Legendary folk-rockers Fairport Convention are assured of a great reception when their latest tour ends with a "Last Night of the Proms" gig in Birmingham. The highly-successful Over The Next Hill winter tour reaches its climax on Saturday, March 12, with an eagerlyawaited appearance by the renowned band at the Alexandra Theatre. The title of the tour is a wry reflection of the 'hill' the long-established band had to climb last year as Fairport were forced into the complete reorganisation of their touring and recording interests. Fairport also had to organise a new management structure for their annual folk-rock festival extravaganza at Cropredy in Oxfordshire because of the sad marriage split of bass player Dave Pegg and his wife Christine, who had organised the event for 25 years. The festival, now renamed Fairport's Cropredy Convention, goes ahead on August 11, 12 and 13. Meanwhile Fairport have their usual busy gigging schedule to maintain, and 'Peggy' tells me that it's all been quite an upheaval. "It was tough but we are now back on our feet and we began 2005 with new energy and focus. "We have really enjoyed the past six weeks on the road. "We're obviously looking forward to getting back to the Midlands and playing The Alex. "This is going to be a gala night for us and we've got several surprise guests lined up for the concert." The Evening Mail can reveal that those special guests will include ace guitar man P J Wright and accordion player and vocalist Anna Ryder, whose song The Crowd, about the Cropredy fans, was featured on a recent Fairport album. The Birmingham concert will feature well-known classics from Fairport's huge back catalogue, as well as recent compositions from the new album, Over The Next Hill . There will be the usual five-piece Fairport lineup of founder member Simon Nicol on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Brummie Dave Pegg on bass guitar and backing vocals, fellow Brummie Ric Sanders on violin, Chris Leslie on lead vocals, fiddle, mandolin and bouzouki, and Gerry Conway on drums and percussion. Supporting the band, as they have throughout the tour, will be Hilary James and Simon Mayer, who have been attracting great praise wherever they have played. Simon is acknowledged as probably the finest mandolin player in the country and Hilary is an accomplished vocalist as well as a fine player of the instrument herself. Fairport spokesman Andy Farquarson says that the band has been playing to sell-our houses on virtually every date of the tour. "There have only been two or three gigs where the turnout was a little disappointing so we are hoping the audience at the Alex will turn out in force to finish off what has been a great couple of months in style. "The band has been playing with renewed vigour and audiences have been saying how much the band has been putting into the shows. "The Alex gig is going to be a real party atmosphere. "Fairport always love playing Brum so this is going to be a really special evening with a real end-of-term party feel to the occasion. "The special guest artists joining Fairport on stage can only add to what promises to be a highly enjoyable night." The show begins at 7.30 pm and advance tickets are available from Ticket Master on 0870 6077533, or fans can simply pay at the box office on the night. | 
