Watch: Cormac Byrne on-stage with Seth at Cropredy 09

A nostalgic moment for long-time fans, as Cormac Byrne joins Seth on-stage for a classic performance of ‘Lady of the Sea’ at Fairport’s Cropredy Convention 2009. Cormac, with his dazzling bodhran playing, was Seth’s original percussionist. Before he left the regular band this pairing of fiddle and bodhran for the high-energy Lady of the Sea was a staple of the live set. Cormac last toured with the band in Autumn 2007.

Cormac now devotes most of his time to his own band, celtic folk trio Uiscedwr (www.uiscedwr.com).

Other good videos (all on YouTube) from Cropredy – with its big stage, huge crowd, and massive light show – include this good quality recording of set-opener The Storm (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8Ktkv4pQKs) and I have a soft spot for this one of set closer Race to be King (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnN2k3Kr3C8) – despite the shakey camera – perfectly capturing the wild atmosphere of the night.

Backstage at Cropredy with Radio FiveLive

Seth Lakeman plays Kitty Jay backstage at Cropredy. Click for full size version. Photo from @wittertainment

Simon Mayo and Mark Kermode caught up with Seth backstage at Cropredy last Friday for an exclusive performance of Kitty Jay and short interview, before his field-storming headline performance that night.

You can listen again on iPlayer until this Friday (starts around the 58min mark after the Kermode film reviews) and on the Simon Mayo podcast (at about 16min mark).

Listen to the podcast

Download » (right-click and choose ‘save target…’)

Background folk/punk mashups by Ade Edmondson and the Bad Shepherds.

Seth to play Royal Albert Hall for the Teenage Cancer Trust – and other gig news

Seth Lakeman will be performing alongside fellow folk stars Kate Rusby, Eliza Carthy and Fairport Convention at the Teenage Cancer Trust’s first ever folk night at the Royal Albert Hall on 25 March 2009.

More information on the Gigs page or from http://concertsfortct.com/

Festival News

Seth is confirmed at three more summer festivals. He’s on the Friday night bill at Fairport Convention’s own Cropredy festival in Oxfordshire on 13-15 August. Also on the bill that night is Richard Thompson, frequently cited by Seth as a major influence on his own song-writing. Seth previously played Cropedy in 2007.

Seth returns to the National Forest Folk Festival in Leicestershire for the second year running on Fri 3 July, and will also play the Stokes Bay Festival in Portsmouth on Mon 1 Aug.

May Tour

Tickets for all dates on the May tour are now on sale, including Birmingham Symphony Hall.

In addition to the dates already announced Seth will be playing Minack Theatre in Cornwall – the dramatic location for the videos for Crimson Dawn and The Hurlers – sometime in May. Date to be confirmed.

Full info on all the May tour dates and other festival appearances are on the Gigs page on this site.

New Twitter Feed: www.twitter.com/SethLakemanNews

Finally a quick bit of site news. We’ve set up a Twitter feed for those quick news updates and tidbits of info which don’t warrant a full post here. "Tweets", as they’re known, will be displayed in the sidebar as Quick Updates or you can follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/SethLakemanNews