With Folk out of fashion and the band having young families and other business interests. Steeleye reformed in 1980 but it was never more than a part time job for the 80's. Yet they still toured the UK every year apart from 1983, released 3 studio albums and had multiple tours of Australia and the US!
A return of the 'Classic' line up
20th: Torquay - Harbour side. Per Poster. 1st Appearance Back?
Europe?? I have seen one mention of a tour in Europe.
1st August: 'Maddy Prior Band' Single - Wake up England (Kemp)/Paradise (Prior) (EMI).
This song did not appear on either of the 'Maddy Prior Band' albums and was released 2 years before any album (and not on the EMI label). So a bit of a curious release. Whether it was released to latch-on to the Steeleye relaunch, or was actually an already committed to single, and a potential album was aborted because of the Steeleye re-launch is not known. Not available on any collections.
14th Nov. (Chrysalis). With the return of the Classic line up the band for the first time released an album of mainly original compositions. As Maddy said: "What we came up with reflected traditional themes, yet sounded contemporary". Not least due to Peter playing more keyboard than fiddle. When the band first practised Gus Dudgeon (Elton John's producer) thought they had only had 1 1/2 songs (Let Her go Down and verse of Tell Me Why) and the others needed to have more contemporary arrangements, and so sent them off to write some more or alter them. He gave them 2 weeks! Tim said that they were at one point one track short and so he went off into a little studio to finish 'My Love' so they could add it to the Album, Rick did the same with 'Where are they now', sitting up all night to finish. Bob described the overall sound as too 'sophisticated' and the whole band referred to it as a transitional album. The Tim Hart booklet, 'The Complete Steeleye Span', was given with initial purchases of the LP at HMV. The Album was not a commercial success and Steeleye were dropped by Chrysalis.
3rd Nov Brighton Dome
4th Ipswich Gaumont
5th Birmingham Odeon (Set List above)
6th Southport Theatre
7th King Georges Hall, Blackburn
8th St Georges Hall, Bradford
11th Colston Hall, Bristol
12th Winter Gardens, Bournemouth
13th Southampton Gaumont
14th Manchester Apollo
15th Newcastle City Hall
16th Edinburgh Odeon
18th Hammersmith Odeon
These unique photos below from the Newcastle gig are used with permission from Denis Forde.
23 dates and coming quite quickly off the back of the comeback tour with another set of big venues.
Set List, thanks Chris! The new album still dominates with 7 songs whilst Rogues in a Nation and Little Sir Hugh are brought into the set :
Little Sir Hugh; Sails of Silver; Black Jack Davy; Let Her Go Down; Gone to America; Two Magicians; Rogues in a Nation; Barnet Fair; Back Goes Limerick; Longbone; Poem; Senior Service; Where are They now?; Thomas the Rhymer; All Around My Hat. Encore: Gaudete; Sligo Maid. Encore 2: Cam Ye O'er Frae France; Reel.
21st Mch Ipswich Gaumont
22nd Fairfield Halls, Croydon
23rd Brighton Dome
24th Birmingham Odeon
26th Gloucester Leisure Centre
27th Stoke Hanley Victoria Hall
29th Liverpool Royal Court Theatre
30th Glasgow Apollo. £3.75. Up from £1.50 in '75 & '78. Last appearance at the Apollo.
31st Endinburgh Usher Hall
1st April Newcastle City Hall
2nd Sheffield City Hall
4th Free Trade Hall, Manchester
5th Wolverhampton Civic Hall
6th Leicester De Montford Hall
7th ST Georges Hall, Bradford
8th Assembly Rooms, Derby
10th Colston Hall, Bristol
11th Hammersmith, Odeon
12th Croydon, Fairfield Halls
14th Oxford New Theatre
15th Portsmouth Guildhall
16th Poole Arts Centre
17th Cornwall, St Austell Coliseum
May 25th London, Barbican Bank holiday with Akimbo.
July 17th: Fete des Leus Frasnes-Lez-Couvin, Belgium.
