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STEELEYE SPAN - DERBY
ASSEMBLY ROOMS, After thirty-one years the Steeleye ‘bus’ has started around the UK once again for their annual, autumnal tour. This is the first real test for the band on home soil since the departure of Bob Johnson and when the group took up their positions to open with ‘Horkstow Grange’, his microphone (on the far left) was conspicuously vacant, Tim Harries giving the ‘note’ on the keys. I first saw Bob and fellow Spanners here in 1990 and this concert showed how far the group has come since that time. Most of that movement has occurred since the summer as the three ‘regular’ band members remaining have begun flexing their creative muscles in different directions, providing an unprecedented range of styles that encompasses the whole of the ‘folk rock’ genre. Most of the new material was on show. The band relied heavily on material from the latest release ‘Bedlam Born’ and such was the strength of it, I could comfortably have done without the obligatory ‘Thomas’ and The Hat Song in order to hear more still. Excluding those two, the whole set was drawn from the last three albums. After the very strong opener, ‘John of Ditchford’ threw the group straight into the new work. Problems with Peter’s electric violin meant, ironically, the version sounded more folky than the record but Tim showed he is a neglected vocalist and rhythm player. I should add at this stage that the Steeleye legend Rick Kemp has returned and played bass all night with Dave Mattacks on drums to complete the five and that is one mean combo !! Only one of Peter’s ballads – ‘Who Told the Butcher’ was performed and even then we were left in the dark as to what it ’s about – go to the PMP interview on his site if you want to find out. This was much more in the traditional vein for the diehard fans but showing the softer side of the new record and with some complimentary vocals from Gay. Her vitality was evident. This was very much a new band from the one I saw at Nettlebed. They were much tighter musically but more obviously were enjoying themselves so much more. Tim did well to tackle ‘Prickly Bush’ – normally Bob’s and although he has been compared to him, his version was much more rocky and very different – one of the success stories of the night. I loved ‘Erin’ too, because the bodran Gay hits was much higher up in the mix and so the whole of the end sequence was a huge explosion of rhythm-dominated sound. Fantastic! Also from the ‘Horkstow’ album, ‘Bonny Birdy’ was played. A very speeded-up version with a great instrumental section and a bass solo from Rick. Gay’s vocals were brilliant. You don’t realise how demanding ‘Beyond the Dreaming Place’ is or indeed, ‘I See His Blood Upon the Rose’ but live they are just magnificent. Probably the biggest cheer of the evening came when ‘Thomas the Rhymer’ was played. Like ‘Hat’ it has become an integral part of any show but I felt it was a bit distracting because the new stuff was so VITAL. There was so much more enthusiasm and energy in it and I think when Gay said after ‘Thomas’, "The ancient ones are the best" it was almost with resignation. The set was drawing to a conclusion all to quickly as Steeleye had shared the bill with the admirable Pentangle. Without warning they launched into ‘Staring Robin’, a merry little ditty about an Elizabethan psychopath. The song, sung by Tim in a very punky way (someone said afterwards, it could have been Johnny Rotten doing it!) had been omitted from the new album by Park, allegedly because they didn’t think English folk audiences would appreciate its finer points! The Americans apparently loved it on the US tour but I’m not sure how the audience took it. The show closed with ‘White Cliffs of Dover’. The calls for encore began immediately, (you don’t get ‘The Hat Song’ otherwise) and the band came back on and duly obliged – albeit with Gay slotting in a few odd words here and there as she had been doing throughout. She was clearly loving the chance to perform the new stuff but did take a minute out to say that the band felt they were going through a renaissance period and she hoped people would take to it. I don’t know whether they did or not. As Tim said after the gig, you can never tell with English audiences. This particular crowd contained a smattering of internet names as well. Richard Hollis (grandmaster of this site no less) and Tony Wighton who has written reviews for Peter’s webpage, were both present and liked it. A little earwigging on the way out provided me with two other quotes from the audience. The first was about the popular encore – "I’m sure All Around My Hat used to be so much GENTLER than that," said a nice lady and her companion added, "White Cliffs of Dover" eh? I’ve never heard it played like THAT before". Backstage I had a bit of a natter with Tim Harries. I mentioned, as several have before on this site, that his voice and Bob’s seemed similar and his style and subject matter certainly were. He was flattered by the comparison and said it wasn’t really surprising after all the years they had been in the band and he had learnt a lot from Bob. There was also a desire to maintain some continuity in style, which was good, he said. Tim is a good bloke with a great music brain so I might try and get to talk to him a bit more about the album at some time in the future. I also managed to say to Peter that I thought everyone looked very comfortable with the new set and he responded with; "As long as the music’s happy, then I am" I can’t argue with that!
Nick Clark
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