A very long time ago, or so it seems, I was working through the Steve McQueen tour more or less chronologically. Having now closed down the winter 1985 tour, the band proceeded to Italy early the next year, following on from entering the San Remo song festival between the 13th and 15th February.
Not without incident either: on the way to the first gig in Turin, scheduled for the 17th, the trucks carrying the gear became stranded because of snow, so this gig was rolled back to the end of the tour. Milan was therefore the opener, and featured a vastly extended set in comparison to the 1985 gigs. Twenty two songs in total, including “Dublin” – which Paddy starts off singing in completely the wrong key – and “He’ll Have to Go”. And an extended band jam when a guitar failed. Plus a rare outing for “Horsin’ Around”
Nicely recorded after a dodgy start – “Moving the River” sounds very toppy and crackles like fireworks are going off, probably applause but not easy to tell. There are a couple of different recordings of this concert, but this is the most complete and marginally the best. Not an easy location to record in I suspect.
The Bari gig has already been posted, so next stop will be Turin for the closing night.