Iron Maiden Killers tour Newcastle City Hall 1981
Iron Maiden were riding the crest of a wave in 1981. They released their second album Killers, and set out on a world tour which started off in the UK and took them across Europe , to Japan and the USA. I saw them when they played at Newcastle City Hall on 7th March 1981. Support came from Trust, a French heavy metal band. By now Maiden were establishing themselves as a rock band in their own right, with an identity of their own outside of the NWOBHM movement. And a pretty impressive rock band they were too. Most of the tracks on the new album already featured in Maiden’s live set, and were already well know to the fans. Themes of horror and darkness ran through it all: Poe’s Murders in the Rue Morgue, the Phantom of the Opera, The Ides of March. 
Some heavy symbolic stuff which was right up my street, along with mascot Eddie who featured in all their graphics, on album covers, tour programmes, their backdrop, and in person at the end of their set. Great stuff. By the end of the tour Paul Di’Anno was suffering from the pressure and the use of drugs and alcohol and was dismissed by the band. His replacement was Bruce Dickenson, aka Bruce Bruce from Samson. I’d see Bruce with Samson, and rated him OK, but not in the same league as Paul Di’Anno or Maiden. How wrong I was. Bruce rose to the challenge and more. I’ll write about that tomorrow. Setlist: The Ides of March; Wrathchild; Purgatory; Sanctuary; Remember Tomorrow; Another Life; Genghis Khan; Killers; Innocent Exile; Murders in the Rue Morgue; Twilight Zone; Phantom of the Opera; Iron Maiden; Running Free; Transylvania; Drifter; Prowler
Posts Tagged ‘classic rock’
6 Jun
Iron Maiden live 1980
Iron Maiden live 1980
Iron Maiden exploded out of the NWOBHM scene in 1980. I first saw them supporting Judas Priest earlier in the year. It was obvious from the start that two bands were way out in front of the pack of NWOBHM bands: Def Leppard and Iron Maiden. And the Maiden were the rockier of the two, and seemed to blend heavy metal with elements of punk. I saw them at least four times during 1980: at the City Hall with Priest, at Sunderland Locarno with support from Praying Mantis and NWOBHM DJ Neal Kay, at the Reading Festival, and later in the year headlining the City Hall themselves, with support from A II Z. 
Looking back this was a pretty meteoric rise for the band, from support act at the start of 1980, through their own club tour, to second on the bill at Reading, to a major concert tour of the UK by the end of the year. Wow! The line-up of Iron Maiden at the time was Paul Di’Anno on vocals; Dave Murray on guitar; Dennis Stratton on guitar; Steve Harris on bass guitar; and Clive Burr on drums. And of course I musn’t forget their mascot Eddie, who was there from the start, and features on the cover of the tour programme. They had released their first album, and the set drew from that lp and their second, yet to be released, classic “Killers”. Highlights for me at the time were “Running Free”, “Sanctuary” and “Iron Maiden”. The dark image of the band also appealed to me; I always was a sucker for horror movies! 
