Folkrock legends Fairport Convention will start their 2011 Winter Tour on Friday 28 January. This will be the band’s twenty-seventh consecutive Winter Tour and includes 32 venues throughout England and Wales. The tour opens at The Roses Theatre, Tewkesbury and finishes on Saturday 5 March at Birmingham Town Hall.
Each evening’s concert will include brand new songs from Fairport s eagerly awaited new album Festival Bell. Released to coincide with the tour, Festival Bell is the first new Fairport Convention studio album for four years. The concerts will feature a selection from the album s fourteen tracks (which include compositions by members of the band, two songs by renowned singer-songwriter Ralph McTell and a reworking of the Sandy Denny classic Rising For The Moon).
The concerts will open with a set from talented young duo Katriona Gilmore and Jamie Roberts. Fairport will then take the stage to celebrate the fortieth anniversary of Babbacombe Lee, the band’s critically acclaimed 1971 folkrock opera. Fairport will play the work in its entirety telling the fascinating story of John Babbacombe Lee, a Victorian criminal who was reprieved after three failed attempts to hang him.
“We’re really looking forward to getting on the road again , says Simon Nicol, Fairport founder-member. This year, our Winter Tour concerts will be rather different not only have we got a whole album’s worth of new material to choose from but this will be the first time we ve played the whole of Babbacombe Lee since the 1970s”.
Tour Dates:
January
Friday 28, The Roses Theatre Tewkesbury
Saturday 29, The Beck Theatre Hayes
Sunday 30, Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield
February
Tuesday 1, Grand Opera House York
Wednesday 2, The Drill Hall Lincoln
Thursday 3, The Civic Hall Crosby
Friday 4, North Wales Theatre Llandudno
Saturday 5, The Mechanics Burnley
Sunday 6, The Assembly Leamington Spa
Monday 7, Queens Theatre Barnstaple
Tuesday 8, The Festival Theatre Chichester
Wednesday 9, The Wyvern Swindon
Thursday 10, The Winding Wheel Chesterfield
Friday 11, The Platform Morecombe
Sunday 13, The Gaiety Douglas
Tuesday 15, Playhouse Theatre Weston-Super-Mare
Wednesday 16, The Assembly Halls Tunbridge Wells
Thursday 17, The Maltings Farnham
Friday 18, The Maltings Farnham
Saturday 19, The Union Chapel London
Sunday 20, Corn Exchange Cambridge
Tuesday 22, The Arts Centre Colchester
Wednesday 23, Assembly House Norwich
Thursday 24, The Alban Arena St Albans
Friday 25, The Corn Exchange Exeter
Saturday 26, Theatre Royal Margate
Sunday 27, The Waterside Aylesbury
March
Tuesday 1, Town Hall Loughborough
Wednesday 2, St Davids Hall Cardiff
Thursday 3, The Stables Milton Keynes
Friday 4, Theatre Severn Shrewsbury
Saturday 5, Town Hall Birmingham
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Video: Simon Nicol sings probably his finest song, “Breakfast In Mayfair”, from Babbacombe Lee, with Fairport Convention played at Fairport’s Cropredy Convention 2008:
Links: www.fairportconvention.com