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The band, founded in 1969 and fronted by Maddy Prior who grew up on Blackpool’s Grange Park estate until the age of 11, will be performing songs from their first three albums to mark more than 50 years of music.

They will launch their UK tour on May 3, at Lytham’s Lowther Pavilion, with songs from their debut album, Hark The Village Wait and play music from the two follow up albums, Please To See The King and Ten Man Mop, all of which came out by the end of 1971.

The band had chart success with the singles Gaudete and All Around My Hat, with Maddy’s distinctive vocals helping to bring folk music out of the small clubs and into mainstream appeal.

Maddy Prior, who will be returning to her Fylde coast roots with Steeleye Span on tour in May. Photo by P. Silver.

Maddy is joined by long term member Liam Genockey on drums, Julian Littman, on guitar, keyboards and vocals, Andrew Sinclair on guitar, Violeta Vicci playing violin and backing vocals, Benji Kirkpatrick, guitar and backing vocals, and Roger Carey on bass.

They will release a special live concert recording of their debut album Hark The Village Wait, which will be available digitally on May 2.

The “wait” in the title refers to a wait - a small group of wind instrumentalists employed at public charge in Tudor times.

Maddy Prior said: “The first half of the show is Hark The Village Wait, the second half is a selection of our songs from through the years".

Steeleye Span will be starting their 2022 tour in Lytham

"We redid the album because it is the 50th anniversary of ‘Hark’. It’s also people’s favourite album. It was the first with the line up which people remembered from the 70’s and it is a selection of songs which we don’t play very often. They will be re-jigged to some degree to suit the current line-up.

"This album was the start of our inclination more towards rock. There was no drummer up to that point in the band, even though drums appeared on some of the tracks".

"We are looking forward very much to this tour.

"We are getting back into the stride of touring and the players we have are great musicians, taking their direction from the original rather anarchic line-up.”

Steeleye Span will be playing on Tuesday, May 3, at Lowther. Pavilion, Lytham. Doors: 19:30. Box Office: 01253 794221.

Steeleye Span the years as tour launches in Lancashire with debut delights

"We are getting back into the stride of touring and the players we have are great musicians, taking their direction from the original rather anarchic line-up.”