The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, Roy Harper, Yes, Mad Dog
Sunderland Empire Theatre March 8th 1969
(Semi) memories of my first gig
The first concert I ever attended was the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band at Sunderland Empire in March 1969. I was 12 years old at the time and had been getting into pop and rock music for a year or two. I’d started to buy the New Musical Express and was beginning to collect records. I managed to persuade my parents to let me attend the concert on the basis that there were two shows at 6pm and 9pm, and that if I went to the earlier show, I could safely get the bus home. None of my friends at the time were interested so I bought myself a ticket, reserving myself a seat in the front row of the stalls. First gigs are important in my view. They can shape musical taste and set allegiances for life. For me this gig set me on an unavoidable path to becoming obsessed with seeing bands, with rock music in general, and gave me a life long interest in Yes and Roy Harper, who both formed part of the supporting bill. I can still remember aspects of this gig some 43 years later as I write this. I sat fascinated at the performers on stage, and entranced by the loud music. In fact the volume was something that did it for me. The bands (I probably called them groups at the time) seemed very, very loud to me; I was almost frightened that my hearing would be damaged (in fact, it is starting to go slightly now, but it has taken a long time, and I can’t be sure that it is a result of going to rock concerts, but I suspect it is). And the power, passion and energy of the performers also struck me. First up was a band called Mad Dog. I’m not sure what happened to them, and the only song I can recall was a great version of Moby Grape’s Can’t Be So Bad, which appears on one of the Rock Machine albums. Next up was Yes who were a revelation, and fascinated me with their jazzy mix of rock and pop. And they played some songs that I knew: Something’s Coming from West Side Story and The Beatles’ Eleanor Rigby. They also played No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed, which is a Richie Havens song and appears on Yes’ second album, and opens with the theme from the film The Big Country. Yes had yet to release their first album, and the line up at that time was Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, Bill Bruford, Peter Banks and Tony Kaye. I was impressed by how Jon and Chris were dressed; Chris in particular was sporting a natty hat and impressive flares and boots. I recall that a compere introduced each band and chatted to the audience while the stage set up was being changed around, in the way that I imagine it worked on 60s package tours. Next up was Roy Harper who sat to the right of the stage on a high stool, directly in front of me. He had incredibly long hair (something else which impressed me) and was wearing a pair of beat up old jeans and big work boots. I think he sang Hells Angels, Nobodies Got Any Money in the Summer, and I Hate The White Man. I was surprised at the way he interacted with the audience; it was as if people knew him and were having conversations with him from the stalls. Finally the bill toppers took to the stage, accompanied by some amazing machines and props which were always an important part of the Bonzos show. The Bonzo Dog Band (they had shortened their name at this time) performed tracks from their first two albums Gorilla and The Doughnut in Granny’s Greenhouse, including such great (and fun) songs as: Cool Britannia, The Equestrian Statue, Jollity Farm, Look Out There’s a Monster Coming, Death Cab for Cutie (which I has seen them perform on TV in the Beatles Magical Mystery Tour show), Can Blue Men Sing the Whites?, Trouser Press (featuring some natty on stage trouser pressing), and of course I’m The Urban Spaceman, during which Viv Stanshall blew through a long plastic tube while swinging it around his head. And so the die was cast, I set out on my life long concert journey which has given me great joy over the years, and also caused me some trouble at times when I become obsessive and attend too many! Sadly I don’t have a ticket stub for this concert. I hadn’t got into the habit of saving them at that stage, and the tickets for shows at the Empire at the time simply listed the date, and not the artist, so didn’t seem worth keeping.
Posts Tagged ‘concert’
14 Apr
The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band Sunderland Empire 1969. Supported by Roy Harper and Yes
13 Apr
Jean Jacques Burnel Newcastle Mayfair 1979
Euroman cometh
Jean Jacques Burnel Newcastle Mayfair 1979
And thus a strangler was reborn as a Euroman and he did cometh to the toon of Newcastle to perform at the glorious Mayfair ballroom for a (rather sparse) crowd of punks and rockers. And those of us there, in the presence of the Euroman, did marvel at his skill and prowess as a bass player and as a musician, even if we were a little perplexed at, and surprised by, the nature of the musical tapestry which he unveiled to us. For this was an evening of euro electronica, far removed from the punkish tunings of his regular combo The Stranglers, obviously influenced by the powerful sound of Kraftwerk and other similar Euro bands. 
