FOLK-rock pioneers Steeleye Span are appearing at the Alban Arena next Tuesday, April 14, on the first date of their 40th-anniversary tour. Members of the band have come and gone over the years but Steeleye remains an institution which has been recognised

FOLK-rock pioneers Steeleye Span are appearing at the Alban Arena next Tuesday, April 14, on the first date of their 40th-anniversary tour.

Members of the band have come and gone over the years but Steeleye remains an institution which has been recognised as having changed the face of folk music forever.

Steeleye Span 2009 finds Maddy Prior, who was the voice of the band for 34 years, back at the helm of a line-up featuring fiddler Peter Knight, Rick Kemp on bass, Ken Nicol on guitar and vocals and Liam Genockey on the drum stool - the same performers who featured on the 35th anniversary tour.

The line-up has been hailed as one of the band's strongest with two sell-out UK tours and a gig at the London Palladium under their belts already.,

Steeleye come on stage at 7.30pm and tickets are �18.50 and �17.50, available from the Arena box office on 01727 844488.

�� Now in its 24th years, The Solid Silver Sixties Show returns to the Arena next Sunday, April 19.

It brings together the talents of The Searchers, Merseybeats, Wayne Fontana and special guest John Walker of the Walker Brothers.

The Searchers are joining the Solid Silver Sixties tour for the 11th time and are still going strong since their first number one hit in 1963 with Sweets for my Sweet.

Wayne Fontana was one of the artists to come out of Manchester during the Sixties beat boom while the Merseybeats, one of the surviving bands from that golden age, are still fronted by the two original lead singers, Tony Crane and Billy Kinsley.

As part of The Walker Brothers, John Walker had his first hit, Love Her, in 1965, and completing the line-up are The Dakotas, performing their hits with Billy J. Kramer including Bad to Me and Little Children.

Shows are being held at 3.30pm and 7.30pm with the latter almost sold out. Tickets are �19.50 and �17.50 for the matinee and �21.50 and �19.50 for the evening performance.

�� Film buffs have two movies to look out for at the Arena this Easter - one aimed primarily at children and the other for adults.

Bolt, a Disney movie which features the canine star of a fictional sci-fi/action show who believes his powers are real, is being shown at 1.30pm next Wednesday, April 15, and Thursday, April 16.

It stars the vocal talents of John Travolta, Miley Cyrus, Susie Essman and Malcolm McDowell and tickets are �4.

On the evening of both days, the Arena is showing Frost/Nixon, the story of the historic encounter between the two men which changed both their lives.

For three years after being forced from office after the Watergate affair, Nixon remained silent. But in summer 1977, he agreed to sit for one all-inclusive interview to confront the questions of his time in office and the scandal which brought him down.

Nixon surprised everyone by selecting David Frost as his televised confessor thinking he would outfox the breezy English showman - but he was in for a shock.

Starring Michael Sheen and Frank Langella, it is being shown at 7.30pm and tickets are �6 with concessions �4.

�� Visits by Rob Brydon next Friday, April 17, and Irish comic Ed Byrne, next Saturday, April 18, to the Arena have sold out. But an extra date has been added for Ed Byrne, Thursday, November 3, for which tickets are on sale now.