Intro

I’m not normally a big fan-type person. I don’t even go to concerts. This all changed when I discovered Steve Harley.

I discovered him by accident a little over a year ago. I was on Facebook when a friend-of-a-friend posted a music video of Steve singing “Make Me Smile.” It was the one where he was wearing the brown bomber jacket with the fox collar. I like my friend’s taste in music usually, so I listened to it. This time, I liked it so much, I listened to it twice. Later, when I had some free time, I looked up Steve Harley on YouTube. I believe the first song I heard there was “Sebastian” from the old Live from London DVD. My mouth fell open. I thought, “WHY on EARTH have we never heard of this guy? He’s brilliant!!”

I spent weeks after that, approximately two hours every night, searching out every video I could possibly come up with. I felt like an archaeologist, unearthing treasure after treasure. I couldn’t believe the body of Steve’s work. There was so much of it, it was very varied, and there wasn’t a bad song in the entire repertoire. Then I came across an interview—I believe it was in Ireland—where after the interview, the interviewer asked Steve if he had a website and Steve answered that it was www.steveharley.com. I went there and registered, then held off for three days. I knew I had to say something because I was so moved by his music, performances and persona. Finally, I introduced myself and Steve sent me a free DVD!! He even wrote on the website when time passed and I hadn’t received it yet, asking me if it had arrived. Who does that? Who cares about his fans enough to write whether or not they had received a complete gift from them? Someone special with a big heart, that’s who. And the rest of my presence on the website is history.

Hello there! I guess I should introduce myself because there's a little back story to this one. I'm Ana-Leigh. I'm 31 years old and come from a small town just outside of Buffalo, New York, USA. Until this summer, I'd never been out of the country before (not counting Canada which is really my backyard almost) and certainly never flown to another continent! I'd always wanted to travel abroad, but the opportunity never produced itself really, nor a reason or event that seemed worth all the sacrifice and money it would require. I'm not a very well-off person financially. Then I discovered Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel. Sitting in a coffee house with friends last summer, I mused about maybe finally taking the travel plunge and going to take in a show. At first, it was just musing.

By Stewart G

The 16th of February has always been a special date for me. It was on that day in 1976 when I first saw Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel in concert at Manchesters world famous Free Trade Hall.

I'd spent the previous two years on a journey with "My Band" - for as soon as I saw them on The Old Grey Whistle Test in early 1974 singing Hideaway and My Only Vice, I knew there was no one else for me.

I loved the original Cockney Rebel with those ground breaking first two albums The Human Menagerie and The Psychomodo and some of the names of the Band fasinated me, Jean Paul Crocker, Milton Reame James - they looked and sounded like they were from a different planet!

by Nadine Huckfeldt

The Union Chapel in Highbury seems a venue made for Steve Harley. Amongst the arches, pillars and directly in front of the pullpit Steve produced what can only be discribed as a blistering performance even by his high standards. With the brilliant accoustics offered by the towering chapel Steves classic songs were raised to even greater heights. The crowd atmosphere matched the occasion met full on by a buoyant Steve clearly loving every minute.

It was a spectacular performance from Steve last night at Tumbridge Wells Assembly Hall. Steve held the audience captive from the first moment the light picked him out at 8.15, and the show brought us 2 hours and 25 minutes of music. The beauty of the lyrics shone through the acoustic treatment, Barry and james offering brilliant, sometimes delicate and sparse accompaniment, but Steve's voice soaring with emotion throughout the night. A cold, ejmotional Make Me Smile, as originally pereformed to his studio band in 74, brought a tear to this jaundiced eye and my wife was blubbing through Journey's End and The Lt Time I Saw You - "the leaping of my ransomed heart " gets her every time! I wouldn't have missed this for the world - the big band rocks for sure and we've had some memorable nights at Shepherds Bush, Indigo 2 and many others, but A Closer Look gave us just that, and those songs, maybe 25 of them in all, (I lost count) stood the test of time AND the test of quality. That's the word for the show, quality, through and through. Lighting perfect and in totally the right mood, sound, as always with SH, faultless. We've got tickets for Union Chapel, and Holmfirth New Years Eve, and I know those same qualities will be in evidence. I say again,last night was simply spectacular! A privilege to be there. Thanks Steve.

Sadly only one of the 3 wise men was able to make it to Tunbridge Wells for the first of the Acoustic sets.  Although lonely on arrival, where there’s a Harley fan there’s a friend and I was thankfully welcomed into the pre show company of Steve and Rebecca, thanks guys!

It was a spectacular performance from Steve last night at Tumbridge Wells Assembly Hall. Steve held the audience captive from the first moment the light picked him out at 8.15, and the show brought us 2 hours and 25 minutes of music. The beauty of the lyrics shone through the acoustic treatment, Barry and james offering brilliant, sometimes delicate and sparse accompaniment, but Steve's voice soaring with emotion throughout the night. A cold, ejmotional Make Me Smile, as originally pereformed to his studio band in 74, brought a tear to this jaundiced eye and my wife was blubbing through Journey's End and The Lt Time I Saw You - "the leaping of my ransomed heart " gets her every time! I wouldn't have missed this for the world - the big band rocks for sure and we've had some memorable nights at Shepherds Bush, Indigo 2 and many others, but A Closer Look gave us just that, and those songs, maybe 25 of them in all, (I lost count) stood the test of time AND the test of quality. That's the word for the show, quality, through and through. Lighting perfect and in totally the right mood, sound, as always with SH, faultless. We've got tickets for Union Chapel, and Holmfirth New Years Eve, and I know those same qualities will be in evidence. I say again,last night was simply spectacular! A privilege to be there. Thanks Steve.

These three wise men travelled from far and wide to find the shining light that appeared in the small town of Aschaffenburg in Germany, but it wasn’t the brilliance of the light they were looking for (which turned out to be an over powerful spotlight) it was the brillance of the man and his band who were due to perform on stage in the cosy but very atmospheric surroundings of the Colos-Saal venue.  They came to see Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel and hoped that the music would transport them back to their teenage years.  They weren’t disappointed and not only were they transported back to the 70’s, they were then taken on a 2 hour musical journey spanning around 38 years, each song conjuring up so many different memories from years past.

This is a story of an epic journey made by a few Irish Steve Harley fans. A few of us had been to see the Academy gig in Dublin last May and what a great venue and performance that was, as we witnessed two hours of magic! There we met Karen, Deb, Mike and a couple of other seasoned SH fans. At this stage, we had planned our summer hols (myself (Brendan) Dave, Kellie, Keith, Gerry, Paula and Nicole) in UK, when the Abbey gig was announced we were on the Glastonbury ticket line without a second thought and so the journey began!

I was kind of dreading the venue for tonight’s gig as the last couple of times we’ve seen Steve there it has been all heavy handed bouncers and rules and regulations so tight that they make even the most innocent and well-behaved concert goer feel uncomfortable . What a pleasant surprise as tonight it is nothing like before; the staff are dressed in friendly yellow, not intimidating black, the theatre has had a make-over and the general atmosphere is friendly and convivial.