Yes this was a strange night, and not at all what I expected at the time. I hadn’t taken the trouble to hunt out the Euroman Cometh lp before going to this gig, and wasn’t sure what I was going to see. What I didn’t expect was a set of heavy synth and drum music. It made for a very different and more enjoyable evening than Marie and I had anticipated. Jean Jacques’ band for the tour featured John Ellis from the Vibrators, and I also recall that he drove his beloved Triumph motorbike on stage and revved it up for the intro to Triumph of the Good City, which is one of the tracks on the album. I picked up a vinyl copy of the album some years ago at a car boot sale, and was pleasantly surprised by it, all over again. It is actually a great album; do listen to it if you get the chance. The CD issue features nine bonus tracks recorded live on the 1979 tour at the Hemel Hempstead gig.
12 Apr
Boston Newcastle City Hall 1979
Boston Newcastle City Hall 1979
Boston were a massive deal in the mid to late 70s. Their debut album was an incredible success, selling 17 million copies, and More Than A Feeling seemed to be playing everywhere I went at one time. The band came to the UK in 1979 for a short tour which called at Newcastle City Hall for one night. The gig sold out immediately, and I was pleased to get tickets. I went along with a group of mates, and looked forward to the gig. Although Boston are quite middle of the road rock, they do it excellently, and their first album is a classic of the genre. 
The gig was great; loud, melodic rock at its best. I still own a copy of the first Boston album, althogh can’t pretend to play it very often. Boston have never returned to the UK, to the best of me knowledge, although they continue to tour in the USA. However More Than A Feeling remains a top rock song. Support act Trickster were a short lived UK melodic rock band who also supported on an ELO tour. Boston setlist from 1979 : Rock & Roll Band; Tell Me; Peace of Mind; Feelin’ Satisfied; Don’t Look Back; More Than a Feeling; A Man I’ll Never Be; Smokin’; Foreplay / Long Time; Something About You; Party.
11 Apr
Bauhaus Newcastle City Hall 1983
Bauhaus Newcastle City Hall 1983: Burning From The Inside Tour
Any band who has a song entitled Bela Lugosi is Dead can’t be bad. Particularly when they also cover Telegram Sam and Ziggy Stardust. I love old horror movies, and read Famous Monsters of Filmland every week during the 60s, and I was also a Bolan and Bowie fan, so Bauhaus’ image interested me enough to go along and see them. This tour was for the Burning From the Inside album, which was due to come out later that year. The programme for the tour reminds me how dark and doomy the band were; lots of dark pictures with very serious posing; this was the birth of goth. 
The programme starts with a T S Elliot poem: “This is the way the world ends” which set the tone for the show. The lighting was dark, and the music a mix of punk, rock and glam, with Pete Murphy displaying great stage presence. They had just had a hit with She’s in Parties. I remember them playing that particular song, and finishing with Bela Lugosi’s Dead. The band split up shortly after the tour, however they have reformed several times since. Setlist: Burning From the Inside; In Fear of Fear; Terror Couple Kill Colonel; Spy in the Cab; Kingdom’s Coming; She’s in Parties; Antonin Artaud; King Volcano; The Passion of Lovers; Slice of Life; Hair of the Dog; In Heaven; Hollow Hills; Stigmata Martyr; Kick in the Eye; Dark Entries; Bela Lugosi’s Dead
10 Apr
Big Country in Concert 1982 to 1987
Big Country in Concert 1982 to 1986
Stuart Adamson formed Big Country after leaving the Skids, and in my view their work far surpassed his earlier band. The Skids were a fun live band, very much a product of the punk era, whereas Big Country were much more innovative and adventurous. It was clear that Stuart was the musical driving force behind the Skids, co-writing, alongside Richard Jobson, the band’s most famous songs such as Into the Valley. I first saw them in Dingwalls in Newcastle, which was a club which ran in the early 80s, out of what had been the old German Bierkeller. 
Their first single Harvest Home had just been released, and their jangling, swirling sound which married scottish traditional folk with rock, sounded so new and fresh. They were soon having big chart success with Fields of Fire and In a Big Country, and could command headlining status on a tour of major concert venues. Their 1983 tour brought them to Newcastle City Hall, and the first of a couple of great nights I spent with them in that venue. Big Country and Stuart Adamson in particular connected with the audience in a manner rarely seen. 
At times band and crowd were at one, singing together those great anthemic songs, with Stuart rocking back and forth leading us all on, as if to battle. The support on the 1983 tour was One The Juggler, who were an interesting and now forgotten band; quite theatrical if I remember correctly. I also remember seeing them at Newcastle Dingwalls. 
I next saw Big Country on their 1986 tour, again at the City Hall. By then they had released their third album The Seer, and the single Look Away was their biggest hit in the UK. Once again, it was a great night with another stirring set from the band. The last time I saw Big Country was at Roker Park, Sunderland in 1987, when they appeared as one of the support acts for David Bowie on his Glass Spider tour. It wasn’t one of Bowie’s best performances, and in contrast Big Country delivered their usual storm and went down very well with the crowd. They were obviously a lot of fans of the band there, and I’m sure that many people felt that their performance was better than Bowie’s that day. The band has recently reformed after Stuart Adamson’s tragic death, and have been once again touring the UK.
