Over the last few months a few of us have been doing some work compiling Steve's past gigs. There is very little on US dates, very patchy data on European dates and nothing known about any gigs outside of Europe and the US (for example there was a suggestion that Steve was thought to have been due to do five nights in Zimbabwe in late '89?).

A lot of work has been done compiling UK and Irish dates. We are probably not completely there yet but it is probably worth reporting in anyway (i.e. this number crunching has to mean something!).

The latest list of all the gigs has been sent onto Andy (Fearon) to see if something can be set up on the website.

(With too much time on my hands at present) I have looked at all the UK/Eire gigs and set about seeing if I could at least estimate how many people Steve has performed to on these islands over his career.

Pure escapism via Google, journeying back in time, seeking out some of those early venues. Some are no more (though still preserved by the online memories of bloggers); many are still going and newer ones created. Such is life I guess. Even castles are mortal.

It has been possible to find the capacity of many of these venues and establish attendance figures for some of the festivals, even to the point of guessimating how many people could squeeze by/in a stage/tent at Glastonbury.

From here it is reasonable to make some assumptions as to how many Steve has performed to. I have assumed 100% for some of the 70's tours and some of the later popular/smaller venues.

For the others I have assumed ticket sales of 80%. A little harsh perhaps, but there you go.

Festivals I have taken an informed guess for the larger ones after trawling around the web (ergo, appearing at Glastonbury does not mean performing to 170k people). Where I couldn't find a figure I have assumed a 2,000 'Big Top' figure - but that might be very low considering a few of those festivals.

I don't think we have all the UK/Eire dates nailed yet, but as we know more these figures will probably lift again. Any input would be most welcome and if someone else could assay these figures that would be great.

But for now, in round terms,.....

Since '72 Steve has performed to over 1m people in the UK and Eire.

During the (album) successful '70s there were 170 gigs to 300,000 fans.

Extended up to the end of '88, there was a total of 200 gigs to 360,000 fans.

Since '89 (to the end of 2012) there have been a further 650+ gigs to a further 740k music goers.

For now, the 1 million point would appear to have been passed during the summer tour of 2010.

These figures still need a bit of work though.

I'II try to get a digest posted in the next post, formatting might be a bit tricky though.

Year Tour/Highlighted Gig____________________Gigs______________Audience
1972 London, Chalk Farm Roundhouse______________1_______________2,000
1972 Other_________________________________3_______________2,200
1973 London, Speakeasy________________________5________________800
1973 Other________________________________22_______________17,600
1974 The Psychomodo_________________________43______________58,900
1974 Reading Festival__________________________1______________30,000
1974 Other_________________________________41______________43,500
1975 Best Years Of Our Lives____________________ 23______________60,900
1975 Crystal Palace Garden Party___________________1______________15,000
1976 Timeless Flight __________________________21______________48,700
1976 Love's A Prima Donna______________________8______________20,800
1977 Other__________________________________1_______________2,400
1979 Other__________________________________1_______________4,000
1980 Short June Tour__________________________9_______________6,400
1980 Short December Tour_______________________5_______________5,600
1981 Short December Tour______________________10______________10,100
1981 Other__________________________________1________________500
1982 Other__________________________________1________________500
1983 Reading Rock Festival_______________________1_____________30,000
1983 Other__________________________________1_______________500
1984 London, Camden Palace (on DVD) ______________1______________2,400
1989 Come Back, All Is Forgiven___________________9______________7,600
1989 Steve Harley + Cockney Rebel On Tour__________30_____________39,200
1990 Ship & Star (Raffles United) __________________5________________500
1990 Steve Harley + Cockney Rebel On Tour__________19______________15,900
1990 Other_________________________________5_______________4,400
1991 Greenbelt Festival_________________________1______________20,000
1991 Other_________________________________10______________10,400
1992 Yes You Can____________________________19______________17,100
1992 Heineken Shows__________________________4______________8,000
1992 Other_________________________________2_______________1,600
1993 Yes You Can____________________________13______________10,800
1993 Other_________________________________3_______________2,300
1994 Other_________________________________7_______________8,800
1996 Poetic Justice___________________________17_______________11,600
1996 Other_________________________________1_______________2,000
1997 Spring Tour____________________________ 22______________18,400
1997 Edinburgh Festival Shows 1997________________8_______________7,800
1997 Glastonbury Festival (Acoustic Stage) ___________1_______________7,000
1997 Other_________________________________2_______________5,000
1998 Stripped To The Bare Bones_________________45______________28,500
1998 Edinburgh Festival Shows 1998_______________13_______________6,600
1998 Other_________________________________4_______________3,700
1999 Harley On Tour 1999______________________47______________22,000
1999 Other_________________________________2_______________3,000
2000 'Stripped Again' An Acoustic Tour_____________31______________13,400
2000 Other_________________________________5_______________6,700
2001 Back With The Band______________________35______________32,400
2001 Autumn Tour___________________________19______________18,900
2001 Other_________________________________6_______________9,400
2002 Short June Tour__________________________5_______________4,600
2002 Autumn Tour___________________________28______________17,600
2002 Other_________________________________4_______________9,900
2003 Summer Tour___________________________21______________14,100
2003 Glastonbury Festival (Acoustic Stage)____________1______________7,000
2003 Other_________________________________7_______________6,700
2004 Isle Of Wight Festival, (Main Stage)_____________1______________35,000
2004 Spring Tour____________________________ 16______________8,600
2004 Winter Tour____________________________16______________9,900
2004 Other_________________________________7______________13,300
2005 The Quality Of Mercy Alive__________________33_____________39,500
2005 Dublin, Oxegen Festival _____________________1_____________25,000
2005 The Cornbury Festival______________________1______________20,000
2005 Ashton Court Festival_______________________1_____________20,000
2005 Glastonbury Festival (Acoustic Stage) ____________1_______________7,000
2005 Other__________________________________1________________200
2006 Winter Tour_____________________________11______________12,300
2006 Other__________________________________3_______________5,700
2007 Newbury Countryside Rocks, Highclere Castle ______1______________10,000
2007 Bedford, Rhythm Festival_____________________1______________5,000
2008 Summer Tour____________________________11______________11,900
2008 Other__________________________________2______________2,600
2009 Other__________________________________1________________100
2010 Summer Tour____________________________16______________21,700
2010 Glastonbury Festival (Avalon Stage) _____________1_______________2,000
2010 Glastonbury Abbey (Musical Extravaganza) ________1______________10,000
2010 Winter Tour_____________________________22______________14,300
2010 Other__________________________________1________________200
2011 Spring Tour______________________________16_____________10,600
2011 Uttoxeter, Acoustic Festival Of Britain_____________1______________5,000
2011 Chichester (Real Ale and Jazz Festival), Priory Park____1______________2,500
2011 Cambridge (Big Weekend), Parkers Piece___________1______________5,000
2011 Guildford (Guilfest 2011), Stoke Park______________1______________7,000
2011 Cockermouth Rock Festival____________________1______________5,000
2011 Winter Tour______________________________14_____________8,000
2011 Other___________________________________6______________3,600
2012 Birmingham Symphony Hall___________________1______________2,300
2012 Short December Tour________________________9______________5,100
2012 Other___________________________________5______________8,600
______________Total to Date__________________856___________1,102,700

