Paul Weller Newcastle Metro Radio Arena November 15 2009
I bought myself a single standing ticket to see Paul Weller. I guess I decided it was about time I forgave him for the Style Council and went to see him again. I saw the Jam probably every time they came to the North East (around 12 times I think) and did the same for the Style Council, but sort of lost my faith in the mid-80s. So I hadn’t seen Weller for more than 20 years. Laura decided she would like to come, and a search on ebay got us a second standing ticket at less than face value.
Arrived in time to buy a programme; no extra small t-shirts for Laura for this one; her wardbrobe will have to survie without a Weller shirt for now. Support came from the Rifles; the arena was pretty empty at this point. They seemed OK; clearly influenced by the Jam. We found a couple of empty seats in the first block to the right of the stage. The place filled up ready for Weller to arrive.
Don’t know why I stayed away so long. As soon as he took the stage it was clear that Weller was well into it, strutting around ; his mannerisms sooo reminiscent of Steve Marriot (does he practice copying them from old Small Faces videos?). I didn’t know that many of the songs but they all sounded familiar; bits of Small Faces, Traffic and 60s Hammondish organ. Great! Great to see him play Butterfly Collector and Thats Entertainment. The encore included a version of the Beatles All You Need is Love and then Town Called Malice (the crowd is going nuts at this point) is the very last number. So Laura and I both enjoyed it; and I promise that I’ll return to the faith and start going to see Weller each time he comes from now on.
Set List: Peacock suit; Out of the sinking; 22 dreams; Changing man; Wild blue yonder; All I wanna do; From the floorboards up; Seaspray; Shout to the top; Eton rifles; Picking up sticks; Wishing on a star; Have you made up your mind; Push it along; You do something to me; One bright star; Empty ring; 111; Why walk; Butterfly collector; Brand new start; wild wood; Thats entertainment; Echoes round the sun; Come on lets go; first encore: Whirlpool, All you need is love: second encore: Town Called Malice.
ticket
programme
website: http://www.paulweller.com/
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