The Rolling Stones Don Valley Stadium Sheffield June 6th 1999.
This show was originally scheduled to take place a year earlier in 1998, but the entire European tour was postponed for a year for tax reasons! From Time is on My Side, the Rolling Stones Chronicles site: “June 8, 1998: The Rolling Stones’ British concerts are postponed until 1999 because of new tax laws. This means the Bridges to Babylon tour will spread over three calendar years, by far the longest in the Stones’ history up to this point. Because of its financial motives, the postponement causes controversy in the media.” This was a pretty lame reason for postponing the tour in my view, and just showed what values The Stones held at the time. Anyway, Marie and I stuck with it, and hung onto the tickets (actually I think we had to return them and they were reissued, the ticket has a sticker on with the new date, so I guess that must have been the case?). Support came from Cheryl Crow, who also joined the Stones for Honky Tonk Women. We had seats in the stand to the left of the stage. This was the first time I’d seen the Stones with a B stage, and the bridge took them out over the crowd onto a smaller stage in the centre of the stadium. This was pretty novel at the time, although many bands have followed suit with a similar set up (Take That come to mind). 
I’d missed the Voodoo Lounge tour, which in hindsight was a big mistake, and which I truly regret to this day. This show renewed my interest in the Stones. I thought they were great that night, and I vowed to see them every tour from then on, and have stuck to that so far. It was interesting, and a surprise, to see them play Dylan’s Like a Rolling Stone. Setlist: Jumpin’ Jack Flash; You Got Me Rocking; Live With Me; Respectable; Gimme Shelter; Ruby Tuesday; Honky Tonk Women (with Sheryl Crow); Saint Of Me; Out Of Control; Paint It Black; Before They Make Me Run; You Don’t Have To Mean It. B-Stage:
Route 66 (Nat King Cole cover); Like Rolling Stone; Midnight Rambler; Sympathy for the Devil; Tumbling Dice; It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll (But I Like It); Start Me Up; Brown Sugar; Encore: (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
Posts Tagged ‘concerts’
22 Feb
The Rolling Stones Don Valley Stadium Sheffield June 6th 1999
21 Feb
The Rolling Stones St James Park Newcastle July 18th 1990
The Rolling Stones St James Park Newcastle July 18th 1990
The Stones returned to St James Park in 1990, 8 years after their last visit to the venue. Support this time came from Dan Reed Network, and local rockers The Quireboys. This was part of their Urban Jungle Tour which took them around the world. The Stones put on a great show, and were on better form than their previous visit to St James. Stand-outs for me were Ruby Tuesday, and 2000 Light Years from Home, which is one of favourite Stones track, from the (in my view) much under-rated Their Satanic Majesties album. 
Setlist: Start Me Up; Sad, Sad, Sad; Harlem Shuffle; Tumbling Dice; Miss You; Almost Hear You Sigh; Ruby Tuesday; Rock and a Hard Place; Mixed Emotions; Honky Tonk Women; Midnight Rambler; You Can’t Always Get What You Want; Can’t Be Seen; Happy; Paint It Black; 2000 Light Years from Home; Sympathy for the Devil; Street Fighting Man; Gimme Shelter; ;It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll (But I Like It); Brown Sugar; Jumpin’ Jack Flash; (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction. From the (very large) tour programme: “The success of the band is bound up in the story of Mick and Keith. It’s pretty simple, almost comic book stuff, two schoolboy friends who grew up together first listening to, playing and then writing music. The two have opposites: Keith is shy, Mick is not.”
20 Feb
The Rolling Stones St James Park Newcastle 1982
The Rolling Stones
St James Park, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, June 23rd 1982
Support Acts: J Geils Band, George Thorogood and the Destroyers. Setlist: Under My Thumb; When the Whip Comes Down; Let’s Spend the Night Together; Shattered Neighbours; Black Limousine; Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me); Twenty Flight Rock; Going to a Go-Go; Chantilly Lace; Let Me Go; Time is on My Side; Beast of Burden; You Can’t Always Get What You Want; Little T&A; Tumbling Dice; She’s So Cold; Hang Fire; Miss You; Honky Tonk Women; Brown Sugar; Start Me Up; Jumpin’ Jack Flash. Encore: (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction 
The Rolling Stones were on tour across Europe again in 1982, some 6 years after their last UK appearances, in support of their album, Tattoo You. UK Fans had waited a long time for this tour, and anticipation was high. The tour took in a mix of venues from small concerts halls in Scotland, to stadiums in Newcastle and London. I queued for hours outside St James Park to get tickets for the Newcastle gig. People slept all night outside the ground and the queue weaved its way around all the surrounding streets. After a few hours in the queue I managed to get tickets for the gig. This was the first gig at the Newcastle ground and the local fans were determined to give the band a good reception. Support came from George Thorogood and the J Geils Band, who had recently had a hit with their single Centrefold. The Stones started with Under My Thumb, which was quite unexpected for me. I’d become used to them opening with big hits like Jumpin’ Jack Flash. The show was quite long, although not as long as their Knebworth set. We started off sitting in the stand opposite the stage, and spent some time wandering around the pitch. The gig was general admission, so you could wander around the stadium freely. The Stones played well, but not great, and the sound wasn’t too hot. I missed the intimacy of the City Hall gigs.
