A year had passed since Ritchie Blackmore and Rainbow last graced the stage of Newcastle City Hall, and things had yet again changed in the band. Graham Bonnet and Cozy Powell both resigned to pursue other projects following a very successful performance at the first Monsters of Rock festival at Donington. The new line-up was Rainbow Mk VII and featured Ritchie Blackmore (guitar), Roger Glover (bass), Don Airey (keyboards), Bobby Rondinellu (drums) and Joe Lynn Turner (vocals). Their UK tour called at the City Hall for two nights, and I attended the first night, on 23rd July 1981. Support came from Rose Tattoo, an Australian hard rock and roll band, fronted by bald-headed and heavily tattooed Angry Anderson, who went on to major solo success with the power ballad “Suddenly”. I remember that there was quite a buzz about Rose Tattoo at the time, so I made a point of watching their set, and pretty good they were too.
By now I was getting used to the ever changing format of Rainbow, and I’d heard the single “I Surrender” which gave the band another big chart success. Joe Lynn Turner was another great front man and vocalist and took the band even further in the direction of classic AOR and even bigger success around the world. This was another amazing performance by Blackmore and the band.
Setlist: Land of Hope and Glory / Over the Rainbow; Spotlight Kid; Love’s No Friend; I Surrender; Man on the Silver Mountain; Catch the Rainbow; Can’t Happen Here; Lost in Hollywood; Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll. Encore: All Night Long.
Archive for the ‘Rose Tattoo’ Category
20 Mar
Rainbow Newcastle City Hall 23rd July 1981
Posted by vintagerock in Rainbow, Ritchie Blackmore, Rose Tattoo. Tagged: classic rock, concert, concerts, gig, gigs, heavy metal, heavy rock, music, prog rock, rock, rock n roll. Leave a comment
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