Peter Green Splinter group
When I was getting into music in the 60s I listened to a lot of white blues. Cream, Fleetwood Mac, John Mayall and Ten Years After were never off my record player back then. My guitar heroes were Clapton, Alvin Lee, Frank Zappa and Peter Green. I would listen to Greeny and The Supernatural again and again, trying to learn how to play them on a cheap Zenta guitar. There was a feel and a tone about Peter Green’s playing which gave it an atmospheric quality unlike any of the other guitar greats of the day. And those early Mac singles: Albatross, Man of the World, Green Manalishi, Need your Love so bad; Black Magic Woman all classics. By the time I got to see Fleetwood Mac in the early 70s Peter Green had sadly gone on his well publicised journey into the wilderness of his own mind. The world had lost a guitar genius, and I truly thought we would never see him reemerge from his darkness. But, in the late 90s Peter did return to gigging as a member of the Splinter Group, coaxed out of seclusion by long time collaborator and fellow lead guitarist Nigel Watson, and with Cozy Powell on drums. I first saw the Splinter Group with my mate Will at a packed gig at Redcar Coatham Bowl. This was the first time that we had been to the Coatham Bowl to see a band for many years, and it was great that we were going go see a hero of ours. Peter and the Splinter group played a set which drew from blues classics and from his old Fleetwood Mac days. I am afraid my memory fails me as to the exact set, but I think they played Need your Love so bad, Oh Well, Albatross and Black Magic Woman. It was just great to see Peter and hear him play in such a small venue. I was quite apprehensive about the gig, and didn’t really know what to expect. Peter seemed to be in good spirits, and although at times it was clear that he was less than comfortable as a front man, glimpses of the old Peter Green came through from time to time, and his guitar playing was fine and at times as fluid and beautiful as ever. Nigel Watson was by his side, watching over him and at times stepping in to sing or take the lead guitar parts. A great gig. We saw Peter Green play again a few years later on a bill headed by John Mayall at Sunderland Empire. I also had a ticket to see him play at the Colne Blues Festival a couple of years ago, but sadly he pulled out as he was again unwell. I hope that Peter is doing OK and perhaps there will be a chance to see him again in the future.
Posts Tagged ‘concerts’
26 Jan
Peter Green Splinter Group Redcar Bowl 1996
25 Jan
Gordon Giltrap Newcastle City Hall November 1978
Gordon Giltrap Newcastle City Hall November 1978
Gordon Giltrap was back at the City Hall in November 1978, 8 months after his previous appearance. I enjoyed the March gig so much that I went along to see him again. By now he had released Fear of the Dark, which completed the trilogy of albums he had started with the “Visionary” album. From Gordon’s website: “Following on from the success of the chart single and album Perilous Journey, Gordon set out on a major tour with a full band to promote Fear Of The Dark. Fear of the Dark was the first of Giltrap’s hit albums, and it is easy to see why: layered guitars, keyboards and a string section to give it a lush sound. 
For an ex-folkie it is surprising that these albums didn’t draw on traditional music, like Oldfield did, but went for something a lot grander. The extra tracks on this album include a pretty fine version of Peter Green’s Oh Well, and the single version of Fear of the Dark.” I haven’t seen Gordon in concert since these gigs in 1978. He is still playing and touring, and is another artist to add to my list of people I need to see again. My memories of the gigs are of joyous symphonic prog rock, with amazing guitar from Gordon and a lot of keyboards. Most of the songs were instrumentals, which I would usually find boring, but the quality of the music was such that I stayed interested and entertained throughout.
24 Jan
Gordon Giltrap Newcastle City Hall March 1978
Gordon Giltrap Newcastle City Hall March 1978
Gordon Giltrap came out of the folk scene of the 1960s. In 1976 he released the album Visionary, based on the art and poetry of William Blake. He then formed the Gordon Giltrap Band which featured Gordon on guitars, Rod Edwards on keyboards, John Perry on bass, and Simon Phillips on drums. His March 1978 tour came between the Perilous Journey and Fear of the Dark albums, which completed his trilogy of largely instrumental albums. The concert was a showcase for Gordon’s considerable guitar skills. 
