Fairport Convention’s 2012 Cropredy Festival Celebrates 45 Years of Premiere British Folk Rock and More
Nancy Dunham
Posted On February 20, 2012
You might expect Richard Thompson to headline at Fairport Convention’s 2012 Cropredy Festival in August. After all, he was an original member when Fairport was founded 45 years ago and this is the main celebration of that milestone.
What’s really cool, though, is that while Thompson and other established musicians — Squeeze, Joan Armatrading, Saw Doctors and Bellowhead – will play the three-day event this year, there are also some pretty hot up-and-comers on the bill too, including Dead Flamingos. The duo is Kami Thompson, the daughter of Richard and Linda Thompson, and James Walbourne whose musical mix of country, rock and folk is “as fresh as milk and as old as bones.” Love that.
In a way, that tagline can apply to Fairport, too, especially this year. Expect the band to dip way back into its catalog with all kinds of Sandy Denny-era songs such as “Crazy Man Michael,” “The Hiring Fair” and “Matty Groves” and likely bring out some of the band’s incredible new songs too.
“It’s this whole atmosphere,” TJ McGrath, founder of the fanzine Fairport Fanatics that morphed into the much-lauded roots magazine “Dirty Linen,” told me last week. “It’s this whole atmosphere part circus, part nostalgia, part new bands and it’s all around Fairport. That to me is outstanding.”
The band’s longest serving continuous member, Dave Pegg, recently chatted about the Festival’s beginnings. He and ex-wife Christine Pegg were the main organizers behind the band’s 1979 “farewell” concert held in Banbury, not far from their home. The Festival was so well received that the band played it during the years it was inactive and every year since.
“It has grown from being 300 or 400 people up to about 20,000,” said Pegg. “It’s a wonderfully peaceful, safe festival. It’s really beautiful.”
Although most concert goers camp at the Festival, there are a fair number of lodging options. Those at the Festival will also find an array of vendors for everything from food to music.
Want in? The Festival is August 9-11, 2012 in Banbury, Oxfordshire, England. Buy tickets right away because the Festival usually sells out. Get all the information you need on the band’s website.
Check out the 2012 Cropredy Festival Line Up:
THURSDAY 9 AUGUST
16.00-16.25 Fairport Acoustic
16.30-17.20 Kieran Goss
17.40-19.00 Legend
19.30-21.00 Bellowed
21.30-23.00 Squeeze
FRIDAY 10 AUGUST
12.00-12.40 YFA Winner- Ioscaid
13.00-14.00 Ellen & The Escapades
14.20-15.20 Dead Flamingoes
15.45-16.45 Tarras
17.05-18.15 Larkin Poe
18.40 -20.10 Saw Doctors
20.30 -22.00 Richard Thompson
22.30 -00.00 Joan Armatrading
SATURDAY 11 AUGUST
12.00-13.00 Richard Diagnose
13.10-14.10 Morris On
14.35-15.35 Brother & Bones
15.55-16.55 Calan
17.30-19.00 Special Guests – Big Country
19.20-20.35 Dennis Locorriere
21.00-00.00 Fairport Convention & Friends
