Man Newcastle City Hall 1976
This Man tour was in support of their 11th studio album The Welsh Connection. The line-up had changed again with John McKenzie taking over on bass from Martin Ace, and Phil Ryan rejoining on keyboards. Stalwarts Deke Leonard and Micky Jones, and Terry Williams on drums made up the rest of the line-up for the tour. Support came from Australian singer/songwriter Glen Cardier. This was the last time I was to see the Man band for some 30 years, and the last time I experienced the great Micky Jones in concert. By the end of the year the band had split as a result of internal wranglings, playing their final gig in Slough on 16 December 1976. The band were quoted at the time as saying that they “would never, ever, be one of those bands who reformed in a futile attempt to recapture past glories”……However, they did reform in the 80s.
Set list: Let The Good Times Roll, 7171551, Hard Way To Die, Something Is Happening, The Welsh Connection, Babe I’m Gonna Leave You, The Ride And The View, C’mon, Out Of Your Head, Born With A Future, Many Are Called But Few Get Up, Bananas. Encores; Romain, Spunk Rock. Thanks to Mitch for the setlist.
I saw Man once more, at a gig in Leeds at the New Roscoe pub venue a few years ago. I’ll write about that gig tomorrow.
Posts Tagged ‘classic rock’
7 Nov
Man Newcastle City Hall 1976
6 Nov
Man Newcastle City Hall 1975
Man Newcastle City Hall 1975
Note Mann spelt incorrectly on the ticket again 🙂
I remember this gig very well for two reasons. The first was because of the appearance of the late great exponent of West Coast psych guitar John Cipollina from Quicksilver Messenger Service, who joined Man for the entire UK tour. I was a big fan of the Quicksilver song “Fresh Air” and also a Man fan, so seeing Cipollina with the Man band was too good an opportunity to miss. The other reason I remember this gig was to do with the vantage point fro which we watched the show. I went along to the concert with one of my mates, and we ran into another guy I knew, who had a technician job at the City Hall, and was operating the lights that night. He took us way up into the roof, to a little room at the back of the hall, where he shone a massive spotlight down onto the stage. While he worked the spot light, we looked down on the band playing. The view wasn’t great actually, but it seemed fun, and pretty cool, at the time to be way up there with a spotlight guy. The combination of Man and Cipollina worked well that night with some great guitar work from both Micky Jones and from his west coast hero.
Support came from ‘A Band Called O’ who Mitch recalls: “went down very well with the City Hall audience. Their main set finished with the Humble Pie song Red Light Mama Red Hot and they came back for an encore.” I remember seeing Band Called O a couple of times; I think I may have seen them at Sunderland Poly. They were a pretty good live band. From Wikipedia: “A Band Called O were a band from Jersey. Originally known as “The Parlour Band”, playing progressive rock, they renamed to “A Band Called O” and later to “The O Band” for a further albums with UA. Despite issuing five albums, and being championed by John Peel, they had no chart success; but were a popular live act.”
Man Set list: 7171551, Hard Way To Die, Babe I’m Gonna Leave You, Hard Way To Live, The Storm, Somebody’s Calling, Codine, Razorblades and Rattlesnakes, Many Are Called But Few Get Up, Bananas. Encore; Romain. No Spunk Rock! I must have been disappointed that night 😦 Buffy St Marie’s Codine and Babe I’m Gonna Leave You both featured in early Quicksilver setlists. I was secretly and niavely hoping that they would play “Fresh Air” but sadly it wasn’t to be.
The London gig was recorded and released as the Maximum Darkness album. The tour and the album both deservedly received rave reviews at the time. Andy Childs wrote in Zigzag in 1976: “Maximum Darkness was recorded live at the Roundhouse on May 26th and is probably the best live album we’re going to hear this year, not just for Cipollina’s frequent bursts of imaginative playing, but because of Man themselves who show up superbly – the best I’ve heard from them in a long time.”
I never did get to see Quicksilver Messenger Service, but I did get to see founder member David Freiberg sing “Fresh Air” with Jefferson Starship last year.
