Roy Harper Knebworth 5th July 1975
The next time I saw Roy Harper was at the Knebworth Festival in 1975. This one day event was headlined by Pink Floyd, with appearances by the Steve Miller Band, Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, Linda Lewis and Graham Chapman (Monty Python) and friends, with DJ for the day John Peel. I’ll blog about the full event on another day, probably when I come to write about Pink Floyd, but I wanted to write here about my memories of Roy from that day. Roy was a strong favourite of mine by this time, so I made sure that I had a good view for his set. His band in 1975 was called Trigger and featured Chris Spedding on guitar (ex Jack Bruce band, and Pete Brown’s Battered Ornaments and to go on to further solo success), Dave Cochrane on bass (Dave stayed with Roy for a number of years) and Bill Bruford on drums (ex Yes and King Crimson). Setlists from the day suggest that Roy played: Commune; Twelve Hours of Sunset; Another Day; Electric; Hallucinating Light; Referendum; Highway Blues; Too Many Movies; The Spirit Lives; Home; The Game; Grown Ups Are Just Silly Children. By now Another Day was a favourite of mine, along with Highway Blues. I think I remember Jesus dancing at the front for Roy’s set. If he wasn’t he should have been. It was one of those hippy days. Roy was back on stage later in the day with headliners Pink Floyd to sing vocals on Have a Cigar. I saw Roy appear once more at Knebworth, when Genesis headlined in 1978. He was a big favourite with the festival crowds, and always seemed at ease, even in front of 100,000 people. He would chat away quite naturally to us all, and always had something entertaining and interesting to say.
Posts Tagged ‘folk’
2 Apr
Roy Harper Knebworth 5th July 1975
1 Apr
Roy Harper and friends Hyde Park free concert August 31st 1974
The cover of my copy of The Passions Of Great Fortune Lyric Book
Hyde Park free concert August 31st 1974
Line-up: Roger McGuinn, Roy Harper and Friends, Julie Felix, Chilli Willi and the Red Hot Peppers, Kokomo, Toots and The Maytals.
I’d just got back from the Reading festival, which was headlined by Traffic and Alex Harvey, a few days earlier, and quite fancied going to another open air event. My mate Will was up for going to this free Hyde Park concert on Saturday, so we decided to hitch down to London after going to the local Mecca ballroom on Friday night. Around midnight we hitched a lift to the A1 at Durham and started to make our way down south. It took us all night to get down to London, but we made it by early morning. We had some crazy lifts along the way, including one in the back of an army jeep driven by a couple of squaddies who took a dislike to us (we jumped out of the jeep at a service station and started to hitch again), and another with a guy who was totally spaced out of his brain (he told us he had been taking acid) and was speeding through the centre of some strange town (I think it may have been Nottingham) driving through red lights and singing at the top of his voice. Our last lift was from a kind old couple who gave us something to eat and took us into London. When we arrived we took the tube out to Wembley so that I could buy tickets for Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young who were appearing at Wembley Stadium a couple of weeks later. We then went to Hyde Park for the concert, where we ran into a few other boys we knew from the town. I don’t remember much about the first few acts, but do remember being impressed by Julie Felix. Her set featured the excellent Ollie Halsall from Patto on guitar, and we all sang along to Going to the Zoo. There was much anticipation for Roy Harper’s set that day, and much speculation about exactly who might be guesting with him. Roy came on stage late on the afternoon and introduced his friends for the day: Dave Gilmour on guitar, John Paul Jones on bass, and Steve Broughton on drums. A recording of the epic Harper song The Game exists from the concert, with some great guitar work from Gilmour. My memory is a little hazy (it is almost 40 years….) and I don’t recall exactly what else was played, although I think Roy performed I Hate the White Man, but I do remember it being a great set. Roger McGuinn was headlining and played a set of classic Byrds songs. We left before the end of his set to get to the motorway before the rest of the crowds, and took the tube to Hendon to pick up the M1 junction and hitch back up north. Our journey back home took ages. We managed to get back to the A1(M) Bishop Auckland turn-off by Sunday afternoon and stood for hours without so much as a sniff of a lift. So we walked into Bishop Auckland to see if we could get a bus home. Sadly we’d missed the last bus and had hardly any money anyway so we decided to try to walk home. We popped into a pub somewhere near Spennymoor for a glass of water (as we didn’t have enough for a drink) only to find a group of guys from Sunderland in the back room. I have never been happier to see some familiar faces; they gave us a lift home at closing time! So we arrived back home some 48 hours after we set off, having had no sleep at all, and very hungry. The crazy things you do when you are young. Still I’m pleased I went to this event; it was good to see Roy. I have a copy of the recording of the Game from that day. Its pretty rough, but brings back some great memories when I play it. Happy days.
