STEELEYE SPAN - PALACE THEATRE, NEWARK
24th. OCTOBER 1999

The bands 30th anniversary tour has got as far as Newark. On a Sunday night in October the band arrived at their favourite old haunt in the area - the Palace Theatre. In truth, the venue was not the best for a folk group.Its ornate finishings are all very nice to look at but they are not really conducive to an audience letting its collective hair down and whooping it up over a few beers. Its more your sort of polite clapping place.This might have accounted for the long time it took the band to get any real response to their efforts. Having seen them warm up so well with a pretty similar set at Nettlebed Folk Club and get a rapturous reception it was obviously a little disappointing for them. This was capped off by their playing only one encore instead of the two or even three they could have run to. The second one I fancy may have included Gaudete and its omission was the first time I had not heard it played in ten years of watching them. All of which was a shame. The ushers came in and the lights came up to forestall any further appearances by the group. Not that this should give a false impression of the way Steeleye played. They were well-polished and practised - evidence that they are well into their annual touring schedule.

After the gig they were happy to talk and Gay Woods pointed out the band faced eight concerts without a break in the following fortnight. Like most folk musicians she admitted to being more comfortable in a smaller and more intimate venue. The advantage of the larger hall was apparent though, in that the sound was very good and there were plenty of good seats for a most pleasing light show.

The music consisted of a good trawl through the thirty years of their history and will probably change as the tour goes on. There were a couple of new numbers which may have been previewed from the promised new album being recorded next year. This is the set (of about one hour forty minutes) as played, -

THE PRICKLY BUSH a lively opener !
HARVEST OF THE MOON
ERIN listen out for the brilliant instrumental section at the end of this number with Gay playing the Bodhran
ONE TRUE LOVE if you think Tim Harries is the quiet one, think again.Here he takes lead vocal very well and provides a bass solo that is utterly brilliant and shows just how competent he is.
DARK EYED SAILOR it's worth pointing out here that on-loan drummer Gerry Conway played on the original recording of this record.This is a unique chance to see him and Gay performing it again.
LONGBONE a rare outing for this little-known number from 'Sails of Silver'
HORKSTOW GRANGE a nice vocal arrangement for the title track of their latest album.
THE CONNEMARA CRADLE SONG a good vehicle for Gay's vocals
(end of the first part)

OLD TURF FIRE
BLACK JACK DAVY
THE STUTTERING LOVERS a new song and a powerful little number
BONNY BIRDY this is turning into a tour de force for the band - some great instrumental touches, a rip roaring keyboard part for Peter Knight and listen to his intro at the start - a real treat and one of the high points of the show.
THE WATER IS WIDE again a nice instrumental section and some improvisation from the band on this early on.Worth listening out for.
I WISH THAT I NEVER WAS WED another chance for Gay to belt out the vocals and win over the audience in her intro !
WELL DONE LIAR another one new ?
THOMAS THE RHYMER
OLD MAID IN THE GARRETT