After the excitement of the Fairport Acoustic Autumn Tour which had landed at the stunning Cutty Sark as its London venue, it’s hardly a step down for an evening of the full electric band – with drummer Dave Mattacks – at the iconic and much-loved Union Chapel, routinely – and understandably – cited highly amongst the many excellent musical outlets that the capital offers. One thing it doesn’t allow, though, is the consumption of alcohol in the chapel itself – which makes Fairport’s lively opener of Ye Mariners All (from 1978’s Tipplers Tales) impossible to comply with, as it passes through stages of life and avows that each can be made that much better with the accompaniment of strong drink. It’s a full-bodied performance that leans heavily into the rhythm section of Pegg and Mattacks in that Seventies folk-rock way.
There would prove to be plenty of room for some of Fairport’s best-known songs, and an early appearance of Crazy Man Michael, with lyrics written by ex-Fairporter Richard Thompson when he was just eighteen, remains a mysterious and magical song framed within a folk-tale, almost a folk-horror, structure. It’s a great song, of course, and also one of those markers of the band finding their own voice and leaving influences like Dylan and The Byrds behind. It was not the only nod to those earlier years that would appear across the set with both Sandy Denny’s weary troubadour tale Rising For The Moon and her wistful, aching Fotheringay, which Nicol hinted was in part a reflection on aging as Denny left her teenage years behind. It really was another beautiful and haunting rendition.
There were a couple of songs in the set that, considering everything that is going on in the wider world, had not found their way in by accident – the proto-stoner rock of Sloth gained poignancy with it’s opening lines of “just a roll, just a roll, just a roll on the drum / just a roll, just a roll and the war has begun” whilst the story of the youngest – at just 14 years old – British casualty of The War to End All Wars was recounted in John Condon, a slow ballad movingly introduced by Simon Nicol that reflects on “heroes that will not grow old“.
Sloth had been used to close the first set, and as one of the longer songs had also offered each band member time to show off their prowess including Dave Mattacks’ most expressive percussion so far and Dave Pegg’s first proper bass solo. But amongst all this, Ric Sanders’ expressive fiddle playing ending with him howling into the body of the instrument had been a spine-tingling moment. There would be a similarly long and thrilling take on Matty Groves towards the end of the second set, with Chris Leslie adding banjo to this most perfect of folk songs. Not that everything was about the big powerful songs in Fairport’s repertoire – The Rose Hip was a perfect instrumental interlude, led by Ric Sanders, in which to take a breath and reflect on the beauty of the building whilst listening to the lilting melody.
With this expanded band there were fewer places for Chris Leslie’s Banbury inspired songs than had been the case in the Autumn, but one that did make it into the set was Banbury Fair – a song that has a little more of a raucous side to it as it recalls a night of fair rides and under age drinking. Claudy Banks was similarly lively, a song Simon Nicol noted that he’d sung in he seventies when he was in his twenties and now he’s singing in the twenties and he’s in his Seventies. It’s a good joke but it makes the point that Fairport’s history is an astonishingly long one.
Through the two sets from the band Simon Nicol regularly swapped between instruments, with acoustic and electric guitars and also, on a spectral – and it’s significant that Fairport Convention often attract such adjectives – and moving Flowers Of The Forest he could be found playing the dulcimer, the drone adding a mournful beauty to the song.
The night closed out, as it was always going to do, with Meet On The Ledge, with the evening’s support artist Jenn Butterworth joining the band, along with a trumpet player, giving a further shine to the song. Fairport Convention has famously been a “boy band” for the majority of its lifespan, but there’s something special when they hearken back to those earliest years of the band and bring in a female singer. It had been an excellent night all-round, fantastic playing and singing and what a real pleasure to hear Mattacks with the band again. They’ll be back at the same venue on the 27th of May next year to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the first gig by a band calling itself Fairport Convention, who’d bet against there being some guests along with them.
Ric Sanders had opened the night with a few comments on the band being back on tour “at our age” and adding that they were unlikely to be back on tour in the USA anytime soon, before introducing Scottish singer Jenn Butterworth who properly opened the night with a short set featuring some fine finger-picked and fast strummed songs mostly taken from the album Her By Design.
Jenn Butterworth, Photo: J. Aird
However, she started, quite bravely, with All Our Days, a song touched with a melancholic air that looks at time’s changing ways – it’s a cover, of course, from Sandy Denny’s last album Rendezvous. It works splendidly in this simpler form, just voice and guitar.
Fair Maids Of February is a lovely finger-picked song with a little added synth’ on which Butterworth says she was aiming for “creepy ice-cream van.” One In Ten focuses on women’s mistreatment by the medical profession, and the long history of ignoring, or not even acknowledging the existence of, endometriosis. It’s a song that came out of Butterworth’s desire to broaden the female orientated topics that folk songs address. A more common theme appeared on Rosemary Lane, which Butterworth learnt from the Bert Jansch album of the same name.
Jenn was joined on stage by Fairport for her final song but Simon Nicol had a surprise for her first, as there was a representative of a German music award in the audience who came on stage to present a best album award for Butterworth’s Her By Design. Having recovered from that welcome but unexpected event she closed her set with Little Sparrow, which has a very familiar melody (it’s shared with Silver Dagger) and a prime folk theme of the young woman mourning the unfaithfulness of men. In Butterworth’s hands, and with such a fine backing band, it was a memorable set closer. Jenn Butterworth will be playing the Slaughtered Lamb in June.
