Fairport Convention, the legendary band which originated British folkrock music, takes to the road this month with its thirtieth consecutive Winter Tour visiting 31 venues across the UK.
The tour will start at The Roses Theatre, Tewkesbury on Friday 31 January and visit theatres in England, Wales and Scotland. The final concert will be at The Union Chapel in London on 9 March.
Fairport Convention remains one of the most entertaining bands on the live music scene. In its current format, Fairport's Winter Tour started in 1985 and the annual event has become a much-loved cultural institution.
"We're really looking forward to going on the road again," says Simon Nicol who co-founded Fairport Convention in 1967. "This will be our thirtieth Winter Tour in its present guise. A few of the venues are new to us but most are places we've been back to frequently; in fact, we've played a couple of them 29 times."
"The band started out in 1967 so our next big anniversary will be Fairport's Golden Jubilee in 2017. But even after nearly fifty years on the road, we still look forward to playing in front of audiences. Although we regularly record new albums our first love will always be live performance."
Fairport Convention frequently introduces new material as well as drawing on its vast back catalogue so every year's Winter Tour features a unique programme of music. For 2014, Fairport will mix material from their most recent album and classics from the band's earlier repertoire. There will also be some brand new and previously unperformed songs destined for the band's next studio album.
The concerts will open with a short solo set from talented singer/songwriter Edwina Hayes who has worked with Jools Holland, Nanci Griffith and Roger McGuinn among others.
Fairport's personnel has evolved since that first Winter Tour back in 1985. This year's line-up features Simon Nicol (vocals, guitar), Dave Pegg (bass guitar), Ric Sanders (violin), Chris Leslie (mandolin, fiddle, vocals) and Gerry Conway (drums).
Fairport Convention has been the subject of a major BBC television documentary and their annual music festival at Cropredy has featured on Sky Arts 1. Fairport has also won a coveted BBC Lifetime Achievement Award and Radio 2 listeners voted the band's groundbreaking album Liege & Lief 'The Most Influential Folk Album of All Time'.
Published on 09 January 2014 by Ben Robinson
