Elton John Newcastle City Hall 1986
Elton was back at the City Hall in 1986. The tour was to promote his latest album, Ice on Fire, and started in the autumn of 1985 and continued until October 1986. Elton ended 1986 with a series of concerts in Australia at which he was accompanied by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. The UK performances were staged in a mix of arenas (he played nine nights at Wembley arena) and small and intimate venues including Newcastle City Hall, Manchester Apollo and Edinburgh Playhouse. He played several nights at each venue, including three at Newcastle. The entire tour lasted for eighty-six shows and covered eleven continent. 
Setlist: Highlander; Tonight; One Horse Town; Better Off Dead; Rocket Man;
Honky Cat; Burn Down the Mission; Someone Saved My Life Tonight; The Bitch Is Back; A Song for You; Blue Eyes; I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues; Restless; Passengers; Bennie and the Jets; Sad Songs (Say So Much); Shoot Down the Moon; This Town; Nikita; I’m Still Standing; Your Song; Wrap Her Up; Candle in the Wind; Can I Get a Witness
29 Jun
Elton John Newcastle City Hall 1986
28 Jun
Elton John Wembley Stadium Summer of 84 concert
Elton John Wembley Stadium Summer of 84 concert
This was the second time Elton had headlined at Wembley Stadium, fronting a line-up which also featured Big Country, Kool and The Gang, Wang Chung and Nik Kershaw. Big Country stepped in at the last minute as replacement for Paul Young who was unwell. I went with my mate Dave, we were both fans of Big Country at the time and we were pleased to see that they were added to the bill. The rest of the acts were ok, standout memories for me are Nik Kershaw and Wouldn’t It Be Nice (the superlative song The Riddle was to follow later that year), Dance Hall Days by Wang Chung, and Kool and the Gang’s set which was also a highlight. 
Elton was on top form that day, and the concert was a big success for him; particularly considering his less than successful previous appearance at Wembley Stadium 9 years before. I have two programmes from that day, one was produced for the concert itself, the other is Elton John’s own tour programme for the European tour, of which this concert was part. I was back at Wembley Stadium the following year for Live Aid, and Elton was again on the bill. 
Elton John setlist that day: Tiny Dancer; Hercules; Rocket Man; Daniel; Restless; Candle in the Wind; The Bitch Is Back; Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me; Sad Songs (Say So Much); Bennie and the Jets; Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word; Philadelphia Freedom; Blue Eyes; I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues; Kiss the Bride; One More Arrow; Too Low for Zero; I’m Still Standing; Your Song; Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting; Goodbye Yellow Brick Road; Crocodile Rock; Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin On / I Saw Her Standing There / Twist and Shout.
27 Jun
Elton John Newcastle City Hall 1982
Elton John Newcastle City Hall 1982
This tour was to promote Elton’s Jump Up album, which was his 16th studio album. The tour started with two nights at Newcastle City Hall, and finished with sixteen consecutive performances at the Hammersmith Odeon in London. By this point in his career Elton was a true megastar; his recent hit at the time was “Blue Eyes”.
Setlist: Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding; All the Girls Love Alice; Someone Saved My Life Tonight; Better Off Dead; Ball and Chain; Empty Garden (Hey Hey Johnny); Goodbye Yellow Brick Road; The Bitch Is Back; Pinball Wizard; Ticking; Elton’s Song;
Chloe; Where to Now St. Peter?; Where Have All the Good Times Gone?; Rocket Man; Bennie and the Jets; Teacher I Need You; Dear John; Your Song. Encore: Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting; Daniel; Crocodile Rock
26 Jun
Elton John Newcastle City Hall A Single Man 1979
Elton John Newcastle City Hall A Single Man 1979
This tour saw Elton playing solo, without his band, and accompanied by percussionist Ray Cooper during the second half of the show. I hadn’t been aware of Ray Cooper before this show, but for me, and the rest of the City Hall crowd that night, he was the star of the show. Ray used an array of percussion instruments in such a unique and charming way that he stole the show that night. The tour called at the City Hall for two nights. From Wiki:”Cooper absorbed the influence of rock drummers from the 1960s and 1970s such as Ginger Baker, Carmine Appice, and John Bonham. Incorporation of unusual instruments (for rock drummers of the time) such as cowbells, glockenspiel, and tubular bells, along with several standard kit elements, helped create a highly varied setup. 
Continually modified to this day, Cooper’s percussion set offers an enormous array of percussion instruments for sonic diversity such as the tambourine, congas, crash cymbals, cowbells, roto toms, tubular bells, the gong, snare and timpani.” Setlist: Elton solo: Your Song; Sixty Years On; Daniel; Skyline Pigeon; Take Me to the Pilot; Rocket Man; Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me; Goodbye Yellow Brick Road; Roy Rogers; Candle in the Wind; Where to Now St. Peter?; I Heard It Through the Grapevine. Elton with Ray Cooper: Funeral for a Friend / Tonight; Better Off Dead; I Think I’m Going to Kill Myself; Crazy Water; Bennie and the Jets; Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word; Part-Time Love; Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting; Pinball Wizard; Get Back; Song for Guy
25 Jun
Elton John Newcastle City Hall 1976
Elton John Newcastle City Hall 1976
Support Murray Head 
By 1976 Elton John had a batch of hits behind him and was a major rock star in the UK and across the world. Elton toured the UK and called at Newcastle City Hall where demand for tickets was mega. A mate and I got up early (ie 6am) on the day the tickets went on sale and went through to the City Hall to queue for our seats. The queue was pretty large by the time we arrived, but we still managed to score some seats, although we were upstairs at the side, and by no means in good seats. 
