Fairport Convention’s 2025 Wintour is now well underway. The Fairport entourage is wending its way around the country. We made the first of our several visits when we caught up with them in Worthing.

Fairport Convention / Danny Bradley – The Connaught, Worthing – Sunday 9th February 2025

SOMETHING VERY, VERY SPECIAL IN STORE…

We’ve been waiting for this. As we’ve already noted, the advent of Fairport Convention’s Winter Tour is a sure-fire indicator that the New year is up and running, Spring is on its way and the road that leads to Cropredy is open for business. After the hints and rumours we’ve been hearing, we’ve been particularly eager to see what delights Fairport have been brewing for us for this tour. Dave Mattacks has flown in from the US, so a full-force Fairport gale is guaranteed. The finger-slick reputation of this year’s special guest, guitarist and songwriter Danny Bradley, has created an advance wave of interest. But what other treats did our Fairport friends have in store for us?

Something very, very special, as it happens…

HISTORY

Like many other Fairport die-hards of a certain age, listening to their 1972 compilation album, History Of Fairport Convention was an album that I would play repeatedly. Usually whilst poring over the Pete Frame family tree on the album cover and browsing John Wood’s track-by-track notes in the inlayed booklet. Planning for the day when I would be the proud owner of my own full house of Fairport albums.

The only problem with the History… album is that it covered the period only up until 1972 when, as we all now know, the Fairport story was only just beginning. The good news is that, with the setlist that Fairport have chosen for this year’s Wintour, the History of Fairport Convention has been rewritten and thoroughly updated. Prepare for an inspired selection of oldies, goldies, recent gems and partially buried deep-cuts. This year’s show is a doozie!

DANNY BRADLEY

Every year we say it. Fairport Convention have an unfailing knack of selecting amazing (often) young performers to open their Winter Tour shows. Look back over recent itineraries and you’ll see names like Plumhall, Hannah Sanders & Ben Savage, Smith and Brewer, The 4 of Us and Winter Wilson occupying that coveted ‘support’ slot. Quality acts all. This year’s opening act, Danny Bradley, carries on that tradition with distinction. Danny’s reputation as a guitarist with magical fingertips, an accomplished songwriter and a vocalist of quality have preceded him. It was great to finally get to see what all the fuss was about.

That advance reputation is more than justified. Danny’s fingerpicking guitar style is mesmirising. His fingers cover every inch of the instrument’s fretboard and he makes imaginative use of harmonics. But it’s not done for the sake of being flash. His songs have real substance, he sings them beautifully and the guitar playing holds them together. Danny Bradley is a performer of real talent and I’m sure that we’ll hearing much, much more about him over the coming months and years.

A SURREAL PLEASURE

He kicked off with a captivating version of Paul Simon’s Rewite before shifting the focus to his own material, particularly to his new, hot-off-the-press (literally) album, Small Talk Songs. All Over the Floor, his recollections of busking in Liverpool for the early-morning returnees from stag and hen parties in Liverpool was followed by Timothy Carlisle. He sang beautifully and he played his guitar with such seemingly effortless grace. “It’s a surreal pleasure to be on this bill,” he quipped. “It’s the first time that I’ve been on a bill with anyone that my dad knows…,” he added, before bringing a dose of fiery passion to another of his songs, the appropriately-titled I Know Fire.

Danny’s awesome voice had the audience spellbound during the a capella Cavan Girl, before he once again showed us all just what he’s capable of on that guitar of his as he went straight into the traditional tune, Maid Behind The Bar. And Fairport Wintour regulars will be well aware of another tradition. The one that sees the final song from their opening act become the opening song of Fairport’s set. True to form, Danny was joined by the Fairport chaps to close his short set with the slow-building I’m Gone, I’m Gone, another song from that new album of his.

