Fairport Convention
2025-08-01
Sidmouth Folk Festival
The Ham Marquee
Sidmouth, East Devon, UK
Audience Recording
Artwork Included
Quality A
Time:110 Minutes


Lineage

Checked SBE's with Trader's Little Helper


Raised the volume, added a tad of bass and treble, numbered the tracks and that's about it.


Simon Nicol-guitar and vocals
Dave Pegg-bass guitar and vocals
Ric Sanders-violin
Chris Leslie-bouzouki, mandolin, banjo, fiddle, various whistles and vocals.


First Set

1.Intro
2.Walk Awhile
3.Crazy Man Michael
4.Now Be Thankful
5.The Fossil Hunter
6.The Festival Bell
7.Banks of the Sweet Primroses
8.Banbury Fair
9.Bankruptured
10.Cider Rain


Second Set

1.Intro
2.Slip Jigs and Reels
3.John Gaudie
4.The Happy Man
5.The Frozen Man
6.The Rose Hip
7.I'm Already There
8.Fotheringay
9.Matty Groves

Encore:
Meet on the Ledge


Fairport Convention have won a BBC Lifetime Achievement Award
and Radio 2 listeners voted their ground-breaking album Liege & Lief ‘The Most Influential Folk Album of All Time’.
Their story has been celebrated with television documentaries on BBC Four and Sky Arts.
The band features founding member Simon Nicol on guitar and vocals, Dave Pegg on bass guitar and vocals,
Ric Sanders on violin, Chris Leslie on bouzouki, mandolin, banjo, fiddle, various whistles and vocals.

A sunny (and slightly windy) Friday afternoon, the wonderful 71st Sidmouth Folk Festival hosted Fairport Acoustic Convention in a large marquee at The Hams. We were almost late due to horrible traffic jams on the A303 but made the beginning with about two minutes to spare. As a result we got what looked like the last two seats together. They were on the back row in the corner. I was expecting a dreadful recording but much to my delight, it came out really well. Grateful thanks are due to the sound man on the mixing desk! Hopefully the sound of the seagulls will just add to the festival atmosphere.

The setlist was not adventurous and no risky unusual songs but who cares? They played beautifully and there is always a bit of banter between songs. The audience lapped it up. A highlight for me was I'm Already There (which I always refer to as The Polar Bear song) - just wonderful.

Many thanks to TempusFugit for tidying up the files and adding artwork

Images for all shows as well as full size images for this show.

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