“One of the great English bands” – Peter Gabriel

 Exeter’s hugely popular Show of Hands have scooped the Best Folk Act title in the inaugural South West Music Awards.
Singer songwriter Steve Knightley, multi instrumentalist Phil Beer and guest double bass player Miranda Sykes beat off competition from fellow Devon musician Seth Lakeman and Cornwall’s 3 Daft Monkeys to win the title at the weekend’s ceremony held at The Corn Exchange, Exeter. 
Among other winners, Devon’s Muse were voted Best Live Act whilst Joss Stone won the “Beacon of the South West” award.

The winners were voted for by venues around the South West and Phil Beer collected the award on behalf of Show of Hands.
Just two weeks after completing a virtual sell-out duo tour, Knightley and Beer are back on the road for a contrasting second Show of Hands autumn tour starting at Salisbury City Hall tomorrow (November 15) and ending back in their home town on December 3 with a performer at Exeter University’s Great Hall. 

The triple Albert Hall sell-out band will be supported by a special guest - the celebrated and charismatic American folk singer songwriter Richard Shindell – and will be showcasing their new album, Backlog 2. 

Backlog 2 is the result of songs chosen by the band’s thousands of fans from the period 1992-2003, during which time Knightley and Beer recorded some eight classic CDs from Live 92 to Beat About the Bush (1994), Q Magazine’s Folk Album of the Year Lie of the Land (1995); Dark Fields (1997) , with its haunting Knightley-Chris While title track duet and hugely popular numbers like Cousin Jack and Longdog and the much-acclaimed studio album Cold Frontier (2001) with numbers including Cold Heart of England and Are We Alright? 

The 14-date tour will also take in cities including Portsmouth, Birmingham and Cardiff and see the band making first time appearances at The Anvil, Basingstoke; Assembly Hall, Tunbridge Wells; The Waterside, Aylesbury and York’s Grand Opera House.

Multi award winners  Knightley and Beer also  won both the Best Duo title and Best Original Song at the 2010 BBC Radio 2 Awards -the latter for the topical title track of their acclaimed studio album Arrogance Ignorance and Greed, which saw them featured on BBC -1’s Breakfast TV and The Andrew Marr Show.  See the AIG video www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-n8ITk6UWM

In February Steve will headline the first Frome Folk Festival in Somerset while in May Show of Hands will be one of the headliners at the second Bristol Folk Festival. On Easter Saturday 2012 Knightley and Beer will make a fourth appearance at the Royal Albert Hall to celebrate 20 years of their formidable partnership.

SHOW OF HANDS with Miranda Sykes2011 Autumn Concert Tour Special guest Richard Shindell
November
Tue 15       SALISBURY City Hall                                   01722 434434
Wed 16     BASINGSTOKE The Anvil                             01256 844244
Thu 17       TUNBRIDGE WELLS Assembly Hall Theatre 01892 530613
Fri 18        BURY ST EDMUNDS The Apex                    01284 758000 SOLD OUT 
Sat 19       PORTSMOUTH New Theatre Royal               023 9264 9000
Tue 22       BUXTON Opera House                                 0845 127 2190
Wed 23     BRADFORD St George’s Hall                       01274 432000
Thu 24       BIRMINGHAM Town Hall                              0121 780 3333
Fri 25        WESTON-SUPER-MARE Playhouse Theatre 01934 645544
Sat 26       BARNSTAPLE Queens Theatre                     01271 324242
Wed 30     CARDIFF St David’s Hall                             029 2087 8444

Dec
Thu 01       YORK Grand Opera House                           
Fri 02        AYLESBURY Waterside Theatre                   0844 871 7607
Sat 03       EXETER The Great Hall, Exeter University     01392 667080