FOLK legends Fairport Convention will combine the old with the new when their 27th consecutive winter tour parks up at the Grand Opera House, York, on Tuesday night.

Not only will they introduce songs from their new studio album, Festival Bell, but the 7.30pm concert also will feature a 40th anniversary performance of the band’s 1971 concert album, the folk-rock opera Babbacombe Lee.

The work tells the story of John ‘Babbacombe’ Lee, a Victorian criminal who was reprieved after three attempts to hang him failed. “This tour will be the first time we’ve played the whole of it since the 1970s,” says lead singer and guitarist Simon Nicol.

Ironically it was the only Fairport album that violinist Ric Sanders, who joined the band in 1985, did not acquire immediately it was out.

“I always bought them on the day of release from Liege & Lief onwards, even though I was playing in Soft Machine and Second Vision, which had John Etheridge in the line-up, so it was jazz-rock though I always had a folky element…but it was still a big surprise for me to join Fairport.

“Babbacombe Lee was the one that got away, however, as it was the year when I was listening to Miles Davis.”

What does Ric reckon to the album, now that he has familiarised himself with it? “What a brilliant album it is – a concept album about execution. No wonder it didn’t chart! But it’s been a joy to learn it,” he says.

“We’ll present it as it was on the record but adapted to the current line-up, as we’re not trying to create a museum piece but one that will have the vibe of now.”

In the spotlight too will be Festival Bell, the first new Fairport Convention album for four years, whose 14 tracks embrace compositions by band members, two songs by Ralph McTell and a reworking of Sandy Denny’s Rising For The Moon.

“I’ve contributed my own set of instrumentals,” says Ric. “One is called Danny Jack’s Chase and the other is Danny Jack’s Reward, and it’s for you to decide what the reward is.”

Fairport Convention, Grand Opera House, York, Tuesday, 7.30pm. Tickets: £20, £19, on 0844 847 2322 or grandoperahouseyork.org.uk


Did you know?

According to band member Simon Nicol, Tuesday’s concert will be Fairport Convention’s first appearance at the Grand Opera House since 1995. They last played in York at The Duchess on their acoustic tour in May 2009.