In the tour programme, Geoff Barton questions whether the NWOBHM was a “trend” or a “fad”, and “will it last?” and concludes that “we should make it last”. Well we sure did make it last, with both Maiden and Leppard continuing on to greater and greater success. I saw Iron Maiden every year and every tour for the next few years. I’ll reflect on those great tours over the next few days. Setlist from the tour would have been drawn from: The Ides of March (Intro); Sanctuary; Prowler; Wrathchild; Remember Tomorrow; Charlotte the Harlot; Killers; Another Life; Transylvania; Strange World; Innocent Exile; Phantom of the Opera; Iron Maiden; Running Free; Drifter; I’ve Got the Fire
31 May
Made of Stone Film Premier live relay Newcastle Tyne Theatre 30 May 2013
Made of Stone Film Premier live relay Newcastle Tyneside Cinema 30 May 2013
Laura and I went to the Tyneside Cinema last night to see the Stone Roses documentary, Heart of Stone. The screening was relayed live from the premier which took place at the Victoria Warehouse Manchester. The film was simultaneously broadcast to 200 UK cinemas, and goes on general release nationwide on 5 June. The show started off with interviews of fans arriving on the red carpet, including members of the cast of This is England (which was also directed by Shane Meadows), and Mick Jones of The Clash. Then Shane, Ian Brown, John Squire, and Mani (Reni had a cold!), were introduced to the Manchester crowd (and us!) and the film was shown. Meadow’s documentary features footage from across the band’s career and their comeback shows of last year. It tracked the reunion from its announcement at a press conference in London, through some great video of the rehearsals, the secret warm-up show at Warrington Parr Hall, gigs in Europe and finished with footage from the tremendous Heaton Park gigs (Laura and I were at the Sunday gig). This was interspersed with flashbacks to the Roses in their early days. I enjoyed the movie, the live footage from Warrington (now that must have been a gig to be at!) and Heaton Park being the best bits. Personally I would have preferred a little less of the former (there was quite a bit about the excitement of fans getting their tickets for Warrington) and more of the latter. This was more a celebration of the band and the reunion from a fan perspective (Meadows is a massive Roses fan) with little analysis of the band and the relationship between the members. The incident in Amsterdam where Reni refused to come back on stage for an encore (Ian to the crowd: “the drummers gone home” and “the drummers a c**t”) was shown, but we were told little about what really happened, indeed the film crew left the tour at that point, so as not to intrude, and picked things p again at Heaton Park. The documentary captures excellent versionz of Fools Gold at Heaton Park and of She’s a Waterfall during rehearsals. After the film there was a Q&A with Shane Meadows. This simultaneous broadcast is an interesting concept and worked quite well last night. The Tyneside Cinema was pretty full, and the crowd clearly enjoyed the movie, applauding it at the end.
27 May
Holidays in the Sun: The Sex Pistols at the Seaside: Scarborough Penthouse 24 August 1977
The Sex Pistols Scarborough Penthouse 24 August 1977
The Sex Pistols were banned from playing almost everywhere. I’d had a ticket for their show at Newcastle City Hall in December 1976 and was really looking forward to seeing them. The gig was cancelled, as was most of the rest of the tour, in the aftermath of their appearance on the Bill Grundy show. Foolishly I got a refund on the ticket; now there’s a stub I wish I had kept 🙂 By mid 1977 the Pistols had released three classic singles in a row: “Anarchy in the U.K.”, “God Save the Queen” and “Pretty Vacant”. Glen had been sacked and John’s mate Sid Vicious had been recruited as the new bassist.
When they were whispers that the Pistols might be playing some secret dates I was determined to see them. I picked up on hints of gigs through the press and the radio; there was no internet in those days. I also rang around local venues and managed to find out the location of most of the secret gigs. The tour is now referred to as the S.P.O.T.S Tour (Sex Pistols On Tour Secretly) and took in Wolverhampton Lafayette (the Pistols were advertised as S.P.O.T.S); Doncaster Outlook (Tax Exiles); Scarborough Penthouse (Special Guests); Middlesborough Rock Garden (Acne Rabble); Plymouth Woods (The Hamsters); and Penzance Winter Gardens (Mystery Band of International Repute). The gigs all took place over the last week of August and the first week of September 1977. The most local gig for me was Middlesbrough Rock Garden, a venue which I often visited for punk gigs. But sadly I had a dilemma, as I had tickets for the Reading Festival that weekend, and the festival started on the Friday night, which was the night of the Rock Garden gig. And to complicate matters further I had a car load of mates who I had promised to take to Reading. I decided that the best solution was to go and see the Pistols on Thursday in Scarborough, drive home that night, and then get up the next morning and drive to Reading with my mates. And thats exactly what I did.
I rang Scarborough Penthouse, who would only tell me that a “Special Guest Band” would be appearing on Thursday night. They wouldn’t be drawn as to whether it was the Pistols, and when I asked the guy directly I was told that I would just have to come along and find out. But it seemed pretty obvious that the Pistols were going to play Scarborough. I figured that there might a lot of demand, and the venue wasn’t selling any advance tickets. So the only thing to do was to make sure we arrived early. So on Thursday morning, Marie, I and a mate set off for the seaside, and sunny Scarborough. We arrived around lunchtime and found the Penthouse, which was a small club in the town. There were a few punks hanging around but no queue yet. We went to find a chip shop and passed the Pistols walking down the street, which confirmed to us that the gig was indeed taking place. 
