Gong Alston Town Hall 11th November 2012
Laura and I went to see Gong at Alston Town Hall last night. This was the first time I have seen Gong for almost 40 years, the last time being at Newcastle City Hall in 1974. This gig was originally scheduled to take place at Newcastle Academy, but low advance ticket sakes caused the promoter to cancel the gig. Not wanting to miss out on the chance to see Gong play in the North, a group of people from Alston decided to promote the gig themselves at Alston Town Hall. 
Alston is a small town in Cumbria and it is one of the highest towns in the country, at about 1,000 feet above sea level. So this meant a drive past Hexham and up a very windy road across the moors for Laura and I. The venue was, as we expected in the centre of the town, and was small, holding 200 people. This must be one of the smallest crowds that Gong have played to in some time. The gig had been sold out for some time, everyone tickets through a facebook page, and people had come from far and wide for this special Gong show. I’d spent some time on Sunday reading through the Gong mythology with Laura, so we knew a little of the story of Planet Gong, Radio Gnome and the PotHead Pixies. The band is fronted by founder Daevid Allen who looks great, and is as crazy as ever. Sadly the other founding member Gilli Smyth is not so well at the moment so couldn’t be with the band. Daevid encouraged us to all cry Miaow for Gilli, which he assured us would make her feel much better. Gong music still sounds very weird to me, and I can’t pretend to know the songs, although I do possess a copy of Camembert Electrique. The light show was fantastic, with various characters from the Gong story flying around the backdrop. The crowd loved it; lots of dancing and crowd reaction. Many congratulations to Janet and the rest of the crowd from Alston for putting this on. I wonder what their next project is?
12 Nov
Gong Alston Town Hall 11th November 2012
11 Nov
Fleetwood Mac Glasgow Apollo Mon 4th April 1977 Rumours tour
Fleetwood Mac Glasgow Apollo 1977 Rumours tour
Support from Charlie
Fleetwood Mac returned to the UK triumphant, once again a major force in rock music following major success with the 1975 Fleetwood Mac album and 1977’s Rumours lp. This was the first time they had played the UK since Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks had joined the line up, and demand for tickets was huge. Fans were eager to see this new lineup; so far all we had seen was a clip or two on the Old Grey Whistle Test. I recall that a video of the Mac playing Rhiannon was played on TV a few times. As was often the case at the time, the tour missed out the North East of England completely. However, determined to see the new rejuvenated Fleetwood Mac, my friend Ian and I bought tickets for the Glasgow gig, which was to be held at the great Apollo theatre. By this time I had been to the Apollo a few times and was used to making the drive there and back in an evening. We arrived in time for a drink before the gig, and popped into the pub across the road from the Apollo, where we ran into John and Susan; John was studying in Edinburgh at the time. Support came from UK band Charlie, who toured a lot in the mid to late 70s and had some success in the USA. From the Charlie website: “1977: Charlie support a squabbling, stoned, but nonetheless spectacular Fleetwood Mac on their Rumours tour but the album meets with mediocre response in the UK now in the grip of punk. The band consider calling it a day.” I couldn’t have put it better, Charlie. Fleetwood Mac were truly spectacular that night. 