31 Mar
Roy Harper : my early gig experiences and Newcastle City Hall 1974
I’m going to spend a few days this week blogging about Roy Harper. I’ve become a bit of a fan of Roy’s over the year, which sort of crept up on me without me realising it. Roy has always been there as part of my concert experience, someone who seemed to just pop up and play at many of the festivals I went to in the 70s, and someone that I went to see now and then as an act in his own right. In recent years however I’ve begun to reflect on just how important Roy Harper and his music is to me and, I’m sure, to a lot of other people.
My concert journey with Roy Harper started with the first ever rock concert I attended, which was a Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band concert at Sunderland Empire on 8th March 1969. The support acts that night were Mad Dog, Yes and Roy. I was sitting in the front row directly in front of Roy that night. He was sitting on a high stool, sporting what seemed to me to be incredibly long hair, a pair of beat up old jeans and a pair of big Dr Martin boots. I think he sang Hells Angels, Nobodies Got Any Money in the Summer, and I Hate The White Man. I knew Nobodies Got Any Money in the Summer from the Rock Machine Turns You On sampler lp. 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. It was that authenticity and naturalness that struck me. With Roy what you see is what you get; he always speaks and sings from the heart and is never frightened to tell it as it is.
I saw Roy as support act at a few more gigs, and at a few of the Knebworth festivals in the 70s. My friend’s brother had the Flat Baroque and Berserk album and I used to go around to his house to listen to it. Our favourite tracks were I Hate the White Man, Another Day and Tom Tiddler’s Ground. The ticket here is from a gig at Newcastle City Hall in 1974. The wonderful Me and My Woman was featuring as a highlight of his live performances at this time. This Newcastle concert came one month after Roy’s legendary London Rainbow Theatre show which took place on February 14 (Valentine’s Day) 1974, where he was backed by guests including Jimmy Page, Keith Moon and Ronnie Lane. I went along to the City Hall in the hope that similar guests might grace the stage that night. I don’t recall who the guests were but they weren’t the same guys who played with Roy at the Rainbow. None the less it was still a great gig.
And so my lifelong fascination with the words, music anecdotes and philosophies of Roy Harper began. Over the years I’ve seen lots of faces of Roy: Roy the angry young man (late 60s and early 70s), Roy the festival hippy and raconteur, Roy the face of the alternative counter culture, Roy the electric rock star, and in more recent years the reflective Roy, looking back at his songs, his career and life in general; Roy the wise elder statesman of music. I’m going to write a little about each of these faces over the next few days.
22 Mar
Steve Howe in concert 1994 and 2010
Steve Howe in concert 1994 and 2010
Steve Howe is an excellent guitarist with his own, very individual style. He cites several guitarists as influences including Les Paul, Barney Kessel and Chet Atkins. When I first saw Steve in Yes in 1971 I was struck by the Gibson ES-175D that he was playing. About this guitar, Howe said: “No one was playing archtop, hollowbody guitars in a rock band. People laughed at me and thought I was really snooty. To me, it was an object of art, it wasn’t just a guitar”. I was blown away by his performance of “The Clap” that night, and have remained a fan ever since. The way that he blends jazz and classical influences with rock defines his uniques style. A few years later I was equally impressed by “Mood for a Day”. I spent ages trying to learn to play it, and never got past the first few minutes. 
