Folkrock legends Fairport Convention will start their 2016 Winter Tour on Thursday 28 January. The tour will open at The Roses Theatre, Tewkesbury and the final concert will take place on Sunday 6 March at Birmingham Town Hall.

This will be Fairport’s thirty-second consecutive Winter Tour and the event has become a much-anticipated fixture in the band’s annual calendar.

Fairport frequently introduces new concert material as well as drawing on its vast back catalogue so each year’s Winter Tour features a unique programme of music. For 2016, the concerts will feature a mix of long-established Fairport favourites and numbers from 2015’s studio album ‘Myths And Heroes.’

Each year Fairport invites a special guest to open the Winter Tour shows. All the 2016 concerts will feature a short performance by Brighouse-based singer-songwriter Roger Davies. Accompanying himself on guitar, Roger’s entertaining and quirky songs reflect his love of Yorkshire, its towns and its people.

The current members of Fairport Convention have a passion for performance. "Live shows are what drive us," says lead vocalist and guitarist Simon Nicol. “Fairport has been gigging for nearly fifty years and we still love every minute of it. We are at our happiest when we’re on the road. The Winter Tour brings a dash of brightness and warmth to the dark cold evenings of January and February – for us as much as our audiences."

Mr Nicol is the only founding member still in the group – he played his first gig with Fairport in May 1967. However, bass player Dave Pegg has been in the line-up for nearly as long having joined the band in 1970. “Obviously, Fairport – like music itself – has seen a lot of changes over the last four decades but I can honestly say it’s always been a joy to be out on tour with the band,” says Mr Pegg.

Next to Simon Nicol and Dave Pegg, the other band members are comparative newcomers. Violinist Ric Sanders joined in 1985, singer and multi-instrumentalist Chris Leslie in 1996 and drummer Gerry Conway in 1998.

Credited with originating the British folk-rock genre, Fairport Convention has attracted great critical acclaim down the years. The band has won a coveted BBC Lifetime Achievement Award; Radio 2 listeners voted Fairport’s groundbreaking album Liege & Lief 'The Most Influential Folk Album of All Time'; and the band’s story has been celebrated with a major documentary on BBC Four television.

FAIRPORT CONVENTION WINTER TOUR DATES AND VENUES 2016

January

28, Tewkesbury, The Roses Theatre; 01684 295074

29, Coventry, Warwick Arts Centre; 02476 524524

30, Southport, The Atkinson; 01704 533333

31, Cardiff, St David's Hall; 02920 878444

February

2, Aylesbury, Waterside Theatre; 0844 871 7627

3, Stoke-on-Trent, Victoria Hall; 0844 871 7649

4, Leeds, City Varieties; 0113 243 0808

5, Alnwick, Playhouse; 01665 510785

6, Edinburgh, Queen’s Hall; 0131 668 2019

7, Inverness, Eden Court; 01463 234234

9, Durham, Gala Theatre; 03000 266600

10, Whitby, Pavilion; 01947 458899

11, Milton Keynes, The Stables; 01908 280800

12, Bury St Edmunds,The Apex; 01284 758000

13, Farnham, The Maltings; 01252 745444

14, Lincoln Drill Hall; 01522 873894

16, Canterbury, The Gulbenkian; 01227 769075

17, Canterbury, The Gulbenkian; 01227 769075

23, Worthing, Connaught Theatre; 01903 206206

24, Exeter Corn Exchange; 01392 665938

25, Weston-super-Mare, Playhouse Theatre; 01934 645544

26, Bridport, The Electric Palace; 01308 424901

27, Liverpool, The Camp and Furnace; 0151 708 2890

28, Salford, The Lowry; 0843 208 6000

March

1, York, Grand Opera House; 0844 871 3024

2, Kettering, Lighthouse Theatre; 01536 414141

3, Shrewsbury, Theatre Severn; 01743 281281

4, London, Union Chapel; 0207 226 1686

5, St Albans, Alban Arena; 01727 844488

6, Birmingham Town Hall; 0121 345 0600

More Details.