Cropredy

[Barry]

Someone's got to ask it  .... what is the largest number of acts that you've played with at any single Cropredy festival?

[Maart]

I reckon it was nine in 2001 if you count playing with Vikki Clayton in the church and Dave Panting in the pub), thus smashing the previous record of three which was jointly held by Peggy and I in 1986. That August 2001 I played with 17 different acts! I found a set list in my leads box, in my own hand, but I recognised not one title nor remembered whose setlist it was...

Maart

[Ces]

And are then any Cropredy appearances that really stand out? (From either your perspective as a performer or as an audience member)

[Maart]

Some favourite Cropredy moments:

Lindisfarne (I've always been a fan) back in the nineties. I think it was one of Alan Hull's last gigs with the band. I must get the DVD. I was watching them from the back of the stage and I cried. I'd always wanted to be onstage with them...

Playing the 45 minute Zeppelin set with Robert Plant was a dream come true and I could see a lot of my guitar chums in the audience green with envy. I think I got away with it.

Metal Matty on the 25th (?) boxset. DM was right with me all the way and it felt great.

"I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day" with Roy Wood in the middle of August and Dave Glass, our US manager, throwing fake snow from the rigging.

Completely screwing up the guitar solo in "Come Up And See Me" with Steve Harley. My fingers turned to putty halfway through and I thought, "I hope no-one's recording this". Of course, it's on Cropredy Capers boxset, isn't it?

Looking up halfway through a solo to see headlights in the middle of the crowd. "What's all that about then?" I wondered. It turned out someone had broken their neck. He's OK, thankfully, but I realised what was happening and turned round to ask the others to wait a second while I made an appeal to clear a way, but the count-in was off and I couldn't.

The year I played with so many bands, I was leaving the stage at one point and the monitor engineer said, "Just stay there, we'll throw a cloth over you when you're not needed..."

Every year at the moment when I go onstage. Oh, What A Feeling...

But the toppest has to be when Blue Tapestry had the 8pm Friday slot the other year. What a setlist! What a band! We're all a bit in awe of each other and to get there and find the crowd so totally with us was amazing. People still mention it to me, so I think maybe it wasn't only us having a good time...

Maart

[Martin F]

I reckon it was nine in 2001 if you count playing with Vikki Clayton in the church and Dave Panting in the pub), thus smashing the previous record of three which was jointly held by Peggy and I in 1986. That August 2001 I played with 17 different acts! I found a set list in my leads box, in my own hand, but I recognised not one title nor remembered whose setlist it was...

Maart

I was at the bar when that ?North African? band came onstage that Friday evening, you'd already guested a few times and I overheard a bloke say to his mate "I wonder how Maart's going to fit in with this lot". A bit harsh, but you did seem to be up there all the time that year

[tony the roundhead]

Some favourite Cropredy moments:

"I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day" with Roy Wood in the middle of August and Dave Glass, our US manager, throwing fake snow from the rigging.
Maart

Bloavez mad Maart!
I remember that. I was in the audience with my Breton then-girlfriend. She couldn't understand why this guy was dressed as Santa in the middle of August. I tried to explain the cultural signnificance of the song but she just kept saying "bloody English!"