Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel review

The consummate professional shows the youngsters how it’s done, and comes out like Butch and Sundance with Here Comes The Sun seriously rocked up and the whole crowd joins in.

He keeps the crowd entertained and singing and clapping and dancing thoughout his set. There isn’t one weak tune, and in this respect Steve is the only artist all weekend to achieve this. There’s no let up, no slow tunes.

There are pockets of the crowd (and it’s still early) jigging along to all his hits. I never realised he owned so many and he and the band are so on form it’s a delight. He pauses to tell us he was here in 1970 playing to a festival that had a 300 acre campsite and camped, though this time around he jokes they are paying him a lot more money. Then unleashes We Got The Feelin’ and it puts me in the perfect feelin all right.



All too soon the zenith is reached with Sebastian a song with sweeping majesty where a soaring fiddle takes us with the lyrics to a powerful place. It’s Harley’s masterstroke, his finest moment and with a heavy ribcage banging drum beat and soaring keyboards it clearly defines a true rock song.

Then for a finale Come Up and See Me gets an already frothing crowd at the front belting back the words to him. It’s a fabulous end to a great set and for me a real surprise. If this old geezer still has it then will The Who produce the goods later that night too?

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