Paul Young Newcastle City Hal 1983 & 1984
I’d seen Paul Young in Q Tips a few times, and was pretty impressed by his 1983 singles “Wherever I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home)” which reached No 1, “Come Back And Stay” (No 4), and “Love Of The Common People” which made No 2 on re-release. He had put a great band together around him and that, coupled with great song choices and his sweet white soul voice, finally fulfilled the promise of his former group, and gave him the massive success he deserved. Young’s debut solo album “No Parlez” produced five singles, and stayed in the UK charts for 119 weeks, selling close to a million copies. Young’s backing band was ‘The Royal Family’ and included keyboardist Kewley, fretless bass player wizard Pino Palladino (now of the Who), guitarist Steve Bolton, drummer Mark Pinder, and backing singers Maz Roberts and Kim Leslie (AKA ‘The Fabulous Wealthy Tarts’). 
I saw them at Newcastle City Hall in 1983 when Paul was at the height of his new success. Paul Young had further success in 1984 with three more Top 10 singles: “I’m Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down”, “Everything Must Change” and “Everytime You Go Away”.
He was back at the City Hall later in the year for another concert.
Both shows were excellent events with a great selection of songs performed by a guy at the top of his game.
Archive for the ‘Paul Young’ Category
17 Mar
Paul Young Newcastle City Hal 1983 & 1984
25 May
Live Aid Wembley Stadium 13th July 1985
Live Aid Wembley Stadium 13th July 1985
I went with a couple of mates. We missed out on tickets when they went on sale and the only way we could get there was to buy tickets for a coach trip from Middlesbrough. So we were up at 4am, drove to Middlesbrough and joined a coach which left at 5am for London. We arrived well before noon, had a couple of drinks and entered the stadium, which was of course completely packed so we found a spot in the stands right at the back. A few minutes later Status Quo took to the stage with “Rockin’ All Over The World” and the day started. This was Quo reunited one year after the split, with Alan flying over from Oz to join Francis and Rick. Their short set also featured Caroline” and “Don’t Waste My Time”. A fitting start to the day. I have so many great memories of that day.
Queen’s performance is, of course, often rated as the greatest live performance by any band. Freddie certainly commanded the crowd the day and it propelled them to super stardom. Their well planned set was a medley with short sections of their anthems: “Bohemian Rhapsody”, “Radio Ga Ga”, “Hammer To Fall”, “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”, “We Will Rock You” and “We Are The Champions”. They had apparently been rehearsing their short set for days, to ensure perfection, and it showed, and worked. U2 weren’t far behind them, though, in terms of performance, with Bono showing how great a front man he was. U2 played two songs: “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and a lengthy version of “Bad” during which Bono dragged a girl from the rush down front to dance with him on stage, and which also included snippets from Lou Reed’s “Satellite of love” and “Walk On The Wild Side”, and The Stones’ “Ruby Tuesday” and “Sympathy for the Devil”. Electric.
For me, however. the highlights were The Who and David Bowie, as I was, and remain, a big fan of both acts. Bowie started with “TVC15” (a strange and poor choice I felt, and remember being disappointed on the day), “Rebel Rebel” (great, good choice), “Modern Love” (well, ok) and then “Heroes” (we all sag along and it was pure magic). I still feel that with a better choice of songs Bowie could have eclipsed Queen and U2.
The Who performed “My Generation”, “Pinball Wizard”, “Love Reign O’er Me” (another strange song choice given the magnitude of the event) and a blistering “Won’t Get Fooled Again” with much mike swinging by Daltrey and lots of arm twirling by Townshend.
Other memories: Elton and Kiki sang “Don’t go Breaking my Heart” (great!). Paul McCartney suffered from sound problems and we couldn’t hear him at all for much of “Let It Be” although I gather it was fine on TV. Geldof drew massive cheers every time he set foot on stage, and he deserved every one of them. The scheduling worked amazingly, with very few hitches. Seeing the cameras pick out Charles and Diana over in their enclosure. The amazingly camp Bowie and Jagger video. The awful, sad and moving video of starving children played to the Cars’ “Drive”. Phil Collins playing Wembley and JFK courtesy of Concorde (show off).
But the truly unforgettable moment came at the end, and will stay in my mind for ever. That was the finale, with the entire stadium singing along to “Do They Know It’s Christmas ?” with Bob Geldof leading us, and everyone else on stage. I’ve never seen, felt, or heard anything like it before or since. We walked out of that stadium to the coach park, all of us still singing…..”Feed The World”…..
Then it was a long coach ride back to Middlesbrough. We arrived back around 5 or 6am, then drove home. 24 hours with hardly any sleep, just an hour or so caught on the bus, but a day I will remember forever.
Line-up: Status Quo; The Style Council; The Boomtown Rats; Adam Ant; Ultravox; Spandau Ballet; Elvis Costello; Nik Kershaw; Sade; Sting; Phil Collins; Howard Jones; Bryan Ferry (with David Gilmour on guitar); Paul Young/Alison Moyet; U2; Dire Straits/Sting; Queen; Video “Dancing in the Streets” by David Bowie/Mick Jagger; David Bowie; The Who; Elton John (Kiki Dee and George Michael join Elton); Mercury and May; Paul McCartney; Finale
3 Mar
Q-Tips Redcar Coatham Bowl 21st December 1980
Q-Tips Redcar Coatham Bowl 21st December 1980
Q-Tips were an English blue-eyed soul and new wave band, who formed in 1979 from the remnants of 1970s pop outfit Streetband. Streetband had hit the UK charts in 1978 with the novelty song “Toast”, which had become a success as a result of heavy airplay by Kenny Everett. The band was fronted by Paul Young who was to go on to major solo success after leaving Q-Tips. “Toast” was as much a hindrance as a help in the career of Streetband, and they folded soon after it was in the charts, with members Paul Young on vocals, Mick Pearl on bass guitar, and guitarist John Gifford forming Q-Tips. The ex-Streetbanders added new recruits Dave Lathwell on guitar, Ian Kewley on keyboards and Baz Watts on drums. The band wanted to create a soul review format and so added a four piece brass section of Steve Farr (baritone saxophone), Richard Blanchchard (tenor saxophone), Oscar Stuart Blandamer (alto saxophone) and Tony Hughes (trumpet) who all hailed from North London. I saw Q-Tips a few times in the late 70s and early 80s including this gig at the great Redcar Bowl, an earlier (and very empty) gig at Middlesbrough Rock Garden, and supporting The Who at Newcastle City Hall during their 1981 tour. The band were great live, all suited and looking the part, with great performance and vocals (as you would expect) from Paul Young; they were very much a full soul revue show. However, they had little commercial success, and folded in 1982 with Paul Young going solo.
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