It's a fascinating list Gerry.How many other performers have toured for so long and played to so many people?? Can't be many.Just a bit of nit-picking, you didn't include the PinkPop Festival from 1974 and the Classic PinkPop Festival from 2000 and something. I guess once you've performed to over a million fans what's a few thousand here and there!! Why not in addition also list those concerts that were 'bootlegged', either filmed or recorded etc?? Or is this too much of a 'can of worms' to open??!!!

Hi Mr Raffles - I know what you mean. The '74 Pinkpop at Geleen had 30,000 in Steve's audience, the Pinkpop Classic (spinoff) at Landgraaf 10,000.

We haven't got enough of an European gig history to build up a credible list yet, and to include what we do have would muddy the waters a little if they were included right now, in this UK/Eire list.

It looks really nerdy to be grinding out these numbers - but some of the stories/reflections it started I didn't anticipate. The turbulent ups and downs of '70s, the quiet years of the '80s, the return to performing and work since then.

But, yes, the history of the European gigs have lots to say, how the Dutch, Belgians and other European countries embraced him before England; and what about the gigs supporting the Rolling Stones in July 2007 - 41,200 in Warsaw, 40,000 in St. Petersburg (imagine listening to 'sympathy for the devil' there of all places.... and being part of the show!)...... 50(ish) years earlier, who'd have thought that that kid lying in a hospital bed when The Stones visited would one day be opening the show for them? And not just once! It is a story that deserves a wider audience y'know.

Ged,
I've been asked to let you know the audience figure in the Marquee at Glastonbury (Acoustic Stage)was approx. 10,000.
The side walls were removed and there was a huge crowd - that was the first time an audience responded to Steve with "We Got The Feeling..." unprompted apparently! Steve latched on to it and has enjoyed encouraging audiences to sing that chorus ever since.
There are two men still working for Steve after many years, one from the 70s,who can help whenever you get stuck with such information. Feel free to ask here and I'll do what I can when I can. I will encourage Andy the Webmaster to create a "Live Stats" page (or whatever you would like it called) on the site.
Steve never played Zimbabwe - the course of inoculations was wasted after all!!!
Re The KINKS support tour, the average audience was approx. 3,500, I have been told.
How is your charity doing? Wish you well with that very worthwhile cause..
RACHEL

Yes,sorry Gerry,the clue was in your title..UK and Eire. I jumped the gun a bit with my Dutch dates!! Many other European dates were mentioned in the list that i sent you. The Paradiso in Amsterdam was played a few times along with Rotterdam and Danish gigs such as Copenhagen and Lund. I've got photos of Cockney Rebel performing in Italy and Switzerland as well.Good luck with the list....a great idea that can always be added to.