9 Apr
Gary U S Bonds Newcastle City Hall 1981
Gary U S Bonds Newcastle City Hall 1981
Some gigs I remember very well, some I hardly recall at all. This is one that makes me strain my memory. Gary U S Bonds had hit the charts in the early 60s with New Orleans and Quarter To Three which was a No 1 in the USA. In the early 1980s, he had a career resurgence through a collaboration with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, with some of the songs on his new album being written by Steve Van Zandt. Apparently Bruce and Steve had happened to be in a bar where Gary was playing, and were impressed enough to work with him, thus giving him, in effect, a new career. This UK tour came off the back of this renewed interest and a comeback single This Little Girl. I was obviously interested enough to go along to the City Hall gig to how Mr Bonds shaped up. I recall the place being pretty empty. I can remember him playing New Orleans, Quarter To Three, and I Want You To Be My Baby, and putting on a good showing. Gary is now over 70 years old and still performing. Good on him.
8 Apr
Bo Diddley Sunderland 1982
Bo Diddley
Woooh Bo Diddley!!! I was lucky enough to see the great Bo Diddley when he came to town to play a gig at Close Encounters nightclub in 1982. Close Encounters was previously the BoilerMakers Club, a well known Sunderland workman’s club, and is now a venue for Sunderland University students. I’d seen the great man once before on a rock n roll bill with Carl Perkins in the 70s. Bo rocked the place, strutting his stuff with his famous red cigar box guitar, and treating us to such gems as Who Do You Love and Hey Bo Diddley. The place was packed and we all sang along. There was a good showing by local teds who turned up in force, all decked out in their drapes, and showing off some great rock n roll bopping. Support came from local blues acts Ray Stubbs and his Blues Band, and the Hokum HotShots, both of whom are still paying around their native North East.
7 Apr
The Allman Brothers Knebworth 1974
The Allman Brothers, The Doobie Brothers, Van Morrison, The Mahavishnu Orhcestra, The Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Tim Buckley.
Knebworth Park 1974 The Bucolic Frolic
This was the first of the great 1970s one day festivals to be held at Knebworth Park. I went along with my mates John and Gillie, catching a bus to Stevenage and them making our way to the site on the Saturday morning. We arrived just in time for Tim Buckley, who came on early in the day just as the crowds were entering the site. I remember his deep booming voice echoing around the field, but little else about his set. Next up was the Sensational Alex Harvey band, who were already a favourite of ours, and a great festival crowd pleaser. 
We made our way to the front to get a good view of Alex, Zal and the others who started with Faith Healer, which was still quite a new song at the time. Alex was an amazing front man, had no fear at all and was also a bit of a philosopher: “Don’t pish in the water. Don’t buy any bullets , don’t make any bullets and don’t shoot any bullets”. You couldn’t get more of a contrast than Alex Harvey followed by John McLaughlin and his Mahavishnu Orhcestra, but such a rich mix of music was quite commonplace at 70s events. John was dressed entirely in white and he and his band took us through a wonderful blend of jazz, rock and classical music which swept through the field. The Mahavishnu Orhcestra was a big band, featuring Jean Luc Ponty, who had recently made his name playing with Frank Zappa. Van Morrison was just amazing, and at his peak, in the early 70s, and his set at Knebworth was great. His band on the day was a three piece, which was very small for Van, and a contrast to the Caledonia Soul Orchestra who I saw him with a few weeks later. 
I was never a big fan of the Doobie Brothers, they were a bit too funky for me, however John recalls them as the highlight of the day. They went down ok with the crowd, but by then everyone was waiting for the headliners. Jessica and Ramblin’ Man were real favourites that summer, played at all the festivals, and The Allman Brothers Band had a reputation for being THE Jamming band, renowned for playing long sets and mega versions of their songs, particularly Whipping Post. They didn’t let the crowd down. Gillie, John and I spent some time wandering around the site that day, and Jessica was constantly playing in the background. The Allmans came on late and played until well after midnight. Greg Alllman said at some point during the set “We are going to play every damn song we know” after continued shouts for Whipping Post. We slept the night on the site and got the bus back home the next morning, running into some of John’s school friends on the bus. Allman Brothers setlist: Wasted Words; Done Somebody Wrong; One Way Out; Stormy Monday; Midnight Rider; Blue Sky; In Memory of Elizabeth Reed; Statesboro Blues; Come and Go Blues; Ramblin’ Man. Encore: Trouble No More; Jessica; You Don’t Love Me / Les Brers In A Minor. Second Encore: Whipping Post. Thanks to John for the scan of the flyer. John comments that is was overall a very exciting day, with a diverse, even eclectic, line up which happened a lot a the time and gave everyone a chance to appreciate lots of different styles of music.