Rhiannon was my favourite at the time, and Steve Nicks was mesmerisingly beautiful in voice and looks; wearing her top hat and telling us of the mysterious lady in the song. Lindsey Buckingham’s guitar playing was also ace; songs like The Chain, and Go Your Own Way were just great, as was their treatment of the only “old” Fleetwood Mac song that they played that evening: Oh Well. I recall for an encore they played a song which was very different, strange, and laden with drum beats. I am sure that they introduced it as a new song which was going to feature on their new album, and think it must have been Tusk, but this doesn’t show on any published setlists from the day. A great night that I still look back on even today as one of the best gigs I have seen. Although all may not have been well within the band, they still delivered at their best; they were riding on the crest of a wave, and John and Christine McVie and Mick Fleetwood were no doubt pleased to come back to the UK and get such a great reaction from the crowds. Setlist: Say You Love Me; Station Man; The Chain; Dreams; Rhiannon; Oh Daddy; Never Going Back Again; Landslide; Over My Head; Gold Dust Woman; You Make Loving Fun; I’m So Afraid; Go Your Own Way; Oh Well; World Turning; Blue Letter; Second Hand News. Encore: Tusk
10 Nov
Fleetwood Mac Sunderland Top Rank January 1972
Fleetwood Mac Sunderland Top Rank January 1972
If you asked me to make a list of bands that I never saw, and wished I had done, pretty near to the top would be the original Peter Green version of Fleetwood Mac. I was just a little too young to catch them, although I have seen later versions of the band, and have also seen Peter Green in recent years. The first time I saw Fleetwood Mac was in early 1972 at a concert at Sunderland Top Rank. I went along on a cold January night some 40 (!) years ago with a group of school friends. We were all intrigued to see what Fleetwood Mac would be like, as we knew that the band had changed considerably from the blues oriented band of the late 60s. By this time Fleetwood Mac were fronted by Bob Welch, alongside Danny Kirwan, Christine McVie, John McVie, and Mick Fleetwood. This gig was very poorly attended, I recall a small crowd of 100 or so of us sitting on chairs on the dancefloor. The set was largely drawn from their recent Future Games album. As far as I remember the only old Fleetwood Mac tune they played was Oh Well, and possibly Black Magic Woman (although I am less sure about that). Much of the material was unfamiliar to me, but I do remember thinking that Bob Welch was impressive, but of course very different to Peter Green, and that the songs were refreshingly good. The band had moved from blues and rock n roll to much more melodic rock. It was to be a few more years before they would achieve great success again. Vocal duties were shared by Bob Welch, Danny Kirwan and Christine McVie. A bootleg recording from later in the same month shows the band playing the following songs: 1 Tell Me All The Things You Do; Future Games; Morning Rain; Woman Of A 1000 Years; Black Magic Woman; Get Like You Used To Be; Homeward Bound; Trinity; Child Of Mine; Oh Well; Drum Solo/Whole Lotta Shakin’ Going On. I would imagine that the set I witnessed will have been similar. I think we walked home in the early hours. This is a gig that I am really pleased I attended, and I wish I had stronger memories of it. Another one where a time machine would be handy. The next time I saw Fleetwood Mac was at Glasgow Apollo, and there were returning to the UK at the start of their mega success which they achieved in the late 70s. I’ll blog on that gig shortly.
9 Nov
Eurythmics Newcastle City Hall 1983
Eurythmics Newcastle City Hall 1983
Touch tour
I’ve only seen Eurythmics once in concert, during their Touch tour at Newcastle City Hall in 1983. By this point in their career they had enjoyed quite a few hits, and the City Hall was packed. I’d seen the Tourists a few times, and had also see Dave Stewart in Longdancer in his early days playing in his home town Sunderland. The set consisted of all the hits to date, and was pretty good too. I don’t recall who the support act was; it all seems a long time ago, although actually, compared to some gigs I have blogged about it of course isn’t that long ago…
They were a major band by the time of this 1983 tour, and had a lot of great songs. Annie and Dave were due to play at Live Aid in Wembely, and I would have seen them at that concert, but as I recall they pulled out because Annie was unwell. Setlist (from the London gig of the tour): The First Cut; Never Gonna Cry Again; This Is the House; Here Comes the Rain Again; Regrets; The Walk; This City Never Sleeps; Who’s That Girl?; I Could Give You (a Mirror); Take Me to Your Heart; Cool Blue; Love Is a Stranger; Somebody Told Me; Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This); Right by Your Side; Wrap It Up; Jennifer
8 Nov
Eddie and the Hot Rods Newcastle City Hall 1979
Eddie and the Hot Rods Newcastle City Hall 1979
Support from The Members and ?Magazine?
