But despite the escalating fan base, they still could not command any London gigs. Knightley, Beer and manager O’Farrell took the gamble of hiring London's famous Royal Albert Hall for a performance on the evening of 24 March 1996, in attempt to gather all of the duo's fans, and to raise the duo's profile. The duo hired the hall "to the amusement of the media and the cynicism of sceptics" and was considered a huge gamble. Nonetheless, the performance sold out in advance. Selling out the hall was "unprecedented for a folk act." One biography said that the success "proved that for this enigmatic, indy duo anything was possible." Knightley said in 1997 that "people still talk about it in glowing terms." He also noted that "quite a lot of people now know Show Of Hands as 'Those guys who did the Albert Hall'. So it's opened a lot of doors. In India there was a tremendous cachet - we were checked out by people who came to see us just because of having played the Royal Albert Hall. In America as well. So it exceeded all our expectations in that sense." O'Farrell commenced producing the performance as a live album, whose production work on "Lie of the Land" pleased the duo, who also liked the live sound of their previous live album "Show of Hands Live", produced by Mike Trim. The album cost £200 on the night to record.