Kraftwerk Newcastle Mayfair 1976 and Newcastle City Hall 1981
I saw Kraftwerk twice. The first occasion was in 1975 when they were on tour in the UK in support of their Radio-Activity album. I’d heard Autobahn, which reached No 11 in the UK charts in 1975, but didn’t know anything else by the band. I found the gig quite strange. First it took place at Newcastle Mayfair on a Friday night. Now Friday night at the Mayfair in the mid 70s was a heavy metal stronghold, and host to gigs by the likes of Thin Lizzy, UFO, and Judas Priest. So Kraftwerk were a bit of an off the wall proposition for the venue, to say the least. Most of the heavy rock fans stayed away and the ballroom was quite empty for the visit by the German rockers who stood, statue-like at their (then) futurist computer terminals at the front of the stage, making strange robotic moves and playing their electronic rhythms. It was quite a bizarre affair, and most of the crowd were having a drink and ignoring the band. And the band themselves stood and sang without any emotion, all dressed in the same sick and dark clothing. Marie and I found it fascinating, and we didn’t realise at the time just how influential this band were going to be. The core line-up for the band that I saw on both occasions was Ralf Hütter on vocals, synthesizer, orchestron, synthanorma-sequenzer, and various strange electronics; Florian Schneider on vocals, vocoder, votrax, and synthesizer and Karl Bartos on electronic percussion. Setlist from 1975: Kling Klang; Tongebirge; Tanzmusik; Ruckzuck; Prolog Im Himmel / Kometenmelodie 1; Die Sonne, Der Monde, Die Sterne; Kometenmelodie 2; Mitternacht / Showroom Dummies; Autobahn. Authobahn was, of course, the only song which I recognised. So we left the gig intrigued, but by no means knocked out, by the band. Support for the 1975 Autobahn tour was folk singer AJ Webber, who is recorded as saying: “They weren’t the easiest people to talk to, probably due to the language barrier. But they were polite and reasonably welcoming. They drew a certain ‘following’! We warmed to each other as the tour went on.”
Roll forward six years to 1981, and Kraftwerk were back in the UK, touring in support of their Computer World album. The tour was entitled The Calculator tour. By now the band were hailed as great innovators and they were the new darlings of the rock scene. The City Hall concert drew a respectable crowd, but it wasn’t by any means a sell-out. This time the band brought all of the electronic technology from their studio and took it out on the road. The show also had a substantial visual element, using back-projection of slides and films, synchronised with the music, They had some hand-held miniature instruments, and replica mannequins of themselves. This was much more a show, which I enjoyed, although I must admit that I remained unfamiliar with much of their music, and hence found some of the concert quite heavy going. Setlist 1981: Computerwelt; Home Computer; Computer Love; The Model; Neonlicht; Radioaktivität; Die Stimme der Energie; Ohm Sweet Ohm; Autobahn; The Hall of Mirrors; Trans-American; Trans-Europe Express. I don’t recall as to whether there was any support for the 1981 concert. I haven’t seen Kraftwerk since those days, although I keep meaning to do so; its about time I caught them again.
Archive for the ‘Uncategorised’ Category
19 Aug
Kraftwerk Newcastle Mayfair 1975 and Newcastle City Hall 1981
2 Aug
Jethro Tull 40th Anniversary Tour Newcastle City Hall 2008
Jethro Tull 40th Anniversary Tour Newcastle City Hall 2008
2008 was Jethro Tull’s 40th anniversary year, and they toured extensively to celebrate this momentous occasion. The tour featured special guests on some of the dates, with former Tull members Mick Abrahams, Clive Bunker, Dave Pegg, and Barrie Barlow all putting in an appearance at various venues. Jeffrey Hammond attended one of the gigs but did not appear on stage with the band. A few non-Tull members also joined as guests at some of the gigs including Greg Lake, Seth Lakeman and Fish. There were no special guests at the Newcastle gig, the band being joined by Heather Findlay (vocals) and Brian Josh (guitars) from Mostly Autumn. Mostly Autumn started the show with four songs: Evergreen; Yellow Time; Caught in A Fold; and Hero’s Never Die. They were joined by Tull for two of their four songs. The Tull set was, as you would expect for a 40th Anniversary Tour, a selection of songs from throughout their career. 
Setlist: My Sunday Feeling, Living In The Past, So Much Trouble, Serenade To A Cuckoo, Nursie, A Song For Jeffrey, A New Day Yesterday (including Kelpie), Bourée. Interval. For A Thousand Mothers, We Used To Know/With You There To Help Me, Dharma For One (incl. drum solo and Count The Chickens), Heavy Horses, Farm On The Freeway, Thick As A Brick, Aqualung, Locomotive Breath. This was a great show, with heavy use of video images from the early days of the Jethro Tull. Ian’s voice was also pretty good, much better than some of the times I have seen him recently, where it has been obvious that he has had some difficulty in reaching some of the high notes. That concludes my Jethro Tull memories for now. I have seen the band twice since then, twice in 2010, and have also seen Ian Anderson perform Thick as a Brick recently. I’ve already posted on those gigs. I hope we get a chance to see Ian and Martin together again as Tull. I don’t know what has happened in recent times, but it has resulted in two versions of Jethro Tull treading the boards, in the form of “Ian Anderson plays Jethro Tull” and “Martin Barre’s New Day” (who I have yet to see in concert, something I must put right soon). It would be great to see them together again as Jethro Tull. That band is so important to me, and many others.