A return to a major Festival for the returning band. Recorded by BBC. Tracks played on Radio 2's 'Folk on Two' programme (3rd Sept '81 & 29th March '82). In total the following were broadcast in the UK: All Around My Hat; Cam Ye; Long Lankin; Royal Forester; Gaudete and Senior Service. The latter can be found on Youtube - LINK) . 'Hat' can be found on a Cambridge Folk Festival collection CD, the others on Bootlegs. Almost the whole concert was broadcast on Belgium Radio. Chris Dobson has kindly confirmed that they played two separate sets.
Based on the bootlegs, the sets lists were:
Set1: Black Jack Davy; Two Magicians; Saucy Sailor; Longbone; Sir James the Rose; Thomas the Rhymer.
Set 2: Sails of Silver; Long Lankin; Cam Ye (not broadcast in Belgium so not sure of order); Senior Service; Royal Forester; Encore: All Around My Hat; Gaudete.
September
3rd:BBC TV Highlights of the 17th Cambridge Folk Festival
Included Cam ye o'er Frae France/All Around my Hat. A short video clip was shown on the 2005 BBC Folk Awards when Steeleye were awarded the Good Tradition Award so all the footage should still exist somewhere.
18th BBC TV: Pebble Mill at One.
Appearance by Steeleye Span. Performed 'Saucy Sailor' . Pete's pickup falls off his violin at the climax of the song for a few moments!
October
27th BBC2 TV: ' The Other Music'.
Documentary about The folk revival from 1945 to now. Not sure what is shown but Steeleye Span definitely featured.
Unknown Date (1981)
Isla St. Claire " The song and the Story". Children's TV programme plus Soundtrack LP
This TV series (plus LP) features Scottish presenter and singer Isla St. Claire singing traditional songs backed by members of Steeleye Span (band not on screen) - Rick Kemp and Nigel Pegrum. It also features Richie Close who was part of the 'Maddy Prior Band'. Some songs can be seen on You Tube.
Unknown Date (1981)
Tim Hart & Friends - My Very Favourite Nursery Rhyme Record (EMI - Music for Pleasure). Not a Steeleye release, and although the 'Friends' were many, it included Maddy on a most songs, along with Rick on Bass, Peter on Fiddle and Bob on vocals on a couple.
The only information about this tour initially was thanks to Chas Gilbert and Brian Dawes who were kind enough to let me know about a date each they attended. This has enabled me to search out further dates, which is still very much WIP! The venues still look to be a decent size although we don't know how well tickets sold.
Brian remembers the following songs from the Dominion concert: Longbone; Prince Charlie Stuart; Long Lankin; Royal Forester. All of these apart from Longbone were additions to the set list from earlier in the year.
10th Nov Odeon Theatre, Birmingham
11th Assembly Rooms Derby
16th Hexagon, Reading
20th Apollo Theatre, Oxford.
21st Dominion Theatre, London.
Tim Hart's final year
28th Sydney Capitol Theatre
29th Canberra Theatre. 2 Shows. Evening show was sold out so an additional show was put on starting at 5.30pm
30th Brisbane Festival Hall
2nd Newcastle Civic Hall
4th Sydney Capitol Theatre
5th Melbourne Dallas Brooks Hall
6th Melbourne Dallas Brooks Hall 2 shows 5pm and 8pm
8th Adelaide Opera Theatre.
On Tour album recorded during the Sound Check with the Audience applause then dubbed in. One of the two Adelaide concerts was then recorded and played out in full on Australian Radio on 28th December on ABC-FM.
9th Adelaide Opera Theatre.
10th Perth concert Hall
Date Unknown. Kempire Music/PantLife. Plus Single: 'Face to Face'
The Album features Rick Kemp and is made up of original songs written by Rick and Maddy. In line up was also Richie Close, keyboards; Mick Dyche, guitar & Gary Wilson on drums. It was released on Nigel Pegrum's own record label - Plant Life. Maddy's first 'solo' album since the two with Chrysalis back in 1978. The band played more 'pop' sounding original songs but despite pretty decent Radio/TV/Festival/Press exposure they were never commercially successful. There was a follow up album in 1983.
