Fairport's Cropredy Convention will see twenty acts play more than thirty hours of live music over the festival's three days and there will be an emphasis on emerging talent.
Britain's friendliest music festival, Fairport's Cropredy Convention, has announced the line-up of artists appearing at this year's event. Twenty acts will play more than thirty hours of live music over the festival's three days and there will be an emphasis on emerging talent.
Fairport's Cropredy Convention takes place on Thursday 9, Friday 10 and Saturday 11 August 2012 at its usual site on farmland north of Banbury, Oxfordshire, three miles from Junction 11 of the M40 motorway.
Tickets are now on sale! As in previous years, the festival offers one-day, two-day and three-day tickets which are exclusively available from www.fairportconvention.com with a substantial discount for early booking.
Headliners for 2012 include Big Country, Joan Armatrading and Squeeze. The customary Saturday night closing performance from host band Fairport Convention will be preceded by a set from former Dr Hook frontman Dennis Locorriere.
Former Fairport member Richard Thompson is a regular at Cropredy and this year he will be playing a solo set on Friday evening. Folkrock orchestra Bellowhead and reggae band Legend both return to the festival by popular demand.
As well as established big name acts, this year's Fairport's Cropredy Convention will showcase up-and-coming young bands. There will be a set by the winner of the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award, Ioscaid, a six-piece traditional Irish band.
Other emerging young bands include Calan, Ellen And The Escapades, Larkin Poe and Brother & Bones.
" Cropredy has always thrived on variety," says Simon Nicol, Fairport's lead singer and festival co-organiser, "and we are particularly proud to feature so many younger artists this year. The music we've selected ranges from pop and rock to reggae and folk, a line-up to appeal to most tastes and age groups."
"We don't usually put tickets on sale until March," Mr Nicol says, "but because demand has been so heavy in recent years we've opened our box office earlier than usual. We advise festival-goers to get their orders in quickly."
Musical highlights from Fairport's Cropredy Convention have been broadcast on Sky Arts 1 HD television channel for the past two years and the 2012 event will also be recorded for transmission later in the year.
Fairport Convention is celebrating 45 years as a working band during 2012 and will feature in a hour-long music documentary to be broadcast on BBC Four television this summer.
Published on 20 February 2012 by Ben Robinson