I have seen Steve twice in solo concert, both times with my mate Will. The first time was a concert in a small room in South Shields Temple Park Leisure centre, with support from Isaac Gullory. The second was at the Sage more recently when he performed with the Steve Howe trio which features his son Dylan Howe on drums and Ross Stanley on Hammond organ. The trio is very jazz oriented, but still perform versions of some Yes classics. For me a Steve Howe concert isn’t complete without “The Clap” or “Mood for a Day” (and ideally both!).
8 Mar
Horslips Newcastle Polytechnic 10 February 1978
Horslips Newcastle Polytechnic 1978
This gig was at the time of Horslips The Man who built America lp. I think I may have seen the band in the early 70s at a festival or two (Buxton I think) but this was the first time I went to see Horslips in their own headlining concert. I’d heard their seminal lp The Tain, and was blown away by it. If you haven’t heard of Horslips these guys were poineers of Irish celtic rock, blending traditional Irish music with rock. They have been cited as influences on many bands which were to follow including U2, and others. From a scholarly work by John Murphy: “They inspired the likes of U2 and the Irish punk and new-wave rock musicians who followed them, and without the pioneering efforts of Horslips, Irish music and culture today may never have reached its current success, three decades later.” (Estudios Irlandeses, Number 3, 2008, pp. 132-142). Horslips in concert were everything I expected and better; great Irish rhythms, catchy pop/rock songs. This was a major tour for the band, possibly the biggest they ever did in the UK, taking in large concert halls such as Glasgow Apollo and Hammersmith Odeon, and an appearance on the Old Grey Whistle Test. The programme declares that it was the “American Tour”, but this was simply a play on words taken from the title of their album of the time. cI’ve always fancied seeing the band again, but have never had the chance to do so. I know that they recently reformed, so perhaps I’ll get the chance to go to another Horslips concert one day.
14 Feb
David Gates 1980 and 2001
David Gates 1980 and 2001
I’ve already blogged on David Gates alongside Bread, but I found a programme in my collection that I hadn’t scanned at the time, so I decided to include it today for completeness and as an excuse for writing a little more about David and his songs. David has written some great songs including the Bread classics: Make It With You; Baby I’m-A Want You; Guitar Man; Everything I Own; and If. What I didn’t realise was that he also wrote Saturday’s Child for the Monkees. Saturday’s Child appears on the Monkees first lp, and is one of their better album tracks. In the TV series our heroes Monkee around on the beach in a dune buggy, motorbikes, and the Monkeemobile! Happy memories. The last time I saw David Gates in concert was at a gig at Newcastle Tyne Theatre which Marie and I went to ten or more years ago. He was on good form, and sang all the classic Bread songs, as you would expect.
6 Feb
Jake Bugg Newcastle Academy 5 Feb 2013
Newcastle Academy 5 Feb 2013 Jake Bugg
Last night David’s friend Phil and I went to see Jake Bugg, the new much hailed up-and-coming superstar troubadour. Jake is all of 18 years old, and is selling venues out up and down the country. The Academy was jam packed to the walls and had been sold out for weeks in advance. I’d read about Jake and heard some of his stuff. He wears his influences on his sleeve, and his music is very reminiscent of the 60s, Dylan, Donovan, old blues, and country. His songs are all self-penned and its hard to believe that they can come from someone so new to the music business. We arrived just in time for the support act Little Green Cars, who come from the USA and were pretty good, playing a pleasant mix of indie, folk and psych. 
The crowd gave them a warm reception, but everyone was waiting for the main man. Jake Bugg came on stage shortly after 9pm and the place just went crazy. Lots of singing along. Everyone (except me :))seemed to know all of the words to most of the songs. Phil has Jake’s album, and told me that most of the set was drawn from that, with a few new songs. He finished with Lightning Bolt, which resulted in a mass crazy singalong by the Newcastle crowd. The encore was Broken followed by a super cover of Johnny Cash’s Folsom Prison Blues. Then we all rolled out into the cold night. Phil and I both agreed that it was a great gig. This guy is amazing and has a great future ahead of him. Watch his progress; it will be rapid. Thanks to Phil for the photo; his phone camera skills are much better than mine.
