30 Aug

Kasabian Newcastle Academy Aug 28 2008

Posted by vintagerock in Fratellis, Kasabian. Tagged: , , , , .

Kasabian Newcastle Academy August 28 2008

Arrived at the Carling Academy at around 8pm. Lots of people outside wanting tickets; heard a tout selling one for £60.  Get inside and join a very packed and hot crowd; not too good for Laura in the crush; we buy a t-shirt and then try and figure a way to get upstairs where we will have a better and safer view. The guys who guard the doors don’t listen to our pleas that it will be safer for Laura upstairs but we manage to swap tickets with a couple of guys who are trying to blag their way into the downstairs area.

Make our way upstairs and take a couple of seats in the middle of the balcony. There are quite a few empty seats; some people must have sneaked their way into the downstairs area. Don’t have long to wait for Kasabian to take the stage to a mighty roar from the crowd, who go crazy from the word go. Everyone sings along to Shoot the Runner; beer flying around; looks pretty crushed downstairs. The singer is the spitting image of Phil May from the Pretty Things in the early 70s with his long dark hair and shades. Lots of influences here; I can hear T Rex, Mott the Hoople, the Stone Roses, Oasis, the Who. Atmosphere (and volume; which is mega-loud) reminds me of seeing Slade in the early 70s. Can’t me many better bands than this; set is only about an hour and then some encores. I haven’t seen a better crowd reaction for a long time.  Out into the street after the show and into the welcome cool air; everyone still singing along to LSF. Awesome.

This was the second time we had seen Kasabian. The first encounter was at Newcastle Arena a couple of years earlier (see ticket below). On that occasion we went along primarily to see the Fratellis who were the support act, and an obsession at the time. We were both suffering from flu, so to our shame left during Kasabian’s set.

 

Set list:

Shoot The Runner
Sunrise Like Flies
Cutt Off
Processed Beats
By My Side
Fire
Reason Is Treason
Me Plus One
ID
Butcher Blues
Empire
Last Trip
The Doberman
Fast Fuse

Encores:
Club Foot
Stuntman
LSF

website: http://www.kasabian.co.uk/home/

21 Aug

The Cure Wembley Arena

Posted by vintagerock in Cure, The Cure. Tagged: , , , , , .

The Cure Wembley Arena 20 March 2008

Hadn’t seen the Cure for ages. Must have been 20 years; Whitley Bay Ice Rink was the last time I think. Laura had been listening to a lot of their old stuff and I’d been given the best of the Cure as a present, so we were all getting into them again. So Laura, David and I decided to buy tickets for their only UK gig in 2008 at Wembley Arena. We bought the tickets ages before the show and we were all really looking forward to seeing them.

Travelled down to London on the afternoon of the show, went for a pizza and then took the tube to Wembley. Didn’t really watch the support act; spent the time looking at the merchandise stall; Laura bought a great t-shirt with a full size face of Robert Smith, which looks great on her.

This was a long set; with the Cure playing for around 3 hours. Yet we didn’t get bored. I would say that I know less than half of the set ; still enjoyed it though. Great to hear The Forest, Three Imaginary Boys, Love Cats and Arab again. Brings back memories. David and Laura thought they were great (which they were!).

Memories of old Cure shows:

Seeing them at Reading in the late 70s, seeing them at the City Hall in the early 80s; seeing them in Newcastle University Ballrom on a Saturday night in the late 70s or early 80s.

Mainset:

plainsong
prayers for rain
a strange day
alt.end
a night like this
the end of the world
lovesong
to wish impossible things
pictures of you
lullaby
from the edge of the deep green sea
hot hot hot!!!
the only one
the walk
push
friday i’m in love
inbetween days
just like heaven
primary
a boy i never knew
shake dog shake
never enough
wrong number
one hundred years

Encore 1
at night
m
play for today
a forest

Encore 2:
the lovecats
let’s go to bed
freakshow
close to me
why can’t i be you?

Encore 3:
three imaginary boys
fire in cairo
boys don’t cry
jumping someone else’s train
grinding halt
10:15 saturday night
killing an arab

ticket for wembley

ticket for wembley

programme for wembley concert

programme for wembley concert

21 Aug

Going to see Oasis!!!

Posted by vintagerock in Uncategorised. Tagged: , , .

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.

18 Aug

Ringo Starr Liverpool the Musical

Posted by vintagerock in Ringo Starr. Tagged: , , , , .

Ringo Starr

Liverpool the Musical; Official opening of the European Capital of Culture  Jan 2008

Liverpool Echo Arena

This concert was the official opening of the European Capital of Culture at the new Echo Arena. Tickets had been allocated by a ballot and had gone largely to residents of Liverpool, with some sent overseas and to other parts of the UK. As the line-up for the event became clear, Laura and I decided we would like to go along, so we set about trying to get a couple of tickets. Some tickets were going for silly prices on eBay, but we managed to buy a couple for less than face value from someone in Germany.

