Fairport Convention, Connaught Theatre, Worthing

Sunday, 5 March 2023

Fairport Convention, Connaught Theatre, Worthing

The first local visit of the year ... We went to see Fairport Convention at the Connaught theatre in Worthing... a place we had been to before to see Cara Dillon, so kind of knew what we were in for.

The car park is next door to the theatre, however this time we had to pay by the hour in place of an evening charge that was in place last year, so some confusion over the ticket machine (and it did require topping up at the end of the evening as the show went on over the published time - which was very tight for us). We went in search of the noodle bar that we used last time, however it closed early on a Sunday so we settled for fish and chips and a bench over looking the sea front.

A trip down the pier and back the other side, before heading back to the van to wait for the doors to open - there was a fierce wind so hanging around outside was not an option.

Inside the demographic showed that the audience was keeping time with the band - most needed some kind of assistance to move around - we seemed to be in the extremes of the younger quartile.

The support was from a duo - Hanna Sanders and Ben Savage - acoustic with a shared mic... at least it was original. She had a good voice but his appeared to be very strained.

there was no doubt as to why they were chosen as after their short set they stayed on whist the main act joined then to perform Reynardine.

Ric Saunders, Simon Nichol, Dave Pegg and Chris Leslie joined by Dave Mattacks, performed a mixture of tracks interspersed with a bit too much banter - everyone getting a turn to talk and tell stories (or lame stand-up as in Ric's turn).

Up to the intermission which provided a break.