Reading Festival 22nd – 24th August 1980
DJs: John Peel, Bob Harris & Jerry Floyd
By 1980, the Reading Festival had become a heavy metal extravaganza. Headliners were Whitesnake, UFO and Rory Gallagher, with a full supporting heavy rock cast including new up-and-coming NWOBHM (New Wave Of British Heavy Metal) bands Def Leppard and Iron Maiden. It was the 10th anniversary of the festival being at Reading, and the 20th anniversary of the national jazz and blues festival.
Friday line-up: Red Alert (a heavy rock band, I think and not the North East punk band of the same name); O1 Band; Hellions; Praying Mantis; Fischer Z; 9 Below Zero (a great R&B set); Krokus; Gillan (always a good solid set); Rory Gallagher.
The highlight of Friday was, without a doubt, the reappearance of Rory Gallagher. Rory was a hero of mine, a class act, an amazing guitarist, and always came over as a regular down-to-earth guy. By 1980, Rory had moved to a harder rock sound, dropping many of the classic bluesy tracks which had been staples of his set throughout the 70s. So he was no longer playing Bullfrog Blues or Messin’ with the Kid, as part of the main set, although he would sometimes play one or two of them during the encore. Instead his set was focussing on tracks from his most recent albums; Top Priority, Calling Card and Photo-Finish. But these are minor quibbles; Rory’s performance at Reading in 1980 was, as always, outstanding.
Rory setlist: I Wonder Who; Follow Me; Wayward Child; Tattoo’d Lady; Bought And Sold; Country Mill; Hellcat; Out On The Western Plain; Too Much Alcohol; Going To My Hometown; Moonchild; Shadow Play
Saturday line-up: Trimmer and Jenkins, Quartz; Writz; Broken Home (featuring Dicken from Mr Big); White Spirit (North East NWOBHM heroes featuring Janik Gers); Grand Prix; Samson (the drummer played from inside a cage!); Pat Travers Band; Iron Maiden; UFO
Highlights were Pat Travers who played an intense set, Iron Maiden with original singer Paul Di’Anno at the time of the anthemic “Running Free” and headliners UFO. UFO had released their eighth album “No Place to Run” and the line-up was Phil Mogg (vocals), Paul Chapman (guitar), Paul Raymond (keyboards), Pete Way (bass) and Andy Parker (drums). I was a fan at the time and it was good to see them headlining, and hear heavy rock classics like “Doctor Doctor” and “Lights Out” and more gentle tracks like “Love to Love”.
UFO setlist: Lettin’ Go; Young Blood; No Place to Run; Cherry; Only You Can Rock Me; Love to Love; Electric Phase; Hot ‘n’ Ready; Mystery Train; Doctor Doctor; Too Hot to Handle; Lights Out; Rock Bottom; Shoot Shoot
Sunday line-up: Sledgehammer; Praying Mantis; Angelwitch; Tygers Of Pantang; Girl; Magnum; Budgie; Slade; Def Leppard; Whitesnake
Sunday belonged to two bands: Slade and Whitesnake. Slade first. Metal legend Ozzy Osbourne was billed to play on the Sunday with his new band Blizzard of Oz, but he pulled out at the last minute and was replaced by Slade. I have already written about Slade’s amazing performance, and have reproduced some of my previous post here. Slade appeared after glam heavy metal band Girl, and just before NWOBHM heroes Def Leppard. The field wasn’t that full as Bob Harris announced that Slade were taking the stage. Their entrance was greeted with a hail of cans. Noddy wasn’t phased at all by that, and asked everyone if they were “ready to rock”. And then they launched straight into “Dizzy Mama”. And then it started to happen. Slowly at first, the crowd began to cheer. People wandering around the outskirts of the site started to run towards the stage. Slade knew they had to win the crowd over and were working so hard, rocking so hard, and playing the hits. The area around the stage was soon completely rammed and the whole field was going crazy. Amazing. Slade nailed it, and in the space of one hour made sure that they were well and truly back. Dave Hill: “One heck of an experience, ‘cos I wasn’t going to do that gig. Slade manager Chas Chandler talked me into it…the confidence came when there was a reaction, as it built and built, sort of got bigger and bigger. I mean getting that lot to sing “Merry Xmas Everybody” was amazing.” The event was recorded and a few tracks were released as an EP.
Def Leppard appeared after Slade and didn’t go down too well with the crowd. Joe Elliott: “The legend about us getting bottled off at Reading 1980 is a myth really – we got an encore at Reading. We probably had six or seven bottles of piss thrown up – and maybe a tomato – but it didn’t put us off. That ‘backlash’ was all blown out of proportion. We’re living proof that bad reviews make no difference.” Actually they were pretty good.