A few others arrived, so we formed a queue and waited. We must have stood for 5 or 6 hours until the Penthouse opened its doors, by which time the queue was right down the street. The Penthouse club was a pretty small venue, in an upstairs room as I remember, and it could only have held a few hundred people at the most. The stage was set up with large crowd barriers in front of it, to make it pretty impossible to climb on stage. The gig soon filled up, and by the time the Pistols took to the stage it was absolutely rammed. The atmosphere was electric and the Pistols were incredible. Sid was new to the band, and was just learning to play bass, but he looked great; just the part. John was amazing, sneering and snarling, hanging off his mike stand and at times covered in spit from the crowd. Steve Jones was the ultimate rock guitar hero, all swagger in his leather jeans, and Paul Cook was smashing away at his drums. And they were LOUD, and fast.
The set was quite short; they were on stage for less than an hour. They started with Anarchy and played most of the yet to be released Bollocks album. The setlist was something like: Anarchy in the U.K.; I Wanna Be Me; Seventeen; New York; EMI; Holidays in the Sun; No Feelings; Problems; Pretty Vacant; God Save the Queen. They definitely finished with No Fun. We braved it in the scrum down the front for some of the set, but I eventually bottled it and took up a vantage point at the back, standing on a chair. Too much spitting and pogoing down the front for my liking. My mate tried to tell some punks to stop spitting at John but they took no notice 🙂 The stairs were lined by the local police as we left; they were presumably expecting trouble, but there wasn’t any. Everyone started singing Pretty Vacant right into the face of the policemen as we left. Luckily the police took it all in good spirits.
We drove back home, getting back in the early hours of the morning. I had a few hours sleep, and then I got up, picked up my mates and drove down to Reading where the festival was headlined by Golden Earing, Thin Lizzy, and Alex Harvey. Not much punk on show that year (although Wayne County and Ultravox! played), but there was lots and lots of mud. Another mate went to see the Pistols at the Middlesbrough Rock Garden and said they were awesome. That was the last time I saw the Pistols until a reunion show at Brixton a few years ago, but the gig still sticks in my mind as a very special event. At the time there really was no other live band like the Pistols. The songs, the image, the energy, the volume, the secrecy of the event, all made their gigs occasions like no other. Another one for my time machine.
26 May
The Sex Pistols Whitby 11 September 1976
The Sex Pistols Whitby 11 September 1976
I’d read about the new punk movement and The Sex Pistols in NME and Sounds, and was curious and interested in going to see them. Unbeknown to me the Pistols has already performed in the North East at Middlesbrough Town Hall and Northallerton Sayers club as support for Doctors of Madness in May 1976. I wish I’d been at those gigs. Anyway, I saw that the Pistols were playing at the Royal Ballroom in Whitby on a Saturday night, so I persuaded Marie that we should go along and see what this punk thing was all about. Whitby is around 60 miles away from home, just a nice drive for a Saturday night out. We didn’t bargain for the rain that night, which was torrential. Still, when I’m determined to do something I’m not easily put off, so we drove through flooded roads and past broken down cars in my little old MG sports. When we arrived in Whitby we went straight to the Royal Hotel, which is the splendid white hotel which overlooks the harbour. We went into the bar and asked where the Sex Pistols were playing. The staff gave us strange looks and didn’t seem to know anything about the gig, but suggested it might be in the disco which was in a room somewhere around the back. I remember that we went back to the car and drove away from the hotel until we saw a poster advertising “Saturday Disco Night featuring Top Band The Sex Pistols” on a gate, which led us into a pub, or the back room of the hotel. I’m not sure which. 