5 Apr
The Adverts, Penetration, Warsaw (Joy Division), Harry Hack Newcastle Guildhall 1977
The Adverts, Penetration, Warsaw (Joy Division) New Wave Bop Newcastle 1977
By 1977 I was seriously into punk and new wave, and the new bands were starting to play gigs up in the North East. I still liked classic rock bands, but was also excited by the urgency and immediacy of punk. This gig was held at Newcastle Guildhall, a venue on Newcastle Quayside, which no longer holds concerts and is now a Tourist Information office. Punk was still in its early days. The Adverts had released One Chord Wonders as a single, but had yet to release Gary Gilmore’s Eyes. Penetration were starting to become known locally, but had yet to land a record deal. Penetration were quite a favourite of mine at the time. Marie and I saw them many times, and often ran into Pauline and the rest of the band at local punk gigs. This gig was memorable for another reason however. The first band up was a new combo who had come from Manchester to play. They were called Warsaw and Pauline and Gary from Penetration told us that they had played with them in Manchester a few days before at The Electric Circus. They had been impressed by them and had invited them up to Newcastle to play the Guildhall. Thus, as a late addition to the bill, there are not listed on the flyer.
Marie and I arrived early primarily to make sure that we caught Penetration’s set, and as a result we were there for Warsaw. Warsaw were, of course, to become Joy Division some months later. I would love to be able to report that we experienced something momentous that evening. However, my recollections were of a band who were nervous, and obviously still learning to play. I don’t recall Ian Curtis displaying any of the manic dancing way that would become his trademark. Rather, I remember a shy guy who appeared uncomfortable on stage. I saw Joy Division a year or so later supporting the Buzzcocks and Ian was incredible; however what we saw at the Guildhall was a new, young band playing pretty average garage punk songs. Reports of the time suggest that they will have played early songs: Reaction and Leaders of Men. A recording of Warsaw playing Reaction at Middlesbrough Rock Garden exists, and can be found on YouTube. Next up was local band Harry Hack and the Big G; I recall one song about “Brown Dog” (Newcastle Brown Ale). Pentration were, as always, excellent; they had some great songs which I was starting to know, having seen them many times. The Adverts were also a good live act. TV Smith was a dynamic front man, and Gaye Advert stood quietly alongside him playing bass. Great memories. I note that the flyer states “all bands to be recorded”. I wonder if any recording exists. I would love to hear it.
Many thanks to Jimmy for the image of the poster, which he owns. Poster added 16/09/24
3 Apr
The Stiff Tours 1977 and 1978: Be Stiff 1978
The Stiff Tours 1977 and 1978
The Stiff tours were a highlight of the late 70s rock calendar. These events featured a selection of artists from Stiff records, travelling around the UK dropping into concert halls and university student unions. The first tour was known as the Live Stiffs Tour or 5 Live Stiffs, and took place in late 1977. It boasted a great line-up with Elvis Costello and The Attractions, Ian Dury and the Blockheads, Wreckless Eric, Nick Lowe (featuring Dave Edmunds) and Larry Wallis. A bunch of mates and I caught the tour at Middlesbrough Town Hall. At the time punk was really taking off around the UK, and the old town hall was packed. I remember seeing Elvis Costello outside talking to a group of kids; my mate Norm recalls him giving them a penny for the guy. 
We witnessed some great music with wonderful performances from Elvis and Ian Dury that night. Ian stole the show; he was at his height at the time, performing material from New Boots and Panties!!: “Sweet Gene Vincent”, “Billericay Dickie”, and “Clevor Trever”. The gig ended with everyone on stage performing Dury’s “Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll”. The tour called at Newcastle Polytechnic a couple of weeks later. I enjoyed the show so much, I went along again, this time with Marie. Marie has a better memory than me on this gig, and can recall us chatting to Elvis Costello in the union bar. She swears that Captain Sensible was with him, holding court to a few of us, in a typical mad mood, and ate an entire packet of crisps, including the bag, all in one go. I do have a vague memory of meeting the Captain, but couldn’t be certain that it was the same night as the Stiffs tour. I wish I had kept a diary… The second tour, the Be Stiff 78 tour, again comprised five acts: Wreckless Eric, Lene Lovich, Jona Lewie, Mickey Jupp and Rachel Sweet. Norm and I caught that gig at Newcastle University. The line up wasn’t as strong as 1977, however, it saw Lene Lovich break through to chart stardom, and Wreckless Eric’s “Whole Wide World” is still a favourite of mine.
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