Fairport Convention will tour the UK this spring, launching a 24-date run on March 17, 2026, at The Stables in Milton Keynes and concluding on April 12 in Leamington Spa.
The shows follow a busy 2025 that included two tours and a sold-out Cropredy Convention. The group is set to reunite with drummer Dave Mattacks for the tour.
Fairport Convention are widely credited with helping define electric folk by mixing traditional and electric instrumentation. Their annual festival in Oxfordshire draws crowds of up to 15,000 each August, and the band continues to play venues across the country.
The 2026 dates mark 30 years of the current lineup: Simon Nicol (guitar, vocals), Dave Pegg (bass guitar), Ric Sanders (violin), and Chris Leslie (fiddle, mandolin, vocals), with Mattacks returning on percussion.
The band’s best-known song, “Who Knows Where The Time Goes,” has surpassed 32 million Spotify streams. Fairport Convention have also received a BBC Lifetime Achievement Award, and BBC Radio 2 listeners voted Liege & Lief “The Most Influential Folk Album Of All Time” in 2006.
The itinerary includes Union Chapel in London and The Forum in Bath.
Support will come from Jenn Butterworth, an award-winning folk guitarist associated with Scotland’s traditional scene. Butterworth was part of Songs of Separation, which won Album of the Year at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2017, and she won Musician of the Year at the Scottish Trad Music Awards in 2019. Her credits include collaborations and performances with Fiddlers’ Bid, Treacherous Orchestra, Ross Ainslie and Ali Hutton, Bella Hardy, Adam Sutherland, Sian, Malin Makes Music, Claire Hastings, and RURA’s Jack Smedley and David Foley.
Mattacks previously served as Fairport Convention’s drummer for much of the 1970s through the 1990s, and has contributed to studio work with artists including Paul McCartney, Brian Eno, Elton John, and Nick Drake.
Fairport Convention Spring 2026 Tour Dates
Tuesday 17th March, 8pm
The Stables, Milton Keynes
Wednesday 18th March, 7.30pm
The Apex, Bury St. Edmunds
Thursday 19th March, 7.30pm
Princess Theatre, Hunstanton
Friday 20th March, 7.30pm
New Century Hall, Manchester
Saturday 21st March, 7.30pm
Buxton Opera House, Buxton
Sunday 22nd March, 7.30pm
The Lamproom Theatre, Barnsley
Tuesday 24th March, 7.30pm
Taliesin Arts Centre, Swansea
Wednesday 25th March, 7.30pm
The Roses Theatre, Tewkesbury
Thursday 26th March, 7.30pm
Corn Exchange, Exeter
Friday 27th March, 7.30pm
The Forum, Bath
Saturday 28th March, 7.30pm
Union Chapel, London
Sunday 29th March, 7.30pm
Town Hall, Loughborough
Tuesday 31st March, 7.30pm
Turner Sims, Southampton
Wednesday 1st April, 7.30pm
The Haymarket, Basingstoke
Thursday 2nd April, 7.30pm
Colyer-Fergusson, Canterbury
Friday 3rd April, 7.30pm
The Old Market, Brighton
Saturday 4th April, 7.30pm
Chequer Mead Theatre, East Grinstead
Sunday 5th April, 7.30pm
Eric Morecambe Centre, Harpenden
Tuesday 7th April, 7.30pm
Harrogate Theatre, Harrogate
Wednesday 8th April, 7.30pm
The Fire Station, Sunderland
Thursday 9th April, 7.30pm
Queen’s Hall, Hexham
Friday 10th April, 7.30pm
Lowther Pavillion, Lytham
Saturday 11th April, 7.30pm
Town Hall, Kidderminster
Sunday 12th April, 7.30pm
Royal Spa Centre, Leamington Spa
Author: World Music Central News Room
World music news from the editors at World Music Central