1 Jan
2012 in review
Well I did it. I’ve blogged once a day every day for a year. Along the way, I have written about the gigs I have attended this year, and reflected upon gigs I have attended in the past, covering bands starting with the letters A to F, and I am busy doing letter G. At this rate it is going to take me another 2 or 3 years to get through this project. But I’ve started now, so I’ll continue blogging every day in 2013, starting by completing letter G (I am busy with the Groundhogs at the moment).
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys have prepared a 2012 annual report for my blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 32,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 7 Film Festivals
29 Nov
Fields of the Nephilim Newcastle Mayfair 1988
Fields of the Nephilim Newcastle Mayfair 1988
I got quite into goth music in the late 80s, and read a lot about Fields of the Nephilim. I was intrigued by their “dust and death” image; these guys looked pretty cool in their dusty leathers and large brim cowboy hats, straight out of a spaghetti western. Their music was a strange mix of doomy heavy rock, with soft growled vocals. Live they were a strange experience; very moody and challenging, but ultimately this was a gig I still remember to this day. This was the “Precious to the Lost” tour. 
The stage was filled with some sort of combination of dry ice, smoke or dust and the band were dressed in long ragged, cowboy clothes, covered in flour to give their trademark dusty look. The lighting was dark and doomy and the songs slow, rhythmic with strong bass lines and powerful vocals. I picked up a copy of their fan mag “Helter Skelter” at the gig. The picture on the cover will give you an idea of the band’s image. Their website also explains where they are coming from: “Fields of the Nephilim is the creation of vocalist and front man Carl McCoy, a seeker of the greater truth”. Their lyrics draw from the occult and related mythologies. This band still continues to this day, playing gigs every now and then and commands quite a legendary status. A setlist from a gig around that time shows the band playing the following songs: Preacher Man; Love Under Will; Endemoniada; Psychonaut; Trees Come Down; Celebrate; The Watchman; For Her Light; At the Gates of Silent Memory; Chord of Souls. Encore: Last Exit for the Lost; Moonchild; Phobia. I would guess that they will have played some of these songs at the gig I attended.
4 Apr
Bee Gees Wembley Stadium London 1998
Bee Gees Wembley Stadium London 1998
For my blog entry today I am reporting on another great band and fantastic concert. The Bee Gees have always been a great favourite of mine, and their UK concerts have been quite few over the years. Marie and I were lucky enough to see them in concert once, at a massive Wembley Stadium gig 1998. Massachussetts, I’ve Gotta Get A Message To You, I Started a Joke are all important parts of my childhood. I had a compilation album which had them all on it, and I played and played it. We’d bought best price tickets for the gig, which at £50 each, were very expensive at the time. So we were disappointed to find that our pitch seats were at the front, but right to the side of the stage, with a terrible restricted view. 
So we went along to the box office and asked to have our seats changed. After some discussion, our tickets were swapped for front seats in the balcony, directly opposite of the stage. By this time we’d missed the support act, Tina Arena. The Bee Gees came on stage and were straight into You Should Be Dancing. This was of the best gigs I have ever seen, with the Gibb brothers taking us through their entire career, from those great 60s hits, through disco and Saturday Night Fever, and to the (then) present day.
As I get older I realise just how iconic and important culturally the Bee Gees were. This concert was one of the best I have ever been to and one of the best nights of my life.
Setlist: You Should Be Dancing; Alone; Massachusetts; To Love Somebody; I’ve Gotta Get A Message To You; Words; Closer Than Close; Islands In The Stream; One; Our Love (Don’t Throw It All Away); Night Fever/More Than A Woman; For Whom The Bell Tolls; Lonely Days; New York Mining Disaster 1941; Too Much Heaven; I Can’t See Nobody; And The Sun Will Shine; How Can You Mend A Broken Heart?; Heartbreaker; Guilty; Ellan Vannin (Isle Of Man Anthem); Chain Reaction; Immortality; Tragedy; I Started A Joke; You Win Again; Grease; Jive Talkin’; How Deep Is Your Love; Stayin’ Alive; You Should Be Dancing
1 Jan
2011 in review
The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.
Here’s an excerpt:
A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 7,600 times in 2011. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 6 trips to carry that many people.
21 Aug
Going to see Oasis!!!
Bought tickets yesterday morning for Oasis. We were originally aiming to get tickets for Sheffield, but bought tickets for Aberdeen instead because of the slowness of the website. So Laura and I are off to Aberdeen Exhibition Centre in November to see Oasis. Can’t wait!!
Change of plan ; journey by train to Aberdeen is pretty long; managed to buy 2 tickets for Sheffield after all and have sold our Aberdeen tickets.
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