3 Feb
Family London Shepherd’s Bush Empire 2 Feb 2013
Good to see Family again after 40 years
I had been looking forward to this gig for months. It is 40 years since Family last performed together and since I last saw them on their farewell tour at Newcastle City Hall in 1973. Marie decided a few days ago that she would like to come along with me, and I managed to buy a ticket for her, so we were all set for a nostalgic weekend. The last time she saw Family was probably 1969 or 1970 at Sunderland Locarno. We travelled down to London by train on Saturday morning, met up with David for a meal, and then took the tube across to Shepherd’s Bush. We had a couple of drinks in the pub next door, and went into the Empire at 8.45pm. Family were on stage prompt at the advertised time of 9.15pm. We had standing tickets down in the stalls and by the time we got into the venue the place was absolutely packed to the walls. I bought a programme and we found a spot on a little raised area at the back of the hall, where we had a good view of the stage.
The line-up for the two reunion concerts featured Roger Chapman on vocals, Poli Palmer on vibraphone, Jim Cregan on guitar and Rob Townsend of drums. The members of Family changed quite a but during their career and last night’s grouping represented a pretty good selection of past members. The one big miss was of course Charlie Whitney. I assumed that this was because of some long term fall out between old friends Chapman and Whitney, but the programme says otherwise. Apparently Whitney was the first person that Roger Chapman approached when the idea of a reunion came up, but Charlie now lives in Greece, hasn’t been involved in music for some time, and just didn’t feel as if he could do it. Shame. 
Never the less the show did go on, and the band was augmented by a number of other musicians to ensure the strange textures of the old classic songs were recreated on stage. There were 9 musicians in total on stage at Shepherd’s Bush Empire last night. As well as the four members of Family there was Geoff Whitehorn on guitar, Nick Payne on sax, flute and mouth harp, Gary Twigg on bass, Paul Hirsch on keyboards and John Lingwood on drums. The programme refers to the additional musicians as the “in laws” and they are all members of Roger’s band. The band were introduced onto the stage by long time friend and local Leicester football hero, Frank Worthington. The set was drawn from across their 8 album catalogue with all the classics and a few lesser know (at least to me) tracks. Family music was always a strange mix and difficult to categorise, blending folk, rock, psych, and blues with a deep sense of dynamics, shifting effortlessly from the soft and melodic to loud, rocky and swirling progrock or R&B. The opening song was Top of the Hill, followed by Drowned in Wine. My favourite No Mules Fool came half way through the set. As we got to the end the classics were rolled out to the delight of the largely male, balding late 50s and 60 something crowd. The last couple of songs were the rocky Burlesque, and In My Own Time. For the encore they played an exquisite version of The Weavers Answer, and then we all sang along to My Friend The Sun. Roger was as engaging as ever, a mix of the wild rock singer, the cheeky arrogant front man, and still getting lost in some weird crazy dancing at times. 
His voice was strong, but has lost a little of its power and the warbling vibrato is perhaps not quite as evident. But hey the guy is 70 and he gave it his all and put in an amazing performance. His crack with the crowd was as cheeky and friendly as ever, like he was with a group of old friends, which of course he was. Time and age haven’t dimmed his humour or his ability to eff and blind with the best of the them. He also made a few quips about effing Whitney sunning himself in Greece, clearly missing his old friend. At the end Roger thanked us and assured us that this was to be the last effing time we would see Family. We all rolled out into the cold night, warm in the knowledge that we had just spent a night with some old friends, and a good night it was too. Marie enjoyed it and recognised the well known songs. Next reunion gig for me is the Status Quo Frantic Four gigs next month. There are some good things about getting old and revisiting your past.
Setlist: Top of the Hill; Drowned in Wine; Holding the Compass; Part of the Load; Ready to Go; Crinkly Grin; Burning Bridges; No Mule’s Fool; Sat’dy Barfly; Between Blue and Me; Hung Up Down; Burlesque; In My Own Time. Encore 1: Weaver’s Answer. Encore 2: My Friend the Sun; Sweet Desiree.
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!”
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