Lindisfarne Newcastle City Hall Sat 30 Sept & Sun 1st Oct 1972
Lindisfarne went out on tour in late 1972. This was their first major tour, The UK leg started with two nights at their home venue, Newcastle City Hall, after opening in Dublin. Genesis were support, but couldn’t make the first night, for which they were replaced by the very excellent Stackridge. I was a fan of all three bands, so decided to go along to both concerts. Scottish folk singer, and friend of Lindisfarne, Rab Noakes completed the bill on both nights, finding himself sandwiched between the two band performances. Lindisfarne had just released their third album Dingly Dell to quite mixed reviews. The album was a significant change in style for the band. It was obvious that it was an effort to show that they were growing up musically, with much more serious songs, both in terms of form and content. Some of it worked, and still stands up today. The concerts showcased a few songs from the new album, mixed with the old crowd singalong favourites.
Stackridge put everything into their set on the first night. Front man Mutter Slater was a crazy, wacky guy, complete with bowler hat, braces and some funny stories. The highlight of the set at the time was the epic “Slark”, a strange and comical tale of a friendly monster. This and the single “Dora, The Female Explorer” were great crowd favourites at the time. 
Next up on both nights was Rab Noakes. This was the first time I’d come across Rab, although he would feature in several of Lindisfarne’s concerts over the years. Songs of the period were “Everywhere You Look It’s There”, “Goodnight Loving Trail”, and “Drunk Again”, which was a favourite at the time. Genesis were, as they always were at the time, very special. This was the period of Peter Gabriel wearing several costumes such as the fox head, and great songs like Musical Box, Return of the Giant Hogweed, Watcher of the Skies and The Knife. I was a big fan at the time, and it was very obvious that there were about to become massive. Lindisfarne were great on both nights, however I recall the band and the audience seeming a little subdued. The inclusion of the material from the new album seemed to add a level of “seriousness” to the proceedings.
Setlist: Meet Me On The Corner; Float Me Down The River; Go Back; Lady Eleanor; Wake Up Little Sister; Poor Old Ireland; Dingly Dell; Alright On The Night; All Fall Down; No Time To Lose; Court In The Act; Fog On The Tyne; We Can Swing Together (also featuring Dingle Regatta). The encore was Lonnie Donegan’s Battle Of New Orleans.
From Sounds at the time: “Backstage after the show somebody forgot to keep their eye on the stage door and suddenly the place was overrun with autograph hunters. Somewhere in the middle was Hully’s mum who’d slipped back to pay her respects. ‘Great’ was all she could say, tears in her eyes. ‘Both nights – just great.'”
17 Sep
Vintagerock's Weblog. 
Posted by Mitch on September 17, 2013 at 9:44 am
I was a huge Gabriel era Genesis fan and went to the Sunday night show especially to see them (I never much took to Lindisfarne!).
They started with Watcher of the Skies – a start to a concert like nothing I had ever seen before, fantastic. They followed that with Get ‘Em Out By Friday, The Fountain of Salmacis, The Musical Box and finished with The Return of the Giant Hogweed.
There were many shouts for ‘more’ but they did not return due to time restraints I guess (and no The Knife!).
Genesis played the City Hall again twice within the next twelve months – 22/2/73 for the Foxtrot tour supported by String Driven Thing and 26/10/73 for the Selling England tour (best concert I have ever seen) supported by Ron Geesin.
Neither of these shows appear in your Genesis blog Pete – you missed a couple of corkers !
Posted by vintagerock on September 17, 2013 at 9:57 am
Thanks Mitch. You are right about the Genesis shows in 73. I regret not going along to those gigs! As you say they were just great in those days. The Knife and Musical Box remain my favourites to this day Cheers Peter