Peter Gabriel Newcastle Arena 4th Dec 2014
Peter Gabriel is currently on tour to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his album “So”. The show sees Gabriel reuniting with members of his old band line-up, and last night it called at Newcastle Arena. The show started with Peter walking on stage unannounced to introduce the opening act Jennie Abrahamson and Linnea Olsson who played a few songs to an attentive audience. Jennie plays keyboard and Linnea cello, and they each sang one or two of their own songs, which were all pretty good. They both also featured as vocalists in Gabriel’s band. After a very short break, Peter Gabriel and band took to the stage, Peter seated at a piano. He explained that the concert would be in three parts: an acoustic “starter”, followed by a more electronic and adventurous “main course” and followed by the desert, which would be “So” in its entirety.
For the short acoustic set the house lights were left on, and the set included a great version of “Shock the Monkey”. The “main course” was much darker in presentation and content. The house lights dropped and tall robotic lighting rigs were wheeled around the stage, on what looked like a small train line which encircled the band, sending white beams across the crowd. The songs were much rockier, with sharp riffs and electronic funk, and Gabriel parading around the stage, side-stepping in a jerky dance. 
I’d almost forgotten what a showman this guy is. Peter and the band must have had cameras fixed to their instruments, and in Peter’s case to his mike, as scary, huge, close-up black and white images of the band’s faces were displayed on the screens around the stage. It was great to hear Gabriel’s 1977 hit “Solsbury Hill” again, reminding me of when he first went solo, and his magnificent shows at the City Hall during that period.
The desert of “So” was delivered next, starting with bright scarlet lights enveloping the stage for “Red Rain”. Highlights of this set for me were the well known songs: “Sledgehammer” and “Don’t Give Up”, which featured Jennie Abrahamson taking Kate Bush’s vocal part, and doing an excellent job. It seems to be the “thing” for bands to perform one of their albums in their entirety. At first I thought this was a goo idea, but now I’m beginning to wonder. Even the best albums have a few tracks that either aren’t so good or have been forgotten. I am beginning to think I would prefer to see a band play a set which draws from the best songs across a spread of albums. Having said that; it was really good to see Peter Gabriel again, it has been a good few years since he last played in Newcastle; an enjoyable concert.
Starter: What Lies Ahead; Come Talk to Me; Shock the Monkey; Family Snapshot
Main course; Digging in the Dirt; Secret World; Darkness; No Self Control; Solsbury Hill; Why Don’t You Show Yourself
Dessert (So): Red Rain; Sledgehammer; Don’t Give Up; That Voice Again; Mercy Street; Big Time; We Do What We’re Told (Milgram’s 37); This Is the Picture (Excellent Birds); In Your Eyes
Encore: The Tower That Ate People; Biko
Band line-up: Peter Gabriel: vocals, keyboards; Tony Levin: bass; David Rhodes: guitars; David Sancious: keyboards; Manu Katché: drums; Jennie Abrahamson: vocals; Linnea Olsson: vocals.
Posts Tagged ‘concerts’
5 Dec
Peter Gabriel Newcastle Arena 4th Dec 2014
4 Dec
Uriah Heep Newcastle City Hall 25th Nov 1975
Uriah Heep Newcastle City Hall 25th Nov 1975
Support from Tim Rose?
By 1975 Uriah Heep were massively successful. John Wetton had replaced Gary Thain on bass, and the band recorded their 8th studio album “Return to Fantasy” which was seen by critics and fans alike as a return to form after the “Wonderwall” lp. They also released a “Best of Uriah Heep” compilation album which sold well. Heep embarked on a major world tour to promote “Return to Fantasy” and “Best of”. Mick Box: “we played to over one million people and travelled over 300,000 air miles; this was, once again, a very exciting time.” I saw the band at the City Hall in November 1975. This was another great gig, classic Uriah Heep, but it would be the last time that I saw the band with the great David Byron. According to the Uriah Heep website the support act for the tour was Tim Rose, who had recorded “Come Away Melinda” as covered by Heep on their first album, and was also responsible for the great song “Morning Dew”. As is often the case, I have no recollection of seeing him, perhaps I was in the City Hall bar? I suspect I would have watched Tim Rose’s set as both of the songs I mention are big favourites of mine. David Byron had by now gained a reputation for hard drinking, and this was starting to effect his performance in the band. It eventually led to him being sacked from Uriah Heep at the end of a Spanish tour in July 1976. Ken Hensley said: “David was one of those classic people who couldn’t face up to the fact that things were wrong and he looked for solace in a bottle”. Heep’s manager Gerry Bron said Byron’s dismissal was in “the best interest of the group”.
