:STEELEYE SPAN  found here http://www.greenmanreview.com/CD/cd_steeleyespan_present.html 

One cold November night in the mid 1970s, I stood in line extending halfway around the 'Liverpool Stadium' (a large capacity venue originally built as a boxing arena) eagerly waiting to be given entrance for a performance by Steeleye Span. The band was approaching the zenith of its popularity in the charts, and their shows -- this was my third in 2 years -- were always sold out.

It is somewhat ironic, then, to recall that as we stood there, five long-haired, scruffy individuals in long wool-lined kaftan coats politely broke through our line, approached a nearby stage door, knocked on it and were given entrance. The irony being that no one -- including me -- said anything to them. They were certainly not mobbed or molested, in the way one might expect Robbie Williams or Justin Timberlake to be treated should they push through crowds at their own shows. I even recall thinking that most of those that saw them (not me, obviously!) didn't even recognise them for who they were. Steeleye Span, for Martin Carthy's sake! The biggest thing to hit British folk rock since the Vox amplifier! But maybe that was the way with folk rock heroes -- and middle-class ones to boot. We treated them with the respect that they deserved.

The audience expressed their recognition and appreciation of the famous folkers once the show started, and the band responded by being dragged back to the stage for no less than three encores. The final encore was the most memorable. I can still see them in a single line across the stage in that 'I've-got-a-wasp-or-something-similarly-nasty-in-my-left-ear-and-I'm-sticking-my-finger-down-there-to- find-it-while-I-continue-to-sing' pose, once again clad in the kaftans (and no doubt wondering if the taxis had arrived) singing the most exquisite a capella version of the pop classic 'Rag Doll' that I will ever hear.

Time passed. Steeleye Span's heyday came and went, as did many different versions of the band's line-up. Classic single and album releases were both behind and still in front of the band on that long-ago Kaftan Night, but after the late 1980s they began to leave the glory days far behind them -- even though they still had to release some of their most original and critically acclaimed work.