This is my last blog post on Eddie and the Hot Rods, and covers the last time (I think) I saw the band. As well as the three City Hall shows I have blogged on, I am pretty sure that I saw them at Newcastle Poly once. I also saw them low down on the bill at the Reading Festival in 1976, and much higher on the bill in 1977. For their 1979 they visited the City Hall with support from the Members. The ticket also lists Magazine. I saw Magazine several times, and was a fan of the band, but have no recollection at all of them playing at this gig; something tells me that they weren’t on the bill on the night (does anyone remember whether they played this gig?). The Members were a great live act, featuring the charismatic (and funny) Nicky Tesco on vocals, and the song Sound of the Suburbs, which was a favourite of mine at the time. The Members were another band who I saw play a great set at the Reading Festival. They blended punk and reggae very successfully and were good fun. The Hot Rods were peaking, at this point and were coming close to the end of their initial career. Bassist Paul Gray gives his version of the beginning of the end for the band: “In the spring of 1979 we set off on yet another long UK tour supported by The Members. They were actually getting more airplay than us for their single “Offshore Banking Business”. Where we were starting to sound tired and, dare I say it, jaded, they were fresh and enthusiastic. Looking back on it now we were knackered, we’d been worked to the bone, and there was no fooling the punters. We were drinking loads..” “Not long after, at The Lyceum, scene of so many Hotrods triumphs in the past, Graeme finally lost the plot. Well, someone had to. Halfway thru’ the show he handed his guitar to the puzzled photographers in the pit at the front and started crawling about the stage on all fours, up on the drum riser and tried to bite Steve’s ankles. We limped on for a few more gigs without him but I had lost heart. The fun had gone, we had no dosh and I had no faith in the manager or the direction EMI wanted us to go.”
7 Nov
Eddie and the Hot Rods Newcastle City Hall 1978
Eddie and the Hot Rods Newcastle City Hall 1978
Support from Radio Stars Squeeze
By 1978 The Hot Rods had enjoyed chart success with Do Anything You Wanna Do, and had released their second album Life on the Line. They returned to the City Hall with another strong supporting line-up of Radio Stars and Squeeze. Radio Stars had supported the Hot Rods at the City Hall the year before, so we were already acquainted with the mad antics of Andy Ellison, and their great song Dirty Pictures. Squeeze were new to the scene and were the first band on the bill at this concert. Squeeze had just released their first album and single: Take Me I’m Yours and there was a buzz about them, but this was before the massive hits Up THe Junction and Cool For Cats, which followed in 1979. 
This was the original line up of Squeeze, featuring Chris Difford, Glenn Tilbrook, and Jools Holland. I remember making a point of getting to the gig early to see Squeeze and Radio Stars. Eddie and The Hot Rods were great as usual, super high energy rock n roll. Another fun night. The more I think back to these gigs, the more I realise how much fun we had, and how great the late 70s were. There were gigs going on most nights of the week, and some great new bands to see, all hungry for success and playing vital rock n roll. Eddie and the Hot Rods are another band who have reformed recently and are still out their playing clubs up and down the country. They are supporting Status Quo on some of the dates of their QuoFestive Christmas tour, unfortunately this doesn’t include my own local gig. I must make a point of going to see them next time I get the chance.
6 Nov
Eddie and the Hot Rods Newcastle City Hall 1977
Eddie and the Hot Rods Newcastle City Hall 1977
Support from Radio Stars
I looked forward to this gig with great excitement. I’d read a lot about Eddie and the Hot Rods in the music papers of the time, who compared them to The Sex Pistols and other punk bands of that era. In reality, and on reflection, they were closer to the Feelgoods and R&B than punk, but at the time I went along to any gig that closely resembled punk rock. The City Hall was packed to see The Hot Rods, and everyone was looking forward to a night of high energy punk rock n roll. Support act Radio Stars warmed the crowd up with their catchy pop/punk, frontman Andy Ellison going totally crazy, climbing up the speakers, jumping from the balcony and being every bit the mad punk star. I remember the song Dirty Pictures, which was good fun, and thought Radio Stars should have been more successful than they were. 