Many thanks to Mitch for the setlist.
5 Nov
Man Spring Tour 1974 Newcastle City Hall
Man Spring Tour 1974 Newcastle City Hall (note misspelling of Man on the ticket 🙂 )
Rhinos, Winos and Lunatics on the road
Come 1974 and Deke Leonard returned to Man, and they released their 9th album Rhinos, Winos and Lunatics. The small four sided tour programme for this tour has details of the planned set, commenting on every song. I don’t usually do this but I thought I’d reproduce the text from the programme below as it documents the Man band’s thoughts on each of the songs that they played on the tour.
“Terry: This is it. Another tour off on the road. Old faces, new faces. Old numbers, new numbers. Old gigs, new gigs. This is just a bit of info on some of the numbers we will be doing each night:
Spunk Rock: Old time favourite and stomper. This has been on record in many different disguises over the years. It first appeared on “Two ounces of plastic with a hole in the middle” then it became the 20 minute live track on the Greasy Truckers album. Then it sneaked its way into “Jam Up Jelly Tight” on the Back Into The Future album and its still going strong.
Bananas: “I like to eat bananas; ‘Cos they got no bones; I like marijuana; ‘Cos it gets me stoned”. What more can one say? Maybe one of the biggest favourites with audiences on our gigs in Britain today.
Romain: The good old shuffle. A story about a gig we had the misfortune to play in Belgium. Deke: This bastard of a cop picked in two young kids and Martin (Ace, that is) tried to help by pulling the cop’s head off – he nearly did. Terry: Romain was the cop’s name. Martin was badly beaten up and taken to gaol. We managed to get him out just in time for the gig by calling the Mayor of Ostend who just happened to be the promoter. When we eventually got home they landed us with a bill for 3 days pay because Romain was off sick. Now isn’t that a sad story? Micky: Not really – we never did pay!!!
C’mon: C’mon was caused by drugs. Deke: Extremely dangerous ones.
Blown Away: This is a song from the last Help Yourself album (return of K Whaley) and is a song about feeling desolate which is something most of us feel now and then. That’s all.
Hardway to live: ….is a song about what a hard way it is to live, and 7171/551 is a very private song, so I don’t want to tell you what it’s about.
Scotch Corner: …..is about a man we met who was on his way to the Lake District to commit suicide. He looked like a turtle. The place we met him was a transport cafe at Scotch Corner.
Four Day Louise: …..feels like its the kind of song we’ll play till we die, or split up, or something.
Taking the Easy Way Out Again: ….is about us. Something we try to do all the time.
The last three numbers are on the new album Rhinos, Winos and Lunatics.
Deke: If an unidentified number appears, do not panic – it’ll just be us having a jam. If any of the above numbers crumble it’ll give you the opportunity to study the effects of panic on the band’s faces. In this situation pretend nothing has happened……we’re going to have a lot of fun together. Have a good time. Luv. The Man Band”
The programme tells me that support came from Chris Darrow from the USA Kaleidoscope and The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, although I can’t recall seeing him.
The line-up of the Man band for this tour was Micky Jones – Guitar, Vocals;
Deke Leonard – Guitar, Vocals; Malcolm Morley – Guitar, Keyboards, Vocals; Ken Whaley – Bass; Terry Williams – Drums, Vocals.
I remember that I went to this gig with a group of mates and that we all thoroughly enjoyed it. Favourites were Bananas, which we all went around singing afterwards, and of course Spunk Rock. I saw Man again a couple of months later in the summer of 74 at the pure hell which was the Buxton (endurance) Festival, where they played a great set on the Friday night prior to Mott the Hoople’s headlining appearance. I’ve included a scan of the page which features Man from the Buxton programme. I’ve blogged separately on the full horror of the Buxton experience. Thanks to John for the scan of his poster from the Rhinos tour.
