Kim Wilde Newcastle City Hall 9th October 1982
Another (semi) guilty pleasure today? Kim Wilde burst onto the music scene in 1981 with her debut single “Kids in America”, which reached number two in the UK charts. Kim is, of course, the daughter of 1950s rock ‘n’ roller Marty Wilde. The single was a great catchy pop song with a new wave / rock’n’roll edge, and was promoted by a wonderful video of a pouting dancing Kim, accompanied by her brother Ricky and band. I went to see Kim in concert at Newcastle City Hall on her first UK tour, which took place in 1982. Support for the tour came from BB featuring Stevie B and Jo Burt, who had both been members of Tom Robinson’s Sector 27. By the time of this concert Kim had been in the singles chart on five occasions with, in addition to “Kids”, “Chequered Love”, “Water on Glass”, Cambodia” and “View from a Bridge”. All classic pop singles. The songs on Kim’s debut album were all written by Marty Wilde and her younger brother Ricky and most of the music was played (rather surreally 🙂 ) by The Enid! However, by the time she went out on tour, Kim had her own backing band, which wasn’t The Enid and featured her brother Ricky. 
The concert was great fun, and featured all of her hits. I found this short review on the Wilde Life site: “Her music is catchy, pleasant but not very memorable, and Kim Wilde’s first visit to Newcastle was much the same. But that is not to detract from Miss Wilde for at least she knows her limitations. She will never be Chrissie Hynde, for example. She has waited a long time before touring which is a measure of the concern she has to give of her best. And for her devoted fans the wait was worth it. The quality of sound was first class, and for a new band, the musicians knitted together extremely well. The highlights for me were “Water on glass”, “26580” and the encore number “Kids in America” – MR”.
I saw Kim once more, when she supported Michael Jackson at a massive concert at Leeds Roundhay Park, shortly after she had a UK No. 2 hit with her great version of the Supremes’ song “You Keep Me Hangin’ On”.
Setlist: Water on glass; Tuning in tuning on; Our town; Everything we know; Take me tonight; Words fell down; When the boy’s happy (the girl’s happy too); View from a bridge; Child come away; Watching for shapes; You’ll never be so wrong; Boys; 26580; Falling out; Cambodia.
Encore: Kids in America.
20 Jan
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