The tour was called “louder than Concorde” although I’m not sure why, as Elton John was hardly what I would call a loud act at the time. The programme has a silver cover which didn’t scan well! The back cover incorporates a push out paper Concorde, which I restrained myself from making and flying. Support for this tour came from Murray Head who had hit the charts with Say It Ain’t So. Elton put on his usual high energy show to a rapturous reception from the Newcastle crowd. Typical setlist from 1976: Skyline Pigeon; I Need You to Turn To; Sixty Years On; Border Song; Daniel; Love Song; Bennie and the Jets; The Greatest Discovery; Candle in the Wind; Rocket Man; Tonight; I Think I’m Going to Kill Myself; Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me; Better Off Dead; Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word; Someone Saved My Life Tonight; Sweet Painted Lady; Your Song; Island Girl; Don’t Go Breaking My Heart; Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting
24 Jun
Elton John, Beach Boys, Eagles Wembley Stadium June 1975
Elton John, Beach Boys, Eagles Wembley Stadium June 1975 
Line-up (pretty great actually): Elton John, The Beach Boys, Eagles, Joe Walsh, Rufus featuring Chaka Khan, Stackridge, DJ and compere Johnnie Walker. This was a big gig for Elton John. He had just changed his band, with only Davey Johnstone remained from the previous line-up, and was about to release a new album Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy. I went down to London with a couple of mates and we stayed at a friend’s flat in Acton. We spent a couple of days in the capital before the concert and went to see Ducks Deluxe at the Marquee club, which was pretty good fun, except one of our party took ill and we spent half the night in hospital. The Wembley concert had an amazing line-up with Stackridge opening the day, Mutter Slater on his usual top form. Next up were Rufus who featured Chaka Khan, and delivered some funky soul rhythms. The rest of the bill featured Joe Walsh (Rocky Mountain Way was a big crowd favourite) and then the Eagles who performed all their hits and were joined by Jackson Brown on piano for Take it Easy. But the day belonged to one band: the Beach Boys who transformed the London stadium into sunny California and had us singing along to endless hit after hit. They went down a storm and Elton had a lot to live up to. 
This was one day when Elton made the wrong call. He decided to devote the majority of the set to playing the new Captain Fantastic album in its entirety. Now remember the album had only just been released and most of the crowd won’t have known any of the track. This didn’t go down well with the crowd, who were up for a greatest hit set, particularly after the Fun Fun Fun of the Beach Boys. People started to leave the stadium in their droves, including us. We made our way back to Acton where a couple of the flatmates were having a domestic. We decided to avoid that and set off on our 250 mile drive home, getting back in the early hours of the next morning. Setlist: Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding; Rocket Man; Candle in the Wind; The Bitch Is Back; Dixie Lily; Philadelphia Freedom; Chameleon; Bennie and the Jets; Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds; I Saw Her Standing There; Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy; Tower of Babel; Bitter Fingers; Tell Me When the Whistle Blows; Someone Saved My Life Tonight; (Gotta Get A) Meal Ticket; Better Off Dead; Writing; We All Fall in Love Sometimes; Curtains; Pinball Wizard; Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting
23 Jun
Elton John Newcastle City Hall 31st August 1972
Elton John Newcastle City Hall 31st August 1972
I first saw Elton John in concert at Newcastle City Hall on 31st August 1972. Support came from Linda Lewis. Elton had already had big success that year with Rocket Man which reached No 2 in the charts. Crocodile Rock was soon to be released and would be another major hit for him. Elton was just great that night with his usual mixture of piano-based ballads, and full-on band rockers. Favourites of mine at the time were Rocket Man, Your Song, and Border Song. I first remember hearing Elton when Lady Samantha was played a lot on the radio in 1969. That song remains a favourite of mine to this day and really deserved to be a hit at the time. I’ve followed Elton John ever since those days, not making absolutely ever tour, but he is someone I have always returned to. I’ve seen him 14 times over the years and will reflect on those concerts over the next week or so. Support Linda Lewis is worth a mention too. She supported a lot of acts in the early 70s, and played at the Reading festival. She was building up a following, and hit the charts the following year with “Rock-a-Doodle-Doo”.
