Symphony Hall - 17th February 2007

[JohnT]

I don't really follow Peggy's explanation of Polly on the Shore:  "Swarb and Trevor Lucas writing the words for his tune in '79" after he'd got them 'relaxed'?   Martin Carthy and Swarb's Prince Heathen has the same words on side one track three - 'Trad arr Carthy'.  Was Peggy more 'relaxed' than Swarb or have I missed something here?

Apparently (or so I have read), Martin Carthy learnt it from Shirley Collins; who originally learnt it from George 'Pop' Maynard.....


John

[Amethyst (Jenny)]

Thank you your holy Bobness...
 
I will try here..

No luck.. all that comes up when I press Additional Options is this...

 Additional Options...  
  Notify me of replies.  
 Return to this topic.  
 Don't use smileys.  



Edit: It's because you post too much... You've passed 2000 posts and entered unchartered territory as a FolkCorp Guru 3rd Dan. I've fixed the membergroup now so it should work. Cheers Nick
 

[Neil]

On the bottom right there is an option in bold black letters saying

Attach:

 you then browse to the file on your hard drive and attach it, it's not one of the boxes directly under additional options.

[Harbottle (Martin)]

SoH then proceeded to do a blistering 45 minute set of favourites with Miranda on bass for the whole set & Chris While, between workshops in Kidderminster & Birmingham joining in on Dark Fields.

Ah, that explains why she didn't sing with Fairport then. It seemed a shame that they didn't get her in to do at least one song. A friend of ours who was seeing Fairport for the first time commented that the whole sound was lifted a notch when a female voice came in - and that was just from hearing Tiny Tin Beth sing one verse of MOTL. I'd love to hear Fairport with a female vocalist more often (especially singing WKWTG). Only my opinion though; it would be the icing on the cake.

Nonetheless it was a great night. The audience took a while to warm to Fairport I thought, but it built to a rousing finale. Early on I thought Ric was mixed a bit far down (and I was on his side of the auditorium), but it got better and better as the show went on. The best Tam Lin and the best Matty I've heard for years. And of the new stuff, Hawkwood's Army was very strong indeed as was the beautiful slow instrumental. The re-arranged Polly was sensational - Chris's low whistle giving a real boost. But the best was saved for last but one. I don't know what the song's called, but it certainly brought a tear to my eye.

As for those people who feel TTL don't cut it - I can't agree. . .two reasons: one is they are about the same age as Fairport were when they started (RT was younger than some of them) and there is a wonderful sense of continuity about the whole process. And my 14-year old daughter was simply inspired by them (just as I was by Fairport at her age). That has to be good.

As for SoH. If Steve Knightley were American he'd be Bruce Springsteen. IMHO the best writer of songs about English/British contemporary issues there is. Up there with RT himself. Brilliant. I don't think he should write a song for Fairport, though. I think he should write a whole album.

We wondered why didn't Miranda join in for "Meet on the Ledge"..

[kaylakins]

We wondered that too..

It was a fantastic night...my partners first experience of all three groups, and he said the night was a'right...which is a good thing...although he didn't like Fairport as much as SoH or TTL...
Did anyone else find the lyrics quite hard to hear on some songs?

Overall a wonderful night, and a fantastic incentive (as if I need one!) to go to Cropredy  

[JohnT]

Did anyone else find the lyrics quite hard to hear on some songs?

Virtually impossible to hear on many of the 'louder' songs - 'Hawkwood...' being a prime example - at least; ithat's how it was in the second row.

Too many echoes bouncing back from the rear of the hall!

John

[Angela]

I hope this is a photo that Amyjen asked me to post

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Angela]

Oooh!! BOGOF!!

[delfini (Diane)]

Oooh!! BOGOF!!

But neither of them are flashing  

[Amethyst (Jenny)]

Thank you Angela...

That Peggy.. he just flashes TOO fast you know!!

[Chris]

Too many echoes bouncing back from the rear of the hall!

The problem with venues like the Symphony Hall is that the stage is so wide
that the sound from the PA will always struggle to reach the first few rows,
what with the speakers sat far out on the extremities of the stage.

What was needed last night were those small monitor-like speakers stood
towards the front centre of the stage, neatly filling in the space left by
the sound coming from the main speakers - without which you'd have been
listening to the lads monitor mixes. With the extra small 'fill' speakers,
they block out the 'bounce' from the reverb of the back of the hall.

Which is why, in some similar venues (the Wycombe Swan jumps to mind here),
the front rows are often slightly cheaper seats.

[JohnT]

The problem with venues like the Symphony Hall is that the stage is so wide
that the sound from the PA will always struggle to reach the first few rows,
what with the speakers sat far out on the extremities of the stage.

Many thanks for the very helpful reply Chris - all seems to make excellent sense, and certainly something to bear in mind for the future.

Only thing is; if it is all down to physics, and so obvious a problem (and solution) once you know about it - should something not have been done about it beforehand? After all - we certainly didn't get discounted tickets!

John

[Big Dave]

Just to add my two pence worth, not going to add to the reviews since people have reviewed the gig in far more elequent terms than I ever could.
A fantastic night that I don't think could have been bettered.  
Great to meet up again with everybody and thanks for the company.    
Will try to post more later if time permits.

[Scrump]

Just to add my 5p's worth: we had a great evening (indeed, day!) at Brum on Saturday, and having last seen Fairport only in December (albeit minus Peggy), were much impressed by the almost completely new set. They were all on top form, and we liked the new songs, especially Untouchable from the new album.

Being firm SOH fans too, we really enjoyed their set (with our absolute favourite female singer Chris While joining them for Dark Fields being the icing on the cake); and as for TTL, they rocked! This still very young band has surely got a big future.

