Wishbone Ash Newcastle City Hall 27th May 1981
Martin Turner was replaced by bassist and vocalist John Wetton, who came with excellent pedigree, having previously been with Family, King Crimson, Roxy Music, Uriah Heep and UK. The new line-up recorded the 11th Wishbone Ash album “Number the Brave’, which was released in April 1981. Wetton left shortly after recording the album and rejoined Asia.For the 1981 “Number the Brave” tour Wetton was replaced by former Uriah Heep and David Bowie’s Spiders bassist Trevor Bolder. Female vocalist, Claire Hamill, also joined for the tour. Claire had sung on both the “Just Testing” and “Number the Brave” and co-wrote “Living Proof” with Laurie Wisefield. I saw the Newcastle City Hall concert n May 1981. For the concerts, lead vocals were shared between Andy Powell, Claire Hamill and Laurie Wisefield. This was quite a different Wishbone Ash, with Hamill adding soulful, rocky vocals and the mood of the performance moving much closer to heavy rock.
Support for the tour was heavy metal singer Nicky Moore, who had been in Hackensack and Tiger, and was fronting his own band at the time. Moore would soon go on to join Samson as replacement for Bruce Dickinson. Claire Hamill left the band after the tour. Encouraged by the success of the NWOBHM, heavy metal was very much the order of the day on their next album “Twin Barrels Burning”, which became the highest charting Wishbone Ash album in years reaching No. 22 in the UK charts.
Setlist: The King Will Come; Lady Whiskey; Where Is the Love; Time Was; Living Proof; Underground; Warrior; Throw Down the Sword; Loaded; Kicks on the Street; Phoenix; Number the Brave; Helpless; Jail Bait; Blowin’ Free; Get Ready; Bad Weather Blues.
It was 4 years ’til I next saw Wishbone Ash, and the line-up had changed again. I’ll write about that gig tomorrow.
Archive for the ‘Nicky Moore Band’ Category
29 Jan
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