West, Bruce and Laing Newcastle City Hall 1973
Now that WAS a rock band. Take Mountain guitar genius Leslie West, Cream super bassist Jack Bruce and powerhouse (also from Mountain) drummer Corky Laing, and you were certain to produce a great band. I’d seen Mountain the year before and had been blown away by Leslie West’s unique guitar style which moved effortlessly from very very heavy to gentle and beautiful. Mountain were very obviously influenced by Cream who I had sadly never seen (this was to be remedied many years later at their Albert Hall reunion), so I along with many others looked forward to see this power trio. My mate John and I went along to the gig, which proved to be just as good as I imagined, the set drawn from the West, Bruce and Laing album, and the Cream and Mountain back catalogue. John was a major Mountain fan, was very excited about the show and remembers it as one of the many highlights from that period in that venue.I can still picture Leslie, a giant of a man, with a Les Paul Jnr. slung low around his knees, wringing out the riffs. Great days. I was ecstatic when they closed with Sunshine of Your Love. It will be great to see Jack Bruce on Saturday. Hope he plays Theme from an Imaginary Western which Mountain also used to play (note afterwrds; Yes he did play it). 
Makes me think about Leslie who hasn’t been so well lately. Hope you’re OK big man; you also gave us some great nights in the Tyne Theatre where Jack will be on Saturday. I also looked up support Jimmy Stevens. I can’t pretend to remember his set from that gig almost 40 years ago, but he is an interesting guy, who toured with the Bee Gees, and Emerson, Lake and Palmer and was managed by Robert Stigwood at the time. He still plays in his home town on Liverpool. John remembers West, Bruce and Laing playing Why Dontcha, Pleasure, Love is with the blues, Third Degree, The Doctor, the bass solo Powerhouse Sod, Sunshine of Your Love, Politician, and possibly Mississippi Queen and Theme form an Imaginary Western. He recalls somebody, Leslie or Jack, wearing Red Platform sole boots and going out to buy some the following week! Thanks to John for the poster scan.
27 Mar
West, Bruce and Laing Newcastle City Hall 1973
Posted March 27, 2012 by vintagerock in Jack Bruce, Leslie West, West Bruce and Laing. Tagged: blues, concert, concerts, folk, gig, gigs, heavy metal, music, pop, prog rock, psych, R&B, rock, rock n roll. 1 Comment
Vintagerock's Weblog. 
Posted by Mitch on February 8, 2013 at 4:26 pm
I was at this gig and wrote down the set list at the time. They did not play Theme from an Imaginary Western or Politician. The set list was –
Don’t Look Around
Pleasure
Why Dontcha
Third Degree
Mississippi Queen
Roll Over Beethoven
Love Is Worth The Blues
Powerhouse Sod
The Doctor
Encore: Sunshine of Your Love.
Also Jimmy Stevens did not appear. The support act was Gary Farr.
Great gig though.