Fisherman's Friends

The Fisherman’s Friends bring the sound of Port Isaac to Southend-on-Sea on 18 September 2027 at Cliffs Pavilion. Formed in 1995 by a crew of Cornish singers rooted in harbour life and the lifeboat, the group has spent decades carrying sea shanties and maritime songs from quayside to stage. Their signature is voices first: unaccompanied harmonies that drive work songs, laments and stories of the coast, occasionally joined by concertina, guitar and a lean folk backline.

After early self-released discs, their audience widened with Port Isaac’s Fisherman’s Friends in 2010 and One and All in 2013, followed by Proper Job in 2015 and Sole Mates in 2018. Along the way, they’ve stood on folk main stages from Glastonbury to the Cambridge Folk Festival and collaborated with peers like Show of Hands. Their journey even reached cinema with Fisherman’s Friends (2019) and a sequel in 2022, paired with the collection One and All: Music from the Movie.

On stage, the focus is collective: call-and-response, grounded choruses and close-knit harmonies that put the songs’ pulse up front. Traditional shanties sit alongside newer arrangements from across their catalogue, with voices leading every swell and refrain.