Kate Bush Sunderland Empire April 12th 1979 
I nearly didn’t go to this gig, but I am so glad I did. Marie and I had tickets to see Thin Lizzy at Newcastle City Hall on the same night. I’d already bought the Thin Lizzy tickets before Kate’s gig was announced. I was quite a fan of Lizzy, and went to every tour; however I also quite fancied seeing what this strange lady singer was like. So we decided to forego the Lizzy concert (I can’t remember what I did with the tickets, I may have sold them or given them away….) and to go and see Kate Bush. [In fact, Lizzy were playing two nights, and in the end I managed to get a ticket for the alternate night, and saw Lizzy one night and Kate Bush the next. Result!] I queued for tickets at the Empire the day they went on sale. There was quite a queue when I arrived and by the time I reached the box office all I could get were a couple of seats to the rear of the circle. But never mind, we were in. 
The show itself was quite different to a normal rock show. It was very theatrical, with dancers and Kate herself doing a lot of dancing. The set featured songs from her first two lps, and the hits to date. The sound was impeccable and the performance faultless. She succeeded in bringing the concept to the stage, and blended pop/music, dance and theatre perfectly. I can picture myself now, looking down from the balcony at Kate and her dancers performing Wuthering Heights. Oh to go back in time and relive the experience. Will she ever perform in this way again. I doubt, but I hope so. If she does I will be there, no question. Setist: Moving; The Saxophone Song; Room for the Life; Them Heavy People; The Man with the Child in His Eyes; Egypt; L’amour Looks Something Like You; Violin; In the Warm Room; Fullhouse; Strange Phenomena; Hammer Horror; Kashka from Baghdad; Don’t Push Your Foot on the Heartbrake; Wow; Coffee Homeground; In Search of Peter Pan; Symphony in Blue; Feel It; Kite; James and the Cold Gun; Oh England My Lionheart; Encore: Wuthering Heights
Posts Tagged ‘folk’
1 Feb
Arthur Brown in concert 1973 – present
Arthur Brown is a total one-off. From the moment I saw the guy singing Fire on Top of the Pops in 1968, I knew he was something special. I went out and bought his first lp, which had such wonderful prog tracks as Spontaneous Apple Creation, Child of My Kingdom and Fire Poem, featuring Arthur’s manic soaring vocals and the late great Vincent Crane’s rich swirling Hammond organ. I first got to see Arthur Brown live around 1973 at a Kingdom Come gig in Sunderland Polytechnic Wearmouth Hall. That gig was spectacular, and unlike anything I’ver ever see before or since. 
Remember, this was before Alice Cooper and any other rock theatre, and it was sensational. The stage was set with a massive wooden cross as its centre. Arthur was brought on stage and tied to the cross in a simulated crucifixion, where he stayed as he sang the first song. His voice was so strong, deep, loud and operatic in texture. His hair was very long, and the rest of the band looked pretty menacing, with lots of make up. After the first song Arthur leapt from the cross and started dancing around the stage like a madman. At one point in the set they had a section called The Brain, where one of the band crawled into the audience in a massive brain costume (it worked better than it reads…) followed by another member dressed as a priest. The priest then chased the brain around the hall, eventually capturing it while Arthur sang something about religion screwing up your brain. Pretty heavy stuff, but it worked, and blew my mind as a teenager. At the end of the set all of the band departed, leaving Arthur alone on stage singing a strange rambling song which appeared to be totally improvised. After some time the band came back on stage, captured Arthur, put him in a white straitjacket and dragged him off still singing and screaming. I wish I had this on video. Arthur disappeared for a long time from the scene during the 80s, and reappeared in the UK in the late 90s. The next time I saw him live was at a free open air show in Tynemouth. His set was pretty much as it is today, often starting with Dylan’s Hard Rains Gonna Fall, with Arthur wearing a black mask, eerily tapping a long walking stick on the floor as he slowly walks up to the stage. Other regulars in his set are I Put a Spell on You, Time Captives, Spontaneous Apple Creation, and of course Fire. Sometimes he plays covers such as Green Manalishi, Kites and How Strong my Love is. I’ve seen him a few times over the past 10 or so years. Once in his home town of Whitby (see ticket), and also as support act for Robert Plant, The Pretty Things, where he signed my ticket (I will look that out and scan it in for this post) and Hawkwind. He never fails to amaze, his voice is as strong as ever, and the guy has so much energy. The true God of Hellfire!