I saw David Byron once more a couple of years later, when he was a member of Rough Diamond, a band he formed with Colosseum / Humble Pie guitarist Clem Clempson and former Wings drummer Geoff Britton. I’ll write about that gig in a day or so, as part of my coverage of Heepsters.
It was also a couple of years later, in 1977, before I saw Uriah Heep again, and by then John Lawton was the vocalist. Uriah Heep did, I think, play Newcastle in 1976 but for some reason I must have missed that gig (missed opportunities like that annoy me now….too many regrets of missed his 🙂 )
For me, Uriah Heep were truly at their peak as a live act during 1973 and 1974. The best way to remind myself of those glorious live gigs is to play my scratched vinyl copy of their double lp “Uriah Heep Live”, hold that gatefold sleeve in my hands and look through the lavish photo booklet that forms the centre of the album. It never fails to take me back. I am immediately transported to the crush in the front stalls of the City Hall. My ears are ringing, Mick Box is smiling, Ken Hensley is rocking back and forth at his Hammond, and Dave Byron is singing “Julie Morning” or “Gypsy”….or “Sunrise”. Magic. Now a CD can’t do that; sorry. Happy happy days.
Setlist something like: Devil’s Daughter; Stealin’; Suicidal Man; Shady Lady; Prima Donna; Rainbow Demon; July Morning; Return To Fantasy; Easy Livin’; Sweet Lorraine; Gypsy; Bird Of Prey; Love Machine; Look At Yourself
3 Dec
Uriah Heep Newcastle City Hall 21st Nov 1973 & 17th Oct 1974
Uriah Heep Newcastle City Hall 21st Nov 1973 & 17th Oct 1974
The strange little black blob pictured here is a prized plectrum that I was lucky enough to catch at a Uriah Heep gig in the early ’70s. It was thrown to me by Mick Box, and I was so excited when I caught it. It is a small black plastic Hofner pleccie and was well worn when I got it, so it had obviously been used quite a bit by Mick. I have used it myself a few times and found it quite hard and chunky; great for riffs. I would try and play “Gyspy” in the hope that it would somehow transform my playing into that of Mick Box, but sadly it didn’t quite work out. I couldn’t get the same tone or power. Still it’s nice to have it, and frightening to think that 40 or so years have passed since Mick threw it from the stage of the City Hall.
We would always try and get down to the front at Heep gigs. When Uriah Heep came on stage there was always a rush for the front. They would usually start with a favourite, perhaps “Easy Livin'” or “Stealin'” and it would be loud and rocking. There would be a massive crush at the front of the stage and Dave Byron and Mick Box would both play to the crowd. Mick would have a massive grin on his face. He would do a series of strange hand gestures, lifting one arm above his head and wiggling his fingers as a magician would do, pointing towards the strings of his guitar, as if he was magically controlling it and playing it from a distance, just like one of the wizards that they would sing about. Mick in an interview: “The hand movements came about when I play a left hand trill in the old days and we were only playing clubs, and everybody could see it to be clever. When we first went to the USA and supported Three Dog Night playing 10.000-20.000 seaters I waved my arm in the air so that all and sundry could see.” Sometimes Mick would lift his guitar above his head, or hold it out in front of himself, and let those down front strum the strings. Pure magic. I remember reading somewhere that David Byron was the ultimate rock front man, and that ain’t far wrong. Ken Hensley: “David was the communication point, the focal point of the whole group’s stage presentation. He had so much charisma, so much ability.” His vocals were amazing and his stage presence, charisma, ego and attitude were all so much larger than life. Dave Byron knew that he was a star. How could he be anything else? I can picture him now, wearing satin flares, one foot on the monitor, leaning over towards us all, hands outstretched. He was singing directly to us. Byron: “I see myself as more than just a vocalist. I have a definite job in tying the band together visually. It stands to reason that the spotlights will be on me most of the time because I’m the front man, so by moving around I can involve everyone. I take singing very much to heart, and I try to use my voice as an instrument.”
