Hi Everyone
For those of you wishing to access Peter’s funeral remotely, here is the link…
WATCHING LIVE & ON DEMAND
Website
Username
xija8045
Password
140679
It is at 11am, UK time, Friday 27th June.
All the best,
Laura, David and Ashley Smith
Archive for the ‘Uncategorised’ Category
9 Jun
Funeral Arrangements
I’m getting in touch to let you know the details for my dad’s funeral, you’re all welcome to attend.
It will be on Friday 27th June at 11am at Sunderland Crematorium.
There will then be a gathering at the Sunderland Fire Station from 12-4pm. After this you are all invited to join us for the fire station’s live screening of this year’s Glastonbury festival 4pm-midnight.
We would like to encourage those attending Peter’s funeral to wear a gig tshirt.
We have arranged for the funeral to be streamed so if anyone would like to attend remotely, we can pass on the details.
Scollen and wright funeral directors in Silksworth will be administrating the service.
Many thanks,
Laura, David and Ashleigh (Peter’s children)
29 May
In Loving Memory of Peter Smith (Posted by Laura, Peter’s daughter)
I am very sad to announce that my dad, Peter, died on Tuesday (27th May) evening. I’m his daughter, Laura and I know my dad would have really wanted me to let you all know the news of his passing.
My father began this blog on 6th August 2008, beginning with a review of Tom Waites at Edinburgh playhouse. At the time, he simply wanted to keep a record of the gigs he was attending—and from that moment on, every time he went to a gig, he would religiously write a review. I remember him tapping away at his computer the morning after a show. Often he would do this from the corner of our living room, or sometimes he’d be posting whilst on a train, traveling back from a gig. I used to tease him about typos and strange grammatical quirks, but he always told me: “The reviews have to be authentic, they don’t need to be polished.”
On 1st January 2012, he decided that, as his New Year’s resolution, he would go a step further. He set himself the enormous task of blogging not just about the gigs he was attending, but also about every gig he had ever been to. Guided by his meticulous archive of ticket stubs, programmes, and memories, he set about writing one entry every day—yes, even on Christmas Day—until he’d completed the entire back catalogue. It took him just under five years. After that mammoth task, he returned to the original rhythm of reviewing gigs as and when he saw them.
In 2016, my dad had a life-changing accident. He fell down the stairs, broke his neck, and sustained a spinal injury that left him paralysed from the neck down. He spent seven months in hospital—the longest period he’d ever gone without attending a gig since he was 12 years old. Once home, there were many adjustments to be made, and at first, he wasn’t sure how easy it would be for him to continue going to concerts. But slowly, he began to figure things out.
In November that year, he went to see Black Sabbath at Newcastle Arena—and reconnected with the passion that had sustained him for a lifetime. He didn’t feel quite ready to restart the blog just yet—telling us it wouldn’t feel the same—but in time, as he began to accept his new normal, he found his way back to it. He caught up and provided reviews for every gig he’d attended since his injury, and from then on, he once again wrote about every show he saw.
Since January of this year (2025), his health had begun to deteriorate, and although he hadn’t managed to keep up with the blog, he was still very much going to gigs. In due course, I will share a list of the concerts he attended this year and make sure they are tagged so that there is a complete and searchable record of every gig he ever saw. Right to the end, he was still gigging. His final concert was Steven Wilson at Newcastle City Hall on Thursday 15th May—just the night before he was taken into hospital.
I wanted to provide this update not only to inform those of you who have subscribed to this blog, but also to draw attention to the astonishing contribution to music history that this blog represents. It serves as a public archive of some of the most iconic moments in rock and pop, and as a record of my dad’s personal legacy—capturing some of his happiest moments, spent in fields, theatres, bars, concert halls, arenas, stadiums and, on occasion, the odd cattle market.
He was immensely proud of this blog. He loved how many of you took an interest in his musical exploits. He was thrilled every time someone left a comment, and he so enjoyed engaging with those of you who shared your own memories and reflections. The blog even brought some wonderful opportunities his way—he published books based on these entries, contributed images to fellow music enthusiasts, took part in exhibitions, and connected with people across the world who shared his love of live music.
On behalf of my dad, I want to say thank you. Thank you to all of you who have followed this blog and supported him over the years. It brought him so much joy.