12th Goldiggers, Chippenham
13th Ipswich Gaumont
16th North Herts Leisure Centre, Letchworth
17th The Gatehouse, Stafford . w Michael Chapman
18th Apollo Theatre, Oxford
19th Odeon Theatre, Birmingham (set list above)
20th St Austell Coliseum
21st Fairfield Halls, Croydon
22nd Winter Garderns, Bournmouth
25th Charter Theatre, Preston
26th Apollo Theatre, Manchester
28th Coatham Bowl, Redcar
29th Queens Hall, Edingburgh
30th Sugarhouse, Lancaster
2nd Queensway Hall Dunstable
3rd Southampton Gaumont
5th Dartford Orchard
6th Hammersmith Odeon London
7th Sheffield Lyceum
8th Theatre Royal, Nottingham
9th Ceasars, Bradford
10th Theatre Royal, Norwich
TIM HART ON WHY HE LEFT STEELEYE (from Sleeve notes on solo CD)
“I left the band because I'd had enough of it, and I had two kids and a wife and I wanted to spend some time with them. Steeleye had done it all, but it had got downhill and we were playing smaller and smaller concerts and there wasn't the same thrill. We'd played Carnegie hall, we'd played the Albert Hall, we'd played the LA forum, we'd done all these major things, and when you go back to playing poxy little 900 seaters, to think it's time to call it a day; it's not going to go up from there and we're not getting any younger and the material's not getting stronger. I felt Steeleye had run its course—I wasn't getting any pleasure out of the concerts. I looked around the band and they looked bored, the audience looked bored, it was no longer exciting, and the proportion of spectacles in the audience, which is one of the things you notice from the stage, had become deafening—the audience glinted back at me, which meant they were getting older. They used to be at the front of the stage waving, and then they were staying in their seats and glinting. Also you get to a point where you ask yourself if you're going to do this for the rest of your life, and the answer is no—I'm not Mick Jagger—and so at some point, you have to step out and start to do something else before it's too late, and I wanted to arrange, I wanted to produce, and that's what I did for a while. I'd also done a couple of kids albums, nursery rhyme albums, during that intervening period, and I worked with Andy Richards, the synthesiser player; I really enjoyed working with him and found I had much more freedom for my ideas working with Andy, and I disliked the thought of having to go back to Steeleye. This tour came up and I made my mind up—I went to the manager and said I was going to leave at the end of the tour, I didn't want to let people down, but I wanted out. At the end of the tour, I just slunk off. That was in 1982—the last gig was the Theatre Royal in Norwich. I remember that—as I packed up my guitar, I thought that's the end of that, I'll call them all up tomorrow morning and tell them I've left.”
No Steeleye gigs. One of only 3 times in 50 years!
An Australian only LP release recorded on Steeleye's 1982 tour of Australia. Fortunately most of the tracks were later released on the 2001 CD: 'Gone To Australia (1975-1984). Maddy later described this a 'bad album' despite listening to it after the gig and it sounding pretty good. I assume therefore she is referring to the mixing/post production values rather than the concert itself.
With Steeleye not active in '83, and I suspect a little disappointment with Record sales of 'Sails of Silver' plus doubts about Tim Hart's future in the band, then it would have been seen as a good time to try again with the Rick/Maddy band. They released an album, single, gained radio play, a TV show and festival appearances, but never with the commercial success required for more significant record company backing.
Rick wrote this single (with unreleased b-side 'Western Movies'.) Dave Stewart was the producer/arranger and Annie Lennox sang backing vocals and played the flute. They were neighbours to Maddy/Rick at the time. It was about to be a minor a hit with regular radio plays but the Eurythmics suddenly got big and so their record company wouldn't licence anything else with Dave or Annie playing on so it quietly got withdrawn.
8th July: TV Appearance for the 'Maddy Prior Band' 10.15-1045, BBC 1 (North West)
Their own billed show. No further details other than the Radio Times description: "The Maddy Prior Band - Maddy progressed from winning a talent contest in Blackpool through a succession of arts festivals to the world of folk music and Steeleye Span. After Steeleye Span disbanded, Maddy and her husband, Rick Kemp , formed the Maddy Prior Band."
