In continued celebration of their 50th anniversary, British folk rock legends Fairport Convention have announced an autumn tour where they will play selected songs from their new album ‘50:50@50’, along with a selection of favourites from their extensive back catalogue.
The autumn tour follows Fairport’s Cropredy Convention festival, near Banbury, Oxfordshire which takes place from August 10 – 12, 2017. The line-up includes Feast of Fiddles, Richard Thompson, Marillion and Petula Clark and Divine Comedy
As well as selling out the Cropredy Festival this year, Fairport Convention continues to win critical acclaim. The band won a coveted BBC Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002, and BBC Radio 2 listeners also voted one of British folk music’s high water marks – the groundbreaking album ‘Liege & Lief’ – ‘The Most Influential Folk Album of All Time’ around the same time. Songs from that album still make up a significant part of the band’s regular set list.
Founding member Simon Nicol commented: “Fairport Convention have been extraordinarily fortunate to create a work ethic based on live performance. As someone whose hobby ultimately became a career, I’m happy every time the van pulls up outside my house to take me off on my travels, where the stage awaits, and I get a chance to make everyone happy that they made the choice to buy a ticket.”
Fairport Convention’s line-up is Simon Nicol on guitar and vocals, Dave Pegg on bass guitar, Chris Leslie on fiddle, mandolin and vocals, Ric Sanders on violin and Gerry Conway on drums and percussion.
The band will also play a set of dates across Scandinavia.
The UK tour dates are as follows
20 Oct 2017 Emsworth Baptist Church
21 Oct 2017 Ilminster Square and Compass
22 Oct 2017 Ilfracombe Folk and Roots Festival
24 Oct 2017 Newbury Corn Exchange
25 Oct 2017 Gloucester Cathedral
26 Oct 2017 Ludlow Assembly Rooms
27 Oct 2017 Stow St Edwards Church
28 Oct 2017 Leicester Y Theatre
29 Oct 2017 London NELLS
Further details can be found at
www.fairportconvention.com