4 Nov
Man in concert in 1972
Man in concert in 1972
I was a big fan of Welsh wizards Man in the 70s and saw them several times in concert. Trying to work out exactly which line-ups of the band I saw is a complex piece of historical research in itself. Suffice it to say that this band changed members like many others changed guitar strings. The one constant who was in every early Man line-up was, of course, the late great ace guitarist Micky Jones. Coming in close second was guitarist Deke Leonard, who left and rejoined a couple of times. Other regulars members of the Man family were Martin Ace, Terry Williams, Clive John and Phil Ryan. Martin Ace fronts a version of Man which plays to this day.
The first time I saw Man was at Newcastle City Hall on 21st June 1972, when they were featured on a bill headlined by the Flamin’ Groovies. I saw them again a couple of months later in August 1972 at the Reading Festival; sandwiched between jazz rock fusion band Solid Gold Cadillac and folky warbler Linda Lewis, way down on a weekend bill headlined by Ten Years After, Curved Air and The Faces. The line up of the band in the Summer of 1972 was Micky Jones (guitar, vocals), Will Youatt (bass, vocals), Clive John (guitar, vocals), Terry Williams (drums, vocals), and Phil Ryan (keyboards, vocals). My enduring memory from those gigs is of Micky playing the excellent “Spunk Rock” on his cherry red Gibson SG. Now the said “Spunk Rock” was a lengthy instrumental piece, with meandering psych-tinged guitar solos. The song would often run for some 20 or more minutes, but I never became bored with it. It was based around a central riff, which Micky would return to as the song progressed. In many ways Man were our Grateful Dead, with lengthy west-coast influenced guitar-based tunes. Very much a “head” band. Micky Jones is quoted at the time: “We may not be the best band in the world, but we sure smoke the most dope.” Other well known tracks from their early 70s gigs are “Many Are Called But Few Get Up” and “Daughter of the Fireplace”, both of which feature in Man sets to this day. I was also seriously into their early psych classic single “Sudden Life” which came out in 1969 and still sounds amazing today.
From the Reading 72 programme: “Man not Boyo. Man come from Swansea where their career nearly ended after a bundle with half a dozen local greasers. Personnel changes were necessary when the bass guitarist smashed his hand up and the lead guitarist came adrift from his motorbike”.
I also think I saw Deke Leonard in his own band Iceberg at Newcastle City Hall, as a support act. The album “Be Good to Yourself at Least Once a Day” was recorded during this Deke-less Man period, and features the classic tracks C’Mon and Bananas, both of which were to become live favourites. “I like to eat bananas; ‘Cos they got no bones; I like marijuana; ‘Cos it gets me stoned”.
I saw Man several more times over the next few years and will write about those gigs over the coming days.
2 Nov
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Edinburgh Usher Hall 1 Nov 2013
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds Edinburgh Usher Hall 1 Nov 2013
Last night Laura and I crossed the border to Scotland, where we took a step over another border into the darker side of rock, for a night in the company of Nick Cave and his compatriots the Bad Seeds. I’ve only ever seen Nick Cave once before, and that was as at a solo concert at the Sage Gateshead some years ago. This was the first time that Laura had seen him, although she is a fan and familiar with much of his music. We had seats in the upper circle looking directly down on the proceedings, with a good view of the stage and the packed stalls where all the seats had been removed, and fans were crammed around the stage, awaiting an audience with Nick. Support came from solo artist Shilpa Ray who played a short set of her own songs, accompanied only by herself on harmonium. Her sound is a sort of bluesy punk with searing, screeching vocals.
Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds came of stage shortly before 9pm, and were truly amazing. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a performance which maintained such passion, power and intensity throughout. Nick was dressed all in black, looking like a cool, young Bela Lugosi, and the songs were all very dark in both mood and lyric. Crazed bearded violinist Warren Ellis tore shreds out of his instrument and was a perfect foil to frontman Cave. Nick prowled around the front of the stage singing and talking directly to the first few rows of fans. The guy seemingly has no fear, and seemed to completely lose himself in the performance. The songs were, at one end of the spectrum, all power chords, manic instrumental breaks, with Cave dancing crazily and haranguing the front rows; to another extreme of dark, sombre, power ballads with Cave at the piano. Highlights for me were Jubilee Street, Tupelo, Red Right, The Mercy Seat, and Stagger Lee. The main set finished with Push the Sky Away, but the band returned for a incredible five song encore including Deanna, the great Breathless (my favourite 🙂 ) and closer Give Us a Kiss. The show finished just before 11pm, and we had an uneventful drive back down the A1; arriving home around 1.45am.