The Hot Rods live in 77 was pure energy. Singer Barrie Masters would run backwards and forwards across the stage at super speed, flanked by the guitarists who were throwing out Chuck Berry riffs at 1,000mph. The music was superfast R&B, blending pop, punk and garage; the Hot Rods were definitely a live force to be reckoned with in those days. Their set in those early days drew heavily from the first album Teenage Depression, and also included some well chosen covers, all played at breakneck speed: The Who’s “The Kids Are Alright”, Van Morrison’s “Gloria,” Bob Seger’s “Get Out of Denver,” ? Mark’s “96 Tears,” and the Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction”. A good fun night guaranteed. And the Hot Rods were just that, good fun. No deep politics, no snarling or pretentiousness, just good clean, very very fast rock n roll. We all rolled out of the City Hall that night wringing with sweat, worn out and totally satisfied!
5 Nov
Emerson Lake & Palmer reunion Newcastle City Hall 1992
Emerson, Lake and Palmer reformed in 1991, and returned to play at Newcastle City Hall a year later. This gig was some 20 years since I had last seen the band, and I was looking forward to seeing how they shaped up after all that time. They released a new album Black Moon in the same year, and the programme features the cover from the album. The City Hall wasn’t full for this gig, but a respectable crowd turned out to see the band. The set was a mix of songs from throughout ELP’s career, including tracks from the new album. My favourites were the Greg Lake songs: Lucky Man, Still….You Turn Me On. It was good to hear America and Rondo again, which took me back to seeing the Nice. I don’t recall whether Keith played the City Hall organ at this concert, but I suspect he will have done so. 
Setlist: Karn Evil 9: 1st Impression, Part 2; Tarkus; Knife-Edge; Paper Blood; Black Moon; Close to Home; Creole Dance; From the Beginning; Still… You Turn Me On; Lucky Man; Honky Tonk Train Blues; Romeo and Juliet; Pirates; Pictures at an Exhibition. Encore: Fanfare for the Common Man; America; Rondo. My friend John saw the US leg of the tour, and picked up a signed programme, which has a different to design to mine. Since that gig I have seen little of ELP or its members. I’ve seen Greg Lake playing solo once in concert, and he is touring the UK at the moment, so I may catch another gig of his shortly. 
The only time I’ve seen Keith Emerson recently has been as part of the supporting bill for the Led Zeppelin reunion/Ahmet Ertegun tribute concert at the O2 Arena in London in 2007. Emerson opened the concert along with Chris Squire and Alan White from Yes, and Simon Kirke from Bad Company/Free. This supergroup lineup played a new arrangement of “Fanfare for the Common Man” at the O2 gig. In 2010, a one-off Emerson, Lake & Palmer reunion concert closed the High Voltage Festival in Victoria Park, London to commemorate the band’s 40th anniversary. I regret now that I didn’t go to that gig.
4 Nov
Emerson Lake & Palmer Newcastle Odeon 1972
By 1972 ELP were mega popular, and had graduated to playing two shows at Newcastle Odeon which was a larger venue than the City Hall, the venue for their previous concert in the city. I went along to the early show with a group of friends. The concert was originally set to take place on November 16th 1972. The place was packed and everyone was looking forward to the gig, but before they were due to take to the stage a message went over the PA to tell us that there were problems with the equipment and the concert would not be going ahead. We all had to leave, very disappointed; however the concert was rescheduled to take place a couple of weeks later, on 29th November 1972. 