Reports from the time suggest that there was friction in the band, particularly between Mick and Keith, and the shows got mixed reviews. This was their first mega tour of Europe, and followed on from a massively successful US tour, which was the biggest grossing tour of 1981. This was the start of a pattern for the Stones, of stadium gigs, based on a massive stage show, every few years.
19 Feb
The Rolling Stones Knebworth 21 August 1976
The Rolling Stones Knebworth 1976
The Rolling Stones, 10cc, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Todd Rundgren’s Utopia , Hot Tuna , Don Harrison Band.
By 1976 The Rolling Stones were reaching the peak of their success. The Knebworth festival of that year was a massive event of celebration. The band had sold out a big UK tour, and this show was added to satisfy the huge demand for tickets. I’d seen their Glasgow Apollo show a few weeks earlier, but couldn’t resist going to see them again at this big show. Lots of my friends were going, it seemed everyone I talked to was going to make the trip south for this gig. I drove down with Marie and my friend John arriving the day before the gig. I’d been to the 1974 (Allman Brothers) and 1975 (Pink Floyd) Knebworth concert, but the crowd for The Stones was much larger; with a capacity crowd of 100,000 attending the festival. The supporting bill was pretty strong: Todd Rundgren put in a good set (I Saw The LIght was one of my favourite tunes at the time), and Lynyrd Skynrd almost stole the show with a mega version of Freebird, and some superb guitar dueling. 10CC were OK, and played all their hits. The stage was a giant tongue, based on the Stones logo, and two large screens projected the stage action to the back of the crowd. There was a long, long, boring wait for the Stones who came on very late. The Stones played a marathon set and delved deep into their back catalogue, playing many songs that hadn’t featured in their set since the 60s. The sound wasn’t too good in some parts of the field, and although they were fantastic it wasn’t the best Stones performance, but it was a great event. 
Setlist: Satisfaction; Ain’t Too Proud to Beg; If You Can’t Rock Me / Get Off of My Cloud; Hand of Fate; Around and Around; Little Red Rooster; Stray Cat Blues; Hey Negrita; Hot Stuff; Fool to Cry; Star Star; Let’s Spend the Night Together; You Gotta Move; You Can’t Always Get What You Want; Dead Flowers; Route 66; Wild Horses; Honky Tonk Women; Country Honk; Tumbling Dice; Happy; Nothing from Nothing; Outta Space; Midnight Rambler; It’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll; Brown Sugar; Rip This Joint; Jumpin’ Jack Flash; Street Fighting Man. 
Annoying, and unusually, I don’t have my ticket stub for this event (although I do have my programme); I’m pretty sure the whole ticket was taken from me at the gate. This musn’t have been the case at other gates, as stubs do come up on ebay. I must try and get one sometime. Update on May 12th 2012. I bought a stub on ebay! See scan to right. Thanks to John for sending me the poster scan.
18 Feb
April Wine late 1970s rock
April Wine came on to my radar in the late 1970s and early 80s. They appeared alongside the (re)emergence of heavy rock with the NWOBHM (New Wave Of British Heavy Metal). The only song I can remember by them is Before the Dawn, which I’ve just watched on YouTube. Check it out, its a great piece of heavy melodic rock. I went along to see all of the upcoming NWOBHM bands, Iron Maiden, Def Leppard, Saxon, Samson. 
It was a good time for rock; you could see some great rock bands in small sweaty clubs, and concert halls up and down the country before some of them they moved into arenas. Looking at the programme for one of the April Wine tours, I see that the support acts were Angel Witch and Sledgehammer, with heavy metal DJ Neil Kay. Those were the days!
April Wine came over as support for Sammy Hagar, and then quickly headlined their own tour. They were also on the bill at the first Monsters of Rock festival at Donington, so they were very much part of the early 80s heavy rock scene. They are still performing in their home of Canada, and come to Europe now and then. 
April Wine started in the late 60s so are very much a veteran rock band. Its good to see that bands like this are still performing.
17 Feb
Joan Armatrading
Joan Armatrading worked very hard at her craft in the early to mid 70s, supporting national tours by artists such as Supertramp, and gigging up and down the UK. She was one of those artists who popped up a lot as a support act, and at festivals, and her music grew on me over the years. I saw her at Newcastle City Hall once or twice in support slots, and also remember seeing her perform low down on the bill at the 1975 Reading Festival. 
In 1976 she had her fist hit with Love and Affection, and started to come more into the public eye. I first saw her headlining at the City Hall in 1977. By then her set featured some great songs, which were becoming well known to me, including the beautiful Willow and Down To Zero. Support for her 1977 tour came from the late Kim Beacon, a Scottish singer with a great blues/soul voice, who was once a member of String Driven thing.
I next saw Joan on her 1980 UK tour. By this time she had moved from a jazz oriented style to a rockier pop sound, and had a hit with the single Me Myself I. Support for the 1980 tour was Richard Digance. Joan’s music continued to grew on me over the years, and each time I saw her she put on a strong, passionate performance, with some lovely ballads. 