22 Jun
Tom Jones Newcastle Arena 2000
Tom Jones Newcastle Arena 2000
I’ve only ever seen Tom Jones once in concert, at Newcastle Arena in November 2000. I have, however, always rated him as a great R&B vocalist, and have all his early 1960s albums on vinyl. I went along to see Tom with Marie and we arrived late for this gig, as earlier in the evening we went along to see Laura perform at a school concert. There was no support; with Tom performing two sets, and we arrived during the interval, missing his first spot. Tom is at his best when he is singing the blues and those great 60s hits, such as Green Green Grass of Home, Its Not Unusual, and Delilah. 
Setlist was something like: Turn on Your Love Light; Burning Down the House; Ain’t That a Lot of Love; With These Hands; Delilah; She’s a Lady; Hard to Handle; Sometimes We Cry; Motherless Child; Flat Broke And Boosted; Shakey Ground; If I Only Knew; Mama Told Me Not to Come. Interval. Set Two: Give Me One Reason; I’m Never Gonna Fall In Love Again; Walking In Memphis; Green, Green Grass of Home; What’s New Pussycat?; You Can Leave Your Hat On; Midnight Hour; Hold on, I’m Coming; It’s Not Unusual. Encore: Are You Gonna Go My Way; Kiss; Sexbomb. Tom was in great voice and the crowd (mainly ladies of a certain age) all sang along and had a great time. The gig seems like yesterday, although it was thirteen years ago. Tom, of course, continues to perform and is as popular as ever. I’ll be watching him and Team Tom on the voice tonight 🙂
21 Jun
The Who Quadrophenia and More Newcastle Arena 20 June 2013
The Who play Quadrophenia and More Newcastle Arena 20 June 2013
Support from Vintage Trouble
This is the fourth time I’ve seen The Who perform Quadrophenia, including the original 1973, in Hyde Park with a cast of thousands in the 90s, and at the Albert Hall three years ago. I was never a massive fan of the album, but I’ve grown to like and respect it as a piece of work over the years. This time I’d been lucky enough to score a front row seat, towards the left side of the stage in front of Simon Townshend. Pete and Roger were towards the opposite end of the stage, but overall my view of the proceedings was great. The Who came on stage promptly at the advertised start time of 8.30pm and ran through the entire album. The arena was packed; it was pleasing to see the respect The Who carry, and that they can still draw big crowds, probably more so than last time they played Newcastle Arena.
The Who band line-up (Roger, Pete, Pino on bass, Simon on second guitar) is augmented by drums, keyboards, a string section, and a brass section for this tour. The production has changed since I last saw the show at the Albert Hall. Rather than showing the story of Jimmy and using clips from the Quadropehnia film, the screens above the stage displayed images of the band, including some great shots of Kieth Moon and John Entwistle. 
So we had a tremendous bass solo by John during 5.15, and Keith sang his own parts during Bell Boy. These segments were handled very well, and drew loud cheers from the crowd and a bow and a wink from Roger to his old mates. Quadrophenia was followed by a few Who “hits”, it was great to see the guys play Pinball Wizard and Won’t Get Fooled Again. This was a classic Who performance. Townshend was on fire, and in a pretty good mood (but no guitar smashing, which was a shame as I was hoping to catch it from my vantage point in the front ronw 🙂 ) and Roger’s voice was strong and solid, showing no signs of cracking as it sometimes has in recent years. The old guys are still the best for me.
Set list: I Am the Sea; The Real Me; Quadrophenia; Cut My Hair; The Punk and the Godfather; I’m One; The Dirty Jobs; Helpless Dancer; Is It in My Head?; I’ve Had Enough; 5:15; Sea and Sand; Drowned; Bell Boy; Doctor Jimmy; The Rock; Love, Reign O’er Me. Who Are You?; You Better You Bet; Pinball Wizard; Baba O’Riley; Won’t Get Fooled Again; Tea & Theatre.
20 Jun
Billy Joel Newcastle City Hall 1979
Billy Joel Newcastle City Hall 1979
I’ve only seen Billy Joel once in concert, when he played Newcastle City Hall in 1979 on the 52nd Street tour of Europe. By the time he came to tour the UK for this, his first time, Billy was a seasoned performer and had released six albums, including the acclaimed “The Stranger” in 1977. He had also hit the singles chart with Movin’ Out, The Piano Man, Just the Way You Are, My Life, and She’s Always a Woman. Check out the picture of that young guy holding a trumpet on the front cover of the tour programme 🙂 
It was during this tour that: “in a hotel room in Paris, Billy received a middle of the night transatlantic phone call informing him that Just The Way You Are had captured “Record Of The Year,” and “Song of The Year,” giving Billy his first two Grammy Awards” (Wiki). I went along to the gig with my friend Ian, and we both enjoyed seeing the piano man sing and play his songs in the intimate setting of the City Hall. Mega stardom was to come a few years later with Uptown Girl. Setlist: The Stranger; Zanzibar; Stiletto; Vienna; My Life; New York State of Mind; Captain Jack; Movin’ Out; Until the Night; Only the Good Die Young; Miami 2017; Big Shot; Just the Way You Are; Rosalinda’s Eyes; She’s Always a Woman; Honesty; The Ballad of Billy the Kid; Piano Man; Scenes From an Italian Restaurant; 52nd Street.
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