Fairport Convention's forty-fifth anniversary UK tour

Folkrock legends Fairport Convention will start their forty-fifth anniversary year in style with a major UK tour during January, February and March 2012.

The tour will visit 39 venues throughout England and Wales starting with The Playhouse Theatre, Oxford on 21 January and and finishing at The Union Chapel, London on 10 March.

The 2012 anniversary tour will feature songs from the band's recent studio album, the critically-acclaimed Festival Bell. However, with such a long history the band has a vast repertoire to draw on so this year the tour concerts will also include a selection of favourite songs and tunes specially chosen in a poll of the band's fans.

Each concert on Fairport Convention's 2012 tour will open with a supporting set by Kieran Goss, one of Ireland's best-loved singer-songwriters. Raised in County Down, Kieran has supported Elvis Costello, Christy Moore and Joe Jackson among others as well as filling concert halls in his own right. His songs 'Brand New Star' and 'Just Around The Corner' were recorded by Mary Black and he also has half-a-dozen albums and a top-ten chart single to his credit. For the tour appearances, Kieran will be accompanying himself on guitar.

"Forty-five years is a milestone," says Simon Nicol who co-founded the band in 1967, "but we don't intend to rest on our laurels or hark back to the past. Fairport is a band that always looks to the future. All five of us are looking forward to getting back on the road - in fact, we're raring to go - because our first love is live performance."

As well as Simon Nicol on guitar and lead vocals, Fairport Convention features Dave Pegg on bass and backing vocals, Chris Leslie on fiddle, mandolin, bouzouki and lead vocals, Ric Sanders on violin and Gerry Conway on drums and percussion.

Formed in 1967's 'summer of love', Fairport Convention has been delighting audiences for over four decades. Hailed as the originators of British folk-rock music, the band is still as vibrant and inventive as ever.

Fairport Convention has won a coveted BBC Lifetime Achievement Award and Radio 2 listeners voted Fairport's groundbreaking album Liege & Lief 'The Most Influential Folkrock Album of All Time'.


Fairport Convention Winter tour 2012
Dates and venues

JANUARY
21 Oxford, Playhouse Theatre
25 Tewkesbury, Roses Theatre
26 Salisbury, City Hall
27 Basingstoke, The Anvil
28 Leamington Spa, Royal Spa Centre
29 Exeter Corn Exchange
31 Yeovil, Octagon Theatre

FEBRUARY
1 Truro, Hall For Cornwall
2 Croydon, Fairfield Halls
3 Lincoln, Drill Hall
4 Salford, The Lowry
7 Southend, Palace Theatre
8 High Wycombe, The Swan
9 Bury St Edmunds, Apex Theatre
10 Tunbridge Wells, Assembly Hall Theatre
11 Margate, Theatre Royal
14 St Albans, The Alban Arena
16 Weston Super Mare, Playhouse Theatre
17 Farnham, The Maltings
18 Milton Keynes, The Stables
19 Hayes, Beck Theatre
21 Shrewsbury, Theatre Severn
22 Burnley, The Mechanics
23 Crosby, Civic Centre
24 Stafford, Gatehouse Theatre
25 Leeds, City Varieties
26 Gateshead, Sage Gateshead
27 Kinross, The Green Hotel
28 Edinburgh, Queens Hall
29 Chesterfield, The Winding Wheel

MARCH
1 Kendal, Brewery Arts Centre
2 Swindon, Wyvern Theatre
3 Chichester, The Venue
4 Cromer, The Pavilion
5 Dorking Halls
6 Colchester, Arts Centre
8 Pontardawe Arts Centre
9 Birmingham Town Hall
10 London, The Union Chapel