Whitesnake consolidated their position as worthy festival headliners. They’d closed the festival the previous year, despite not receiving top billing in the pre-festival publicity. This year, however, their headline status was clear, and they deserved it. They had just released Ready an’ Willing their third studio album, which reached No. 6 on the UK Albums Chart, and featured the hit single: “Fool for Your Loving”. This was a great Whitesnake performance; their set now included classic Purple tracks “Soldier or Fortune” and “Mistreated” and new favourites the aforementioned “Fool for Your Loving”, along with “Walking in the Shadow of the Blues” and “Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City.”
Whitesnake setlist included: Sweet Talker; Walking in the Shadow of the Blues; Ain’t Gonna Cry No More; Love hunter; Mistreated; Soldier of Fortune; Ain’t No Love in the Heart of the City; Fool for Your Loving
I got back to the camp site after Whitesnake and discovered that someone had nicked my tent 😦 Oh well, you can’t win them all. It was a cheap crappy tent anyway. This my last visit to Reading. The following year my mates and I decided to stay up North and attend the Rock on the Tyne festival, and once the annual cycle of attending Reading was broken, we never returned. For me, family and the pressures of parenthood kicked in, and the heavy metal dominance within the line-up made the Reading festival seem a little less attractive. I’d been 9 years in a row, seen the emergence of Quo, Genesis and Thin Lizzy, the re-emergence of Slade, great sets by the Faces, Rory and Yes, festival favourites like Edgar Broughton and Hawkwind, my personal favorites like Stray, the introduction of punk and new wave to the bill, and the recent growth in popularity of (new) heavy metal. Over the years I have toyed with the idea of returning to the Reading festival, or going to the more local Leeds festival, but have never got round to doing so. I suppose I fear that if I do, I will feel too old, and too out of place 🙂 I had some great, crazy times at Reading; maybe it’s best to leave the memories as they are. If I did go along, it could never be the same as when I was young.
Archive for the ‘Def Leppard’ Category
19 Mar
Sammy Hagar Newcastle Mayfair 1979
Sammy Hagar Newcastle Mayfair 1979
Support from Def Leppard
I first saw Sammy Hagar when he was with Montrose. They were a great hard rock band, and supported Status Quo at Newcastle City Hall on a tour in the early 70s. They delivered a strong set and actually gave the mighty Quo a bit of a run for their money. I also saw them in 1974 when they played at Charlton football ground, as one of the support acts for the Who. Their most famous song was Bad Motor Scooter which was apparently the first song that Sammy Hagar wrote. Hagar split from Ronnie Montrose in 1975 and pursued a solo career, going on to some considerable success in the late 70s and early 80s. One of his most well known songs from that solo period was Red, on which he built his own style, leading to his nickname of The Red Rocker. I remember red programmes, red clothing, and red guitars all became part of his shows around that time. Hagar live was a full-on high energy hard rock experience, fast and loud. He would always play Red, Bad Motor Scooter and Space Station No 5. Great stuff. This gig at the Mayfair had the added attraction of up and coming NWOBHM band Def Leppard as support act. More Def Leppard memories here https://vintagerock.wordpress.com/2012/10/04/def-leppard-newcastle-city-hall-1980/
4 Oct
Def Leppard Newcastle City Hall 1980
Def Leppard Newcastle City Hall 1980
I first saw Def Leppard at Middlesbrough Rock Garden, in their very early days. They were a new, young New Wave Of British Heavy Metal band from Sheffield, who I’d read about in Sounds. On the strength of a good write-up in Sounds, probably by Geof Barton, I decided to go along and see them, dragging along a reluctant Marie. The gig was not that full, but there was a sprinkling of bikers in there, who gave the band a good reception. The gig was in July 1979, and at that time Def Leppard were playing a mixture of covers and some of their own material. I remember them playing the single (Getcha) Rocks Off, and several Thin Lizzy covers including Jailbreak and The Boys Are Back In Town. I think they also played Bowie’s Suffragette City and UFO’s Doctor, Doctor. Good choices. I was quite impressed, particularly by the enthusiasm of singer Joe Elliot. One year on, and Def Leppard were headlining at Newcastle City Hall. I can’t be certain who the two supports were, but I think they may have been Magnum and Colossus. I had it in my mind that the support was Iron Maiden, but I think that may be my memory playing tricks with me. This was the start of a meteoric rise to mega success for Def Leppard. I can’t pretend to be a massive fan but did enjoy seeing those early gigs. This was at the time of their first album, On Trough the Night, and the set was drawn largely from that lp. Setlist from 1980: When the Walls Came Tumbling Down; It Could Be You; Rock Brigade; Satellite; Medicine Man; Let It Go; Answer to the Master; Sorrow Is a Woman; Good Morning Freedom; It Don’t Matter; Lady Strange; Overture; Rocks Off. Encore: Hello America; Wasted
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