New dates

Folk-rockers Fairport Convention hit the road as celebrations for their big 60th anniversary next year start to beckon.

In the meantime, they play : Horndean Technology College (Barton’s Hall), Horndean, Hants, PO8 9PQ on Tuesday, October27 at 7.30pm. Tickets are £30 and are on sale now at Bookends and Harbour Records in Emsworth village, at The Westbourne Cafe in Westbourne Village, & online at www.WeGotTickets.com/WemsFest

With a career now spanning 59 years, the 2026 tour marks 30 years for the band’s current line-up, featuring Simon Nicol, Dave Pegg, Ric Sanders and Chris Leslie, augmented by Dave Mattacks on the drummer’s stool.

And in an increasingly-troubled world, Chris knows the band offers something very special indeed. The point is that they are a live band. It is not their albums that they live off but the thrill of performing live.

“And that is just such a joyful thing. It is just wonderful that we can do it. It's about a coming together on a night and for people to be actually enjoying something live in that very moment and for everyone to be sharing it at the same time. It consolidates the fact that we are human and that we are social beings. Parties are great but if you can throw in a creative element as well, such as at a gig, then it really gives people a couple of hours away from all their troubles and from all that is happening in the world. I think music in that way gives people a sense that there is still inspiration in life.”

The diamond anniversary sits on the horizon: “But we always apply our attention to where we are now. I speak to myself but the tour ahead is the thing that I am considering. We're working on material for the tour and we get together two days before we start. The whole thing tends to run very smoothly these days in terms of our own individual preparation and then we have two full days in the studio to iron out any last-minute things and then we're off. And it means that we come to it fresh and excited.

“We know each other musically so well, but the thing that I love about Fairport shows is that there is so much light and shade and dark within the one show. It is not all one particular sound. Fairport has such diversity within the numbers and within the members and within the set. I really love that. And you've also got within that diversity a wonderful on-the-night-ness. It is about who the audience are and how you feel on the night and the kind of day that you've had. We don't just click into some automaton-like process of making music. It is not exactly the same every night. Things change. Elements can change from just the way we are feeling. And again I love that. That's what makes it exciting

“59 years is a long time but there are a couple of songs I'm thinking of right now and one is the official finishing piece on the night which is Matty Groves. And I think that's a premium example. It has elements of improvisation which means that it will be different every night and on some nights it is just incredibly powerful. I finish it and I really think that's the depth and the guts of the piece but really we never get to the end of it. It always feels incredibly new.” And the other song you can be sure of is Meet on the Ledge: “It is a song that has got such longevity.

“But also I think one of the important things from my point of view is that Fairport has never become a karaoke of itself. You get things that have been going a long time but you need to maintain their currentness in the world that we're actually in, and Fairport has always done that. It has never just hung onto its history though that history is there and that history is important. But the point is that the lifeblood of the band is what is happening now and that is very much part of what keeps it going.”