31 Jan
Argent in concert 1972 – 1974
Argent in concert 1972 – 1974
I first saw Argent in concert at Sunderland Top Rank on a double bill with Beggars Opera. I have a feeling it was a 12 midnight to 4am show that they put on now and then, sometimes on bank holiday weekends. Both bands were heavily organ-based; I had already seen Beggars Opera before, but Argent were new to me. Hold Your Head had just been realised, which places the concert sometime in 1972. I remember everyone standing on the tables in the Rink, singing to Hold Your Head Up; think they played in twice, once in the set and once as an encore. (Update note: I’ve just seen someone selling a poster for the gig on ebay. It was on Sunday 28th/ Monday 29th May 1972, from midnight to 4am. The gig was promoted by Fillmore North ie Geof Docherty. Support for Argent came from local bands Brass Alley and Beckett, and Beggars Opera. Tickets were all of 60p). I was impressed enough to go and see Argent again at Newcastle City Hall in 1973. 
Their lp at that time was “In Deep” which features the track God Gave Rock and Roll to You, later to be covered by Kiss. Argent were back at the City Hall in 1974, boasting a quadrophonic/stereo show, which featured speakers around the hall; I remember I was sitting right next to one on the balcony. The ticket advertised the concert as quadrophonic downstairs and stereo in the balcony! Interesting concept. 
The lp for this tour was Nexus, which was pretty heavy prog rock stuff, with tracks such as The Coming Of Kohoutek (great title) and the mega opus Music From The Spheres, which clocks in at over 8 minutes on the lp and was probably longer live. Alongside these new songs, The Zombies’ Time of the Season also got an outing in concert in those days. By 1974 Russ Ballard had left the band to be replaced by John Verity and guitarist John Grimaldi. Argent was a class act. Some great songs, and some top keyboard form Rod Argent. I remember being jealous of Rod Argent’s (very) long hair, and being fascinated by Russ Ballard’s guitar which had holes drilled through the body. 
A few years after Argent had split, I saw Rod Argent at a free keyboard demonstration concert at Middlesbrough Town Hall. I notice the ticket for the 1974 tour shows that Clancy, who were part of the pub rock scene of the early 70s, were the support act. Argent have reformed recently, and have been playing a few concerts in the past week. I would like to see them again, but haven’t caught up with them yet. (Update note: I found a flyer for the Quadrophonic gig at the City Hall so have added it here). I have since seen Rod a couple of times with Colin Blunstone and with The Zombies, who he tours with now. 
Update on 26/12/12. I’ve added a scan of the poster from the gig at Sunderland Top Rank, which John bought on ebay. This shows that it was a midnight to 4am show, on May 28/29 1972 (late May bank holiday). The Line-up was Argent, Beggars Opera, Beckett and Brass Alley.
30 Jan
Budgie: a much under-rated rock band. Memories of gigs 1972 – 2005
Budgie: a much under-rated band. Memories of gigs 1973 – 2005
My first memories of Budgie were seeing their name on the bill at the 1972 Lincoln festival. I was at the festival and noticed in the programme that they were playing in the Giants of Tomorrow tent. I remember thinking that Budgie was a strange name for a band. I can’t remember if I actually went to see them; I suspect not, as I spend most of the time in front of the main stage. The next time that Budgie came onto my radar was an appearance on The Old Grey Whistle Test. 
They played Breadfan and the riff just blew me away. My friend had the album Never Turn Your Back on a Friend, and I spent hours practising and learning the riff. Not long after that I went to see them at the local Locarno ballroom in Sunderland. Seem to remember they started with Breadfan, and played it again as an encore. But they had other great rock songs: Parents, Zoom Club, In the grip of the tyre-fitters hand. 
The album Never Turn your Back on a Friend is a classic, which I played again and again at the time. Burke Shelley has a unique vocal style. By 1977 Budgie were a regular on the concert hall circuit and often played at Newcastle City Hall. By 1978 guitarist Tony Bourge had left the band, and original drummer Ray Philips had also departed some time ago. Burke Shelley kept the band going, and signed up new guitarist Robert Kendrick. I went to see Budgie twice at the City Hall in 1978. They were still drawing a respectable crowd, but not filling the place, and I was beginning to feel that their time had passed. However, the dawn of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal gave a kick start to their career and a spot at the 1980 Reading Festival, where I saw them play on the Sunday afternoon, kept them in the minds of heavy rock fans.