We booked a room in the Adelphi hotel, which is just the right place to stay when going to Liverpool for a Beatles-related event, and drove down on the Saturday afternoon, arriving just in time to go for a pizza before the show. The Arena is a short walk from the centre of the city, and we got there in plenty of time for the show. We both quite excited about this; going to the new Echo Arena to see Ringo at the launch of the Capital of Culture!

The new Echo Arena is pretty good, pretty modern; some ideas obviously taken from the O2. Its not quite the size of Manchester MEN, but its much better than most of the other arenas that we’ve been to. Our seats are at the back of the arena, but with a direct view of the stage. From listening to the people who are sitting around us it is obvious that most are from around the globe; this block of seats has obviously been allocated for international punters.

The show has been billed as Liverpool – the Musical, a musical based on the history of the city of Liverpool and features many local stars: The Wombats; the Christians, Shack, Connie Lush, Echo and the Bunnymen, the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Farm and Pete Wylie. The stage is pretty cleverly set up with the orchestra on a multi-level stage playing from behind a net screen,  and clever use of video footage of Liverpool and the Beatles. The bands play a mixture of their own material and some Beatles classics; Echo and the Bunnymen and the Wombats do most to lift the mood of the crowd.

At one point we see a crowd of children each holding a box of light marching through St Georges Square (this had been filmed the previous evening) ; the children then enter the building and walk through the audience up onto the stage.

As we near the end of the show, Phil Redmond takes the stage and introduces Ringo who joins us to an enormous cheer from the crowd.  Ringo is joined by Dave Stewart and a band, and starts with Liverpool 8 his new single. He then sings With a Little Help from my Friends, with the help of the entire arena singing along with him. To close, he leads us into Power to the People (“this one’s for John”) and it sounds like the roof might lift off the arena.

Then we take the short walk back to the Adelphi, through the streets of Liverpool; this has been a pretty  memorable event, and lived up to all the expectations that we had for it.

 

 

ticket

ticket

programme

programme

17 Aug

Classic Legends of Rock

Posted by vintagerock in Focus, Groundhogs, Wishbone Ash. Tagged: , , , , , , .

Going to see Classic Legends of Rock show in October with two of my friends. This show features Focus, Martin Turner’s Wishbone Ash and the Groundhogs; three great bands on one bill!

16 Aug

Julie Felix The Sage Gateshead

Posted by vintagerock in Julie Felix. Tagged: , , , , , .

Julie Felix

The Sage Gateshead Sat 14 June 2008

Julie’s 70th birthday concert

This special event was Julie Felix’s 70th Birthday concert. Will and I had seen Julie once before at a free concert in Hyde Park in the 70s, but I’d never been to see her since then. I have a few of her albums and thought it was time to see her again,  and was intrigued at the thought of going to her birthday concert. So Will and I went along to the Sage to see Julie, along with fans from across the country who had come to celebrate her birthday with her.

It was obvious that many of the people in the audience knew each other and knew Julie; and that they had travelled from all over the UK to come to this concert. The stage was decked with balloons to celebrate the occasion; Julie came on stage dressed in a white trouser suit; she looked great! For her first set Julie focused on songs by her 60s contemporaries, some of which appear on her latest CD Highway of Diamonds. These included Bob Dylan’s A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall, Buffy Sainte-Marie’s  Universal Soldier; and Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah. Each of these songs was accompanied by a story of her memories of her meetings with the writer in the 60s. 

She read out a message from Tom Paxton: “At 70, still the possessor of the most radiant smile in Britain. Old friends are the best friends, especially when they get old. But that’s not for awhile yet for you. They tell me that 70 is the new 40, but you’re not a day over 35. All the best. From Tom.”

In the second set Julie sang a selection of her own songs, a couple of which were in Spanish. I didn’t know these songs, but they all sounded pretty good. The crowd gave her a standing ovation at the end, and everyone seemed to agree that it had been a pretty special event. Will and I certainly enjoyed it.

ticket

ticket

programme

programme

 

website : http://www.knibbworld.com/juliefelix

Review of concert at website : http://www.knibbworld.com/juliefelix/reviews.htm

15 Aug

Radiohead Lancashire Cricket Ground

Posted by vintagerock in Radiohead. Tagged: , , , , .

Radiohead

Lancashire Cricket Ground, Old Trafford, Machester Sun 29 June

Support Acts: MGMT, Bat for Lashes

I don’t get Radiohead. I’ve tried really hard to get into them, but still can’t see it. I’ve listened to their albums, and been to see them before in Edinburgh (mainly due to pressure from David and Laura and some curiosity). I’ve read about them being the best band in the world, and started to believe it; but its no good, they are just a bit too new for me.