If you’ve enjoyed my dad’s work, I warmly invite you to share in the comments your own personal favourite gig memories. For those of you who knew him personally, I’d especially love to hear your standout gig moments with Peter. And for those who didn’t know him, I’d still love to hear about the concerts that have been important in your life. This blog has always been a celebration of live music—and your stories will help keep that spirit alive.
With love,
Laura
10 May
Podcast with myself and my daughter!
Hi you might find the podcast below of interest
Peter Smith and Laura Smith, Authors and Teachers-Episode #244
I don’t usually self promote but could not resist this particular opportunity Peter 🙂
6 Mar
It’s my life… An exhibition of Mod & 60s culture Newcastle library 25 February 2023
About the Event (from their website):
“Jools and Paul Donnelly have been avid collectors of all things vintage since the late 70s with a particular focus on the 1960s mod scene. Both Jools and Paul have a passion for mod culture and since first meeting they have combined their collection some of which will form part of this exhibition at Newcastle City Library. The collection includes vintage ladies and men’s mod clothing, shoes and accessories, ‘mod’ magazines, records and books. Their love of the 60s era motivated them to successfully lobby Newcastle Council for a heritage plaque at the site of the legendary Club a ‘Gogo. They have also written a book on the Club a ‘Gogo and the mod scene of 1960s Newcastle, on sale now.”
Jools And Paul kindly invited me to their exhibition at Newcastle Library which, I must say, is pretty impressive to say the least. The couple have amassed an excellent and extensive collection of all things mod in Newcastle in the 1960s. The exhibition brought back lots of memories of my own early teenage years in Sunderland when I would go to Sunderland Top Rank Suite (the Rink) on a Saturday morning and dance along (yes, I had the bottle to dance in those days, which I lost somewhere along the path of life) to great pop/mod classics as Small Faces “All or Nothing”, Love Affair’s “Everlasting Love” and Barry Ryan’s epic operatic “Eloise”. I thought I was a young mod in my hipsters and Paisley “Rave” shirt. I even got dressed specially for the occasion, wearing a Vivian Westwood T-shirt with lovely ballerinas all over it, my best new Beatles Chelsea winklepicker boots and a pair of tiny round John Lennon sunglasses. You can never keep an old mod down! Jools and Paul kindly stood next to me for some selfies. Many thanks.
The exhibition contains records, 60s magazines and classic clothing from the era. Much respect! Encouraged by their collection, I went home, straight on to eBay, and bought a couple of folders containing Record Song Books from “back in the day”. The exhibition runs until the end of the month and I recommend you go along and see it. Aye, it takes you back. Wonderful.
Many thanks to Jools and Paul for signing my copy of their excellent book which tells the story of everything mod in 1960s Newcastle. Wonderful! It’s a great read and takes me right back to the 60s and many of the bands I wish I had seen back in the day! Never mind I have tried to catch up since
From their website: “Through extensive interviews with the original mods and club goers of the
North East, they tell us their story, a story of what it was really like to be young in those glory years of Newcastle’s musical history. Newcastle in the 1960s was known as a ‘Mod Mecca’ the book describes the mod haunts, the clubs, the scooters, the music and of course their love of clothes. Covering also Newcastle’s Beat and jazz scene and the early days of The Animals. But above all this is the story of the thrill of being a teenager and of their sheer joy for life spent in a Newcastle that sadly no longer exists. For anyone who has an interest in the mod scene and of the social history of 1950s and 60s, Newcastle this book is a must.”
Seriously, Jools and Paul have put together a great concept and project which chronicles everything mod and 60s. Do visit their site there is lots going on there!
Thanks again Peter
31 Dec
2015 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog.
Here's an excerpt:
The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 100,000 times in 2015. If it were an exhibit at the Louvre Museum, it would take about 4 days for that many people to see it.
5 Apr
The End
The End
Well I’ve done it. I started this project sometime in 2009; blogging sporadically when I went to see a band. At the end of 2011, I decided to cover all of the concerts I have attended , and started blogging every day on 1st January 2012, using my ticket stubs and programmes as a guide. I then worked through each band/act (roughly) alphabetically; I finally got to the letter “Z” a week or so ago.