All around us down at the front of the stage were fans going absolutely crazy. I would usually stand and watch but many of the people beside me were totally manic. It was called “idiot dancing” at the time. A definition of “idiot dancing”: “a style of frenzied, abandoned dancing on the spot (invariably consisting of writhing hand and arm movements and shaking of the head) to rock music, particularly the ‘psychedelic’ style (a precursor of heavy metal) of the late 1960s. By the mid-1970s it had mutated into the less picturesque headbanging.” I notice from my tickets for Heep gigs in late 1973 and 1974 that my seat was halfway back in the stalls, or in the balcony. But by the end of the show I swear I was in the crush near to the stage.
Support for the 1974 tour was the mighty Heavy Metal Kids. Imagine it: Gary Holton and Dave Byron on the same stage in one night. Mayhem! The setlist was probably something like this: Easy Livin’; Sweet Lorraine; Stealin’; July Morning; Dreamer; If I Had The Time; Gypsy; Seven Stars; Sweet Freedom; Look At Yourself; Love Machine; Rock ‘n’ Roll Medley
According to the Uriah Heep website the support act for the 1974 tour was Peter Frampton. Now I have no recollection of seeing Frampton with Uriah Heep, but hey who knows, the City Hall bar (or the City Vaults) may well have been calling me. If it was Frampton, this was at the time of his third solo album “Somethin’s Happening” and he will have played songs like “Its a Plain Shame”, “Lines on my Face” and “Doobie Wah”. A typical setlist for Uriah Heep in 1974 was: Stealin’; Suicidal Man; Something Or Nothing; Wonderworld; Sweet Freedom; I Won’t Mind; July Morning; Easy Livin’; Sweet Lorraine; Little Piece Of Leather; Look At Yourself; Gypsy; Love Machine; Rock ‘n’ Roll Medley
Bass player Gary Thain suffered an electric shock at a concert in Dallas, Texas on 15 September 1974, and was seriously injured. He was also suffering from a drug habit which was affecting his performance, and he was fired by the band in early 1975. He was replaced by former King Crimson bassist John Wetton. Thain passed away as a result of a heroin overdose, on 8 December 1975 at his London flat. He was just aged 27.
Gary Thain had a unique, and very intense bass style. He would play without a plectrum, preferring to use his fingers, and would put his entire body into the performance. I first saw him play in the Keef Hartley band, and remember being impressed by him then. He was undoubtedly a very important part of the classic Uriah Heep line-up. In just three years Gary Thain participated in over 400 live performances all over the world with Uriah Heep.
This was the end of the classic line-up, but there were still many more great concerts to come.
More Heeping tomorrow.
2 Dec
Uriah Heep Newcastle City Hall 19th Jan 1973
Uriah Heep Newcastle City Hall 19th Jan 1973
Support was from Nick Pickett, who was a folk singer on the Vertigo label.
They started out as the band the critics loved to hate. A reviewer for Rolling Stone magazine even promised to commit suicide “if this band makes it” (bet he didn’t 🙂 ). But those of us who were fans understood. We knew that Uriah Heep were one of the classic rock acts of the 70s. Easily up there with Zeppelin, Purple and Sabbath.
The classic Heep line-up existed between 1972 and 1975 and was Mick Box (guitar), David Byron (vocals), Ken Hensley (keyboards), Lee Kerslake (drums) and Gary Thain (bass).
