Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
History is a place where the modern-day eye falls sharply, and arguably with some personal antagonism, into the realm of judgement and criticism. It is a place that people forget the modern age in which we breathe our daily dust in, will also one day be criticised, pored over with unsentimental eyes and the feeling of damned ill-favour. To stand in the way of that judgement, to carry on producing great songs of lyrical poetry, of music that is powerful in its intent, and demanding in its delivery, that is verging on the heroic, it is to remain resolute in the face of those who dare suggest with snide lips, that nothing of the days that have passed is relevant anymore.
It is only in facing down such opposition to continued existence, of being brave to shout that any person’s words, no matter the age or the era in which you initially laid down your claim and panned for gold, that those detractors will turn and hide their face in shame. For as Steeleye Span continue to show, elegance of performance and determination to never cow-tow to the in-pleasurable sneers that nothing over 25 is viable or applicable is the one deciding measure of excellence that remains to us, in which we can stand with head held aloft and still be treated with respect.
Respect is a two way street and for Steeleye Span, that sense of esteem borders on the passages of reverence, after all, alongside the likes of Fairport Convention and Pentangle, this a band to whom the genre, if not British music as a whole owes the nod and applause of detailed high opinion, in much the same way that the 70s American Rock icons of Billy Joel, Chicago, Eagles and Linda Ronstadt are treated with deference across the Atlantic Pond.
Coming to Liverpool is perhaps a big thing for the members of Steeleye Span, the musical city of the U.K. holds the application of delivery and spirit with high hopes, the crowd always wanting to urge the musician and the Muse onwards in a way that no other city or town can find the time to do. For Maddy Prior, Julian Littman, Liam Genocky, Spud Sinclair, Jessie May Smart, Benji Kirkpatrick and Roger Carey, the city didn’t let them down, the smiles beaming as far as they were wide, the pleasure undeniably reciprocated.
Across two sets, songs such as Harvest/The Gleaning, Sir James The Rose, Marrowbones, Gulliver Gentle and Rosemary, Dodgy Bastards, One Night As I Lay On My Bed, the excellent Blackleg Miner and the absorbing Alison Gross were played with honour, with charm and the passion of two fingers raised in a particular fashion, but also with appeal, to anybody who dare suggest that the band is not relevant, to those who say that the greatness of what was once in vogue cannot stir the musical imagination in today’s more cynical landscape.
A marvellously entertaining and bountiful evening, Steeleye Span continue to impress.
Ian D. Hall