It'll be an awful shame if 2024 becomes the final year of Cropredy by default rather than by being planned that way, with a much stronger lineup to go out on.

But these days, who *are* the really strong acts that are both crowd-pullers *and* financially/logistically feasible for Cropredy anyway?


Well, this is my point. Cropredy obviously has to refocus away from that original audience, which it's clearly been trying to do in more recent years, and the people in their forties and fifties would seem to be the prime target - the ones who grew up in the 80s and are steeped in that particular era of pop culture, but who also know music from the 60s through to the 90s because they grew up during a period before tiny social media bubbles.

I don't think aiming much younger than people born from about 1970 onwards is likely to work.

 I only got into the Coral with that album, but enjoyed it hugely - and personally I think the most recent album 'Sea of mirrors' is even better; melodicism dialled up to eleven....

A couple more runs through the album and I have concluded that it's mostly lift music with the occasional hotel bar/lounge "entertainment".

Not a fan, sadly.

The trouble with that is that Fairport were a Sixties and Seventies band, essentially, when at their peak commercially..albeit not a very high one.
The 'old' audience are of the same vintage.
They are/were into music of that era, and either bought records by or went to see Fairport's contempories when it was the current happening thing. People who were old enough to go to Bath Festival and see Fairport, Pink Floyd, Zappa, Led Zeppelin, Jefferson Airplane, The Byrds and so on. This is why prog acts are popular with a part of the crowd, and also your Steeleyes, John Martyns, Lindisfarnes. (Progressive rock meant something different in 1969.)
The undercard was largely always up and coming acousticy/folky acts, which was what Fairport were in the Eighties. (Acousticy/folky, not up and coming.)
I can't see Fairport fans being Petula or Tony Christie fans - Glasto may get away with one act like that each year - but that's not Cropredy.
I can't see a future for Cropredy with The Human League, Culture Club, Rick Astley, and the Pet Shop Boys, with Fairport playing to a half empty field at the end, either. A Madness or Proclaimers for a bit of variety maybe, but there's plenty of festivals catering to that, and us die hards would go elsewhere, sadly.
If there were any folk festivals left.

I had the great privilege of being at The Maverick festival once, watching some old timey Americana duo be absolutely delighted to be introduced by our compere, one Stephen Foster.

Unfortunately, he cancelled his U.S. tour (slow ticket sales or "scheduling issues," who knows?). He was planning to come to our fair city. U.K. dates are still on.

I'd argue that what Cropredy needs is more 80s acts - the kind of thing that will appeal to people currently in their forties/fifties, because let's face it, the original FC fans and Cropredy attendees are well embarked on their seventies now and are going to be less and less likely to turn up, for multiple reasons.

I'm not quite in my mid-fifties and the 80s are absolutely my era for mainstream pop music. Quite a few of the still-working acts that came out of the 80s are recognised for their songwriting and musicianship and would sit very happily on a Cropredy bill.

I realise that Nile Rodgers and Trevor Horn are strong nods in this direction (and they both have 70s crossover too) but the net could be cast wider.

Well, having spent Saturday at a sea shanty festival on Barry Island, singing with two different choirs (very nice, too) I'm looking forward to seeing young Mr Thompson in Cardiff tomorrow.

I didn't make it that far. Because I have the albums on CD I can't remember which are the bonus tracks. That one is so bad I have always assumed it can't have been part of the original album.

I feel the same about “We’ll Meet Again” on Mr Tambourine Man