Fairport Convention Goes Dutch

Koen Hottentot wrote this review. 

Theatre De Kom, Nieuwegein, Holland, December 12, 1999

Yesterday must have been one of the most bizarre Fairport gigs in recent years. Half the audience demanded their money back. The other half went home very, very content. Lemme explain.

Fairport Acoustic Convention (sans drummer Gerry Conway) was going to have their first gig of the current Dutch/Belgian tour in the very boring town of Nieuwegein, not far from Utrecht (for those of you who are English, it’s a sort of a small Milton Keynes, I guess — a soulless “forensic” town).

I arrived there with fellow listee Wim Lucken by car and was going to meet up with Cropredy regulars Dick, Cor and Rick in front of Theatre De Kom at 5 p.m., to have dinner. The show was to start at 8:15 p.m.

We were a little early, and while waiting for the others to show up, a guy from the theatre opened the door, wondering why we were standing there in the pouring rain at 5 p.m. We explained, and the man said that they had received a call from the band: they were going to be a little late, because the van had broken down in deepest Germany. The previous night, Fairport had played a gig in Plauen, which, Simon said later, is not far from Leipzig (if so, it was in what formerly was beyond the Iron Curtain). That’s pretty far from here. Never mind though, they expected to be there at 6 p.m. No problem.

Dick, Rick and Cor arrived, a nice Chinese meal was had, and at 7 p.m. we were back at the theatre where, in the meantime, some other Dutch Cropredy-ers had arrived. Also attending were the Barnhoorn family (son Matthijs plays a good fiddle and had jammed with the band on stage at the last visit in Noordwijk, in June), as well as Harmke, Fairport’s new Dutch agent. Later on, some other fellow listees arrived: Gerard Bouman, and Jaap Toet.

No sign of any Fairporters though. Again a call came in from a very apologetic Dave Pegg — there had been some problems, but now they expected to arrive after 8 p.m.

In the meantime, the management had started phoning people who had bought tickets to say that the gig was now delayed until 9 p.m. A large sign at the theatre entrance said there would be at least a 45 minute delay.

It was well after 9 p.m. when only Peggy and Rob Braviner arrived, both looking rather exhausted. The van had not only broken down, but had to be left in Germany at some garage near Kassel, while Rob, Peggy, Simon, Chris and Ric had to go to Holland in two rental cars. The second rental car, containing the rest of the band, was still on its way. Quite where they were no one was entirely sure.

I called back home to say it would be very late until I would be home.

In the meantime, the theatre bar had a good night. The coffee was all on the house because of the delay, but most had by now settled for beer, and Matthijs and his dad (who had gotten hold of a guitar) were now playing music in the foyer. The atmosphere was not one of irritation at all, as far as I could see — this situation was beyond anyone’s control. It was like a popular bar, really.

However, understandably, many people — especially those with babysitters in or work to go to the next day — began to leave and asked for (and got) their money back. It must have been a little after 10 p.m. that Simon, Ric and Chris finally arrived. They hadn’t eaten yet either, so a hasty meal was prepared (Boerenkool met Worst, a horrid Dutch invention consisting of a mish-mash of sausage, potatoes and green stuff, as if their suffering wasn’t enough!).

Some time later I remarked that normally at this time, they would have started “Meet On The Ledge.” Instead, they were sound checking. At last, at 10:30 p.m. (two hours and fifteen minutes late), those who were still there (I later heard that around 70 had left) got into the theatre. By this time I felt suitably relaxed, having had eight beers.

When at last the band appeared, they got a warm reception from what I guess can be called a diehard audience. Obviously, the Fairporters were very apologetic and appreciative of our patience — they had actually left Plauen at 8:30 that morning (it was a very lengthy drive), had spent some time standing on a busy Autobahn after the van broke down, spent even more time at a garage and at a rental company. A day of hell, Pegg said — though on stage they were quite jolly about it, at one point inviting the audience to make traffic noises (how does one impersonate a lorry at full speed?) because they had gotten so used to the sound all day long.

Nevertheless, they looked obviously tired, with the possible exception of Simon, who seemed in a quite jolly mood actually. This time, Simon not only put his finger in Peggy’s ear (and vice versa) but at one point even kissed his ear!

So, seven hours after I had left home, the music could finally start. They played very professionally, as always. Unfortunately, from the new album (which I would assume was their main reason to tour) only four numbers were played (actually three — I don’t really see “Close To You” as being “new” any more).