They returned to headline Reading in 1982, a gig I sadly missed. It was to be over 20 years before I saw Budgie again. In fact the band all but disbanded in the late 80s, concentrating on studio work, and not gigging at all. They returned in the late 90s and started touring the UK again around 10 years ago. Will and I took the chance to see them when they last came to Newcastle in 2005 to play at Trillians Rock Bar, which used to be The Man on the Moon pub in the 70s. 
The set consisted of some new tracks but the old favourites: Parents, Zoom Club, and of course Breadfan all featured. They were loud, in fact very loud, and the guitarist Simon Lees was excellent. Burke Shelley’s screeching vocals were as strong as ever and he played and looked great. It was really good to see them again. Will and I had tickets to see them again at Trillians a few years later, but the gig was sadly cancelled. The last I heard was that Burke Shelley had taken ill while on tour in Poland. The rest of the tour was cancelled and Burke returned home to recover. Hope he’s OK. 
Budgie are often forgotten, and are never given the credit they deserve. They were a pretty good solid rock band, who I remember with some fondness. Hope I get to see them again one day. I’ve just found a very old (and very small) programme from the Never Turn Your Back on a Friend tour. 
I must have got this (probably free) at Sunderland Locarno or Newcastle Mayfair in the early 70s. I didn’t know I had it. I’ve scanned it and added it to the post (see right).
23 Jan
Blood Sweat and Tears Newcastle City Hall 14 June 1974
Blood Sweat and Tears Newcastle City Hall 14 June 1974
Spinning Wheel by Blood, Sweat and Tears seemed to be on the radio all of the time in the late 60s and early 70s. I only saw the band once, when my friend Norm and I went to see them when they came to Newcastle in 1974. The line up of this band changed many times over the years, and both Al Kooper and David Clayton-Thomas had left by the time of this tour. Nevertheless B,S & T put on a competent performance and played favourites ‘You’ve made me so very happy’ and ‘Spinning Wheel’. As I recall the City Hall was pretty empty for this gig.
The line up consisted of Bobby Colomby drums (by then the only original member!), Jerry Fisher lead vocals, Jerry Lacroix vocals, David Bargeron trombones, Georg Wadenius guitar, Larry Willis piano, Ron McLure bass, Tony Klatka sax, and Bill Tillman vocals. This was version 5 or 6 of the band, whose memberships has changed many times over the years with more that 100 (!) musicians passing through. A version of B,S & T continues to tour to this day.
20 Jan
Billy Connolly Newcastle City Hall January 19th 2012
David and I really enjoyed Billy Connolly last night. We met him briefly at the stage door before the show and I got my ticket autographed (see scanned ticket to the right). He was on for over two hours without a break and told us some great stories. He looked great, with a smart new hair cut which he explained was for a movie that he is currently filming. 
His stories seemed to be completely natural and improvised; it would be interesting to go along again tonight and see how much of the show is the same. Lots of swearing, and crudity, vomit was a bit of theme of a few of the stories….great fun. A couple of friends from work were there; their comments were: “crying with laughter at the finish. It was really weird the way he came on and just started talking as if he had been doing it all night, then a complete stream of consciousness for 2.5h and then just stopped and left. He is very charismatic on the stage and you felt as if he was just having a chat with you down the pub.”
19 Jan
Billy Connolly Newcastle City Hall 1975
I last saw Billy Connolly in 1975 at Newcastle City Hall. Tonight I’m going along with David to see him again at the same venue, a gig that I’ve been really looking forward to since I bought the tickets. 1975 was a breakthrough year for Billy Connolly. He made an appearance on Parkinson which catapulted him to fame in the UK, and his single DIVORCE was a hit later that year. When I saw him at the City Hall, he was on great form, a wonderful storyteller, lots of bad language, and wearing his famous banana boots. I remember being disappointed when I went to buy my customary programme. I was told programmes had sold out earlier in the tour and there were, therefore, none on sale at the City Hall gig. I consoled myself by buying a small bottle of Billy Connolly whisky (!) which was drunk a long time ago. Unfortunately I can’t find the bottle. Think it was called “nip o sweety”?!
