Live from Cropredy 2017
Once every year, in the Oxfordshire countryside, the chocolate-box, canal & riverside village of Cropredy becomes the venue for a festival that some say is more exciting than Christmas.
The festival started life in 1980 as reunion gig for folk-rock band Fairport Convention and friends and over the years, it has grown into one of the UK’s most loved festivals. This is evidenced by the fact that once again ‘Fairport’s Cropredy Convention’ has sold out in advance and their 20,000 capacity quickly reached.
2017 sees the three-day festival (10 th, 11th and 12th Aug) into its thirty-seventh year with this year’s event celebrating a major milestone for Fairport Convention. It’s the band’s golden anniversary and the press releases have promised “an on-stage reunion of the current line-up and virtually all the ex-members still living”. Bass player Dave Pegg says: “Our Saturday night set this year will undoubtedly present the most Fairport members ever performing in the same show.” That’s something I’m looking forward to later this weekend.
Fairport’s cross-over musical style, which blends Folk and Rock, is reflected in the festival line-up which brings together not just folk acts and rock bands such as Show of Hands and Marillion but also icons from the world of pop music like Trevor Horn and Petula Clark.
The full list is as follows:
Thursday 10 August:The Divine Comedy - The Trevor Horn Band - Show of Hands - Feast of Fiddles - Fairport Acoustic
Friday 11 August (noon-midnight): Richard Thompson - Petula Clark - Pierce Brothers - CC Smugglers - Peter Knight's Gigspanner 'Big Band' featuring Phillip Henry and Hannah Martin - Quill - The Gerry Colvin Band - Josie Duncan and Pablo Lafuente (BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award Winners)
Saturday 12 August (noon-midnight): Fairport Convention & Friends - Dougie MacLean – Marillion - Cats In Space – Plainsong - Judy Dyble & The Band of Perfect Strangers - Morris On.
While the festival is loved by the many festival goers who return year after year to indulge their passion for this unique and friendly event, it is also very important to local businesses. The local shop for instance, makes 30% of it’s annual turnover during the three days of the festival and the shopkeeper assured me that without the festival there would be no shop. It’s good to know that the yearly influx of visitor brings with it some lasting benefits for the village.
The main arena is a large open area, with traders and a variety of food vendors tightly packed along the sides of the flag strewn field and a very large outdoor stage, sound and lighting system dominating one end. This is undoubtedly the festivals heart and where all the main action takes place. But this is not the whole experience of Fairport’s Cropredy. If/when you visit you should take a walk into the village which is awash with colour, sounds and movement. There are stalls everywhere and both pubs are hives of activity complete with their own live music stages.
As I wandered around Cropredy, I came across a series of scarecrows that had been created by the villagers and displayed outside their houses as part of a scarecrow festival. This adding yet another dimension to the Cropredy experience.
That's the festival background so now for some live music. This year I have a photographer with me please follow this link to the 2017 Cropredy photo album from Robbie ViceversaFotografia.