Gordon’s music mixed folk, classical and rock styles to create a form of symphonic progressive rock, in some ways similar to the work of Mike Oldfield on Tubular Bells. Giltrap also enjoyed chart success in the form of ‘Heartsong’ (from the album ‘Perilous Journey’ in 1977), the theme for the BBC TV’s long running ‘Holiday’ programme. Ritchie Blackmore is quoted as saying: “Anyone who asks me knows, that I think that Gordon Giltrap is one of the best acoustic guitar players in the world.He gave me lots of hints on how to approach the acoustic guitar as opposed to the electric guitar. He was always way ahead of his time. His concerts and playing are breathtaking. He’s also very witty, and I love the fact that he has not cut his hair!”
23 Jan
Gillan Newcastle City Hall 30th October 1982
Gillan Newcastle City Hall 30th October 1982
Gillan were to visit Newcastle City Hall for the last time on 30th October 1982. I’d seen the band earlier in the year at the Donington Monsters of Rock bonanza, where they took the second spot on a strong rock bill headlined by Status Quo. Gillan’s set at Donington was: What’s The Matter; Bluesy Blue Sea; Black Night; No Laughing In Heaven; Trouble; Born To Kill; M.A.D. (Mutually Assured Destruction); Living For The City; Vengeance; Bite The Bullet; No Easy Way; New Orleans; Smoke On The Water. The 1982 Gillan tour was to promote the Magic album, which was to be the band’s last. Support came from upcoming NWOBHM band Spider, who were much more boogie than heavy metal, and were often compared to Status Quo. Gillan split shortly after this tour, when Ian Gillan took the suprising step of joining Black Sabbath as vocalist. 
Looking back on these concert experiences over the last few days has made me realise just how much fun I had at Gillan gigs. In fact I have probably seen them just as many times as I have seen Deep Purple, albeit within a much more concentrated period of 5 years. Gillan were, for a few short years in the late 70s and early 80s, a really credible and great rock band, who managed to blend the traditions of classic rock ala Purple, with the spirit of NWOBHM, and a sprinkling of new wave in the form of Bernie Torme. They never took themselves too seriously, and were a collection of five strong musicians and individuals. Reflecting on a band for a few days, and in Gillan’s case it has been a week, usually leaves me with some unfinished business to follow up. This often involves promising myself I will try to see the band again, which for Gillan is not possible (although I do look forward to the next time Purple play in the UK). In Gillan’s case I realise that I only have one of their albums, Future Shock, so I have promised myself that I will look for a copy of Glory Road (I am watching a copy on ebay which is currently at 99p 🙂 ). Anyway, I have enjoyed writing about Gillan, and refecting on the fine nights of rock I enjoyed with them. Time to move on to another band tomorrow.
22 Jan
Gillan Newcastle City Hall 13th Nov 1981
Gillan Newcastle City Hall 13th Nov 1981
Support: Budgie and Nightwing
Gillan were back at Newcastle City Hall in November 1981, this time with local guitar hero Janick Gers who had joined the band as replacement for Bernie Torme. Looking back, Bernie’s departure probably was a sign that all was not well in the band, and it was perhaps inevitable that they were soon to split up. The new line up released the album Double Trouble shortly after Janick joined. Double Trouble was, as its name suggests, a double album, with one disc recorded in the studio, and the other recorded live. Janick Gers hailed form the North East, and was well know to the Newcastle rock crowd as the guitarist in local band White Spirit who had gigged consistently throughout the region in the late 70s and early 80s. 
Janick was a more than adequate replacement for Bernie. What was lost in terms of punk rock swagger and guitar heroics, was more than compensated for by Gers’ technical guitar wizardry and his more traditional rock star stance. The local crowd gave him a great reception that night, and the concert was as good as ever. Gers was, of course, to go on to much greater success with Iron Maiden. Support acts for this tour were rock stawlwarts Budgie, and Nightwing. Budgie has just released their ninth album Nighflight, and their line-up at the time was original member Burke Shelley – vocals, bass guitar; John Thomas – guitar; and Steve Williams – drums. Budgie retained their own strong following in Newcastle, had headlined the City Hall and the Mayfair themselves in previous years, and were quite a “big” name support act. I was to see Gillan once more at the City Hall in the following year, before the band split. I’ll blog on that gig tomorrow, which will be my final Gillan post.