These were all premiered nearly a year ago though: “Good Fortunes,” (very good), “Banbury Fair,” (a so-so song, in my opinion) and a fab “Rocky Road,” which I think is one of the high points of the new CD The Wood & The Wire. The latter three were all among the first five songs they played — so it was a very promising start for us regular Fairporters, who long for some fresh material in their set.

After that though, it was back to the old set we all know and, er … love. Here they have a fresh album under their belt, and only four of the 14 songs on there get played — a little frustrating!

For obvious reasons, the set was shorter than normal. They only played a little over one and a half hours (without break), and I think some songs were dropped in order to still finish at a reasonable hour.

Their playing was excellent though, I must say — even under such circumstances (they must have been knackered, but it didn’t really show that much). I am happy to report that the Liverdance joke seems to be laid to rest at last, and neither “Wishfulness Waltz” nor “Slipjigs And Reels” — my least favorite songs — were played, nor was “The Hiring Fair” (a Fairport first?). This all probably had a lot to do with the fact they had to cut their set a little short, although I didn’t have the impression that they were in a hurry or whatever, since there was plenty of banter in between songs!

A little before midnight, Matty Groves was once again buried in his grave with the Lord’s wife on top of him ‘cos she was of noble kin, and the band got a warm standing ovation as they got off stage. When they got back on for “Meet On The Ledge,” they were each given huge bouquets of flowers.

Luckily, it all came round again, even after a day of utter hell for them. A major surprise came at the end. After “Meet On The Ledge” ended and people started making their way to the exit, Simon said “Don’t leave just yet, we have a little Christmas present for you all!” Out came Ric and Peggy carrying two boxes of The Wood And The Wire CDs. To my complete amazement, they were all given away for free, as a thank you for our patience. They hung around to sign the CDs, shake hands, chat and wish people a Merry Christmas while still saying sorry about what happened.

This is something only a band like Fairport Convention can do, I guess — send the punters home happy, even if they had to wait for nearly two and a half hours for the band to show up, although their lateness was totally beyond their control. Fantastic gesture!

As it was way too late to catch a last train to Groningen for agent Harmke, Dick offered the use of his air mattress and floor space back in Amsterdam to her, so she could take the morning train back home. Straight after the gig though, there were obviously a few talks to be had between band and theatre, and it was only at well after 1 a.m. that we could finally leave Nieuwegein, which looked even more boring at night. I must say, the Theatre De Kom was a very pleasant surprise. Friendly staff, excellent venue in itself, superb acoustics.

Thanks once again to Wim for dropping us off home safely. I can never sleep straight away, so it wasn’t until close to 3 a.m. that I put the lights out. I didn’t fancy getting up for work again at 7 o’clock, so I didn’t!

This turned out to be a very wise decision, as I later found out, because there was a sudden train strike which disrupted the rush hour (and beyond) immensely — I wouldn’t have been able to reach work until well after 11 a.m., I guess, but thanks to Fairport, I was still in bed by that time. Thanks, van!

Seriously though, this was, of course, a horrible start to the Dutch/Belgian tour for them. In the end, with agent Harmke as intermediary between Rob Braviner and the theatre owner, the financial stuff was all dealt with amicably — I don’t know what the deal was, but of course the theatre had a huge loss due to having to pay refunds to the 70 people who wanted their money back. Plus, the band must have given away about 100 CDs — worth over £1,000 if sold the normal way.

In the meantime, they have a van back in Germany somewhere, are now forced to use rental cars, and their next gig is in a place called Ingelmunster, Belgium where the venue — a pub — can only accommodate about 100 people, not a big earner either. The day after that they have no gig, so I assume they will use that to collect the hopefully repaired van, back in the area of Kassel. They must be tearing their hair out. Luckily, Peggy doesn’t have that much of it.

So anyone in Holland/Belgium, support them next time they tour near you; they need it and bloody well deserve it.

De Milkweg, Amsterdam, Holland, December 18, 1999

By the time I write this, the chaps will be on the ferry back to the UK, and I am happy to report they were able to take the Fairportmobile home too, which had broken down exactly a week ago.

In the end, my impression was that it was a good tour overall. They had no merchandise left; there were some healthy The Wood And The Wire sales at the Amsterdam gig (this time, people had to buy the CD, which made an interesting change from last week when they were given away for free).

