As You Were is the fourth live album by English acoustic roots duo Show of Hands. Following the release of their acclaimed tenth studio album Country Life in 2003, which itself was promoted by a tour, the duo were named the "Best Live Act" at the 2004 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. The live interest in the duo ultimately lead to a greater interest when the band announced their Autumn Tour 2004. The tour itself ran from November–December and included Miranda Sykes as a collaborator, her first collaboration with the duo. With the band's producer and engineer of the era Mick Dolan, the entire tour was recorded onto MiniDisc, with the duo subsequently ploughing through each concert recording the following day to identify the best performances and then collating and working through the "A list again" to find the best tracks to create the live album.

The album was released in 2005 on the duo's own record label Hands on Music. Although it was originally only sold at the duo's live performances and on their online shop, the critical success it became lead the duo to re-release it conventionally. The album was released to critical acclaim, with David Kidman of NetRhythms declaring it a "great set".

In 2003, Show of Hands released two albums, the instrumental release The Path, released to commemorate the silver jubilee of the South West Coast Path, and the acclaimed Country Life. The latter was showcased the duo work on harder-edged songs that were more politically, socially and environmentally concerned, including songs based on rural issues. The title track, a "stirring" and "finely honed rant about the desecration of British country life" and "an acerbic indictment of modern values", brought the band renewed attention. The album itself, described by one journalist as the duo's "most ambitious" and "exciting" release up to that point, was voted the 22nd all-time favourite album by Devonians in a BBC Radio Devon poll in April 2004. Also in 2004, the duo won the BBC Radio 2 Folk Award for "Best Live Act".

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