One of my mates had their first album “..Very ‘Eavy …Very ‘Umble” and we would gather in his house listening to the raw primitive riff of Gypsy and the spooky twisting tale of Come Away Melinda (which was my favourite). “Play ‘Gypsy again’.” Onto the turntable it would go, volume on full, needle down, again and again and again. And at the local Mecca, when “Gypsy” came screaming out of the speakers, the dance floor would fill with people playing air guitar and shaking their long hair around and around. “When I was only seventeen, I fell in love with a gypsy queen.” There remains something basic and primeval about that song; so simple and yet so powerful. But there was so much more to Uriah Heep; the imagery of “Demons and Wizards” (“he was the wizard of a thousand kings”), the dark folklore narrative of “Lady in Black”, the thundering, rock’n’roll of “Easy Livin'”, the majestic “Sunrise”, and that classic mirror lp cover of “Look At Yourself”. Then there was “July Morning”, Uriah Heep’s own “Stairway to Heaven”, which used dynamics, orchestral arrangements and narrative to take us to a different world; I could visualise Dave Byron standing on a warm summer morning, the sun breaking through; simply classic.
I got to see Uriah Heep for the first time in January 1973 on the “Magician’s Birthday” tour. I went along a semi-interested fan and came away 100% a convert. The performance was so powerful, the music so loud, and the songs so great, in every way. Dave Byron was the perfect rock vocalist, possessing an operatic voice with an incredible range, and had tremendous stage presence, commanding the audience to join in and become part of the show. Mick Box was, and remains, the unsung guitar hero, long hair and a massive grin stretching from ear to ear. Ken Hensley would rock back and forth pulling at his Hammond, a long mane of hair swaying behind him, creating sounds that blended 60s R’n’B swirl with deep Bach chords. Gary Thain was the silent, solid bass man, and Lee Kerslake was constant at the back, crashing away on the drums. And the volume. Uriah Heep understood that rock had to be LOUD, that feeling the music was just as important as hearing it. When they played ‘Easy Livin'”; the volume went up a notch, the bass notes hit me hard right in the chest, and I honestly feared I would never be able to hear again (can I sue a band for the state of my hearing today ?) The other important, distinctive and vital element of Uriah Heep in concert was the screaming harmonies. They were simply stunning live. Ok, I get that it’s not cool to say so (and I guess it’s not cool to use the word “cool” but who cares), but to a teenage kid in the stalls of the City Hall in 1973 Uriah Heep were just as good as Purple or Zeppelin or Sabbath.
I came out of the City Hall that night a big fan of Uriah Heep. I went to school the next day and bored everyone about how great they were. Oh and my ears were ringing for days after, but that was part of the fun, it reminded me that I had experienced a proper rock gig.
I’ve seen Uriah Heep another 17 or so times since. I’ve lost faith in them now and then, particularly as the line-ups changed over the years, and I’ve missed some of their tours, but I’ve always returned to them. I’m going to spend the next few days writing about Uriah Heep live (don’t worry, I’ll combine some gigs and have already reviewed some recent shows, so it won’t take me 17 days) and I will try to remind myself what made (and still makes) them so great and mighty.
Set List in Jan 1973: Sunrise; Sweet Lorraine; Traveller In Time; Easy Livin’; July Morning; Gypsy; Tears In My Eyes; Circle Of Hands; Look At Yourself; The Magician’s Birthday; Love Machine; Rock ‘n’ Roll Medley.
The above setlist is from the Birmingham gig of the tour, which was recorded for the classic Uriah Heep Live double lp. I also think they played Bird of Prey at Newcastle. I particularly remember Dave Byron announcing it as “Here is an old one, probably the last time we will play this” (it wasn’t 🙂 ) The rock’n’roll medley typically contained songs like: Roll Over Beethoven; Blue Suede Shoes; Mean Woman Blues; Hound Dog; At The Hop; Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On. And we all sang along. Happy happy days.
1 Dec
Ultravox Whitley Bay Ice Rink 4th Nov 1986
Ultravox Whitley Bay Ice Rink 4th Nov 1986
The U-Vox tour
The tour was sponsored by Harp lager and support came from Zerra One.
