Not long to go to the new tour! here is a passage from my unpublished book written in 2004 when Steve was about to hit the road again after a long break.

"In the autumn of 1988 I wrote to The New Musical Express to ask their Any Questions section " What's Steve Harley doing these days,and does he have any plans to tour?". My letter was printed in the paper a couple of weeks later and the reply was " Consideration is being made to a few tour dates in the new year ( 1989) in England and Europe,as there is a belief that interest is still out there as EMI having released a greatest hits compliation on CD In 1988,have been quoted as saying it was a great sucess"
Sure enough in January 1989,tour dates were announced for the UK and Europe including March 17th at The Manchester International 2.This venue had a great reputation in Manchester as being THE venue to see bands.
A few days before the concert I caught Steve on Manchester's Piccadilly Radio with Mike Sweeney,he was telling the story of why he had decided to tour again,"I went to lunch with my Agent at the end of 1988 and said I'm bored,and he said you want to tour don't you,Steve continued yes but can I ?,is there an audience?,it will break my heart if no one comes".
Steve's words we ringing in my ears as we appraoched The International 2 on the 17th of March..his fears were to proved unfounded though as we approached the venue..hundreds of people were queing from the front of the venue,round the car park and down the side streets..Steve was back in Manchester,and so were his fans!

Once we got inside the venue i knew we were in for a special night,the venue was sold out,people were sworming in,and there really was a party going on in the audience.

Suddenly after a 20 minute break after the support band Boy had finished,over the loud speakers came the haunting music of The Mission by Ennio Morricone,it sounded wonderful,"Steve's saying He's on a mission",said Deborah, "He'll be on a mission when he sees the size of this crowd",I shouted as we could barely hear ourselves speak as the music got louder and louder and "Oh dear look what they've done to the blues,blues blues was breaking out loudly amongst different parts of the crowd.
As the music from The Mission reached it's ending,the lights in the Interntaional 2 were dimmed,and a light appeard on the dark stage " Where's the band?" I thought.For around 30 seconds everything was quiet on stage and then WOW!,The roof nearly came off The International 2 as the place errupted as Steve walked out into the spotlight on his own,playing the introducation to The Best Years Of Our Lives- it felt like the whole of Manchester was singing with him,I was in heaven this was wonderful!
After Steve and the audience had sung the first chorus "You'll think it's tragic when that moment first arrives,ah but it's magic it's the best years of our lives" a fellow mancunian shouted out " WELCOME BACK STEVE!",all the audience roared,and Steve's smile was worth the admission money alone- he was loving it,and so were we!
As the Best Years finished and the audince were showing Steve how glad they were he was back on tour,he was joined by the band,they was a special Manchester welcome for Stuart Elliott.
When the band started the introduction to Not Alone Anymore,it seemed a perfect song to be playing " You always said that i'd be back again",the crowd were going wild and they could understnd totally the significance of the lyric.
The whole show at The International was fantastic it was great to hear old favourites like Sebastian,Judy Teen and Mr Soft,as well as some new songs like The Lighthouse,Dancing On The Telephone,Sophistication and When I' With You.The new and old fitted in perfectly and we'd had an unfogettable night.The concert was much better than even long term fans could have dared to imagine.
Steve himself was obviously delighted with the reaction from his audience,I caught him on Radio Manchester a day after the gig " You got a tremendous response,I get the impression your surprised by this",to which Steve replied " I am really The International 2 was a wonderful night.Anyone who was there Knows something really marvellous happened that night- absolutely wonderful.I was steaming and back in England after about a dozen European dates- the audience were very generous"


Fast forward to 2010...The Stranger will be coming to your town soon,and one thing is for certain..you'll love it!
Enjoy.

You should publish your book Mr Griffin

It is a pity your karma has gone south .... you were winning by a street and this would have doubled it!!

Stewart, I would love to know more about your unpublished book: Is it about your experiences as a SH and CR fan? Maybe some of your writing could be published on this site? I would love to read more!

I know I've read it already Stew, but it is marvellous. And you know I mean it. Great stuff!

Cocnerebel wrote:
I can't see Karma ratings on the site. I thought they'd gone. Haven't they? .....and how's mine?