19th August BBC Radio 2 'Ralph McTell and Friends'. Feat. Rick Kemp & Maddy Prior. Sung 'Deep in the Darkest Night' .
You can hear it on Youtube.
23rd August: 'Maddy Prior Band' on BBC Radio 2 'Folk on Two' with Jim Lloyd.
Trowbridge Pump Festival (Summer): Appearance for' Maddy Prior Band'
Unknown Date (1983) (EMI - Music for Pleasure)
The 'Friends' included Maddy and Rick again but not Bob or Peter. There was a Promo video made for 'Drunken Sailor' (the picture of three on the cover is from it) which was on Youtube for a number of years but sadly seems to have disappeared
Steeleye Activity
Chrysalis only gave Steeleye a one album deal in 1980. Sales were unfortunately not high enough to justify any more (Adrian Hopkins did try in '85 -see below) and Adrian said that this was the reason for a lack of a Steeleye album '80-'86. In addition, all the outside interests of the band members & raising families meant the band would continue on an ad-hoc basis for most of the 80's .
A busy year touring UK, Australia and US. A new album was planned by the end of the year but didn't materialise (see below under 1986 & Flutterby records)
The 4th tour of Australia. And the bands first ever tour, or even appearance, without Tim Hart. After a two year break the band introduce 3 new songs - Lady Diamond & Scarecrow which will make their way onto the next album in 1986, and the 'Autumn to Spring Medley', which is available on the 'Rare Collection 1972-1996' CD. Blackleg Miner also appears, which apart from one known time at the Albert Hall in 1974, has not been heard live before, certainly not for a whole tour. This version in close to what ended up on the 'In Concert' CD recorded in 1986 although a little higher tempo.
10th Perth Concert hall.
Bootleg: Back Goes Limerick; Blackleg Miner; Black Jack Davy; Longbone; Bachelors Hall; Spotted Cow; Thomas the Rhymer; Harvest Home - 'Autumn to Spring Medley'; Scarecrow; Lady Diamond; Royal Forester; All Around My Hat; Encore: Gaudete; The Mason's Apron
13th Sydney Town Hall
17th Cairn Civic Centre
18th Townsville Civic Centre
21st Brisbane Mayne Hall
23rd Canberra School of Music
24th Gellong Civic Centre
25th Melbourne Dallas Brooks Hall
28th Launceston Tasmanian Folk Festival
1st Adelaide Opera Theatre
Feb/Mch: UK Spring Tour (lots of dates missing!)
Thanks to a Newcastle Uni archive newspaper and the Folk on Two gig we can piece together some of the set list: Jigs (starting with Peter solo); Blackleg Miner; Black Jack Davy; Bachelors Hall; Cam Ye O'er Frae France; Autumn to Spring Medley; Lady Diamond; Royal Forester; The Drunkard (Maddy a capella); Thomas the Rhymer; All Around My Hat. Encores: Gaudete; Jigs; Gone to America.
15th Feb: Digbeth Civic Hall, Birmingham. with Richard Thompson
16th Liverpool Empire. (per Liverpool Echo)
22nd Dundee University (ebay ticket stub)23rd Feb Newcastle Uni (SU newspaper archive - thanks Neil for the tip off!). Michael Chapman support
24th Leeds Uni.
26th Crucible Theatre, Sheffield
5th March: Theatre Royal , Plymouth
10th Dominion Theatre (assume London)
11th Fairfield Halls, Croydon. 6 tracks played from this tour on 'Folk On Two' on 17th Dec '84. Royal Forester; All Around My Hat; The Drunkard (Maddy a capella); Thomas the Rhymer; Gone to America; Jigs.
