Gillan Newcastle City Hall March 1980
Support The Broughtons
By 1980 Gillan had graduated to playing at the City Hall for their next visit to Newcastle. Gillan had, of course, played this great venue on a number of occasions with Deep Purple. This was a short nine date UK tour which ended at London’s prestigious Rainbow Theatre. The pictures on the front and back cover of the programme were taken at the previous year’s Reading Festival , where I had seen Gillan go down a storm. I found a setlist for the Manchester gig, which lists the songs played as: Second Sight; Unchain Your Brain; Are You Sure; Mr. Universe; If You Believe Me; Trouble; No Easy Way; Nervous; Vengeance; Sleeping on the Job; and Smoke on the Water. 
Support on this occasion was the Broughtons, which was the latest incarnation of the Edgar Broughton Band. I have been a big Edgar Broughton band since I first saw them in 1971, and remain a fan to this day. I went along to this Gillan gig with my mate Dave not knowing who the support act was going to be, and was really pleased when I saw the Broughtons listed in the programme. So we gave the bar a miss, and watched Edgar (Rob), Steve and Arthur Grant deliver their set. This was at the time of the Parlez-Vous English? album, and the band was augmented by an additional guitarist and keyboards. The Broughtons played all knew material, which was disappointing, but it was still great to see Edgar and the guys on stage again. Gillan were soon to record the Glory Road lp, which was one of their best and most successful albums, and returned to Newcastle later in the year to promote it.
19 Jan
Gillan Newcastle City Hall 6th March 1980
Posted January 19, 2013 by vintagerock in Edgar Broughton, Gillan. Tagged: classic rock, concert, concerts, gig, gigs, heavy metal, heavy rock, pop, R&B, rock, rock n roll. Leave a Comment
