Dave Pegg celebrated his 75th birthday in style at Dudley Town Hall, returning to the same venue where he had marked his half a century back in 1997. The night saw Fairport Convention joined by special guests and musical friends from throughout the years, closing out the bands short Autumn tour with a show that clocked in at more than three hours long.
The birthday boy from Acocks Green initially took the stage alone around half past seven and after some words of welcome he introduced A J Clarke and Julia Porter who joined the audience in wishing him ‘Happy Birthday’. Peggy then accompanied the duo on electric guitar for a couple of whimsical numbers that marked the passing of the years. It was a long night for Peggy as he remained on stage for the entire show, playing bass with his other guests that included Anna Ryder, Ralph McTell, Tom Leary and Malvern’s Vo Fletcher who gave a rousing rendition of ‘The Mighty Quinn’. The first half closed with a full electric band set up, Paul Mitchell leading the assorted throng into a lively version of ‘Sympathy for the Devil’.
After a short intermission the full Fairport line-up, Peggy, Chris Leslie, Ric Sanders and Simon Nicol, took the stage for the second half of the show; kicking off with ‘Walk Awhile’, the very first Fairport song to have featured Peggy on 1970’s classic Full House album. After the recent departure of long-serving drummer Gerry Conway, another Fairport / Jethro Tull alumnus had made the trip to Dudley all the way from the USA to help them out – Dave Mattacks doubling up on drums and occasional keyboards. Despite threatening to perform his infamous ‘Hungarian Rhapsody’ Peggy instead led the band into ‘Bankruptured’, one of his own pieces that was dedicated to the UK Government. Ralph McTell’s ‘The Hiring Fair’ was beautifully sung by Simon who then welcomed Ralph back to the stage for the up tempo ‘Zimmerman Blues’.
Although claiming to have a few thousand copies left cluttering up his garage, Peggy announced the band would play some numbers from 2020’s Shuffle and Go, the last Fairport studio album to date and released just before the pandemic struck and live music closed down. These included Ric’s quirky ‘Steampunkery’ and Chris’ moon landing inspired ‘Moondust and Solitude’, its extended prog rock meets folk instrumental ending allowing the band the chance to really stretch themselves. Simon introduced ‘Who Knows Where The Time Goes’ by sharing some fond memories of Sandy Denny and gave a heartfelt tribute to Peggy and their enduring friendship as he led the band into ‘Matty Groves’.
The evening eventually came to a close with everyone returning to the stage for the obligatory ‘Meet on the Ledge’, Peggy encouraging everyone in the crowd to promise we would all come back in five years time and do it all again. Although his five decades and counting tenure with Fairport will always be what he is best known for, across Peggy’s career he has also had a stint with Jethro Tull and has played on albums by Nick Drake, John Martyn, Richard Thompson and The Bar-Steward Sons of Val Doonican amongst many many others. All that remains to say is Happy Birthday Peggy and we will see you in five years for the next big celebration!