Setlist: We No Who U R; Jubilee Street; Midnight Man; Tupelo; Red Right Hand; Mermaids; From Her to Eternity; Stranger Than Kindness; God Is in the House; He Wants You; Into My Arms; Higgs Boson Blues; Hiding All Away; The Mercy Seat; Stagger Lee; Push the Sky Away. Encore: We Real Cool; Papa Won’t Leave You, Henry; Deanna; Breathless; Give Us a Kiss
31 Oct
John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra 1974 & 1975
John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra 1974 & 1975. 
I was lucky enough to see the second Mahavishnu Orchestra three times. The first time was at the Knebworth Bucolic Frolic concert in 1974 where they shared the bill with The Allman Brothers, the Doobies, Van Morrison, SAHB and Tim Buckley. The setlist from Knebworth was: Wings of Karma,Sanctuary, Vision is a Naked Sword, Hymn to Him. This was a big band and the line up was: John McLaughlin – lead guitar, Jean-Luc Ponty – electric violin, Gayle Moran – keyboards, Michael Walden – drums, Carole Shive – drums, Marsha Westbrook – viola, Phillip Hirschi – cello, Steve Frankewicz and Bob Knapp – trumpet, fluegelhorn, flute, and Steve Kindler – violin. I remember that the band were all dressed in white and that McLaughlin started the set with a short reading, or it could even have been a prayer. 
My next Mahavishnu experience was at Newcastle City Hall in 1975, and the programme comes from that gig. I looked up the meaning of Mahavishnu out of interest, and found this on Wikipedia: “Mahavishnu (Devanāgarī: महाविष्णु) is an aspect of Vishnu, the Absolute which is beyond human comprehension and is beyond all attributes. The term Mahavishnu is similar to Brahman and Almighty Absolute Supreme Personality of Godhead”. Pretty deep mystic stuff; eh?! And that about sums up their music; heavy, deep, with superb musicianship, jazz-rock, fusion, challenging, enjoyable, frustrating, exciting, boring; all of those things in part. Like nothing I have seen before or since. The last time I saw John McLaughlin and his Mahavishnu Orhestra was at the Reading Festival in 1975, where they shared a bill with Soft Machine, Robin Trower and headliners Wishbone Ash. McLaughlin is an intriguing character, and undoubtedly a musical genius. He still plays today, and I have just added him to the list of people I intend to try and see again in the next few years.
30 Oct
John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra 1973
John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra 1973. 
I first saw John McLaughlin and the Mahavishnu Orchestra at a concert at Newcastle City Hall in 1973. This was the original line-up of the band and featured leader “Mahavishnu” John McLaughlin on virtuoso guitar, Jan Hammer on keyboards, Jerry Goodman (from The Flock) on electric violin, Rick Laird on bass guitar, and Billy Cobham (from Miles Davis’ band) on drums. These guys were pioneers in so many ways; in McLaughlin’s use of the twin neck guitar which enabled him to switch from 6 to 12 strings, in Jan Hammer’s use of the mini-moog and in their unique fusion of rock, jazz, funk, classical and Indian influences. This was the band which recorded the seminal albums The Inner Mounting Flame (1971) and Birds of Fire (1973). Their music was like nothing else I had experienced at the time; experimental yet at the same time heavily orchestrated. Pioneering and fascinating stuff; I was deeply impressed by the musicianship and virtuosity on show. The set is likely to have been drawn from the first two albums and will probably have included tracks like Birds of Fire, Meeting of the Spirits, You Know, You Know, The Dance of Maya, Open Country Joy, Dream, Sanctuary, One Word, Hope, Awakening. All pretty mystical and deep heavy stuff for a young teenager, and quite different from seeing Deep Purple or Led Zeppelin! This was a brave booking for local promoter Geoff Docherty and his Fillmore North (note the misspelling of “North” as “Worth” 🙂 ). This line-up of the Mahavishnu Orchestra split later that year, and McLaughlin reformed the band with a completely new membership in 1974. I saw the new version of the Orchestra on three occasions, and I will write about that tomorrow.