I’ll report back after the gig on how Billy shapes up these days. More later.
18 Jan
Grangemouth Pop Festival Scotland 23 September 1972: Jeff Beck, Billy Connolly and others
The Grangemouth Pop Festival
Line up: Beck Bogert Appice; Status Quo; Steeleye Span; Lindisfarne; The Everley Brothers; Beggars Opera; Average White Band; Sunshine; Billy Connolly; The Chris McClure Section; MC: John Peel. All for £1.50!
I’m going to see Billy Connolly at Newcastle City Hall on Thursday night. I’m looking forward to the gig, and it made me think about the couple of times I’ve seen Billy Connolly in the past. The first time I saw him was at The Grangemouth Pop Festival in Scotland in 1972 (see ticket right). At the time he was unknown outside Scotland and, as he delighted in telling us, he was scared shitless about this gig, as it was his biggest to date. The festival was organised by Great Western Festivals, who had also run the excellent Lincoln Festival which I attended earlier in 1972, and was billed as Scotland’s first pop festival. My friend Nicky and I went by train to the gig. 
Grangemouth is north west of Edinburgh. The festival took place on Saturday 23 September 1972 and was part of the Grangemouth centenary celebrations. It was held in a sports stadium, which was in an industrial area, next to a gasworks, which spewed smoke over us at various times during the day. It wasn’t that well attended as I recall, with quite a heavy atmosphere, drunkenness, and some fights as the day went on. The promised line up was good, however a few of the bands who were billed did not play; a not uncommon occurrence in those days. Billy Connolly (see left from the programme of the festival) delivered a set pretty early during the day which was a mix of comedy and folk songs, and was one of the hits of the day for me. He’d just had a success at the Edinburgh festival and was just starting to make a name for himself.
Other highlights of the day were Beggars Opera who were also local heroes with great swirling Hammond organ, The Everley Brothers who sang all those timeless hits, and Steeleye Span, who were still playing quite traditionally-based elecric folk at that time, before the days of All Around My Hat. Status Quo were at the top of their game in the early 70s, and were great favourites of Peel, who was DJ/MC for the day. Marsh Hunt was to seen wandering around the crowd. The extract to the right, which is taken from the newspaper programme (also see below) shows the line up and timings. Chris Mclure, who was another local hero, also played. Unfortunately, neither Uriah Heep or The Electric Light Orchestra played. 
Beck, Bogert and Appice were the main reason we went along, and Beck was a revelation. His guitar playing eclipses Clapton in my view, and I was in awe of him that night. I remember him playing Superstition and am pretty sure that he used a mouth-tube, which was the first time I’d seen suc a strange contraption, and was a few years before Peter Frampton used one on Show Me The Way. I can’t remember much of the set, but I’m pretty sure it contained Morning Dew, a new song called Black Cat Moan, Going Down, and an epic version of Keep Me Hanging On, which Bogert and Appice will have brought with them from Vanilla Fudge. After the gig we got the train back to Edinburgh, where we spent the night trying, and failing, to sleep on some pretty hard and uncomfortable benches, until it was time for the first train back to Newcastle on the Sunday morning.
17 Jan
Redcar (Coatham) Bowl: gigs again?
Redcar Bowl: The Adverts; Atomic Rooster and other memories
I read a report the other day that a lady from Teesside is planning to put gigs on at The Redcar Bowl again. It would be great to see that the old Coatham Bowl active again as a concert venue. My mates and I spent some great nights during the 70s, usually Sundays as I recall, at the Coatham Bowl. We often stopped off in The Lobster for a drink before the gig. They used to have a lobster on a string which crawled up the wall when you came in the door. I wonder if it is still there? A lot of great bands played there throughout the 70s, following on from the days of the Redcar Jazz Club, which saw all the greats play in the 60s. I remember gigs by Lindisfarne, Chris Rea, The Flaming Groovies with The Damned supporting, UFO, SAHB without Alex, Split Enz (Finn brothers prior to Crowded House), Magazine (awesome), The Adverts (see ticket stub), Frankie Miller, Meal Ticket, Mr Big, The Rich Kids with Midge Ure and Glen Matlock, The Climax Blues Band, The Jags (the guitarist hit a guy in the audience over the head with his guitar for spitting at him!), Atomic Rooster (see ticket stub), Dave Edmunds Rockpile with Nick Lowe, Destroy all Monsters, X Ray Spex, my personal 70s favourites Penetration, The B52s, Dead Fingers Talk (great band; forgotten and very underrated), and many others that I can’t remember.
