Jethro Tull South Shields Gypsies Green Stadium 17 Sep 2010
This gig had been set up a special one-off appearance tied in with the preparations for and events around this weekend’s Great North Run. Tull Guitarist Martin Barre was running in the race, and the opportunity must thus have come up for the band to play. The concert was in a large marquee which had been set up within the grounds of Gypsies Green Stadium, which is a sports stadium close to South Shields. Norm and I went along to the gig on Friday, we both recalled previous visits to the stadium in the 70s; one to see Tony McPhee’s Terraplane and the other to see Mohamed Ali on his visit to the region.
We arrived just as the support act Bessie and the Zinc Buckets were finishing their set, and ran into some old friends. Tull came on around 8.15pm; apparently there was a curfew of 10pm, as the venue is within a built-up area. We’d both seen Tull earlier this year, but couldn’t resist the chance to catch them again, in a different setting. The marquee was massive and pretty full, with devotees having travelled from far and wide to see the band. First up was Nothing is Easy, followed by other early Tull classics such as Beggars Farm, Nothing Is Easy, A New Day Yesterday, Songs From The Wood, Bourée, Thick as a Brick, My God. The set centred around the late 60s and 70s classic albums, which was great for us! Aqualung closed the show with the usual Locomotive Breath as the encore. Norm and I agreed that we enjoyed it more that we have in recent times, perhaps because of the different venue.
website: http://www.j-tull.com/
ticket and wrist band
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