17th Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham
19th Dominion Theatre London. (German newspaper cutting)
1984: Towngate Theatre, Basildon. Date unknown so not sure on which tour
1984 Kendal Leisure Centre. Date unknown.
April/May: US tour for '1st time in 7 years'
Finally Returning to the US for their 6th tour. The tour was tied tied to the fact that they had just signed to US record Label Shanachie who probably promoted the tour. Lady Diamond continues to be played and a continued re introduction of old songs (Bachelor's Hall; 'When I was on Horseback' & Hard Times Old England') with less reliance on Sails of Silver album. 'Brown Girl' is played on this tour in a style that would have fitted on Sails Of Silver (Peter on keyboard and a guitar solo)
(95 minute set): Bach Goes Limerick; Black Jack Davy; Longbone; Bachelors Hall; When I was on Horseback; Hard Times of Old England; Thomas the Rhymer; Marigold/Harvest Home; The Spring Will Bring us Together; Blackleg Miner; Let Her Go Down; Cam Ye O'er Frae France; Lady Diamond; Royal Forester; All Around My Hat; Gaudete/Mason's Apron/Gone To America.
23rd April Buffalo
24th Venues hard to make out from photo
25th Venues hard to make out from photo
26th Venues hard to make out from photo.
27th Berklee Performance Centre, Boston. On Bootleg (Set list above)
28th Venues hard to make out from photo
29th Adams Theatre, Washington. The Band played two sets here so extra tracks not played on rest of tour, including Brown Girl and Scarecrow, both rarely played live.
On Bootleg:Set 1: Bach Goes Limerick; Black Jack Davy; Longbone; When I was on Horseback; Spotted Cow; Marigold/Harvest Home; The Spring Will Bring us Together; Blackleg Miner; Let Her Go Down; Cam Ye O'er Frae France; Thomas the Rhymer; All Around My Hat. Set 2: Hard Times of Old England; Brown Girl; Scarecrow; Spotted Cow; Gone To America. Bachelors Hall; Black Leg Miner; Lady Diamond; Thomas the Rhymer; Royal Forester; Gaudete/Jigs
1st May: Venues hard to make out from photo
2nd Venues hard to make out from photo
3rd Ripley's Music Hall, Philli, PA 2 shows
Bootleg: Set 2: Hard Times of Old England; Brown Girl; Scarecrow; Spotted Cow; Gone To America. Bachelors Hall; Black Leg Miner; Lady Diamond; Thomas the Rhymer; Royal Forester; Gaudete; The Masons Apron; All Around My Hat.
4th - 6th Bottom Line, NY (2 Shows every day)
Thanks to Hugh, who was at one of these shows, says Brown Girl was played, and so similar to Adams Theatre above, they mixed up the set when playing the same venue more than once. An article says they had six shows at the Bottom Line so I assume two a day.
July: 13th-15th Bracknell Folk festival. Incl Dave Swarbrick, R Digance.
Steeleye Headlined for two days. Thanks to Roland who told us about the Festival, the Radio show and has provided some great visual reminders.
Festival was broadcast on the 'Folk review' BFBS Radio programme in Germany (with Wally Whiton)
The show played half an hour of songs from the show: (The actual festival included Scarecrow.) Black Jack Davy; Spotted Cow; When I was on horseback; Autumn to spring medley; Hard times of Old England; All around My Hat.
The only time I have seen a summer Steeleye Tour, this tour seemed to be worked around some festival appearances. These tour dates are mainly thanks to Chas Gilbert
9th Harlesden,
10th (fri) Cropedy Folk Festival.
12th St Austell
15th Stevenage,
17th Brighton, The Dome. w. M Chapman
18th Farnham Maltings,
19th Windsor,
24th Schoten, België, Small festival with support - De Nieuwe Snaar.
25th Folkestonet.
Other acts incl. Van Morrison, The Band, The Damned, Marillion. This was around the time of the Miners Strike and the festival had let the local Striling Miners in, so Maddy did an anti Thatcher rant and then they played 'Blackleg Miner', as they frequently did around this time. They dedicated it to the Miners which was sometimes controversial depending where they played it! At this festival they did not play 'All Around My Hat', which was unusual. Many thanks to Eddy Bewsher for the information and for use of his photos below.
Steeleye 'sang' 'Hard Times of old England' (22.30 in video). Although it is a very 'cheesy' bit of miming/acting by the band, it is quite amusing. The actual version is not the album version and runs at well under 2 minutes so probably recorded especially for the show. Maddy Prior and Rick Kemp appeared with Michael Chapman near the start singing the Rick Kemp song 'Love's not just a word' that appeared on The Maddy Prior Band album 'Hooked on Winning'
Continued part time touring and a final attempt at a Christmas single!
