Yesterday I was watching and listening to Harley and Band, in Paradiso in Amsterdam on YouTube, 1989, I think.
"There's nowhere... I'd rather be..." Of course this leaves room for other locations within his and Cockney Rebel's stronghold (that might equal the delights of The Netherlands; such as Belgium, England and so on...
It's clear though, that they were working hard to re-establish their connection to the following, unless I misunderstood Harley, they'd already been there for 28 days, at the time of that particular gig. If that part wasn't quite right, they'd been on the whole tour eight weeks, up to that point.
I first went to the Netherlands in 1985 and 1987 (with Sash) and in 1989 I worked with a fellow QS on the M40 Banbury Bypass in the UK (on one of the contracts) and he told me how strong the following was, in the Low Countries. Of course I'm one eighth Dutch myself...
Harley was 38 (I was 30) and wow the will, the effort, he really wanted to come back. I love the 'Mr Raffles' version during that gig, and also 'Star For A Week (Dino)', which reminded me how long Steve had some of those songs before he got them on record...
Magic days...
Old loyalties die hard. The Cockney Rebel flame ended then, where it first ignited (with the final gigs in April and/or May 2023, in Mainland Europe) and for Steve and the Acoustic Band (AB), the same (but with the final gigs back in the UK - where the AB were conceived -the final gig was on the last day of June 2023).
UK, Europe and maybe the rest of the World right now, even 'the mighty' nations (USA, China, Russia....), seem potentially vulnerable, with current events as they are...let's see what happens later today...Let's not forget the state of things back in 1945.
Homo Sapiens (HS) should keep in mind that 'Gaia', the ultimate adapter, the natural mother Earth (mE) is the most mighty (as Lovelock identified and Darwin before...If HS destroy themselves, mE will go on, until it is eventually consumed by our sun...
The whole thing is about homeostasis or balance, at the micro and the macro levels, each human and all eight to nine billion humans, equally, that applies to politics, economic systems and philosophies. That is, between nations collectively...Have we not yet learned that extremism is dangerous?!
Ant colonys are an example of how to make it work for the good of the whole...Darwin also studied worms, which, indirectly, are vital for our food chain...
C'mon diplomats, sort it out!