We got absolutely drenched just going from the car to the door, the rain was so heavy. We paid our entrance fee which around 50p each, and went into the venue which was pretty empty. We soon spotted the Pistols who were sitting at a table in the corner, so we knew that we had arrived at the right place. John was wearing a tam, a pair of bondage trousers and a teddy boy jacket. I went to the bar to buy some drinks and John and Steve came and stood next to me and ordered some food (chicken and chips, I think). Malcolm McLaren wasn’t with them; it was just the Pistols (Johnny Rotten, Glen Matlock, Steve Jones and Paul Cook) with Nils Stevenson. Nils was their road manager and drove them to gigs in his van at the time. The place started to fill up around 9ish with a regular Saturday night crowd of young people, all dressed up for their normal disco. I swear that Marie and I were the only people who looked like they had come to see the Pistols. There were no punks there at all (except the Pistols, that is 🙂 ). The DJ started to play some 70s charts music, from behind his set-up surrounded by lights, and a small group of girls took to the dance floor. After a little time, the DJ introduced tonight’s “group”: The Sex Pistols. The girls dancing at the front didn’t know what was happening. The Pistols were deafening and started with Anarchy in the UK, which hadn’t been released as a single yet, but I had heard John Peel play on the radio. 
I’d read reviews of Pistols gigs in London, so I knew what songs to expect. From memory, they played Seventeen (then called I’m A Lazy Sod), New York, No Lip (the Dave Berry song), and Stepping Stone (the Monkees song). By the time they were into Stepping Stone the crowd were getting restless, and couldn’t believe their eyes or ears. John was staring at them, snarling the lyrics. The DJ sensed that the Pistols weren’t going down too well with his normal disco crowd, who seemed totally phased by the whole thing; and between songs he turned their sound off, said “Thank you for tonight’s band the Sex Pistols, now its back to the disco” and started his disco up again. And that was it. The Pistols had played for around 20 minutes or so. But that was enough for me to know that I’d witnessed something pretty special. From then on I went to every punk gig that I could. We ran through the rain, which was still pouring down, back to the car, and drove back, passing more broken down cars on the way. The roads were flooded and the water was coming in to the car. How we made it back without breaking down I don’t know. The next night the Pistols played the Fforde Green hotel in Leeds, where they apparently played a full set and went down well. A month later they appeared on the Bill Grundy show and achieved notoriety. Anarchy in the UK was released a month after that.
I was back in Whitby with David a few months ago, and we went to the Royal Hotel to try and find the venue where I saw the Pistols. We drove around all of the streets near to the hotel, but couldn’t find the venue. Maybe it doesn’t exist any more. I saw the Pistols again the following year, again at the seaside, and this time in Scarborough. I’ll write about that gig tomorrow.
Note. My scan: “Anarchy in the UK” is the front cover of the first issue of a Pistols magazine which was released in 1976 or 1977. To get my copy I sent a cheque off to Glitterbest, which was Malcolm McLaren’s company. I’m not sure if there were ever any further editions after No 1. The large newspaper size mag contains picture of the early Pistols, incuding both Sid and Glen, although I am pretty sure that Sid was not a member at the point I bought it. The girl on the front cover is Soo Catwoman: http://www.soocatwoman.com/
The bus is from the back cover; this image was used to promote the Pistols on tour.
25 May
The Police Newcastle City Hall 28 April 1980 9.15 (late) show
The Police Newcastle City Hall 28 April 1980 9.15 (late) show
By 1980 The Police were one of the biggest bands in the world. In 1979 they had released their second album, Reggatta de Blanc, which topped the British charts for four weeks and included the UK number-one singles “Message in a Bottle” and “Walking on the Moon”. They headlined the first night of the Reading Festival in 1979, and, along with Thin Lizzy, were the highlight of the August Bank holiday weekend. So when Sting and Co returned to Newcastle in 1980 it was as triumphant heroes. They announced two shows at the City Hall, and early and late show on 28th April. Tickets went on sale by postal application only and the shows were massively over subscribed. 
I managed to get tickets for both shows, and Marie and I went along to the late show, having passed on the tickets to the earlier show to friends. We had great seats right down the front. Anticipation for the gigs was high, and The Police put on a great high energy show, to a rapturous reception from the home crowd. This was the last time I was to see The Police in a small venue. Other gigs from here on were massive outdoor shows at Milton Keynes Bowl and Gateshead Stadium.