21 Jan
Gillan Newcastle City Hall 8th March 1981
Gillan Newcastle City Hall 8th March 1981
Support Dedringer
Gillan were back in Newcastle to play at the City Hall in the Spring of 1981. They were now touring twice a year, and to be honest they were perhaps playing just a little too much. Still, I knew a Gillan gig would always be good fun, so I continued to support them and went along to every show they played in Newcastle. This time they were touring in support Future Shock, which was their third and most successful album, reaching number 2 in the UK album chart. Future Shock contained their cover version of the old song New Orleans, which was to become a live favourite, and hit the charts around the time of this tour. Gillan had already hit the charts with a rather tongue in cheek cover of Elvis’ Trouble, and New Orleans followed the same formula. In fact Gillan had quite a few chart hits at this time, resulting in frequent appearances on Top Of The Pops. 
Gillan appearances on Top of the Pops opened up a new more mainstream audience for the band, and were pretty hammed up performances. Support on the Spring 1981 tour came from Dedringer, a heavy rock band from Leeds. Although they never had any great success, Dedringer toured the UK quite a lot, supporting Gillan, Triumph and the Michael Schenker Group. This was the last time that I saw Gillan with Bernie Torme in the ranks. Torme walked out of the band after a German tour, just as the band were due to return home and play on Top of the Pops. He was replaced by White Spirit guitarist Janick Gers. The band hardly stopped for breath, and didn’t let the change of guitarist slow them done, with 1981 proving to be their most prolific yet in terms of recording output and touring.
20 Jan
Gillan Newcastle Mayfair Wed 1 Oct 1980
Gillan Newcastle Mayfair Wed 1 Oct 1980
Support: White Spirit and Quartz
By late 1980 Gillan were pretty hot stuff live and a very popular rock act, having work hard over the last year with constant touring; a couple of great performances at Reading in 1979 and 1980, and the release of the Glory Road album. Glory Road came as a limited edition double LP, containing the free LP For Gillan Fans Only, and got to No 3 in the UK charts. This tour saw Gillan returning to the Mayfair ballroom. They were now at the peak of their success, to the extent that they played two nights at the venue. I went the first night; the place was packed to the walls and Gillan were just amazing. Of all the times I saw them this is the one that sticks out in mind as a great classic rock performance. The heaving Mayfair rock crowd gave them a great reception. I guess Gillan were one the favourite Mayfair bands at that time, along with AC/DC and possibly Motorhead. 
Support came from local NWOBHM act White Spirit, who featured ace guitarist Janick Gers, and had their own strong local following. They were also growing a national following, and like Gillan, they also played at the Reading Festival that year. Janick was, of course, to go on to join Gillan and ultimately Iron Maiden, who he remains with to this day. The bill was completed by Quartz who had supported Sabbath and gigged a lot during the 70s, playing Reading in 1976, 1977 and 1980. Setlist: What’s the Matter; Bluesy Blue Sea; Black Night; (always my Purple favourite, and still gives me goose bumps when I hear it); Trouble; Born to Kill; M.A.D. (Mutually Assured Destruction); Hadely Bop Bop; No Laughing in Heaven; Dead of Night; Bite the Bullet; Smoke on the Water; New Orleans; Helter Skelter (Yes; the Beatles song!)
19 Jan
Gillan Newcastle City Hall 6th March 1980
Gillan Newcastle City Hall March 1980
Support The Broughtons
By 1980 Gillan had graduated to playing at the City Hall for their next visit to Newcastle. Gillan had, of course, played this great venue on a number of occasions with Deep Purple. This was a short nine date UK tour which ended at London’s prestigious Rainbow Theatre. The pictures on the front and back cover of the programme were taken at the previous year’s Reading Festival , where I had seen Gillan go down a storm. I found a setlist for the Manchester gig, which lists the songs played as: Second Sight; Unchain Your Brain; Are You Sure; Mr. Universe; If You Believe Me; Trouble; No Easy Way; Nervous; Vengeance; Sleeping on the Job; and Smoke on the Water. 
Support on this occasion was the Broughtons, which was the latest incarnation of the Edgar Broughton Band. I have been a big Edgar Broughton band since I first saw them in 1971, and remain a fan to this day. I went along to this Gillan gig with my mate Dave not knowing who the support act was going to be, and was really pleased when I saw the Broughtons listed in the programme. So we gave the bar a miss, and watched Edgar (Rob), Steve and Arthur Grant deliver their set. This was at the time of the Parlez-Vous English? album, and the band was augmented by an additional guitarist and keyboards. The Broughtons played all knew material, which was disappointing, but it was still great to see Edgar and the guys on stage again. Gillan were soon to record the Glory Road lp, which was one of their best and most successful albums, and returned to Newcastle later in the year to promote it.
