Hope
Hope you enjoyed it. It was 70% sold last night  just for the record.
Cost of living and am ageing audience wil take its toll on audiences.
The last tour in Dec 23 was pretty well supported though.

Possibly right. I had to patch all the dates together from various notifications by different promoters/ ticket agencies. I'd be happy with stuff from Da Capo - She Comes In Colours and 7 and 7 Is as obvious examples. I've only seen the Bangles do the latter.

I think I'm right in saying they're only playing FC in full at a couple of shows, and the rest of them talk of selections from the first 4 albums?

Lol.  And that really did...

I used to love Steeleye (and can still enjoy the first few albums) but I really don't like to listen to the vast proportion of their output anymore. They all sound like Quo trying to play something vaguely folky.

Steeleye Span at the Lancaster Grand last night. Not a full house but that's maybe because they have done more dates in the NW of England than most bands do - they were at Carlisle (Spud Sinclair's hometown) and Burnley before coming here. They played quite a few selections from their Green Man Collection and I particularly enjoyed hearing January Man and two Rick Kemp songs which were new to me, namely Low Flying and Genocide.

Their latest fiddle player Athena Octavia is the best violinist I've seen in quite a while and newish bass player Roger Carey does a fine job in the rhythm section alongside Liam. They ended with their version of Quo's cover of All Around My Hat. The Grand is a lovely old theatre similar to the Victoria Hall in Settle. Shame we don't get more bands (other than tribute acts) playing there.

https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/steeleye-span/2024/lancaster-grand-theatre-lancaster-england-43a98b4f.html

They finished with an instrumental number after Hat which I think was Dodgy Bastards.

Johnny Echols/Love playing Forever Changes

Hare And Hounds Birmingham July 11
Band On The Wall Manchester July 12
Boileroom Guildford July 15
1865 Southampton July 17
Concorde 2 Brighton July 18
Shepherds Bush Empire July 20
Gosforth Civic Newcastle Upon Tyne July 24
Caves Edinburgh July 25
Saint Luke's Glasgow July 26
Brudenell Social Leeds July 29
Fleece Bristol August 01
Earl Hague Memorial Cardiff August 02
Rescue Room Nottingham August 03

I honestly misread that as 'George Lucas'   I wonder how many times that's happened to her over the years!

It was indeed 1977.

The beer cans filled with urine included Party Sevens.

Last night at the Paramount Theater in Austin: Rhiannon Giddens with guest Charly Lowry!

I see that Rhiannon toured the U.K. in late 2023-early 2024, so she may not return this year. Nevertheless, I heartily recommend her to any fan of Americana, roots, and folk music. She is a skilled banjo-ist (if that's a word) and fiddler with a spectacular voice that blends operatic range with deep soul. Her background is in "old-timey music" (her words) with the Carolina Chocolate Drops, but she performed mostly contemporary and self-penned tunes last night. She is beautiful, smart, talented, and an enchanting performer. Two thumbs way up!

Charly Lowry, a North Carolinian with indigenous ancestry, opened the show. She accompanies herself on guitar and hand drum, singing in English and one or more indigenous languages. Like Rhiannon, she is a powerhouse vocalist. She joined Rhiannon in support on several songs, as well.

We're very glad we made it to this show, and we are now fans for life.

My one visit to the Monsters of Rock at Donington was in 85 and I needed medical treatment after a bottle of used beer (nice term!) hit me on the top of my head. Fortunately I was ok and enjoyed headliner ZZ Top but there were a few guys in the First Aid tent who were out cold.

I didn't go to another festival until T in the Park in the 90s. Punters there were more likely to drink and fall over than start throwing bottles around.

We've got rather off topic here. I'm listening to Lancashire v Kent on the BBC cricket website after a day of ELO yesterday.