Setlist: Next to You; So Lonely; Walking on the Moon; Hole in My Life; Truth Hits Everybody; Bring on the Night; Driven to Tears; The Bed’s Too Big Without You; Message in a Bottle; Roxanne; Can’t Stand Losing You
24 May
The Police Newcastle Mayfair 14 June 1979
The Police Newcastle Mayfair 14 June 1979
The next time I saw The Police was at Newcastle Mayfair. By then they had hit the charts with Can’t Stand Losing You, So Lonely and Roxanne, and had built up a strong following. They were on the brink of the mega-stardom which was to follow, starting later that year when they hit No 1 in the UK with Message in a Bottle and Walking on the Moon. I was spoilt for choice this night. Dire Straits were playing the City Hall, and The Police at the Mayfair. Which gig to go to? Well I tried to go to both, as I often did in those days. So my mate and I saw Dire Straits at the City Hall, and then raced down to the Mayfair for the Police. I’ve already written about the Dire Straits gig which was sold out and great; this was the first time they had played the City Hall and it was at the time of Sultans of Swing. 
For once the timings worked. We arrived at the Mayfair in time for the Police’s set having missed support acts The Cramps and Bobby Henry. The Mayfair was packed, and the Police were just great. Sting was on top form and was getting heavily into his Yo..Yo..Yo.. reggae cum jazz / scat singing at the time. It was very clear that this band was much more than a punk band, and were a great pop act. I always found it strange going into a gig late. Its like arriving at a party where everyone has been drinking all night and you come along sober. When we entered the Mayfair it was packed, hot, sweaty and the Police were just coming on stage. Sting was wearing his boiler suit, Andy was chopping out some great guitar rhythms and Stewart was at the back pounding away on his drums. A great night. The next time I saw the Police was when they returned to play two triumphant shows at the City Hall.
23 May
Cherry Vanilla and the Police Newcastle Poly and Middlesbrough Rock Garden 1977
I’d seen Sting several times in Last Exit and the Newcastle Big Band, and knew that he had gone down to London with Last Exit. The next thing I heard was that he had formed a punk band called the Police and was supporting an American punk singer called Cherry Vanilla who was touring the UK. The first chance to see this pairing was at a gig at Middlesbrough Rock Garden in early 1977. Cherry had been David Bowie’s USA publicist, and relocated to London in 1976. The set up for the tour was the Police as support act, with Sting and Stewart Copeland also playing in Cherry’s band. The Police line-up at the time was Sting on bass and vocals, Stewart Copeland on drums, and Henry Padovani on guitar. I remember thinking it a strange set-up. Here was the drummer from the prog-rock band Curved Air, a jazz bass player and an unknown guitarist supporting an American new wave singer. It didn’t seem that authentic at the time compared to other punk and new wave acts. I’d always been impressed by Sting in Last Exit, liked Curved Air, and was interested in the punk scene, and hence wanted to see Cherry Vanilla, so Marie and I went to the gig at the Rock Garden, which was on 12 March 1977. As it happened Cherry Vanilla didn’t turn up for some reason, and the Police headlined that night. Their set was pretty straight ahead punk as far as I can recall. The only recored output from that period was the single Fall Out. Their set at the time include Grand Hotel, which was a Last Exit song and Clouds in Venice, which was written by Stewart Copeland and his then wife Sonja Kristina (from Curved-Air). I recall the music as fast-paced typical 1977 speed punk. The Cherry Vanilla / Police pairing appeared at Newcastle Polytechnic on 6 May 1977. and Marie and I went along again. This time Cherry Vanilla did perform with Sting and Stewart in her band, the Police played their own short set, and the evening was opened by local band Penetration who were starting to gig around the region at the time. I was a big fan of Penetration and although their songs were just forming at the time, they were the highlight of that night for me.
