Eric Burdon is one of my all-time heroes. I have seen him many times over the years so I couldn’t resist going to see a hometown concert at Newcastle City Hall. Eric Burdon is a legendary figure with a giant, deep, soulful voice. He took The Animals from Newcastle to the top the charts, London and around the world. His growling, rasping voice featured on such great hits as “We Got to Get Out Of This Place “, “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood” and, of Course, “The House of the Rising Sun”.. Then, when the band split up, he formed his own, more psychedelic version of The Animals and had further hits such as “Monterey” and “When I Was Young”. Eric then became a fully fledged member of the San Francisco scene, a friend of Jimi Hendrix and then fronted the band War in the 1970s. The drive, work ethic and sheer nerve of the guy astounds me. He took himself from the backstreets of Newcastle, around the world and became a major player on the international music scene.
Publicity for the concert read: “Despite Eric being the ripe old age of 77, his voice still packs a punch and he and his band put on one hell of a show. Seriously, the guy is North East music royalty; he and his band inspired generations of artists and wrote gritty, working -class tunes about gritty, working-class subjects before it was cool to write gritty, working-class tunes about gritty, working-class subjects. You can expect all the classic Animals’ tracks from a true master of the blues vocal performance – he’s been playing music for more years than many of us have been alive and he sure knows how to do it.” (NE VOLUME)
This time around Eric fronted a new backing band with young rock/blues players, and very impressive they were too. The set comprised old Animals hits, songs from his later career and soul and blues standards. His voice remains strong, the years have added even more gravel to it; taking his delivery closer to that of the blues legends he based his career on. Indeed, he has become one of the legendary blues men himself; in the mould of the old black blues singers he followed when he was young. Judging by the superlatives I have been using, you can guess that I really enjoyed the show. It was great to see one of my heroes back in his hometown, playing in a venue that he has starred in so many times before. Simply amazing and long may he continue. My carer, Joanne, came away a fan also.
Setlist (was something like this): When I Was Young; Mama Told Me Not to Come; Inside Looking Out; Spill the Wine; Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood; Don’t Bring Me Down; Bring It On Home to Me; Bo Diddley Special; It’s My Life; The House of the Rising Sun (Click on the link before this bracket to see a great video on YouTube); We’ve Gotta Get Out of This Place; Hold On, I’m Comin’; The Blaydon Races.
My grainy photograph was taken at an earlier concert, when I witnessed an equally great performance by Eric Burdon at the Colne Blues Festival.
This was Eric’s first home town gig back in the Toon for around 20 years, and anticipation was very high. He was originally booked to play one night at the Tyne Theatre, which sold out very quickly and a second night was added. Marie and I went along to the Thursday night show, which was the first gig to be announced. 
I was really looking forward to the gig; it had been around 20 years since I’d seen Burdon and I was very excited about seeing him again. I remember that I had an event to attend at work earlier in the evening, but managed to slip away in time to get through just as Burdon and the band took to the stage. Eric was on top form at this gig, and belted out the old hits. I’d almost forgotten just how hood he was, and was knocked out by his performance that night. The set was largely old classics from both versions of the Animals, including Its My Life, We Gotta Get Out of this Place, House of the Rising Sun, When I was Young, San Franciscan Nights, Sky Pilot, Don’t Let me be Misunderstood. A DVD called Yes you can go home includes some footage from the gig.
Eric Burdon is a bit of a hero to me. His blues/soul voice is second to none, he has written some great songs (particularly in the late 60s, at the time of his hippy/San Francisco new-Animals phase), and he hails from the North East of England! I’ve seen him in concert quite a few times over the years, with several incarnations of his band, and with the reformed original Animals in the early 80s. I saw him a couple of times in the mid 70s, once at Newcastle Mayfair ballroom, and also at this gig at Newcastle City Hall in 1976 as part of the Newcastle Festival. Eric has had many line ups backing him over the years and his albums in the mid 70s were in a hard rock / funk vein. However I am pretty sure that the band and set for this gig was straight blues and included material such as Bring It On Home To Me; We Gotta Get Out Of This Place; Paint it Black; Tobacco Road and House Of The Rising Sun. I’ve never seen Eric do a bad performance. I have seen one or two times where he looked pretty worse for wear, but he has always delivered and his voice remains strong and soulfull to this day.
The Animals reformed in the early 80s for a tour, and to record a new album. This was the original line up of Eric Burdon, Alan Price, Hilton Valentine, Chas Chandler and John Steele, augmented by a few other musicians including Zoot Money. The tour took in two North East dates at Newcastle City Hall and Middlesbrough Town Hall. I went along to the City Hall date.
The set was a mix of classic hits, such as Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood; House Of The Rising Sun; It’s My Life; Don’t Bring Me Down and We’ve Gotta Get Out Of This Place, plus R&B standards and tracks from the new lp. I remember I was somewhat disappointed that there weren’t more older tracks in the set. Perhaps not surprisingly they didn’t play any of the later Eric Burdon tracks which were hits for later versions of the Animals, such as Good Times, When I was Young etc. It was great to see the original line up playing back in their home town. 
Vintagerock's Weblog. 