fill but the ” vast, rumbling, steam powered and black clad behemoth, seemingly accidentally capable of rendering audiences moist eyed with mute appreciation or haplessly gurgling with merriment.” They have a run of touring through July and into August so should be in gig fit condition.

Expect a set that does what it says on the tin: Men. Singing songs. Some of them funny. Theirs is a combo of musical and theatrical values with themes that include Georgian male polyphony, a running joke on man as a vast, oblivious useless object, whispers of clown, bouffon and Monty Python which are likely to makes us laugh as well as cry into our facial hair. Also expect pin drop beautiful ballads, highly inappropriate covers, and immaculate man anthems like their legendary singalong moment – “Don’t stand between a a man and his tool.” All very manly stuff.

These are very hard times for the UK festival industry. In 2023, thirty-six smaller events were either cancelled or endured financial collapse. We’ve stewarded Cropredy for the thick end of fifty years so we feel the crashing disappointment and pain of our fellow organisers.

Simon Nicol, April 2024.

FEAST OF FIDDLES (SPOTIFY / APPLE MUSIC)

And talking of filling a spot, Feast Of Fiddles will be the first act on stage after the festival is opened by the traditional Fairport acoustic welcome. In this position in 2023, Merry Hell caused some ructions (of a good kind) and Feast Of Fiddles are surely armed with the same sort of musical armory to do a similar job. It also sees fiddler Simon Swarbrick in the same place same time but a year apart with his presence in the ranks. Their tag of ‘a musical extravaganza’ is exactly what’s required from the big band that has featured former Steeleye man and Gigspanner’s own Peter Knight, Phil Beer from Show Of Hands, and includes all manner of musical connections that would form a highly tangled web.

Their touring line up form the Spring tour of 2024 was announced (in full Trumpton – Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew style…) as Blakeley, Cutler, Crabtree, Fleetwood, Harding, Leary, Mattacks, McNeill, Swarbrick and Vincent. However, expect to see Chris Leslie joining the gang and with Dave Mattacks, there maybe no real need to leave the stage, the FC set a mere warm up for what promises to be a frantic set that celebrates not only their fourth appearance at Crop but also their own 30th anniversary!

That’s 12 acts that we have so far featured on the 2024 Cropredy bill.

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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