Written by Peter Knight). b-side Lanercost. Released in October on Flutterby records (own label). Radio play and TV appearances were not enough to get the single into the charts.
This was a record label created by Adrian Hopkins especially to release this single and the upcoming album. When the band were working on a new album, which was being financed by Adrian, Adrian went back to Chrysalis records to see of they would release it. (which must have been as early as 1984). However, they had a change in policy and unless artists was going to sell 500k+ copies they were being dropped from the rota. In defiance of this Adrian wanted to call his label 'Butterfly' records but Chrysalis has already trademarked the name and hence he changed it to 'Flutterby' ! This label then released the album in question 'Back In Line'. It was due to these issues in getting a record label that delayed the album's release. Bob mentioned in a 1984 interview that they were making a new album that year.
This tour was recorded - 'Backleg Miner (Live)' was include on the next album. Sadly I don't think anything else has been released. But thanks to Jamie we know that they opened with 'Hard Time of Old England' and played a familiar 'greatest hits' set which only included 'Edward' as a new song from the upcoming album, and of course the new single which was sarcastically dedicated to Chrysalis.
12th October Wolverhampton,
13th? Fairfield Halls, Croydon (not sure exactly when this concert took place, may have been Dec)
14th Leicester,
15th Cardiff, ST David's Hall
16th Exeter,
17th Barnstaple,
18th Worthing,
19th Aldershot,
23rd Northampton, Derngate
3rd Nov. Wimbledon
4th Stevenage
6th Oxford, The Apollo. (Now the 'New Theatre')
7th Southport Arts Centre,
8th Maccledfield,
11th York,
21st Nottingham, Theatre Royal. Recording of Blackleg miner for 'Back in line' album.
22nd Birmingham Odeon
20th Dec TV Appearance: BBC: Pebble Mill at One
They sang 'Somewhere in London' and 'In The Bleak Midwinter'. I say 'sang', It is mimed. Sadly very much of the times with regards fashion!
Unknown Date. ITV 'The Chris Stuart Chat Show'
Similar mimed appearance on 'The Chris Stuart Chat Show' on HTV. Sadly it is just as cheesy.
Back in the Studio and Back on the (world) Road
Released on the Flutterby label, (Owned by Adrian Hopkins and the band). It marked 6 years since the last release of new material, the most in the bands 50 years history so far. Part of the reason for the delay was Chrysalis dropping Steeleye and Adrian having to create a new label. Mainly original compositions by Rick and Maddy who were working as a duo & in a band at the time. Vince Cross on DX7 (synthesizer) was a session musician listed on the album. The single 'Somewhere In London' was not included on the LP but added to a later Park CD 1991 re-issue along with 2 live tracks - 'Spotted Cow' and 'One Misty Moist Morning'.
28th May BBC Radio 'Folk On Two' Session. See 'BBC Sessions' page for full details.
Thought to be recorded in the week before transmission. Maddy noted that this line up had not played the Blacksmith before so 'they were putting that right' and called it Blacksmith MkIII
15 dates and advertised as 'Back in the Studio, Back on the Road'. Support Bill Zorn & John Benns. Recording of songs for 'In Collection' Live album.
8th May Edinburgh Queens Hall
9th Newcastle City Hall. Tickets £5.
10th Carlisle Sands centre
11th Manchester Palace
13th Coventry Warwick Uni
14th Ramsgate Granville Theatre
15th London Woolwich Coronet
16th Southend Cliffs Pavilion
17th Swansea Penyrheol Centre
19th Ipswich Gaument
21th Poole Arts Centre
22th St Austell Cornwall Coliseum
23th Bristol Colston Hall
24th Eastbourne Congress.