I haven’t seen her in concert since those days, which is something I need to put right. Joan has released 17 studio albums, and received many awards and accolades over the years since she emerged in the 70s. I’ve read some reviews of recent concerts and they suggest that she is certainly still worth seeing. She’s coming to the Sage in Gateshead later this year. I really must take the time to go and see her.
16 Feb
Mick Abrahams Sunderland 1977
Quite a nice looking ticket for this gig, and an intriguing event. This was a guitar demonstration by Mick Abrahams ex-Jethro Tull; billed as “Top London Session Man”. The event was organised by White Sound equipment who were a local guitar shop run by a guy called Bill White. Entry was free, and the idea was that it would promote the shop and Yamaha guitars. The gig was held upstairs in the Barnes hotel, and Mick played a number of guitars, trading some pretty neat licks. I recall a few gigs of this nature in the 70s, one at Newcastle Guildhall with the great Big Jim Sullivan playing guitar, and another at Middlesbrough Town Hall with Rod Argent demonstrating electric pianos and keyboards. They don’t seem to have such events these days. Mick Abrahams hasn’t been too well lately and is having a rest from gigging. Hope he’s well and able to gig again soon.
15 Feb
Aerosmith Glasgow Apollo 1976
Aerosmith Glasgow Apollo 1976
I’d read a lot about Aerosmith. They were being hailed as the new major rock band from the USA, and being compared to The Stones. So when they announced their first UK tour I was tempted to go along and see them. As was the case with many US bands at the time, the tour covered a few UK cities, Glasgow, Liverpool, Birmingham and London, missing out the North East completely. I decided at the last minute to go and see them in Glasgow and drove up to the gig without a ticket. When I arrived in Renfield Street and joined the queue outside the Apollo, I found myself surrounded by a bunch of kids from a local reform institution, accompanied by a couple of social workers. Listening to them talking, they had all been brought along on an outing to see the band. I bought my ticket in the stalls, and took my seat in the half full hall. Clearly Aerosmith were not that well known in Scotland.
Support came from Phoenix, a band formed by John Verity who had just left Argent. I don’t recall anything about their set I’m afraid. Aerosmith were good, and Steve Tyler did look, and perform, like Jagger. The Rocks lp had just been released, and the set will have consisted of tracks from that album, Toys in the Attic and their earlier albums. I’d heard Dream On, but not much else, but was pleasantly surprised by the songs they played that night. Steve Tyler had many scarves tied around his mike stand as has become his trademark, and guitarist Joe Perry was impressive, the two of them working together very closely. I’m pretty sure that the encore was Train Kept a Rollin’. I saw quite a few gigs at the Apollo around that period: The Moody Blues, Fleetwood Mac, The Eagles, Genesis, The Stones. It was a great venue with one of the best crowds in the UK. And they sold lovely scotch (mutton) pies. Its sad that its gone. Happy days.
14 Feb
The Animals reunion Newcastle 1983
The Animals reunion Newcastle 1983
The Animals reformed in the early 80s for a tour, and to record a new album. This was the original line up of Eric Burdon, Alan Price, Hilton Valentine, Chas Chandler and John Steele, augmented by a few other musicians including Zoot Money. The tour took in two North East dates at Newcastle City Hall and Middlesbrough Town Hall. I went along to the City Hall date.
The set was a mix of classic hits, such as Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood; House Of The Rising Sun; It’s My Life; Don’t Bring Me Down and We’ve Gotta Get Out Of This Place, plus R&B standards and tracks from the new lp. I remember I was somewhat disappointed that there weren’t more older tracks in the set. Perhaps not surprisingly they didn’t play any of the later Eric Burdon tracks which were hits for later versions of the Animals, such as Good Times, When I was Young etc. It was great to see the original line up playing back in their home town.
13 Feb
Mike Absalom
Mike Absalom
Now this post really stretches my memory. Mike Absalom appeared on The Old Grey Whistle Test around 1972, singing songs from his lp Hector and Other Pecadillos. The songs I recall are Hector the Dope Sniffing Hound, and The Saga Of W.P.C. Sadie Stick. Maybe they were the songs that he played on TV that night. I saw him in concert at Sunderland Poly shortly after that. I remember several us went along and we all sang along to those songs. I can still remember the lyrics to WPC Sadie Stick: “WPC Sadie Stick! Hit me again with your big black stick! I’ll ‘ave a word with you when I find my dic—tionary!”. Great stuff; if pretty childish, in hindsight. Mike was great fun, singing anti-establishment/hippy comedy folk songs. I must have seen him again a few years later, as the ticket I found is for a gig in 1977. I checked out Mike’s site; seems he returned to him home of Canada in 1980 where he lives to this day. He’s still very active however, as his site shows: “When not giving concerts, Mike makes wooden puppets for his children’s show: “Professor Absalom and his Amazing Acrobatic Street Dolls”. He gives his shows in English, French or Spanish and also speaks fluent Swedish and German.”! Great memories of what seemed a simpler world.
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