24 Oct
Medicine Head live in the early to mid 70s
Medicine Head live in the early to mid 70s. 
Medicine Head were one of several hippie/underground bands who played their own unique blend of the blues and broke through to the mainstream, hitting the charts in the early 70s. Championed by John Peel, they featured on his Dandelion record label and would often pop up at festivals “back in the day”. The core of Medicine Head were John Fiddler (guitar and vocals) and Peter Hope-Evans (mouth harp, jaw harp, and crazy bushy hair). In the early days they played as a duo, although they were augmented by additional musicians in some later incarnations. I saw them at least four times: at the Buxton 1973 festival (which was the duo), at Sunderland Locarno (during a period where ex Yardbird front man Keith Relf was singing and playing bass with them, and Peter Hope-Evans had left the band for a spell), at a great gig at Spennymoor Top Hat Club (back to the duo), and at a gig at Newcastle City Hall (where they were joined by a full band). The City Hall seemed a big venue for Medicine Head to play, and the venue was pretty sparsely attended, even though they had hit the charts with their single “One and One is One”, which reached No 3 in 1973. My ticket is pictured here, and tells me that the support act was local band Beckett, featuring singer Terry Wilson Slesser who went on to play in Back Street Crawler with Paul Kossoff. The Medicine Head band for the City Hall show featured Rob Townsend (ex Family) on drums, and possibly Tony Ashton (Ashton, Gardner and Dyke) on keyboards.
The gig I have the strongest memories of is when I saw Medicine Head at Spennymoor Top Hat Club. The Top Hat was a great little club in a village near Durham. It seemed very modern at the time, with golden cages where dancing girls would entertain the crowd. The Top Hat played host to many rock concerts in the early 70s. I remember seeing Stray, the Groundhogs, and the Edgar Broughton Band play there. Marie and I went to the Medicine Head gig. It must have been in 1976, as I remember it being on the same night as the Eurovision Song Contest, and that we kept popping downstairs to the bar to watch the TV and see how we were doing. We won that year, of course, with Brotherhood of Man and “Save your kisses for me” 🙂 Anyway enough of my guilty past, and back to Medicine Head. They were back to the duo format, and were just great fun. John Fiddler would sit playing guitar and singing, and banging a bass drum with a foot pedal. But the star of the show for me that night was mouth harp player Peter Hope-Evans. He is quite a little guy, and I’ve never seen anyone put so much power and passion into playing a mouth organ. He would blow it as if his life depended upon it; I was almost expecting his head to explode. Peter had a massive round ball of curly hair which would fly about as he played, and he would run around the crowd at the same time. At the Top Hat gig, Peter ventured into the audience as was his style, running up and down the stairs, around the tables, and squeezing unbelievable bluesy howls out of his instrument. Marie and I were just amazed by his performance. Unforgettable.
That gig at the Top Hat was the last time I saw Medicine Head. They split shortly afterwards, and are largely forgotten. John Fiddler has been promising a reunion on his website, and a couple of dates were set up, but never took place for some reason. It would be good to see them again.
Thanks to John for the scan of the amazing poster from the City Hall gig.
23 Oct
Frankie Miller live in the 70s
Thoughts on Frankie Miller live in the 70s. 
Frankie who? Frankie Fu**in’ Miller – That’s who! So said the tour t-shirts for Frankie Miller’s Full House at gigs in the mid 70s. Frankie Miller is one of the greatest white soul and R&B singers that the UK has produced, easily on a par with Paul Rodgers (with whom he was often compared at the time), Eric Burdon, Rod Stewart and Joe Cocker. I first became aware of Frankie when he played Sunderland Poly’s Wearmouth Hall in the band Jude, which also featured ex Procul Harum guitarist Robin Trower, ex Jethro Tull drummer Clive Bunker and old friend, fellow Scotsman and bassist Jimmy Dewar who had just left Stone The Crows. I have very vague recollections of that gig, and can’t be certain I was present, but I’m pretty sure that it happened. Frankie Miller then went on to front his own band, which became Frankie Miller’s Full House, and they toured relentlessly on the club and university circuit throughout the mid 70s. 
