Fairport Convention – Casting the spell with the wood and the wire.

Following our in depth coverage of the Worthing date of the tour, we catch up with the Fairport Convention Wintour as it hits the North West. We’re at dates in music city Manchester and by the sea in the more sedate Lytham.

The Royal Northern College Of Music on Oxford Road is a Fairport favourite. Nothing to do with the close proximity to Manchester famous Indian restaurants… A couple of days later we head to Lytham for the debut visit (or is it? even Simon’snot so sure…) to the LowtherPavillion for FC and a bracing blast of sea air.

Ric Sanders’ introduction to Danny Bradley has him reminding us how the Wintour gives the chance to bring along “exciting new talents.” At the same time he recalls how Fairport themselves were once deemed exciting new talents. A band once whose big Rock and Roll tours involved a touring entourage and gangs of road crew. “Now we need carers, not roadies.” Perhaps in a Back To The Future moment, Danny has visions of his future self…

With songs that take us from Paul Simon to busking for hen parties in his hometown, Danny benefits from the expertise of said FC crew. Front of house, the touch of reverb means he can sing with nuance and expression.

Danny informs us he lives in Liverpool but there’s no sign of any Scouse twang at all until the end of his set. He announces how he’s going to one more “on me own” and he does that. Literally. Singing unaccompanied bar a tad of reverb before he enters into a genteel guitar trad tune that could be a jig (or is at a reel?) that recalls the road to Killeshandra. He’s the sort of musician that makes his craft look so simple. Like putting your fingers in the right place at the right time and finding the way around the ‘wood and the wire’ is just so easy and natural that you have to find other ways to challenge. Like a great athlete, Danny was probably born to be a musician.

Simon Nicol later refers to his prowess with six strings as “guitar bothering!” He’s not wrong. Within a few blinks of his intro he’s creating and crafting. His appreciation of what his instrument has to offer finds him using parts of the guitar to generate percussion and harmonics – everything but the oink as a pig farmer might say, or in guitar terms, everything but the hole. Who needs a band?

Fairport and Come All Ye. For me, as signature a Fairport number as any of its more famous/notorious/obvious rivals. It’s a great call to shuffle the opening number which for many years has been Walk Awhile. A suggestion, a little bird tells us, by Dave Mattacks and he’s impressed by a smart piece of re-wording to bring the lyrics bang up to date. And that’s for anyone whose ears are paying attention while their eyes might be transfixed by Simon Nicol’s exceedingly smart and shiny red Danelectro twelve string that makes several appearances through the set.

It might play to the hands of those who like to refer to the Fairports as iconic Folk rockers (creators of.., flag bearers for.., genre busters, etc…). They have Claudy Banks, keeping its place from the 2024 Cropredy set, that fits a similar-sh bill. However, there’s much more (to Fairport than Folk Rock) in the next couple of hours before they inevitably sign off with the Folk Rock daddy of them all.

Less Folk, less Rock and more stately is The Rose Hip and a touch of dreamy Sandy Denny medieval charm of Fotheringay. Dave Mattacks (“I’m your drummer for the evening and hobbyist keyboardist“) taking a moment away from the kit to accompany on a keyboard that sounds, maybe the press of a certain patch and with the ring of the guitar, very harpsichord-y that adds to the vibe. With Chris Leslie joining Ric to provide a formidable string it’s a majestic alternative to their much admired fiddle duets and trade offs (see John Gaudie) when they head into the stratosphere. For the record, the fiddle that Chris is playing was created by his own fair hands. There’s a story there just waiting to come out…

While the closing pair of Matty Goves and Meet On The Ledge are shoe ins for any Fairport set, Sloth also retains its place in the pre-interval slot. It features Peggy’s bass solo that, maybe being Manchester, seems very ‘Hooky’/Joy Division style with the thumb wrapped under the neck and right down the neck before Ric and DM indulge in their symbiotic and psychedelic freak out passage. Peggy even repeats the feat in set 2’s Instrumental Medley 85 where the FC version of drums and bass kicks off the medley of fine tuneage.

Again, a note about what we can hear out in the auditorium. Particularly at the Lowther where the ceiling is lower and auditorium more compact, the clarity allows both the subtlety and the louder dynamics to be fully appreciated. Points in case – I’m Already There which starts with just a solo voice and the guitar, bass, percussion and finally fiddle almost imperceptibly creeping into reach a pacey crescendo. Sloth is another where Ric’s excursion into another dimesnion with the heavily treated fiddle part soared massively below the Lowther’s low curved ceiling as it does in the open fields of Cropredy.

Drawing on ten albums worth, the whole set has taken a tweak. The second half serves up the sort of feast of feats that makes this year’s tour and the prospect of the Cropredy Saturday night set particularly mouthwatering.

The Hexhamshire Lass sets the bar high. “Arrangement by Dave Mattacks,” we’re told and his drum fills are both deft and tricky. The DM effect is certainly impacting on the current selection from the repertoire. With a few audience ooohs and ahhs, he also introduces the selection from Babbacombe Lee – “one fast one, one slow one” (for us journalists – thanks). Simon ventures into Albert Lee territory on the latter with Hanging Song (reminder that Albert is headlining at Cropredy in ’25) and a chorus which for anyone unfamiliar with the album, is so easy to pick up. And the pair are sung beautifully by Chris Leslie.

Rising For The Moon and the wonderfully country bluesy vibe of The Wood And The Wire confirm the shake up. The latter contributes to a stirring and gently rocking finale and reaffirms what could be (IMHO as they say) the best Wintour set for… (insert your own opinion) years. And if wishes could be granted by the Fairport fairies, the chance of a souvenir ‘from the desk’ EP release might run:

Come All Ye (but please not re-titled Come All Ye ’25); Cell Song…Hanging Song; Rising For The Moon;The Wood And The Wire.

Now there’s a selection of merry tunes to rouse the spirit of the earth.

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

Danny Bradley online: Website / Facebook / Instagram / Youtube

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