The Rolling Stones Newcastle City Hall September 1973
The Rolling Stones returned to Newcastle in 1973, two years after I first saw them at the same venue. This time I was determined to get a ticket when they went on sale, having had to buy one outside the gig on the night in 1971. The tickets went on sale on a Sunday morning, the box office of the City Hall opening specially, as big crowds were expected. So two friends and I decided to queue overnight for tickets to ensure that we go to the concert. We turned up at the City Hall early on the Saturday morning, more than 24 hours before the tickets were due to go on sale. There were already a few people in front of us in the queue as we settled down for a long wait. And wait we did. As the day went on, a few more joined the queue. It wasn’t until later in the day that most people arrived, but by Saturday night the queue was weaving its way round the corner and along the street. The City Hall steps are not the most comfortable place to sleep, and in fact we didn’t get much sleep at all, but the crack with the crowd was good, everyone having fun and feeling pretty good that we knew we would be getting tickets. By the time Sunday morning came, the queue was massive and it was clear that many people would be going home disappointed, even though the Stones were playing two shows. As in 1971, the band were playing an early (6.30pm) and late (8.45pm) show. Last time I went to the early show. This time we were planning to buy tickets for the late show and were feeling very grown up as a result! When the box office finally opened, we were still pretty near the front of the queue and managed to buy tickets in the middle of the second row of the stalls! Looking back I wish I’d had the foresight (and the cash) to go to both shows.
The night of the gig came some weeks later. The support act was Billy Preston, who also, as I recall played keyboards in the Stones band. I knew little by Billy other than his Beatles connections (he played on Get Back and at the rooftop concert) and the hit Thats the way God planned it. As I remember he was pretty good, and got us all singing along to Thats the way God planned it. The Stones came on, exploding into Brown Sugar. My friends and I couldn’t believe how close we were to the band. Unlike the early show in 1971, everyone was up on their feet from the start. The set continued with Gimme Shelter, Keith singing Happy, Tumbling Dice, Star Star (the lyrics seemed very rude to me as a young teenager), Dancing with Mr. D, Angie, You Can’t Always Get What You Want, Midnight Rambler, Honky Tonk Women, All Down the Line, Rip This Joint, Jumpin’ Jack Flash and Street Fighting Man as an encore. The Stones seemed to me to be the perfect rock band at that point, and this was to be the last time I saw them in a venue as small as the City Hall, although not the last time I was so close to the stage. Jagger was the ultimate rock show man, and they all looked young, fit and still hungry to make their mark as the greatest rock n roll band in the world. For us young teenagers that night they definitely were the greatest band we had ever seen, and this was a gig that we talked about again and again, and for a long time after. Its interesting to note that in the early 70s the Stones were not playing any of their early 60s hits on stage, something they have returned to more recently.
4 Feb
Vintagerock's Weblog. 
Posted by Stewart on September 9, 2012 at 12:28 am
I was their it’s just like it was yesterday wish I could go back to 73 the best nite of my life long live the stones
Posted by Brian Gibson on February 25, 2015 at 8:24 pm
I was there too. A couple of school friends and I didn’t have tickets but thought we might be able to buy one off someone outside. There were some ticket touts selling one or two but we couldn’t afford these , then by chance someone was selling one ticket for some reason ,however there were at least four of us . So we came up with a plan … We bought the ticket and one of my friends went in , meanwhile we went round to the side of the City Hall by the drain pipe and lightning conductor strip that ran down the wall. We waited for our friend who had gone upstairs and opened one of the toilet windows. Some how with a bunk up and being pulled up we all managed to climb through albeit landing directly over the urinals ,which we managed to avoid. Once inside we kind of milled about upstairs at the back watching Billy Preston and when the Stones came on it didn’t really matter where we were as nearly everyone was out of their seats , later after the gig we were down by the central station and saw David Bowie emerging from a taxi. Some night .. Brilliant blog btw
Posted by vintagerock on February 26, 2015 at 8:23 am
Great story Brian. I wonder how many people got into gigs through one of the toilet windows. I did a similar thing in order to see Queen in 1975! Cheers Peter
Posted by Brian Gibson on March 17, 2015 at 10:22 pm
Magic Peter! Indeed how many ? And have they cottoned on yet ? This is the stuff that should be on peoples CV’s as “Use’s their initiative”
I saw Queen at the Mayfair supporting Vinegar Joe on their 1st national tour , even got back stage to meet the band .
Also tried to get into Floyd gig at Odeon ,we got inside but only as far as where road crew lorries were which was either under or very near back of stage . Sounded good
Posted by vintagerock on March 18, 2015 at 5:15 am
Great use of initiative indeed Brian Many thanks Peter
Posted by Geoff on February 15, 2021 at 7:22 pm
Hi
I don’t suppose you can remember when the tickets for the 4th March 1971 gig went on sale? I think it was a Saturday morning as we queud all night after a gig at Newcastle Poly. This was shortly after my first date wih my wife to be so I’m trying to pinpoint the 50th anniversary date of that momentous event !
Cheers Geoff in hopeful anticipation
Posted by vintagerock on February 15, 2021 at 7:37 pm
Hi Geoff I also queued all night but I could swear down it was a Sunday morning they went on sale and that I queued all night Saturday night? Goodness knows the date. Sorry I can’t be more helpful cheers Peter
Posted by Geoff Landers on February 16, 2021 at 1:04 pm
Cheers Peter I’m sure you’re right about the 73 Gig but I’m hoping to nail down when the 71 Gig (with Groundhogs supporting) Tickets went on Sale. Interestingly Tony McPhee lives near me in Shropshire and I’ve met him a few times over the years. Sadly he’s had a few Strokes and doesn’t really perform any more. Cheers everyone Geoff
Posted by vintagerock on February 16, 2021 at 4:18 pm
Hi Geoff I was a massive Groundhogs fan and I know Tony has not been well recently. Back in the day he was fantastic; I remember some great shows in the Mayfair, the City Hall and Sunderland Top Rank, the Bay hotel and the Locarno Happy days Peter