Epic journey made by a few Irish Steve Harley fans

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!

Thanks to P&O ferries to Liverpool, € 475 saw seven of us board the ship in our old LDV camper, axels almost on the ground as we headed off to Glastonbury loaded up with a weeks supply of camping equipment and a stock of light refreshment!

M6 here we go! However, it was not long before we stopped; apparently half the population of Northern England go south for some reason but we had a good reason, we were going to Glastonbury to see Cockney Rebel!

Getting anxious because gates were due to open at 6pm and it was now 3.30 pm and at the current rate of progress Cockney rebel would have been having a few beers backstage when we get there, that’s how we felt at over two hours on the M5 getting past a few junctions near Bristol…
Anyway 5pm we arrived at campsite taxi had been booked a month earlier so we headed into Glastonbury tables chairs, beer wine and food joined the queue of Madness fans, feeling out of place without the dark glass and black soft hats we didn’t care. We were there, we made it, the sun shone brightly and the gig was just around the corner!

We settled in among the crowd, table adorned with candles, beer glasses, food and cameras.  We noticed the security lifted the ropes around the stage area, so without a second thought, I Dave and Kellie legged it to the stage barrier and nestled on the rail just in front of Barry’s mic. We had a great view of the stage, adrenalin levels up we watched the MC call out requests and birthday announcements while the lads came out on stage and cranked up Faith and Virtue straight away! I was down a fiver as we had a wager as to the first song! I said here comes the Sun Kellie won the fiver! As the heavy rock beat began and faith and Virtue was well into the first minute the MC was shocked and had to retreat he was a bit surprised the lads began without the MC’s intro! “ Well I guess the party has started” or something to that effect as he left!

As usual a few sound engineering tweaks were made as the group got into it Steve doing his best to get the Madness fans excited with his recent creation, it worked to some degree the crowd were pleased.

Next up Psychomodo, which triggered a bit of head bopping across the Abbey grounds we were up and away with some great rock music certainly appreciated by the crowd of dark-glass dressed Madness fans at the front rail. Next came the heavy rock beat performed by Stuart on drums as Judy Teen rang out around the Abbey, we were really rocking now!

As Judy Teen ended with a few thumps of the drums, a neat transition to a more sedate sound of “No Bleeding Hearts” followed stopping the crowd in their tracks for a while. I am not quite sure if the crowd appreciated the first half of this track. However, as the mood of the piece changed, and James, Lincoln and Stuart got busier the attention of the crowd was restored. A highly focused Barry featured on guitar, Stuart looked like he could play this track forever and a day, he was as a man possessed by the music as his beats increasingly thundered out into the Glastonbury air. The group produced some incredibly unique sounds eventually to the appreciation of the crowd. What a track, what a sound, what a conclusion to a piece of music, a masterpiece witnessed and applauded by several thousand Madness fans.

The lighthouse followed, a lovely song, lovely music and Barry gets his moment of fame on centre stage, what seemed like 10 minutes probably was! Is it my imagination or are they stretching the lighthouse violin solo?

A short pause in the music as Steve has a few appreciative words to the crowd, “ its nice to play to someone else’s fans for a change” he exclaims. I am sure the crowd were glad to hear a few spoken words and put a personality on the man performing in front of them. Not long until Steve warns the crowd that “this song will touch a nerve with a lot of you” as he explains that this song was written about his son leaving home for university, Journey’s End (A Father’s Promise) began and what a stunned silence. Unlike the first half of Bleeding Hearts, you could now hear a pin drop, amazing vocals amazing musical talent on display as the mellow melodies as rang out the sounds produced equally by every member of the band not least the girls. I believe they nailed this one on the night and I feel the girls added some quality. Magical is the only way to describe it, by far the highlight of the night for me even though I am a more a fan of the more upbeat rock tracks. A rapturous applauds as the stunned crowd really appreciated this one.

“You will know this one” as they crank up Mr Soft and I suppose he was right, they did. Steve has been a long time around; he has a good understanding of the needs of his audience. Many members of the audience were middle aged, some a little older so a large percentage would know Steve's chart hits making Mr Soft and others sound familiar including the next track, the one I bet would be the opener; unfortunately I lost a fiver. Here came the sun, another crowd pleaser while Suggs on the sideline bopped to this everlasting George Harrison track. With a huge cheer, Sebastian arrived on stage and Suggs on the left side of stage from where we were was delighted as he soaked up these classic sounds, quite obviously into it! This track featured the Flute played by Ashleigh, it stood out quite clearly, a nice change, a nice addition to this evolving track, as usual the premature cheer from the crowd as Steve hadn’t finished the song only to continue for another minute or so culminating in a thunderous drum solo, heavy guitar, strumming. Lincoln was flat to the boards on bass and the squeal of the keyboards and of course Barry’s work in there too, Faye strumming hard, to the extent where I wonder if she has any fingernails left al all after this tour and an amazed look on many peoples faces as this one concludes the set all bar one. You would need to be dead not to know what was on the way!

As Make Me Smile was let loose to a crowd bopping up and down Steve beckoned as he insisted Suggs joined them, reluctantly Suggs came onboard for the Ohhh lala’s with Robbie and then Robbie took a back seat as he joined Ashleigh on vocals while Suggs had a mic to himself. Unable to sing very well, Suggs was reminded about “timing” by Steve “c'mon over “ as he welcomed Suggs to centre stage and as joint lead vocals rang out the crowd were ‘High’. A great track, great musicians, a tremendous atmosphere and a great song concluded the set.

Later as Madness took to the stage, Suggs showed his appreciation for a great band. Suggs who is a little younger than Steve, told a tale about his very early inspirations and as he described walking down some street in London in the 70’s with the Psychomodo album under his arm. His respect for Steve Harley and the man’s music was obvious which led us into two-hour gig by Madness, which rocked on until 11pm. A memorable evening.