Anyway, it was time to go and see them again. This time Laura, David, Mari and I were travelling to Manchester to see Radiohead at Old Trafford Cricket Ground. The journey took longer than expected due to an accident on the road to Wetherby. We took a diversion through Harrogateand Leeds; passing Harewood House where Eric Clapton was playing (as I passed I was wishing that I was amongst the queueing crowds for that concert). The extended journey gave us a chance to listen to OK Computer and In Rainbows in their entirety. I still didn’t get it.

We arrive at Old Trafford, having missed MGMT the first support act. Mari has a spare ticket which David and her attempt to sell outside. However, even the touts can’t shift tickets today, so they give up (mental note; next time don’t buy a ticket; buy one outside for less than face value).  When we get into the ground David and Mari go onto the pitch and try to make their way to the front. Laura and I have a walk around during Bat for Lashes set which sounds OKish. Laura buys a t-shirt which claims to be made from recycled bottle tops and bears a quote from one of Radiohead’s songs. We eventually go and find seats in the family area where we sat for the Arctic Monkeys gig almost a year ago.

Radiohead come on stage to a great welcome from the crowd. Everyone is singing along and are word-perfect in every song. They recognise each song within a split second (unlike me who vaguely recognises three songs form the entire set). I am finding it  to comment on the set, because they are quite beyond me. However, David, Laura and Mari assured me that it was a great setlist, fantastic atmosphere and Tom Yhorke’s voice is outstanding.

Towards the end David and Mari come over to the seated area and join us. We all watch the 3 sets of encores from there, and even I manage to sing along during Karma Police. When they finally leave the stage we go over to the car park, where we have to wait almost an hour before leaving. The car next to us is blasting out Raidohead from its speaker system. I personally opted for Radio 2 for the journey back to the hotel.

 

ticket

ticket

Set list:

1 15 Step
2 Airbag
3 There There
4 All I Need
5 Nude
6 Arpeggi
7 The Gloaming
8 The National Anthem
9 Faust Arp
10 No Surprises
11 Jigsaw Falling Into Place
12 Reckoner
13 Just
14 Bangers + Mash
15 Everything in Its Right Place
16 Fake Plastic Trees
17 Bodysnatchers

Encore 1
18 Videotape
19 Paranoid Android
20 Myxomatosis
21 Optimistic
22 Karma Police

Encore 2
23 Pyramid Song
24 2+2=5
25 Idioteque

Encore 3
26 Lucky

Website : http://www.radiohead.com/deadairspace/

14 Aug

P J Proby South Shields Customs House

Posted by vintagerock in P J Proby. Tagged: , , , .

P J Proby

South Shields Customs House 27 March 2008

P J Proby is the man. Always has been, always will be. It may not be cool to like him these days, and it probably never was, but he has a voice like no other.  Over the years I’ve been to see many great male rock singers: Robert Plant, Paul Rodgers, Joe Cocker, Stevie Marriot, Terry Reid, Arthur Brown, Frankie Miller, Long John Baldry, Rod Stewart, Chris Farlowe ; but to me P J Proby stands apart from all them. This guy has no fear; go to youtube and watch some of those old videos of him in the 60s and you’ll see what I mean.

Its great to see that he’s still going strong and out there. In fact he’s playing more in the UK now than he ever did since the 60s. He out there playing at local theatres and on some 60s package tours but he’s still much more than a revival act.

Norm and I went along to the Customs House which is a smallish (4oo seat) theatre in South Shields to see P J.  We arrived just as he had taken the stage; the place was packed and everyone was already up on their feet. The set was a mixture of ballads, Elvis and Johnny Cash songs; and his own hits from the 60s.

The Johnny Cash set saw P J singing Jackson and Daddy Sang Bass along with his wife. His version of Elvis’ American Trilogy has to be seen to be believed and he still manages to hit all the notes in Maria. Finished off with Hold Me which is still a great rock song, and leaves the crowd screaming for more.

You could buy a DVD of the show from the merchandise stall straight after the show. I settled for a signed magazine with a great write up about Proby’s wild life. A great night; if you get the chance to go and see this guy; do it; you won’t be disappointed.

ticket

ticket

signed magazine

signed magazine

website: http://www.proby.co.uk/

13 Aug

Fairport Convention Sage Gateshead

Posted by vintagerock in Fairport Convention. Tagged: , , , .

Fairport Convention

The Sage Gateshead 22 Feb

Support : Anthony John Clarke

Went along to the Sage to see Fairport with my friend Will. This was the first time that I had seen them for around 30 years. I’d been to see Fairport Acoustic at Alnwick Playhouse just before Xmas, and had quite  enjoyed so decided that it was time to see the full band again.