When we did finally get to see ELP this time, the spectacle had moved up a level. Keith had his usual bank on keyboards and also had a portable keyboard which he dragged around the stage and held out to the crowd for people to play. The stage show was much bigger; I seem to recall a massive Tarkus behind the band. ELP were massively successful at this point in their career, and would go on to even greater success, particularly in America. I recall the show as being pretty wild, with the crowd going crazy for the band, and Keith playing extended solos. We were quite close to the front and had a good view. A published setlist for Hammersmith Odeon on the same tour shows the songs played as: Hoedown; Tarkus; The Endless Enigma; At The Sign of Swinging Cymbal; The Sheriff; Take a Pebble; Lucky Man; Pictures at an Exhibition; Nutrocker. They may also, I suspect, have played Rondo. This time the programme was a nice white booklet with a red bow on the cover. 
Thanks to John for sending me a scan of the programme to the right, which comes from an earlier gig at the City Hall.This looks to me like a “show souvenir” which were often sold outside the venue. These are highly collectable now, more so than the official programmes.
I’ve been searching the internet a lot for any stories of ELP in concert in the early 70s to help jog my memory, but have found very little, which I must say surprises me. ELP were a very important band, and their legacy is often forgotten. They blended classical music with rock in a way that no other band did. There were, of course, several other bands working in a similar style, The Moody Blues, Yes and Deep Purple come to mind. But none of these bands were as true to the classical nature of the music as ELP. Having said that, they were very much of their time, and of that period. I think back to that gig at the Odeon with some fondness; it was vert different to anything else that I was going to see at the time.
3 Nov
Emerson, Lake & Palmer Newcastle City Hall 1971
Emerson Lake & Palmer Newcastle City Hall 1971
Support from Michael Chapman & Spontaneous Combustion
Emerson, Lake & Palmer were pretty hot stuff in 1971. They were very popular, and just on the verge of mega success. My mate had their first eponymous album and Pictures at an Exhibition, which had been recorded at Newcastle City Hall earlier that year. We used to go round to his house and we would play both albums again and again. The music on th first album was a curious blend of the pomp classical-rock of Keith Emerson, coupled with the beautiful melodies of Greg Lake, and Carl Palmer’s drum solo Tank. I would always ask to hear Take a Pebble and Lucky Man. I’d seen Keith Emerson in concert in the Nice at Sunderland Empire, and I knew how good a showman he was, so when ELP returned to the City Hall later in 1971, I bought a ticket. 
I remember being totally blown away by ELP that night; I had a seat close to the front, which always helps. Going to concerts was still a relatively new experience for me, and I would watch every minute of each gig that I attended, studying the musicians and their onstage antics, and ELP had so many strengths to wonder at. Emerson live was a spectacle to behold in himself. Surrounded by two Hammond organs, a Moog, a grand piano, and a Lesley cabinet; Keith was the ultimate early 70s performer. He would play two organs at once, pull them about and on top of himself, stab the organ with a massive dagger, use the dagger to hold down notes, and reach into the piano and play the strings with his hand. He would also famously run up the steps at the back of the City Hall stage and play the massive pipe organ, and is recorded doing so on the Pictures album. ELP’s concert set at that time featured most of the tracks from the first album; I also think Hoedown was included, perhaps as the opener. The Nice live favourite Rondo remained in the set from Emerson’s previous band, and Nutrocker was the fun encore. Pictures also featured, with the aforementioned trip up to the City Hall organ. 
The programme I have included here is worthy of special mention. It probably doesn’t look much from the scan, bit its actually one of the best produced programmes I have in my collection. Its a small booklet with a white card cover and the band’s name embossed across the top. Inside each picture page is separated from the next by a clear plastic page which contain the text surrounding the photos. It is really a lovely item, which my description can’t possibly do justice to. Looking through it the other day, I discovered that I’d kept a flyer for support act Michael Chapman, which I have also included here. Spontaneous Combustion were first on the bill at this gig. I’ve blogged separately about both of these acts elsewhere. Michael popped up all the time in those days, as support act on a number of tours of major bands, and was a good opening act with some great songs. Spontaneous Combustion were a largely instrumental prog/psych trio, who were produced by Greg Lake. They played a great version of Sabre Dance, as I recall.
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