Over the years I’ve written about many great bands from different genres; ranging from ABBA to Z Z Top, covering Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, the Who, Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones along the way. In total I have written 1,387 posts about 1,352 bands or acts. During the year 2014, my blog was viewed 94,488 times by 44,627 visitors; each visitor averaging 2.12 views. My top 25 bands (the ones I have written about, and hence seen, the most) are: Status Quo, The Who, Yes, Genesis, Lindisfarne, The Groundhogs, Wishbone Ash, Hawkwind, Uriah Heep, Eric Clapton, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Jethro Tull, Elton John, Roy Harper, Thin Lizzy, Slade, Deep Purple, Penetration, Rod Stewart (including The Faces), Rory Gallagher, Roxy Music, Queen, The Hollies and U2.
Looking back I realise that my early posts are not as well presented, nor as detailed as the more recent ones. I have definitely got better at doing this over the years. There are also many inconsistencies (which now annoy me; but there you go … I should have planned and designed this project more carefully at the outset). I wish I had been more precise and consistent in the categorisation of bands and the way that I have recorded dates, venues, ticket prices, setlists etc. Some times I have included more than one concert in a post; depending on my interest in the band, or how important I think they are. For “major” artists like The Stones, The Who and Dylan, I have written about every single concert I attended. So in the case of The Stones the blog statistics tell me I have seen them 17 times, and likewise the statistics say that I have seen The Who 22 times. Actually, however, there are some duplicate posts (e.g. I have written a post on the Who at Live Aid, and then also written a separate post on the Live Aid event itself, which also mentions the Who). I think I have actually seen The Who 19 times and the Stones 12 or 13 times. The blog tells me that I have seen Status Quo 31 times, and the total is actually close to 50; I combined some concerts because there were so many. Sadly, this makes it difficult to use the blog as any sort of database of concerts, or to get any precise measures out of it. One day I may go back and try to recategorise things, to make it all consistent, but that would be a big job. For now, to be honest I’ve become a little tired of doing it, and I am looking forward to a little rest from my blogging activities.
Many thanks to all of you who have followed me and encouraged me on this journey. Thanks to those who commented along the way; particularly Mitch and Neil, Jeff, Dawn, Hockey and Tony. Thanks to Mitch for sending me many great images from some of the concerts, and providing setlists. Thanks to John for reminding me of some of the gigs we went to many years ago, and for providing insights into rock’n’roll in the USA. Thanks to Norm and Will for having better memories than me and keeping me right about some of the gigs. Its frightening how poor my memory is becoming. Thanks to Doug for help on Jethro Tull and to Ian, Dave, Terry, Pete, Gilly and all the other people who came to see bands with me over the years. Still some bands out there to see. And thanks to Marie, Ashleigh, David and Laura for coming on family outings to concerts over the years. Oh, and thanks to WordPress for providing a great platform on which to do this. And apologies if I have forgotten to mention anyone; my memory really is going ….
I’ve enjoyed writing about the concerts. It has forced me to try to remember the details. Where there was a gap (and there often was), the internet has been amazing in helping me find reviews, setlists and line-ups of the time. Sometimes I had to guess things; often I got things wrong. The exercise has reminded me of some great concert experiences, and allowed me to create a record which I can refer to, and remind myself of happy happy days and great bands. I’m not even going to try to think about which was the best concert, or the best band. They have been so many great experiences 🙂
I am now going to spend some time thinking of what to do with this blog, now that it is finished. I did think of converting it into a book, but I’m not sure that would work. What I would like to do is to use it as the basis of a lecture course on the history of rock music, or more precisely perhaps, the history of rock performance. I’m going to spend a little time thinking about how I might pursue that particular avenue.
I will of course, continue to blog as and when I go to concerts. So this isn’t really the end, just another chapter to the blog.
Thanks again. Time for a rest, at least for a few days …
31 Dec
2014 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2014 annual report for this blog.
Here's an excerpt:
The Louvre Museum has 8.5 million visitors per year. This blog was viewed about 93,000 times in 2014. If it were an exhibit at the Louvre Museum, it would take about 4 days for that many people to see it.
31 Dec
2013 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2013 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
The concert hall at the Sydney Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 57,000 times in 2013. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 21 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.
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