We arrived in time to watch the support act who was pretty good. Fairport did two sets with an interval. I have to admit to not being familiar with much of the material; it was great to hear Who knows where the time goes and Meet on the Ledge again. I bought a signed poster and a programme (pictured below). Quite enjoyed them; will probably go again next time.

my programme

my programme

signed poster

signed poster

website: http://www.fairportconvention.com/

12 Aug

Paul McCartney Liverpool Sound 1 June

Posted by vintagerock in Dave Grohl, Paul McCartney, The Kaiser Chiefs, The Zutons, Yoko Ono. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , .

Paul McCartney, the Kaiser Chiefs, the Zutons, Dave Grohl
Liverpool Sound Sun June 1 Anfield Liverpool

Liverpool Capital of Culture 08

We’d been looking forward to this concert for ages. Pretty powerful stuff; going to see Paul McCartney in Liverpool, as part of the Capital of Culture celebrations in Anfield stadium!!! The tickets had been allocated in a raffle ages ago. We hadn’t been drawn in the first run of the raffle but were lucky in a second draw where both Laura and I were drawn so we could buy two tickets each. Hence four of us; me, Laura, David and Mari went along to this one.

There’d been lots of rumours about the support acts for this concert. Initial promises of lots of international stars didn’t materialise; the story seems to be that the organisers at the Capital of Culture couldn’t deliver on these initial promises and that Paul McCartney’s management came in a late stage to help with organisation. The final line up of Paul with the Kaiser Chiefs and the Zutons plus a “special guest” seemed fine to us anyway. One thing had become clear, Paul was going to perform a pretty full set and not just a few songs as Ringo had at Liverpool the Musical earlier in the year.

We drove down to Liverpool, stopped off at our Travelodge to check out our rooms and arrived at the stadium in plenty of time. We joined a pretty long queue to get in; some people had been there for several hours to make sure that they got a good spot in front of the stage. When we got in Laura and I found some seats in one of the stands, while David and Mari decided to take to the pitch and see if they could get close to the front.

First up were the Zutons. The Stadium is still filling up at this point. David and I had seen them once before at the Leeds Wireless festival on a bill supporting the Who and like last time they were pretty good. Its never easy warming a crowd up when most of them have come along to see the main act, but they did go down quite well.

Next up were the Kaiser Chiefs who were great and are now pretty used to working up a stadium size crowd. They had just done a triumphant home-coming show at Elland Road the week before, and were ready to take on the Anfield crowd. Ricky had the crowd doing mexican waves, and was really working things up. It took the crowd some time to get really warmed up but by the end of the set, everyone was singing along to Ruby, I Predict a Riot and Oh My God. They played for just under one hour, and couldn’t have been much better. Laura, David and I have seen them before at a home gig in Millenium Square Leeds.

Paul came on just after 9pm and gave us some surprises from the start. Hippy Hippy Shake was the first one up. He probably hasn’t played this one since the Beatles days. I’ve certainly never seen him play it on any of his UK tours. Then it was into a set which was pretty similar to his last UK tour apart from Penny Lane which I don’t recall seeing him sing before. The atmosphere was great; the whole stadium singing along to all these classic tunes. You really can’t get much better than singing Beatles songs in the heart of Liverpool with Paul McCartney!! Dave Grohl was the “special guest” and joins Paul and the band for Band on the Run and Back in the USSR (the Foo Fighters are playing in Manchester the next day).

The big surprises come in the encores, when Paul comes back to do A Day in the Life, followed by Give Peace a Chance as a tribute to John Lennon. Yoko is in the audience singing along with us; it doesn’t get much better than this. The verdict from all four of us was that this was a pretty special show and a pretty special day. We drive back to the hotel and watch the highlights on the TV.

programme for the event

programme for the event

my ticket

my ticket

Paul Set list:
Start time: 9:08PM
1. Hippy, Hippy Shake
2. Jet
3. Drive My Car
4. Flaming Pie
5. Got to Get You Into My Life
6. Let Me Roll It (tease “Foxey Lady”)
7. My Love
8. C’Moon
9. The Long and Winding Road
10. Dance Tonight
11. Blackbird
12. Calico Skies
13. In Liverpool
14. Follow the Sun
15. Eleanor Rigby
16. Something
17. Penny Lane
18. Band on the Run (with Dave Grohl on guitar and vocals)
19. Back in the U.S.S.R. (with Grohl on drums)
20. Live and Let Die
21. Let it Be
22. Hey Jude
23. Yesterday
Encore:
24. A Day in the Life
25. Give Peace a Chance
26. Lady Madonna
27. I Saw Her Standing There (with Grohl on drums)
End time: 10:56pm (Total time 1 hour 48 minutes) 

Websites:

http://www.paulmccartney.com/

http://www.liverpool08.com/

http://www.kaiserchiefs.co.uk/

http://www.thezutons.com/

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