The last time I was there was when Will and I went to see Peter Green with the Splinter group, which was probably in the 80s. I have some ticket stubs for gigs that I attended at the Bowl, but for many of the gigs I paid at the door and didn’t get a ticket, or the ticket was given up on the way in. Of the two gigs I have shown tickets for here (I have others which I must dig out), I have little recollection of The Adverts gig, in fact I can’t remember being there at all! I do remember loving the Gary Gilmore’s Eyes single and seeing the The Adverts a few times at Newcastle, once supporting Iggy at the City Hall, and another gig at Newcastle Guildhall, where The Adverts were supported by Penetration and Warsaw, before they became Joy Division. I also think I saw them at the legendary Middlesbrough Rock Garden. The Atomic Rooster gig was part of a reunion tour, as I recall. Vincent Crane, who is sadly no longer with us, was a master of the swirling Hammond organ, who served his apprenticeship with Arthur Brown. He would do an organ solo called Gershatzer (thanks John for the correct spelling!), his piece de resistance, during which he would collapse and fall to the floor under the organ. The first time I saw him collapse I thought it was for real, but after seeing him do so a few times, I began to realise it was part of the act! I love 60s Hammond solos, and Vincent was one of the best.
A series of gigs are planned (see http://www.roundelpromotions.co.uk ) with others to follow. Good luck with the gigs; see you at The Hollies in August. Hope you do manage to get The Damned to come back to play in Redcar; it’s about time I saw them again. I’ll remember to stand near the back, I don’t want the Captain to pee on us as he did (naked) at the Rock Garden.
Update on March 4th 2012. I don’t know what has happened, but the Roundel Promotions website doesn’t seem to exist anymore and I read on a local news site that the gigs are not going ahead as planned, which is a shame. I was looking forward to seeing The Hollies in Redcar, but I guess that’s not going to happen now. Does anyone know what happened to the plans?
7 Jan
AC/DC: Monsters of Rock Donington Park 1991
Monsters of Rock, Donington Park, 17 august 1991
Line up: AC/DC; Metallica; Mötley Crüe; Queensryche; The Black Crowes
This is the last of my ramblings on AC/DC and it brings me up to date with my concert memories of the band. The 1991 Monsters of Rock festival was the last time Iwas to see the band for almost 20 years; as the next AC/DC concert I attended was at Manchester MEN Arena in 2009. It was also the last time I attended a Monsters of Rock festival. That particular my daughter was getting into rock music, and her and her friends were big fans of Mettalica, and that was our primary reason for attending. So I drove her and two friends to the festival. Highlights for me were The Black Crowes, Metallica and AC/DC. I don’t remember much about the other bands.
Metallica had just released their “Black” Metallica album, which had been heavily played in our house. I hadn’t rated the band up until then, although I had seen them at an earlier Monsters of Rock in 1985, but that lp got me into them. My favourite track was Enter Sandman, which was the opening song at Donington that year. Metallica were at the top of their game at that time, paying some of the best heavy rock of the time. We made sure that we arrived in time to see The Black Crowes, as I’d heard a lot about them. I remember being impressed by them, particularly by their cover of Otis Redding’s Hard to Handle. My friend John lives in the US and is a massive Black Crowes fan, and he keeps me up to date on them. I really must get to see them again some day soon. AC/DC closed the day with a set which closed with one of the biggest firework displayed I’ve ever seen. I then spent some time finding the others, which was not easy in a crowd of 60,000+ people all of whom were aiming for the exits, and then we drove back home. AC/DC setlist: Thunderstruck; Shoot to Thrill; Back in Black; Hell Ain’t a Bad Place to Be; Heatseeker; Fire Your Guns; Jailbreak; The Jack; Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap; Moneytalks; Hells Bells; High Voltage; Whole Lotta Rosie; You Shook Me All Night Long; T.N.T.; Let There Be Rock Encore: Highway to Hell; For Those About to Rock (We Salute You). I’ll move on from AC/DC now, and will ponder on which concerts to reflect on this coming week. Back tomorrow.
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