Almost certainly recording of songs for 'In Concert' Live CD (Park Records): The Blacksmith; The Weaver and the Factory Maid; Spotted Cow; One Misty Moisty Morning; King Henry. Plus 'Betsy Bell and Mary Gray' - which appears on the 'A Rare Collection 1972-1996 CD' and is listed as from this concert, hence why I think it is the source of the 'In Concert' CD tracks which are just shown as '1986'
25th Peterborough Cresset
"Bermuda is a 20 sq mile island, 650 miles off the coast of North Carolina. In the 1980's when I lived there, about 5,000 mainly British Ex-pats worked there, making up about 10% of the population. Entertainment was limited, but every bar had a live singer/guitarist and there was a thriving Folk Club. The club encouraged local entertainers and also brought in overseas acts once a month. Many of these were British entertainers who were touring the US. In 1986, we got rather carried away and brought in Gordon Giltrap, Tom Paxton, Peter Yarrow (of Peter Paul & Mary fame) Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span.
As one of the Folk Club organisers, I met the band at the airport and spent several evenings with them. After the gig, three of them (Maddy certainly, probably Peter and Nigel) piled into the back of my car for a ride into town, and sang hymns in harmony. An unbelievable experience."
Thanks Bob for the pictures below!
Another tour of Australia, their 5th so far and one with good press coverage and TV appearances.
Lark in the Morning; Lady Diamond; Blacksmith; Peace on the Border; Lanercost; Wee Weaver (? Unlikely) ; Edward; Spotted Cow; Take my Heart; White Man; Betsy Bell; All Around Hat; One Misty Moisty Morning; King Henry; Long Lankin; Gaudete; Jigs
?? Tweed heads, NSW. Apparently the PA system broke so Maddy ended up singing sat in the audience at one point!
30th Sept Perth Concert Hall
2nd Oct Adelaide Festival Theatre
3rd Melbourne Dallas Brooks Hall
4th Hobart, Tasman Hall
6th Geelong Ford Theatre
7th Appearance on Network 9 TV: 'Ray Martin Midday Show'. Singing 'Lady Diamond' Live in the Studio. See 1st Video below!
8th Sydney Town Hall
9th Newcastle Civic Theatre
10th Bonaderry, RSL Club
11th Canberra Theatre
12th: Appearance on Network 9 TV 'The Sunday Show'. All Around My Hat and Take My Heart (fades out into end credits) played live in the studio. 2nd video below is 'All Around My Hat'
14th Brisbane, Lyric Theatre
15th Seagulls, Rubgy League Club
'Early 1987' A Steeleye Span newsletter announced a forthcoming single called 'Green Man' coming out on Flutterby Records. Thanks again to Jamie for this info! The single was not released, (maybe in part because Rick left around this time). We don't know if the song was actually recorded. Adrian Hopkins told me that the potential single was part of a concept album that Bob had been working on, (although I'm not sure if it was for Steeleye or solo). Per Adrian - "All the songs revolved around A.... 'Green Man'!" Adrian described it as a very typical 'fantasy' Bob concept.
Support: Wild Billy Barret & Stephen Two-Name they played Padstow on this tour which is the earliest it has been noted as appearing, 2 years before the next album where it features.
We know from some promo material (e.g. T Shirt below) that the band embarked on a 'World Tour'. in '87. It appears that we have dates missing for concerts in Europe and maybe more dates were in the US than we have. We have details for the UK tours.
25th May Barbican Theatre London. with Akimbo.
20th June Verona Italy, Café Dante (more dates?) w.Edward II, Red Hot Polka's. Tim Hart & Maddy Prior. Included: Four Nights Drunk; One Misty Moisty Morning; Betsy Bell and Mary Gray; Gaudete; Improvisation.
2nd August: Dranouter folk Festival. Broadcast on Belgium Radio
Mark Williamson on Bass (thanks Johan for all details on this Gig!). Padstow appears again.
Padstow; Female Drummer; 4 Nights Drunk; Weaver & the Factory Maid; One Misty Moisty Morning; Lady Diamond; All Around My Hat; Cam Ye O'er Frae France; Hard Times of Old England; King Henry; Encore: Gaudete; Canon by Telemann. (using Loop pedal); All Around My Hat (reprise)
4th year in a row that they visited the States. Mark Williamson was with the band on this tour and in Cambridge sang a song for the first encore 'All I have to do is Dream', I don't know if he did every night. A good tour as a source of bootlegs as well as the videos from the Philli Folk festival so we get to see Mark Williamson. Likely a few missing dates here.