U-Vox was Ultravox’s eight studio album and continued the movement to a straight rock and pop sound. The album was their least successful by most measures, and it was criticised by the media, the fans, and later by the band itself, Midge Ure declaring it “unfocused”. The band sacked their drummer Warren Cann, and replaced him with Mark Brzezicki from Big Country. The band embarked on a tour to promote the album, but it was the beginning of the end, and they split in 1988. The tour saw them playing in arenas; in the north east they played the cavernous, cold, Whitley Bay Ice Rink, which could accommodate more people than the City Hall, but was not by any means the best venue for a rock concert. The band moved away from large gothic stage sets, choosing to stage a more straightforward rock show this time around.
SetList: Same Old Story; The Voice; New Europeans; Sweet Surrender; White China; Dream On; All in One Day; Time to Kill; All Stood Still; Hymn; Lament; Vienna; Passing Strangers; The Prize; One Small Day; Love’s Great Adventure
Encore: Dancing With Tears in My Eyes; All Fall Down
Writing this blog helps refresh my memory about the bands who I have seen in the past. Writing about Ultravox is a good example. I’d forgotten how many times I’d seen the band, and how much I enjoyed their music and their concerts. Both versions of the and were impressive in their own way. The first, John Foxx fronted, Ultravox! were very different to anyone else around at the time, and were a cool, dark, electronic synth band. I remember in particular their performance at Reading in 1978. And will also connect the later, Midge Ure fronted, Ultravox with “Vienna”, dry ice, and gothic stage sets. Happy days that I had put to the back of my mind and almost forgotten. Tomorrow I will start to write about a band who I remember very well, the mighty Uriah Heep. I’ll make my apologies now, it could be a bit of a marathon….
30 Nov
Ultravox Newcastle City Hall 19th May 1984
Ultravox Newcastle City Hall 19th May 1984
Support from Messengers
Ultravox’s 1984 tour was to promote “Lament” which is their seventh studio album. “Lament” was another big success, reaching No.8 on the UK album chart and achieving a gold record. By this time the band were starting to move away from synthpop, going in a more mainstream pop direction, with more guitar-oriented rock songs. The album featured three singles, including the big hit “Dancing with Tears in My Eyes”. The 1984 tour was called the “Set Movements” tour and once again included two sold-out concerts at Newcastle. I attended the second night. The tour was sponsored by Levis. The tour programme has a completely black rough-textured cover and features some quite arty and very posed photographs of the band. The Ultravox tours of this time featured massive gothic stage sets with quite dark moody themes and images, and lots of dry-ice. They were quite spectacular, and always good fun.
Setlist: Man of Two Worlds; Passing Strangers; We Stand Alone; New Europeans; I Remember (Death in the Afternoon); Visions in Blue; Heart of the Country; Western Promise; Vienna; Reap the Wild Wind; We Came to Dance; White China; One Small Day; Hymn; The Voice
Encore: Lament; Dancing With Tears in My Eyes
Later that year Midge wrote and commandeered the Band Aid single with Bob Geldof. I saw Ultravox at the Live Aid concert at Wembley Stadium where they played a short four song set: Reap the Wild Wind; Dancing With Tears in My Eyes; One Small Day and of course Vienna.
I saw Ultravox on one further occasion, which I will write about tomorrow before moving on to blog about, I think, Uriah Heep.
28 Nov
Ultravox Newcastle City Hall 24th Sep 1981
Ultravox Newcastle City Hall 24th Sep 1981
Support from Eddie and Sunshine (Eddie Maelov and Sunshine Patterson ex Gloria Mundi)
Ultravox! – John Foxx + Midge Ure = New Revitalised Ultravox = Vienna = Mega Success
So Ultravox regrouped with their new ( ex Slik ex Rich Kid) Midge, became a cool new romantic pop band and produced one of the greatest singles of the 80s. “Vienna”. Dark, brooding, gothic. The ultimate in 80s synth pop. The moody video. It was worth going to see them just for that one song.
Ultravox live = Vienna = lots of dry ice = very much of its time. Wonderful.
“We walked in the cold air.
Freezing breath on a window plane.
Lying and waiting. A man in the dark in a picture frame.
So mystic and soulful. A voice reaching out in a piercing cry.
It stays with you until the feeling has gone,
Only you and I. It means nothing to me.