Keep an eye out for Danny Bradley. This boy should go far. And, watch these pages for a review of Small Talk Songs – coming soon…

FAIRPORT PART ONE: DEEP CUTS AND NEW LYRICS

The treats and surprises were there right from the outset as Fairport kicked off their set. NOT with Walk Awhile, but with a stunning reworked/reworded version of Come All Ye. The Liege And Lief opening track that, arguably, got the whole ‘English folk/rock‘ idea off the ground in the first place, way back in 1969. Original co-writer Ashley Hutchings will surely approve Chris’s new lyrics. These now include references to Ric’s ‘violin of groovy maple wood,’ Chris’s skills as a conjuror AND a mandolinist and “The Brummie on the bass that makes those low notes that you hear,” Ashley will also be mightily impressed, no doubt, by the way in which the instruments all mesh so tightly together. The Connaught audience was thrilled and so very appreciative.

WELCOME INCLUSIONS

We were detained in 1969 – an era so clearly well-loved by the Worthing public – for a respectful, accurate and sympathetic version of Fotheringay. A song that Simon sings so very, very well. Fairport’s Winter Tour energy is supplied, to a large degree, by cakes, it seems. Chris thanked local Bakeoff wanabees Richard and Judy for the sweetmeats they’d brought along to tonight’s show before moving on to introduce the first of the evening’s Banbury-referencing songs, I’m Already There. The song, from Fairport’s 2004 album Over The Next Hill is always a welcome inclusion in any Fairport set and tonight’s rendition was spot-on. It’s tempting. maybe, to sometimes take Fairport’s exemplary musicianship for granted but not tonight. The sound, balance and separation were all spot-on.

Ric Sanders has been a tad under the weather over the past few days. He apologised for his bunged-up tones, explaining: “My body isn’t a temple at the moment – it’s a small branch of Boots…” He wasn’t deterred from his stand-up comedy routine though, and each of his gags – the well-loved LDS joke, Trip Advisor, Press ‘hash,’ (you’ll have to attend a show to appreciate them in full) were punctuated by the standard Michael Miles organ flourish from DM. It was all a prelude to Ric’s introduction to The Rose Hip, his tune from 1988’s Red And Gold album. Another number making a very welcome return to the repertoire after a long absence.

AROUND THE COUNTIES

Simon was first introduced to the traditional Claudy Banks when he performed it with the great Shirley Collins on her groundbreaking 1971 album, No Roses. Shirley is a local lady in these parts and Simon’s announcement of the song drew an audible sigh of satisfaction from the Sussex audience.

From Sussex, it was back up to Oxfordshire for a plug, by Chris, for this year’s forthcoming Cropredy festival and a visit to Banbury Fair, a song that made a welcome return to the setlist during Fairport’s 2024 Autumn Tour. One which has, happily, retained its place. The song’s inclusion then prompted me the rush home and dust down my copy of The Wood And The Wire and that turned out to be a rewarding exercise that I recommend you emulate. Tonight, it was DM’s wonderfully effective drum fills that particularly caught the eye.

GROWN MEN (ALMOST) WEEP

“It can be up to 17 minutes long, but it won’t be tonight,” joked Peggy in his introduction to Sloth, before enquiring whether any band mates – like him (and me, as it happened) – were starting to feel a need to use the bathroom. But WHAT a version it was. Ric’s violin solo was electrifying, Simon threw in a burst of Stairway To Heaven. Peggy’s bass solo almost made this grown man weep and DM’s drum parts were other-worldly. Fairport have been performing Sloth since before television pictures were coloured, but it’s scarcely been played better.

FAIRPORT PART TWO: GLADYS’ LEAP – AND MORE

A set of of triplets from DM’s drumkit could only mean one thing. The Hexhamshire Lass is back, to open Part 2 of this year’s Fairport show. Nowadays, of course, it’s Chris that takes the lead vocal, but did anyone else detect a few Swarb-like inflections in his voice?

