Picture this: it’s Saturday night in a field in Cropredy, Oxfordshire. An impressively large multimedia stage is framed by bars, food stalls, and little markets selling acoustic instruments, arty trinkets, pointy felt pixie hats. Under stars, or come clouds, rain or wind, 15,000 music lovers gather with real ale or frothy hot chocolate for the customary headline set by Fairport Convention, which closes the band’s annual three-day festival, Cropredy Convention.
The finale is a mass singalong to a song that has become a signature for Fairport Convention in the 40-odd years of this event, and is widely adopted as a hymn to the hereafter: Meet On The Ledge. When it appeared on the group’s second album, What We Did On Our Holidays, in 1968 it was played down by its young songwriter, lead guitarist Richard Thompson.