This means nothing to me.
Oh, Vienna” (Vienna, Ultravox, 1981)
Setlist: The Thin Wall; New Europeans; Sleepwalk; I Remember (Death in the Afternoon); Stranger Within; Mr. X; Rage in Eden; Accent on Youth/The Ascent; Your Name (Has Slipped My Mind Again); Vienna; Passionate Reply; Passing Strangers; We Stand Alone; All Stood Still
Encore: The Voice
27 Nov
Ultravox! 1977 & 1978
Ultravox! 1977 & 1978
Early Ultravox! were quite different from the Midge Ure fronted band who produced Vienna. I saw the band on a few occasions:
16th April 1977 Middlesbrough Rock Garden
27th August 1977 Reading Festival (low down on the Saturday bill)
5th Feb 1978 Redcar Coatham Bowl
25th August Reading Festival (special guests on the Friday, appearing second on the bill to headliners The Jam)
I may also have seen them at Newcastle Mayfair, but can’t be sure.
The line-up of the band was John Foxx (lead vocals), Chris Cross (bass), Stevie Shears (guitar, replaced by Robin Simon in 1978), Billy Currie (keyboards, synthesisers, violin) and Warren Cann (drums). They recorded three albums: Ultravox!, Ha!-Ha!-Ha! And Systems of Romance. By their third album they had dropped the ! from their name. Ultravox! were an interesting band. Live they appeared a mix of Roxy, Bowie and Kraftwerk, combining glam and pop with punk and electronica. John Foxx was a charismatic and enigmatic front man, sometimes punky, sometimes robotic, always interesting. Foxx’s real name is Dennis Leigh, he chose the stage persona of John Foxx, saying: “Foxx is much more intelligent than I am, better looking, better lit. A kind of naively perfected entity. He’s just like a recording, where you can make several performances until you get it right – or make a composite of several successful sections, then discard the rest.” In 1979 Foxx left the band, who recruited Midge Ure and became a new entity.
Setlist Reading 1977: ROckwrok; Slip Away; The Frozen Ones; Distant Smile; Young Savage; My Sex; Wide Boys; Saturday Night in the City of the Dead; Artificial Life; The Wild, the Beautiful and the Damned; Fear in the Western World
26 Nov
U2 Twickenham Stadium London 18th June 2005
U2 Twickenham Stadium London 18th June 2005
The Vertigo Tour
Support Acts: Doves, Athlete
It was 18 years since I last saw U2 and I figured it was about time that I went to see them again. Marie, David and Laura also fancied seeing them so, knowing that demand for tickets would be huge, I joined the fan club to get a chance of presale tickets. Tickets bought, we went to London for the weekend for the concert. Our presale tickets got us seats at the side of the stage looking down on the band, and in a spot where the sound wasn’t good. The joys of stadium gigs. Nevertheless we all enjoyed the concert; so many classics and Bono on good form. It was great to hear old songs like I Will Follow again.
We saw U2 again one month later at the Live 8 concert in Hyde park, which I must write about some time soon. Their short set that day featured four songs: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (with Paul McCartney); Beautiful Day (including a short snippet of the Beatles’ Blackbird); Vertigo; and One (including a snippet of Unchained Melody).
Setlist: Vertigo; I Will Follow; The Electric Co. / Bullet With Butterfly Wings (snippet) / I Can See For Miles (snippet); Elevation; New Year’s Day; Beautiful Day / Here Comes The Sun (snippet); I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For; All I Want Is You; City Of Blinding Lights; Miracle Drug; Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own / No Regrets (snippet); Love And Peace Or Else; Sunday Bloody Sunday; Bullet The Blue Sky / The Hands That Built America (snippet) / When Johnny Comes Marching Home (snippet) / Please (snippet); Running To Stand Still; Pride (In The Name Of Love); Where The Streets Have No Name; One
Encore(s): Zoo Station; The Fly; Mysterious Ways; Yahweh; Vertigo
25 Nov
Procol Harum Dominion Theatre London 24 November 2014
Procol Harum Dominion Theatre London 24 November 2014
Friday Night is Music Night (for BBC Radio 2)
Last night Procol Harum performed for ‘Friday Night Is Music Night’. The performance will be broadcast shortly on Radio 2. This special event took place at the Dominion Theatre in London, and Procol Harum were accompanied by the sixty piece BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by David Firman and the forty voice Crouch End Festival Chorus.