18 Jan
Gillan Newcastle Mayfair 5th Oct 1979
Gillan Newcastle Mayfair 5th Oct 1979
Support: Samson; Speedometors (according to the programme); Randy California (according to the ticket)
By 1979 the Gillan band had transformed into a much more rocky combo featuring Gillan (of course) on crazy, screaming vocals, the powerhouse man mountain John McCoy on bass, the charismatic Irish guitar wizard Bernie Torme, Colin Towns (from the Ian Gillan Band) on keyboards, and Mick Underwood (who I saw in Strapps as Gillan’s support act a couple of years before) on drums. The Mr Universe album had just been released. This was the Gillan line-up that was to become a familiar feature of festivals and concert halls for the next couple of years. And it was very much a band with three strong front men in the form of Gillan, John McCoy and Bernie Torme; all of whom had their own very different personalities and stage personas. McCoy would prowl around the stage, growling at the front rows of the audience. Torme mixed punk attitude with an almost glamrock image, and some amazingly flashy guitar heroics. I’m pretty sure I saw Bernie Torme once or twice fronting his own punk band, and I remember being quite surprised when he joined Gillan, but the mix worked well. Ian Gillan was the respected classic rock front man, shaking his long hair, and screaming out the vocals. 
Going along to a Gillan gig was a guarantee of a night of good fun; proper rock, loud music, some humour, some new songs and a few Purple classics. And at least once in the night, Ian would give out a scream that tore your ears apart and seemed to go on for ever. This gig presents yet another conundrum to tax my memory (which as usual fails me). The programme lists the support acts as Samson and the Speedometors, while the ticket says it was Samson and ex-spirit man and Hendrix disciple Randy California. I can’t recall who actually played that night. I certainly remember seeing Samson a few times. They featured Bruce Bruce (aka Bruce Dickinson and soon to be of Iron Maiden) on vocals, Paul Samson on guitar, and Thunderstick on drums, who word a mask and performed from inside a cage. John McCoy and Bernie Torme had both been members of earlier incarnations of the band. I don’t know who the Speedometors were, but they look pretty punky from the picture in the programme. I also saw Randy California a number of times, but I don’t recall if this was one of them. Its funny how doing this blog regularly brings up mysteries for me. I also note that the ticket calls the band the Ian Gillan band, rather than Gillan; and that the price was a bargain at £2 (in advance).
17 Jan
Ian Gillan Band Middlesbrough Town Hall 15 May 1977
Gillan Middlesbrough Town Hall 15 May 1977
Support from Strapps
I didn’t realise how many times I’d seen Ian Gillan, or rather the band of his name; Gillan. I saw them at this gig at Middlesbrough Town Hall, twice at Newcastle Mayfair, four times at Newcastle City Hall, at least a couple of times at the Reading Festival, and at Donington Monsters of Rock. At the time of this Middlesbrough concert the band was called the Ian Gillan Band and the line up was Ian Gillan – vocals; Ray Fenwick – guitars; Colin Towns – keyboards; John Gustafson – bass; and Mark Nauseef – drums. The band was much more jazzy than the later Gillan, and they had just released the album Clear Air Turbulence. If you went along to Gillan concert you were always guaranteed a good fun night; some great (and very loud) classic rock, a few Purple songs, and some amazing vocals. Ian Gillan had an incredible range in those days, and would let out some unbelievable screams. The band often seemed quite tongue in cheek, and you got the sense that they didn’t take themselves that seriously. 
This was at the time of the emergence of punk, when you would imagine classic rock acts such as Gillan would struggle to fill their concerts, but heavy rock still has a strong following in the North East and there was a reasonably good turn out for this gig, which was in the main hall of Middlesbrough Town Hall. The set was drawn largely from their latest album with a few Purple classics; probably Child In Time (which was the title of the Ian Gillan Ban’s first lp), Smoke on the Water and Black Night. The members of Ian’s band came with a strong pedigree. John Gustafson had been in The Merseybeats and Quatermass; Mark Nauseef had been in Elf with Ronnie James Dio; and Ray Fenwick had replaced Steve Howe in The Syndicats. Colin Towns was the only member to stay with Ian in his next band Gillan, and is now a respected film composer. Support band Strapps also had links to Deep Purple: drummer Mick Underwood had been in Episode Six with Ian Gillan and Roger Glover in the late ’60s (and would later join Gillan), and their album was co-produced by Glover. Next I saw Gillan the band was very different, and the emphasis was much more on heavy rock. I’ll continue my recollections of Gillan gigs tomorrow.
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