Regular visitors to these pages may recall that, just a couple of weeks ago, we pointed out that 2025 sees the 40th anniversary of Fairport’s seminal Gladys’ Leap album. An anniversary that Fairport had already suggested might be celebrated on this tour. Casting his mind back to the heady days of 1985, Ric recalled the phone call that led to him performing on his first ever Fairport track, Instrumental Medley ’85. “I was still living with my parents in Solihull then . My mother used used to get her vegetables from Interflora: Solihull was THAT posh!”

THE YEARS FALL AWAY

Instrumental Medley… is a tune that, as much as any other, perhaps signified the re-emergence of Fairport as a permanent presence after the virtual hiatus of the years 1980-1984 and it’s great to hear it again. DM’s raucous drum intro is as close as he’d ever wish to get to a drum solo. When Ric’s fiddle strikes up, the years fall completely away. We’re back in 1985! And Peggy even plays a Swannee whistle!

And, sticking with Gladys’ Leap, Hiring Fair is a Cropredy staple and Fairport’s performance of the song in the Home Farm field is always a highlight of any year, particular on those magical evenings when a harvest moon looms behind the stage. It’s February just now, and this was Worthing, but the magic was still present in the Connaught tonight.

A LONG HISTORY

It’s sometimes sobering to recall events that are seemingly recent in Fairport’s long history and realise quite how many years have passed since they occurred. It’s now 14 years since the band resurrected the story of John “Babbacombe” Lee to once again perform their 1971 concept album in its entirety on their 2011 Winter Tour and at that year’s Cropredy festival. So, when DM stepped forward to recollect how Dave Swarbrick came up with the idea for the album, there was another sigh of anticipation from the audience.

Cell Song might just be my favourite track on the album and Chris’s rendition of it is always exquisite. The pared back accompaniment of DM’s piano and Chris’s mandolin and the 3-part harmonisation of the “…tell the world the story of John Lee” line is divine. Fairport followed the most contemplative of the “Babbacombe” Lee songs with the most raucous. The version of Hanging Song was tremendous and I’m sure that we felt the presence of Mr Swarbrick enter the room as Chris sang “…as my body stands on tiptoe.”

TARDIS HOPPING

It was nice to learn that author Rob Beattie was in the theatre to hear the chaps perform his song Moses Waits – a fine song from the excellent Shuffle And Go album. Chris’s atmospheric whistle never fails to illuminate the song’s “Jambo Bwana” refrain. From a song recorded as recently as 2020, we were taken right back in time once again. This time to 1975 and Sandy’s Rising for the Moon, before jumping back into the Fairport Tardis and back to The Wood And The Wire. Chris told the story of the guitar in the Banbury music shop that caught his imagination. One that eventually, inspired him to write the title track to that 1999 album and Fairport played it wonderfully.

We always know what’s coming when Simon announces: “Our second folk song – 19 verses, 2 chords and extra-marital rumpy-pumpy…” It’s Matty, of course and the audience clapped knowingly along. Chris played his banjo, Peggy entertained us with his usual comedy gestures and DM’s drum parts were unfathomably special. Simon’s reference to “…the curtains that I bought in IKEA last week” raised a laugh and Peggy even stood up. Suddenly it was all over. Or almost…

TTFN – SEE YOU AT CROPREDY

Danny rejoined the band onstage for the inevitable, heartwarming finale of Meet On The Ledge. Simon reminded us all of the great sense of togetherness that’s always felt when Fairport close their Cropredy set with this anthem. That sense of togetherness was with us in the Connaught Theatre, Worthing, on Sunday 9th February. This was a true Fairport audience.

Fairport are back on the road, Spring is coming and all is well. See you all at Cropredy! Speaking of which, Simon reminded us that this year’s tickets are almost sold out. If you haven’t got yours yet, you need to get your skates on – you don’t want to miss out, do you? (Tickets are available via this link)

Fairport Convention online: Website / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / YouTube

Danny Bradley online: Website / Facebook / Instagram / Youtube

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