I’m not going into the musical proceedings too deeply, because there were hardly any surprises except for the first encore, where the young Dutch fiddle player, Matthijs Barnhoorn, was invited on stage to play a very fab “Lark In The Morning” with Fairport. For the rest, we got a few extra songs compared to the shortened Nieuwegein set last week. These were: “Dangerous, ” “Wishfulness Waltz,” “The Hiring Fair,” and “The Naked Highwayman,” so no surprises there.

I am very saddened to say the Liverdance joke made an unwelcome return (cringe).

Well, so much for the negative stuff. On to the positive stuff. I thoroughly enjoyed the gig, Fairport was very much on form, and when they are, they’re still a joy to watch and listen to, stale set list or not — let’s not forget, these guys are the most incredible musicians. I was thinking about that yesterday during the gig — I see them rather often (this was the fourth time this year outside the Cropredy week), so at some point, you’re just taking them for granted. Yet even if they do play “The Hiring Fair” — or “Matty Groves,” (for that matter) — for the 13,000th time, there’s still something magical about it: so many subtleties, such fantastic interplay, such natural musicians.

It did help that they got a very warm reception from the crowd at De Melkweg (Milky Way); this was, after all, their first Amsterdam gig since 1975 (though there are people who seem to remember they were here in 1979 too, none seem to know where exactly that was, if they were there at all). Back then, only Peggy was present from the current lineup!

There was almost a Cropredy feeling at the very end when Fairport was called back for the second encore, “Meet On The Ledge.” Everyone knew the words, so it seemed — there was even the audience sing-along bit — close the eyes and just for a second it felt like being in that Oxfordshire field.

It was a surprise to have my name mentioned on stage. Before “Meet On The Ledge,” Peggy thanked “Koen, for bringing us here” (blush). This wasn’t entirely true: I had nothing to do with bringing them to Holland, or Amsterdam — although on the other hand, I must be partly to blame because I connected Fairport to their new Dutch agent, Harmke Gullane (wife of the Tannahill Weavers’ Roy Gullane). They have a very good relationship, and it’s good to know that in December next year, Fairport will be back in the Lowlands, thus making a December tour of Holland a bit of a tradition!

Fairport ended a little after midnight. Simon joined us almost immediately thereafter and was very chatty and friendly, although because of the incredible loud “background” music I could hardly hear what he was saying. Conversation was shouted in each other’s ears without too much avail.

It was funny how quickly the crowd changed almost immediately after the end of the concert. There is a disco in De Melkweg starting at 00:30 a.m. (or 12:30 a.m. as the Americans tell time), and a load of Very Hip And Alternative looking chaps and chapesses came entering the venue. So as the bearded 40-somethings left the building, yellow-haired pillheads queued up on the other side. (I exaggerate the 40-something bit — there was a very healthy number of young people at the gig who also seemed pretty dedicated fans.)

Our little group stayed a while, not least because Dutch agent Harmke would, like me, spend the night on Dick’s floor elsewhere in Amsterdam as neither of us could have caught the last train back home (unless we had really hurried), and we had to wait for her to finalize everything. Dick (who had introduced Fairport on stage at the very start, and did a good job) and I were invited back to the dressing room, which was only marginally less noisy (though we finally could communicate at a more normal level), where a handful of fans were hanging around too, asking for autographs from Peggy, Simon, Ric and Chris. It was funny to see how Ric was asked to sign the Heyday CD (recorded 17 years before he joined the band).

Chris Leslie seemed genuinely pleased to hear that Dick and myself would, at considerable expense, be making the trip to the Millennium gig in Beverley (which will already be history two weeks from now!), but then, Chris seems always genuinely pleased about anything, really.

They were all tired after a rather eventful week (in which Ric had accidentally left his amplifier in a Belgian venue), so it was back to the hotel for them at around 1 a.m., while Dick, Harmke and I, longing for a refreshing stroll, walked the long miles home for half an hour and had another drink at Dick’s place. At 3 a.m. the lights went out. At 8 a.m., they went on again, I packed up my things, and took the train home. At 10 a.m., the lights went out again, yet this time in my own bed. And then I slept until 2 p.m. And here I am, two hours later, writing my report, sad bugger that I am!

[Editor’s note: Fairport is doing a UK tour again in 2026. Read about it at World Music Central.]