I recall attending tremendous rowdy Frankie Miller gigs at Newcastle Poly, Newcastle Mayfair and Redcar Coatham Bowl. My ticket stub from the Redcar gig is pictured here. The gig at Redcar was around the time that “Darlin'” was in the charts, which makes it 1978. Frankie hit the charts twice; with “Be good to yourself” and “Darlin'”, but it is his great live performances that I remember most of all. Frankie Miller live in the 70s just couldn’t be topped for a rocking night of great R&B and soul..
Frankie Miller suffered a brain haemorrhage in New York on 25 August 1994, while writing material for a new band he was forming with Joe Walsh of The Eagles. He almost died, and was in a coma for several months. Since then Frankie has slowly been regaining his health.
Rod Stewart said of Frankie Miller, “He is the only white guy that ever brought a tear to my eye!” Wish I’d bought one of those t-shirts. Guess it wouldn’t fit me now anyway. Thanks to John for the scan of his Frankie Miller EP.
Thanks to Mitch for reminding me that I must also have seen Frankie Miller supporting Ten Years After in 1972: “Frankie Miller played Newcastle City Hall on 29/10/72 as support on Ten Years After’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Music To The World tour. I was there – both acts were terrific…and this was before his debut solo album was released. He also duetted with Phil Lynott on the original version of Still In Love With You which appears on Lizzy’s 1974 album Nightlife.”
22 Oct
John Mayall and Chicken Shack Gateshead Sage 2006
John Mayall and Chicken Shack Gateshead Sage 2006
The last time I saw John Mayall and his Bluesbreakers was at the Sage Gateshead in 2006. This was another superb double bill, showcasing John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers alongside Stan Webb and Chicken Shack. I’ve already written about Stan the Man Webb and his fine guitar prowess, and will unashamedly use my entry today as a further excuse to do so. Stan is one of the best blues rock guitarists around, but in my view he rarely gets the credit he deserves. He mixes excellent technique with a real blues feel, and understands how to use tone and sound dynamics to great effect. My favourite Chicken Shack songs are the rock numbers from his early 70s albums, such as Poor Boy, and Daughter of the Hillside. 
If you get the chance listen to the track Poor Boy, and you’ll see what I mean about the use of dynamics. The song starts very quietly, but Stan and the rest of his band soon come thundering in with a great riff and drums, usually deafeningly loud. Stan’s not a bad blues singer either. This concert saw Chicken Shacl opening for the legend that is John Mayall, and his Bluesbreakers, who again featured Buddy Whittington on guitar. A great pairing and a great gig. The line up for the Bluesbreakers was Mayall, Whittington, Joe Yuele, and Hank Van Sickle. Chicke Shack featured Webb, Jum Rudge, Gary Davis and Mick Jones. From the programme: “Good Evening and Welcome. British Blues Legends John Mayall and Stan Webb join forces on a musical bill that promises blues at its very finest – it just doesn’t come better than this!”
I recently bought a live DVD of Stan and Chicken Shack. The tracklisting gives an idea of a typical set (although Poor Boy is sadly missing): So Tell Me; The Thrill Has Gone; Reconsider Baby; I Know You Know Me; You Are The Sweetest Little Thing/Hurt; Stan Webb’s Chicken Shack Opera; Spoonful; Doctor Brown 10. I’d Rather Go Blind; The Daughter Of The Hillside; Stan’s Blues.
Its been a few years since I’ve seen Stan Webb or John Mayall in concert; something I intend to put right when I get the chance. Mayall is promising to tour the UK for his 80th birthday in October 2014, which is a tour to look forward to.
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