The current line-up of the band is founder member, singer/pianist and composer Gary Brooker, Matt Pegg on bass, Geoff Dunn on drums, and Josh Phillips on keyboards and Hammond organ. Their usual guitarist Geoff Whitehorn had been taken unwell a few days ago and was replaced at very short notice by Dave Colquhoun of Rick Wakeman’s band who did exceptionally well, having learnt the set in two days, and who was himself suffering from a broken ankle and walking on crutches. Procol Harum dont play in their home country very often these days, and it is many years since they have performed a symphonic set in the UK.
The venue for this unique concert was the Dominion theatre, a beautiful 2,000 seater hall, which sits at the end of Oxford Street in Tottenham Court Road, and has for the past 12 years been the home of Queen’s We Will Rock You musical. The concert was sold out, with Procol Harum fans travelling from around the world to experience this performance.
The orchestra and choir filled the entire stage, and a small stage had been constructed for the band, just above the orchestra pit. The concert started at 7.30pm sharp, with the familiar chords of Homburg and the opening line “Your multilingual business friend, Has packed her bags and fled” filling the theatre and sending shivers down our spines. Songs like these were written to be performed with orchestral accompaniment, and Gary Brooker’s voice rang strong and clear above the majesty of the music. A perfect opening song. This was followed by Simple Sister from 1971’s Broken Barricades, and Grand Hotel from the 1973 album of the same name. Gary explained how, at the of the album’s release the band would stay in the best hotels, eat in the best restaurant, and travel in limousines, and joked that for this concert he came on the tube, ate a takeaway burger, and that they had to finish the show on time so that he could catch the last train home. This was followed by Fires (Which Burnt Brightly) which is also from Grand Hotel. Next was Misssing Person, which is a Brooker solo track, and was performed by the band only, sans orchestra . Broken Barricades was then followed by Sympathy for the Hard of Hearing, which Gary dedicated to those who have fought for their country. The first set closed with an epic version of A Salty Dog which Gary dedicated to Alvin Stardust, Jack Bruce, and also to Geoff Whitehorn who was apparently texting his best wishes to the band from his hospital bed, and was surely there in spirit.
After a short interval the concert resumed. The second half started with a second attempt of the opening section of A Salty Dog, to remedy ‘a technical fault’ for the purposes of the recording for radio, although I am sure none of us had noticed any technical fault the first time round. This was followed by Wall Street Blues (band only), Something Magic, Nothing But the Truth and Into the Flood. The Gary announced the song that “started it all for us in 1967” which sounded just great, with a strong passionate vocal performance by Gary and Josh on Hammond, recreating the texture and sound of the Hammond solos to perfection. The song received an amazing reception from the audience with applause which seemed to go for ever and a standing ovation with the who,e theatre on their feet. Amazing. 
The concert closed with An Old English Dream, and The Blink of an Eye (Gary explained how the song was written about 9/11, how the band would often talk to the New York fireman as they passed by the fore station, and how many of those men lost their lives). The encore was Conquistador. A truly epic concert. It’s a shame that Procol Harum don’t play more often in this country. Gary joked at one point that he “wasn’t sure if the band would make their 50th”. I’m sure they will, and based on this performance they continue to go from strength to strength.
Setlist: Homburg; Simple Sister; Grand Hotel; Fires (Which Burnt Brightly); Missing Person; Broken Barricades; Sympathy for the Hard of Hearing; A Salty Dog
Interval
A Salty Dog opening; Wall Street Blues; Something Magic; Nothing But the Truth; Into the Flood; A Whiter Shade of Pale; An Old English Dream; The Blink of an Eye; Grand Finale
Encore: Conquistador
Stayed at David and Shauna’s and I’m typing this on the train back home.
Vintagerock's Weblog. 