I guess, although I might not have fully realised it at the time, I was pretty into Barclay James Harvest in the 70s. They were one of the bands who I would go along and see with my mates, and we always enjoyed the show. We sort of took them for granted; they toured a lot, you could always go along and see them; you could rely on them to play well (and they would always play Mockingbird).
I first saw them at gigs in Sunderland Top Rank and The Locarno. The first time was around 1972, at the Top Rank with the great Del Bromham and Stray support. Stray used to have dustbins on stage with explosives in. These were ignited during All In Your Mind, and nearly blew the roof off; I’m sure Health and Safety rules would outlaw such things these days. Barclay James set around this time consisted of early songs such as She Said; Mocking Bird; Medicine Man; Moonwater; Summer Soldier; The Poet; After The Day; Galadriel; Dark Now My Sky. I also saw them when they appeared at the Reading festival in 1974. By the mid to late 70s they were headlining, and selling out concert halls across the UK. I went to see them at Newcastle City Hall in 1977 (ticket above).
That was the Gone To Earth tour (programme to left) and the setlist at the time was: Child Of the Universe; Rock ‘N’ Roll Star; Poor Man’s Moody Blues; Mockingbird; Hard Hearted Woman; Medicine Man; Taking Me Higher; Suicide?; Crazy City; Jonathan; Polk Street Rag; Hymn. There show were always 100% professional, if smewhat predictable. At the time I saw them as an alternative to The Moody Blues, who were on a sabbatical throughout the mid 70s. Mockingbird was (and still is) a favourite song of mine and I would look forward to seeing them play it. 
Barclay James were back at the City Hall in 1978 (ticket right and programme below). This was the XII tour and the setlist was something like: Nova Lepidoptera; Hard Hearted Woman; Poor Man’s Moody Blues; Berlin; Medicine Man; Sip Of Wine; Suicide?; Rock ‘N’ Roll Star; In Search Of England; Jonathan; Child Of The Universe; Mockingbird; Loving Is Easy; Hymn 
Throughout this period the classic line up was: John Lees – vocals and guitar; Les Holroyd – bass and vocals; Mel Pritchard – drums, percussion; the late Stuart “Woolly” Wolstenholme – vocals, mellotron, keyboards. After this tour Wooly left the band, which was a big shock. I remember a lot if talk at the time as to whether the band should, or could, continue without him, which they did. They were back at the City Hall a couple of years later. I’ll write about that gig tomorrow.
25 Jan
Barclay James Harvest gigs 1972 – 1977
Posted January 25, 2012 by vintagerock in Barclay James Harvest. Tagged: blues, concert, concerts, gig, gigs, pop, prog rock, psych, Psychedia, R&B, rock, rock n roll. 3 Comments
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Posted by Garry Shewan on November 6, 2012 at 6:53 pm
The ’77 and ’78 shows live long in my memory as absolute classics that it was a privilege to witness! BJH still are the band in my ’70s CD collection that is my first turn-to when I want to remember those days. Great memories, thanks
Posted by TerriersFan on September 10, 2021 at 6:18 pm
It looks like you missed the 1975 ‘Time Honoured Ghosts’ tour, perversely the only one that I actually got to! They were one of my favourite bands – still are really – and were riding high on the brilliant ‘Live’ double album.
Here are my thoughts on that Newcastle gig…
https://gigsnstuff787616231.wordpress.com/category/barclay-james-harvest-bjh/
Posted by vintagerock on September 10, 2021 at 6:25 pm
Not sure why I missed that one. Sounds great! Many thanks Peter