Steeleye Span Live in Chichester

Steeleye Span at Chichester Festival Theatre

Sunday 6 November at 7pm

ELECTRIC folk band, Steeleye Span formed in 1969 and has remained active up to the present day.

Taking their name from the song Horkstow Grange, their debut album Hark! The Village Wait set the blueprint for folk-rock for the next 40 years. They are renowned for taking folk rock out of the small club circuit and into the world of gold discs and international tours.

A typical album by Steeleye Span combines traditional songs with one or two instrumental tracks featuring jigs or reels. Although later albums include music written by band members, notably Mike Batt, they have always drawn upon indigenous traditions.

Thanks to their hit singles, along with Fairport Convention, they were among the most commercially successful British Revival bands; All Around My Hat became a certified ‘gold’ record.

Members have come and gone over the years, but Steeleye has remained at the forefront of the genre they helped to define and has become an institution in British music.

The year 1995 was a major landmark for the band: their 25th anniversary was celebrated with a one-off reunion of all members past and present for a charity gig at the Forum in London.

Lead vocalist Maddy Prior - the voice of Steeleye Span for 32 years - left for solo work in 1997 but returned to the band in 2002.

The 2009 line-up sees Maddy at the helm, band stalwart and fiddler extraordinaire, Peter Knight, Ken Nicol (Albion Band) on guitar and vocals and Liam Genockey on drums.

This year has seen Steeleye Span celebrate 40 years together by heading out to play live–first in the USA and then in Australia–before returning to the UK for an extensive tour that takes them up to Christmas.

A live album released in May 2009–Live at a Distance –preceded their world tour and a new studio album release, called Cogs, Wheels and Lovers, applauds a return to their roots by Steeleye Span.

Hear them live at Chichester Festival Centre on Sunday 6 December.