30th Aug. Philli Folk Festival. Videos below are from this concert, a rare chance to see Steeleye live in the 80's on video and the audio quality is pretty good. (2 more available are One Misty Moisty Morning and Padstow).
1st Sept. Black Thorne Tavern, Boston, MA. ('Smallest venue on this tour')
2nd Sept. Nightstage, Cambridge, MA;
Per bootleg: Padstow; Lady Diamond; White Man; Isobel; Take My Heart; Canon by Teleman; Betsy Bell & Mary Gray; Hard Times of Old England; One Misty Moisty Morning; Cam Ye O'er Frae France; Encore: All I have to do is Dream; All Around My Hat; Jigs; Blues Jam.
3rd Iron Horse CoffeeHouse, Nothhampton, MA. 2 shows
4th & 5th (2 shows both days) Bottom Line, NY
8th & 9th Birchmere, Alexandria, VA.
Per Bootleg: Padstow; Sir James the Rose; 4 Nights Drunk; The Blacksmith; White Man; Let her go Down; Weaver; Canon by Teleman; Betsy Bell & Mary Gray; Take my Heart; One Misty Moisty Morning; Lady Diamond; Cam Ye all Frae France; Hard Times of old England; King Henry.
[24th Dec - WDPS-FM (Ohio)- 'Off She Goes' featuring Steeleye Span'. No further details known]
Chris Staines definitely in the band now even though the publicity photos all still had Mark, so must have been a late change. Jamie notes that although Chris was more prominent on vocals than Mark he did not take lead on any. Jamie also says that 'Following Me' was played on this tour, predating it on the next album by 2 years.
9th Oct Canterbury, Marlowe Theatre. Att 935
10th Eastbourne
11th Poole
12th London
14th Croydon
15th Lowestoft
16th Stevenage
18th Oxford
19th Swansea
20th Cardigan
21st Hanley
22nd Lancaster Town Hall
23rd Leeds
24th Manchester
25th York
26th Southport Art Centre.
27th Reading
30th Sunderland
31st Milton Keynes Leisure Centre
1st Nov Derby
A quiet year before the 20th Anniversary year
June: Detailed Simon Jones Interview with Maddy Prior in fRoots. Maddy said 'we have Chris Staines in the band now.' In other later interviews it has been said that Mark and Chris only did one tour each but I suspect that it was not that simple. Maddy also mentioned that they 'recently' tried to re-create 'Lyke Wake Dirge' but it 'didn't work'. This interview took place at a London recording studio and so it is believed that the band recorded some material with Chris Staines in the band but it has never seen the light of day. It is likely that they were early versions of the tracks that ended up on Tempted and Tried, probably the early singles Padstow & Following Me which were being sung live at this time
Rick and Maddy toured in the Spring as a duo.
(Sept, Topic Records) 2nd and last Silly Sisters Album which was accompanied by a Tour. They featured on a BBC Radio concert recording from one date which is widely available as a Bootleg. It is also Here on Youtube. Maddy said in an interview that it was because June had moved into the same area as Maddy (the Borders) that the project came about. They had talked about it over the years but it was their proximity that actually made it happen.
Nothing is known about this tour other than the dates! Still had Chris Staines in the line up.
2nd Nov Colston Hall Bristol,
3rd Madeley Telford,
4th Arts Centre Southport,
5th Hexham,
6th Carnegie Workington,
7th Wolverhampton, Wulfrun Hall.
11th Poole Arts Centre,
12th Bletchley?
13th Crucible Sheffield,
14th Theatre Royal York,
16th St Davids Cardiff,
17th Cresset Plymouth,
18th RCH Nottingham,
19th UEA Norwich,
20th Apollo Oxford,
21st Tunbridge Wells,
22nd Corn Exchange Cambridge,
23rd Stevenage,
24th Warwick University,
26th Beck Theatre, Hayes, The advert listed Mark Williamson but this must be a mistake given the info above
27th Lewisham Theatre
'end of 1988'The Pavilion, Hemel Hemstead.
?? date. London - Paris Theatre