Steeleye Span at The Barbican

For the last few years I've wanted to catch a Steeleye Span or Maddy Prior gig at Christmas but I always seem to have something in the diary for that particular night. So, when I found out about the latest Steeleye Span tour - their 40th Anniversary Tour - landing at the Barbican on Monday I had to get a ticket. Finally.

I liked 'Gaudete' when it came out but it was 'All Around My Hat' in 1975 that opened my ears to electric folk and I started getting their albums, joyous and dour by turns. I loved Maddy's voice, so clear and pure and strong, singing songs of olde England, but the usual Irish jigs and reels tended to pass me by. And then punk exploded and Steeleye Span were a casualty of the punk wars. It wasn't until the mid-'90s when I started exploring the band again. They'd been going all along, of course, with a revolving membership, even Maddy leaving at one point for a few years.

I had no idea what to expect as I entered the auditorium and took my seat. Looking round I could see a definite age thing going on - I was probably in the youngest third in the audience. I had a moment of silly surprise when I looked at the stage and saw it set out for a gig, with guitars, drums and amps ... why on earth would it be any different? Steeleye Span got together to play traditional music with modern electric instruments, a fusion of old and new, so of course it would look like a gig.

Shortly after 7.30pm, on they strode, led out by Maddy Prior in a red and pink floor length frock thing, with the blokes dressed like middle aged men on a night out. Guitar, bass, electic fiddle and drums with Maddy's great voice out front but, of course, the three front blokes also take lead vocals on different songs and that's one of their strengths - four lead vocalists on different types of song. Maddy didn't play any instruments but she danced and jigged and flounced around the stage as her contribution to the spectacle (she even did a hula-hula dance at one point).

They opened with 'Little Sir Hugh' (one of my favourites so that was a good sign) and started moving backwards and forwards through time as they explored their 40 year back catalogue for the next hour. That was followed by an interval and chance for a drink and a visit to the incredibly busy merch stand to get their 'Winter' album and their new album, 'Cogs, Wheels and Lovers'.

Then back into the auditorium for the band to return along with some special guests and former members of the band, John Kirkpatrick and Martin Carthy - seeing Martin transported me back to the summer and seeing The Imagined Village at the Tower of London and him playing that fine old traditional jig, 'Cum On Feel The Noize' by those olde English balladeers, Noddy Holder and Jim Lea. They were on for a few songs then left the stage to appear at the end again. We also had a guest appearance by Rose Kemp, Maddy and Rick's daughter, who is also a singer. Including two encores, they were on stage for a further hour and a quarter, so that's well over two hours of great music, fun, stories, jokes and much love for the band.

Favourite moments for me were 'Little Sir Hugh' followed by their version of 'Cold Haily Windy Night' with Rick Kemp on lead vocals and fingers flashing around his bass at incredible speed made me think he'd invented punk (much as the Mamas and the Papas invented disco - o yes they did). I loved Maddy swinging her hips in full on hula tradition during 'Seagull', and her lovely version of 'I Love Not Where I Live' that Maddy explained she had sung with Tim Hart when they were a duo before Steeleye got together and went on to tell us that he was very poorly at the moment and her annual raffle was to raise funds for him. What are friends for, she said, if not to rally round and help out?

The (first) encore was, of course, 'All Around My Hat' along with 'Hard Times Of Old England' and a song I hadn't heard before but loved, 'Bonny Black Hare', very electric and chugging rock song with Maddy's roughened voice floating over the top, with guitar solos a-plenty. I also loved 'The Gallant Frigate Amphridite' from the new album and 'Babylon', a song from the '90s I hadn't heard before.

What a great night out. The give good show, do Steeleye Span, and not a finger in the ear or 'fol-de-rol' to be seen or heard. The only disappointment was no 'Gaudete'. The musicianship was excellent with what at first sounded like raucous rock guitar solos by Ken Nicol's guitar often turned out to be Peter Knight's electric fiddle, with Rick Kemp moving between simple basswork to funk and punk at the drop of a hat and Liam Genockey swapping between a 'normal' drumkit to playing tabor and other percussion.

It was great to finally see them play live and I wouldn't hesitate to see either Steeleye Span or Maddy Prior again the next time they play London. They've open my ears to new sounds many times over the years and they did it again last night. See them when you can.