Fairport Convention show no signs of ageing
FAIRPORT Convention arrived at Loughborough Town Hall as a stop on their 2019 Wintour, and after 52 years the band shows no sign of ageing, in a concert where they played a wide range of material they have featured over the years in an enjoyable set.
The current five-man line-up has been together since 1998, and their experience together showed. Several numbers composed by band member, multi-instrumentalist Chris Leslie, featured. These included ‘Eleanor’s Dream’, a song about Lord Franklin and his search for the north west passage, as well as ‘Devil’s Work’, telling the joys – or otherwise, as was pointed out from the stage – of DIY.
Several numbers reflected the involvement of former Fairporter, the late Dave Swarbrick, where he arranged traditional numbers for the band. Featured were the instrumental ‘Dirty Linen’ from the 1970 album Full House, and the swift paced ‘Hexhamshire Lass’ from the 1973 album Nine.
‘Jewel in the Crown’, the title track
from the 1995 album, has a relevance to events of today as it did when first released. Going even further back to the band’s influential 1969 album Liege and Leif, ‘The Deserter’, a number not featured in the band’s live act for many years, was given a welcome reappearance.
Coming up to date, PJ Wright’s ‘Summer by the Cherwell’, all about the band’s annual festival in Cropredy, Oxfordshire, gave a light and airy feel to the concert, before the band went back to Liege and Leif to close the set. ‘Matty Groves’, a song having its origin as far back as the seventeenth century at least, has done so for many years and the band gave a powerful rendition of it.
The Four of Us, a duo of brothers Brendan and Declan Murphy, gave an enjoyable display as the support, and they joined Fairport for the traditional encore, the chorus number ‘Meet On The Ledge’. This was written back in 1968 by Richard Thompson, one of the band’s founder members. This has been the Fairport encore for many years and had all in the venue in full voice.
Although Fairport is now past a half century there is no sign of running out of steam, and this was reflected in the standing ovation at the close of a thoroughly enjoyable night.