Reading - 2nd. May 2008

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Steeleye Span

2nd. May 2008, The Concert Hall, Reading

A review by Howard E. Mills.

The alarm went off at 5am on the morning of Friday 2nd May 2008.  Up early for the Steeleye Span concert in Reading.  Why 5am for a concert starting at 7:30pm?  Well, we live near Hamburg in Germany and were booked on the 7:35 Lufthansa flight to London Heathrow.

The choice fell on the Reading concert due to 1st May being a holiday for us with no school the following day hence our son Alex (in his final school year) could also come without having to miss a day off school.  The flight was on time & we were able to have a rest in our hotel before driving to the concert in Reading.

We were apparently the first to book tickets for this concert & had been advised against taking the front row to avoid the “stiff-neck” syndrome.  The recommendation of the 5th row was a good one.  I estimate just under 600 seats were available and they were almost sold out.  There were none of the drapes that had been hanging in the recent concerts we had seen – perhaps these did not fit to this concert hall with its fair-sized pipe organ at the back of the stage.

In the days before this concert I had listened to a number of Ken’s podcasts and this plus memories help us give the set list for the first half:

  1. Van Dieman’s Land
  2. Drink Down the Moon
  3. 3 Tunes/reels
  4. They Called Her Babylon
  5. Lovely on the Water (with Peter playing Ken’s mandolin).
  6. Gone to America
  7. Seagull
  8. King Henry

For the first few songs the sound wasn’t really up to scratch – the voices “went under”.  Then things improved.  Maybe the Reading Concert hall was not the best site for such a gig.  At one stage (probably just before Gone to America) Peter moved to the keyboards, came back, peered at the stack of loudspeaker boxes & at the audience sat in the first rows of the left-hand side & said something to the effect that due to the boxes those sat at the front could not see something very important, namely Peter, and that there had better be a good reason for this….

Rick was perched mostly on a high stool & explained that he had “done his back in” recently.  I sympathise Rick….  Then came the break with the usual expensive ice creams followed by:

  1. Saucy Sailor (Ken playing acoustic guitar)
  2. London (as I wrote in the review of Buxton 2004 concert this isn’t a favourite of mine & my opinion hasn’t changed).
  3. The Weaver & the Factory Maid (nicely done).
  4. Cold Haily Windy Night (Rick on vocals & this song grows on you….)
  5. The Blacksmith (Peter on Mandolin)
  6. The Boys of Bedlam (Maddy & Peter duo)  
  7. The Three Sisters 
  8. Cam Ye O'er Frae France (with Peter on Mandolin, rather different from the 2004 DVD version)  
  9. Bonny Black Hare  

The encores:

  1. All Around My Hat
  2. Hard Times of Old England
  3. The Song Will remain

There were no new songs in this set but a number of older songs were dusted off.  One could probably argue about the set list & the ordering – in my opinion Bonnie Black Hare didn’t fit nearly as well at the end as it did as the opener in the Spring 2006 tour.  The introduction of the mandolin into several pieces was refreshing.  I guess one item needs a special mention: The Boys of Bedlam.  The Peter & Maddy duo is always a highlight of the show and this was in a very different mould from something like Betsy Belle.  Peter played the whole thing pizzicato and Maddy acted more than sang the words.  Not necessarily my favourite – probably striking is the word with the audience riveted.

As we moved slowly out into the foyer I could see that the audience were of all ages: from young children to one lady of indeterminate age bent double over her stick as she walked out.

With our son already wearing his Steeleye 2008 T-shirt we stood in the foyer hoping maybe to say “Hi” to some of the band.  Peter appeared at the far end, waved a hand & disappeared back into the concert hall.  A few minutes later he reappeared with a small number of people in tow, commanded “follow me” & swept down the stairs followed by a small entourage.  He led us into the dressing room where we were requested to help polish off the remains of the buffet.  We spent a pleasant 30 minutes or so chatting with Peter & Ken before driving back to our hotel, the battery in our SatNav expiring just 2 miles from our destination……

HOWARD E. MILLS

JUNE 2008