The opening night of the Steeleye 2006 Autumn/Winter tour was at The Anvil in Basingstoke. Difficult to say how many people were there – we estimate that the theatre was over 90% occupied – maybe between 1200 and 1500 in the audience?

We had a little further to travel than most since we live on the outskirts of Hamburg and thus had to find a Friday or Saturday concert (to avoid taking our son off too much school), book flight (2 months in advance meant that fares were not too expensive), hire car & hotel. We were accompanied by a German colleague  together with his wife (they never having seen Steeleye live before.)

Guided by an electronic navigator our group arrived at The Anvil about 20 minutes before the concert started. We found the merchandise table besieged by the masses & just one poor guy trying to sell all he could. When he looked in my direction: “two Bloody Men please” and over they came.

The stage layout and the lighting was similar to that used for recent tours – simple & effective. This comprised a number of coloured sheets hanging from the ceiling with the lighting varying the colours from yellow through orange to red. Our friends were impressed.

As our 17-yr old son Alex forecast the band came onto the stage pretty much punctually and after the first two notes he whispered to us: Long Lankin! This classic Steeleye song was performed in style & given a warm reception by the audience. Then Peter picked up his guitar & along came Lord Elgin – this rolls along as if you have always known the tune. Then into the very powerful Demon of the Well where so much special about Steeleye comes together – unusual steel slide guitar sound, great singing of dark words & Peter’s octave violin making a sound that can possibly best be described as “groans” echoing Ken’s guitar.. The combination of sounds and voices is unusual but very effective – possibly my favourite song from the new CD.

After that I lost exact track of the play list – there was a great rendition of Who’s the Fool Now (sadly not on the new CD), and Peter’s Let her go Down. I personally thought that Ken’s Unconquered Sun (which I very much like) went through at rather high speed. There was a further smattering of Christmas-songs from the Winter CD – even though still in November it didn’t feel much like Christmas at all. Today in Bethlehem and a great Maddy & Peter duo with In The Bleak Midwinter.

The Bonny Black Hare came with its unusual opening beat (as if about to dance around a wigwam) – a far stronger rendition than that on the CD….. Beautiful was The Dreamer & The Widow with Peter’s violin, Maddy’s voice & Ken expertly playing acoustic guitar.

The second half commenced with Rick’s Ned Ludd project. To be honest we had misgivings on this subject (feeling it not to be in the Steeleye groove) but it wasn’t too bad at all. It is a sequence of five songs about the industrial revolution and during one of the pieces you could hear the instruments mimicking the machinery in the factory. After that Peter remarked “Meanwhile in some Irish pub … in London” and launched into The 1^st House in Connaught. The second half of the concert finished (I think) with The Royal Forester (from Below the Salt).

One does not cease to be amazed at the musicianship on the stage – for instance Peter sits playing the violin, dumps it on his lap to use the keyboard, pulls the violin up again to play pizzicato & then again with the bow. Ken’s musical contribution is impressive with both writing and guitar playing, both acoustic & electric. This is not to minimise the contributions of the whole band – how disappointing it is that they are not more widely known & appreciated. Rick did seem to be having some technical(?) problems at times although we in the audience did not notice much awry.….

The end came far too fast and following loud applause the band were bought back for an encore which (unusual for an encore) was sung by Peter: The Song Will Remain – very effective, to be followed by the First Nowell. More loud applause & drumming of feet (I thought that wasn’t done in England) and back they came for Gaudete. The band must have been impressed at their reception since Maddy thanked the audience for helping to make the opening night such a success. Our son had been looking forward to joining in a rendition of Hat.

We had explained to our friends that those who don’t leave the theatre too fast and hang around a while just may get the chance to meet some of the band. Sure enough Maddy was sat at a table in the foyer surrounded by many people. Patience was further rewarded as Ken appeared and came over for a short chat. My wife is getting used to holding his wineglass whilst he’s busy signing CD covers. Then Peter appeared & immediately recognised us. He was carrying a bag of crisps plus a glass of red wine claiming this was his evening meal – life is hard at the top….

As left the theatre we debated the last few hours – feeling we had attended a VERY GOOD concert but maybe not quite up to the final night in Oxford on the Spring tour – that concert was EXCELLENT. We cannot really put our finger on what this was due to - our conclusion was that The Anvil, being modern, did not have as much “atmosphere” as the New Theatre in Oxford –even though the latter was far more cramped.

We retreated to our hotel & to sleep, with the tune from Lord Elgin going round & round in our heads.

^{Howard and Heike Mills
2006}