“If you really mean it/It all comes round again…” so sang Fairport Convention each year at Cropredy but not in 2020. Perhaps it was inevitable with so many other events cancelling for twelve months, chief among those being Cambridge, but Fairport and their organising office held on for as long as they could. Past years have seen the festival survive other troubles such as foot and mouth, floods and storms but such is the urgency of Covid -19 prevention that they really had no other option. In a statement from Gareth Williams the Festival Director the stark choice was made obvious, really public safety and health comes first and whilst we all hope restrictions will be easier sooner rather than later, the virus has claimed lives and touched many with dark times. Urging Fairport’s faithful to be patient there was good news among the gloom, in that the same line up has transferred en-masse to the 2021 event. Tickets already purchased will be honoured as will tickets for the warm up gigs, it’ll also allow the band time to organise in more detail and make sure Cropredy is as wonderful as it always is. More details about the line-up and timings are on www.fairportconvention.com as are how to get refund, though with a bill like they’ve got, Home Service, Richard Thompson, Steve Hackett, Edward II, Clannad, Trevor Horn Band, Sharon Shannon, Matthews Southern Comfort, Turin Brakes and more… Spiral Earth asks who on earth wouldn’t want to hang on to their tickets?
Short term pain for long term gain, we’ll be there in 2021, there is no other event quite like it.