22 May
Last Exit Newcastle 1975
Before Sting formed the Police and started his journey on the road to mega-stardom, he could be found playing jazz-rock in a small upstairs room in a pub in Gosforth. The pub was the Gosforth Hotel, and the band was called Last Exit. Last Exit consisted on Sting on bass and vocals, drummer Ronnie Pearson, guitarists John Hedley and keyboardist Gerry Richardson. They existed for a couple of years in the mid-70s, and made quite a name for themselves playing around the Newcastle Area. They had a residency at the Gosforth Hotel, and also often played in the bar of the University Theatre (now the Playhouse). I saw them in both venues, and have strong memories of a couple of great gigs at the Gosforth Hotel. I went along with Marie, having read about Last Exit in the local press, and a write-up in Sounds. I also remember hearing a set they recorded for local radio. The room where they played was pretty small, and on the occasions we went to see them, the audience was quite small. The material was very jazzy with some great guitar work, and Sting’s vocals stood out. Their set included some early versions of songs which would later be recorded by the Police including “The Bed’s Too Big Without You”. Last Exit released a single in 1975, “Whispering Voices” and in 1977, they moved to London to look for greater success. However, after a few gigs most of the band returned to Newcastle, leaving Sting in the capital to pursue fame and fortune, which he was soon, of course, to find. I also saw Sting perform a few times as bass player in the Newcastle Big Band which was a large jazz band of around 20 musicians who played saxophones, trumpets, trombones, etc. They had a residency on Sunday lunchtimes in the bar of the University theatre, and I went through a few lunchtimes to catch their set. A very rare locally pressed lp exists of the band which was recorded in 1971 and features them playing standards such as Macarthur Park and Hey Jude. Sting was very recognisable in those days, and was always wearing his trademark striped sweater from which his name came. Marie and I would often spot him at gigs at Newcastle Poly Students Union in the mid 70s.
21 May
The Orchestral Tubular Bells and Last Exit Newcastle City Hall 1975
The Orchestral Tubular Bells with the Northern Concert Orchestra conducted by David Bedford with support from Last Exit Newcastle City Hall 26 October 1975
This concert featured the Northern Concert Orchestra, conducted by David Bedford, performing Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells. The event opened the A1(M) 1975 – 1976 season which also featured concerts by Philip Glass (wish I had gone to that one), Derek Bailey (solo guitar improvisations) and workshops in “experimental and electronic music”. The concert did not feature Mike Oldfield, but did feature Andy Summers (soon to be of the Police) on guitar. The programmes tells me: “Tonight’s guitar soloist is now a member of the Kevin Coyne band, after a very varied career in rock”. 
The concert is of particular interest because the support act was local up and coming band Last Exit, which featured one Gordon Sumner, also know as Sting, and also soon to be of the Police. I don’t know if Andy and Sting met that night, but it is reported that Andy did watch some of Last Exit’s set. There is also a story that Stewart Copeland was playing with Curved Air at Newcastle Poly (I think I will have attended the gig; I certainly saw Curved Air at the Poly) and he went along to see Last Exit (but I think that may have been on another night, and the Last Exit gig was likely to have been at the Gosforth Hotel, but thats a story for another day. The programme tells me of Last Exit: “Formed one year ago (the birthday was celebrated with their regular audience a few weeks ago) Last Exit play electric jazz and jazz-rock; both their own material and a well chosen repertoire of other peoples’ music, not all of it well known…this is their first concert hall appearance. Last Exit are: John Hedley – guitar; Gerry Richardson – piano; Gordon Sumner – bass; Ronnie Pearson – drums”. 
The gig was not well attended. My ticket says I has a balcony seat, but I recall going and sitting right at the front, as the hall was pretty empty. As far as I can remember the orchestra performed Tubular Bells in two parts, with Last Exit playing a set in the interval between. I went along partly to see Last Exit who I had already seen once or twice, and also to hear Tubular Bells, and to see David Bedford who was well known for his recent work with Roy Harper and others. It was very different from the rock gigs that I was used to attending at the time, and I found it a very welcome change. However, the concert goes down in history as the first time that Andy Summers and Sting were in the same hall, and performed (sort of, although not actually) together. I’ll write a little more on Last Exit and early Sting gigs (pre Police) tomorrow.
Vintagerock's Weblog. 