Given the cost of living crisis, I honestly think that the lineup is a huge part of it.
Cropredy is *not* a cheap 3 days, and if we're going to risk spending what's going to be the thick end of £700 for two of us (after food, drink, travel costs and sundries) potentially being rained on in a muddy field before trudging back to a tent, we need to be confident we're going to enjoy a fair chunk of the acts.
Cropredy is simply too expensive for us to go in the primary hope of discovering something new.
I know that in years gone by, grumbles about the lineup have always been met with the usual responses of "We don't care about the music, we're going because it's Cropredy", but as has been said, the number of people with that attitude will have been diminishing every year through unavoidable natural causes, and so there needs to be a counterbalance.
Since the weather is just pot luck, the lineup is the only leverage the organisers have with those of the ticket-buying public who aren't nostalgically wedded to the twin concepts of FC and Cropredy - which, let's be honest, is most of them.
We haven't been for 17 years, and we've only been 4 times in total starting in 2002. Even back then, it was noticeable that the FC setlists were mostly comprised of the stuff we'd seen on the Wintours and the years of the mega-sets full of back-catalogue surprises were over.
Despite the headline of "it's the lineup, dummy!" I don't really know if there's an answer, and to be frank, I would imagine that pretty much everything depends on how well this year turns out.
I'm not really disagreeing with you, but I can't help but think you weren't paying attention in 2002
https://fclist.org/cropredy-cropredy-line-ups/cropredy-2002Simon Nicol
Dave Pegg
Ric Sanders
Chris Leslie
Gerry Conway
Dave Swarbrick
Richard Thompson
Ashley Hutchings
Iain Matthews
Jerry Donahue
Maartin Allcock
Anna Ryder
Andrew Cronshaw
Neil Wayne
Ian Blake
Fraser Spiers
Tom Farnell
Roger Hill
Marc Ellington
Eddi Reader
Vikki Clayton
Ralph McTell
Chris Parkinson
Tommy Connolly Dancers
Terry Paine
Geoffrey Hughes
Blair Dunlop
Bob Fox
Kristina Donahue
John Jones
The Widow of Westmoreland's Daughter
Happy Man
The Crowd
My Love is In America
Neil's Morris
Journeyman's Grace
Walk Awhile
Doctor of Physick
Now Be Thankful
Flowers of the Forest
You Ain't Going Nowhere
Poor Will and the Jolly Hangman
Sloth
Hens March / Four Poster Bed
Polly on the Shore
Stranger to Himself
Rising for the Moon
John the Gun
Brilliancy Medley / Cherokee Shuffle
Rosie
The Plainsman
Red and Gold
England
Milltown Maid
Claudy Banks
Slip Jigs and Reels
Naked Highwayman
Red Tide
Jewel in the Crown
Everything But the Skirl / Let There Be Drums
The Light of Day
Bowman's Retreat
Matty Groves / Dirty Linen
Meet on the Ledge