A pity we didn't get to meet any of you, although we saw a few Fairport T shirts around beforehand. Also we disappeared afterwards pretty quickly afterwards so we didn't get a chance to thank the lads - so I'll do it here: thanks for a great evening guys!

[Big Dave]

Matty Groves
Excuse my French but flippin, blimmin’, crikey, bejasus.  This song won the Hancock in the Category of Best Song Ever Bar None and Never to be Bettered.  But this Matty put me in a wrist-lock, handcuffed me to the radiator, beat seven bells of whatsit out of my sit-upon, and then threw me down the steps to the cells.  (Apologies, everyone.  That was a flashback to 1975.)  If you haven’t booked your ticket for the Wintour, do so toute suite, if not sooner, just to hear this stonkingly superb Matty.  That’s an order.

Meet on the Ledge.  
 With Show of Hands next to Ric, with the Titchy Thinny Ladies centre stage and with nerves and emotions a-jangling in the Symphony Hall, we raised our voices in communion.  More nose blowing from yours truly, too.

Happy birthday, dear Fairport, happy birthday to you.  Thank you for the years past and all the pleasure that you have given me.  I raise a toast to your future, to Cropredy and beyond.

Sir Robert Peel  

Well put Sir Bob, couldn't have put it better myself!  

[Dr Clive]

Most of it has already been said (thanks to Sir Bob and all).

Bex and I trundled up to Brum Saturday afternoon and found our hotel in Edgbaston. We then cabbed it in to town for something to eat before the concert. I have to say that that part of Birmingham has changed out of all recognition since I was last there - I spent six very happy years at Aston (Uni, that is, not Villa) from 1965, indeed I was so happy that I still sometimes have dreams about it. The music scene back then was great, with some fantastic bands on the college circuit - Geno Washington, Arthur Brown, Mike Cotton... Also saw John Mayall (with Mick Taylor) at the Old Town Hall back then.

Anyway, we had some sustenance, then went on to the Symphony Hall.

What a great evening! We liked TTL - maybe a little too West Coast for some (Wilson Phillips, anyone?), and SoH were just brilliant - as someone else has already suggested in this thread, they were worth the price of admission alone. Had only heard them once before (BBC Folk Awards last year?), but was blown away by them. Nice to have the opportunity to pass on these sentiments to the guys themselves afterwards.

Then came FC! Again, as mentioned elsewhere, we had a slight problem with the sound (middle of row three), but it's nice to be able to see the facial expressions during the set. We really enjoyed the set, the choice of older songs was spot-on. However (here comes the controversial bit), whilst I think Chris is a great chap (a real gent, in fact), and has written some good songs, I feel that of late his output has been over-dominant in the band's output, with some fairly ordinary songs - OTNH doesn't get played very often around here because of the relative "single note" impression given by CL's contribution.

Having said all that, we have never been disappointed overall with an FC concert, and Saturday was no exception. As everyone else has mentioned, the Steve Ashley song is just brilliant - IMHO one of the very best things the band has ever done, and I'm sure destined to become a perennial favourite and a fixture in the set.

The boys were surrounded by crowds of fans after the gig, so we didn't get to talk to them (except that Bex got her usual kiss from Ric!) - we'll hopefully get to talk to them at St Albans in a couple of weeks' time.

We did manage to apologise to PJ for a little incident at St Albans last year - Bex mistook PJ for a cloakroom attendant! I gather he's considering a third career...

DC

[martin driver]

It was a fantastic night in Brum and nice to meet so many friends and fellow Faiporters there. Nothing to add to all the splendid reviews but I do have a couple of pics.
1, Puggs with crew members of the Black Pig
2, Tiny Tin Lady are amazed by the size of Symphony Hall, didn't they do well!

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Karen]

Yep.  That was the best Fairport gig I've seen in ages.    

TTL were so good - I really enjoyed them and thought they shook the place up.

SoH are a class act, anyway.  They did what we've come to expect from them - sing some terrific songs with gusto and big hearts.  I thought I was going to be thrown out of my seat by the roar from the audience singing along to 'Haul Away Joe'.  Well sung, people!

'Polly on the Shore' and 'Tam Lin' were heart-stopping.  We had some good anecdotes and asides from the chaps.  And it wouldn't be a Fairport gig if someone in the audience didn't shout 'Oh get on with it!' to Ric  

Big Dave was in the front row - so biggish that he had to be moved to the side.  Chris Bates snapped anything that moved, unobstrusively.  I saw Gower Flower and Delfini in the middle of the Hall, flicking missiles (was it popcorn?) at Adrian.  They hit his fez on several occasions - good shot, ladies! Jennifer was freaking out on some sort of biscuity cakey thing and Pugwash showed me his cannon.  It was a pleasure to meet you all and to have such good company on an unforgettable night.

Karen

[Harbottle (Martin)]

Interesting to see comments on the sound. I've been to Symphony a lot, and I've always found the sound to be very very echoey - last time was Fairport with All About Eve, and it was terrible... hard to hear any vocals. Last year for Jethro Tull's tour, I chose to go down to Cheltenham instead as I've never found the Symphony good for rock/pop bands.

We were sitting in the middle right at the back of the stalls for Saturday, and the sound was very good this time.

[Amethyst (Jenny)]

  

Jennifer was freaking out on some sort of biscuity cakey thing and Pugwash showed me his cannon.  It was a pleasure to meet you all and to have such good company on an unforgettable night.

Karen

Who is this Jennifer??

Puggs NEVER shows ME his cannon!!!

Thanks for the photo Martin