Posts Tagged ‘gig’

12 Oct

Stevie Winwood Sage Gateshead 6 October

Posted by vintagerock in Stevie Winwood. Tagged: , , , , , , .

Stevie Winwood Sage Gateshead 6 October 2008

 Stevie Winwood returned to the North East with a set which covered all aspects of his career. Its been many years (perhaps more than 20?) since Stevie Winwood has played in Newcastle and the crowd at the Sage in Gateshead gave him a great reception as he took the stage on Monday night. The Sage concert hall was not full, but the turn out was pretty good and everyone was clearly excited at the prospect of hearing Stevie’s great soulful voice.  The set up on the stage was pretty sparse, with Stevie’s band comprising a guitarist, bassist, percussionist and a drummer.  Stevie split his time between sitting at the organ and playing guitar. In fact his guitar playing, though often overlooked, is pretty fine. But it is the great songs and his wonderful soulful voice that everyone has come to hear.

The set contained a mixture of old classics from Spencer Davis days, through Traffic, Blind Faith and Winwood’s solo career, interspersed with quite a few from his new album. So we got I’m a Man early on in the set, followed by Empty Pages, Can’t find my way back home, back in the high life again. The encores were Dear Mr Fantasy and Gimme Some Lovin. All sung excellently; his voice is as strong as ever. A great show. The only slight downer was the crowd reaction which although good, was also quite laid back. At a couple of points, the guitarist in the band tried to get the crowd to get up and dance, without any success; its something about the formalish nature of the venue I think.  

website: http://www.stevewinwood.com/

28 Sep

Status Quo Newcastle City Hall 27th Sept 2008

Posted by vintagerock in Status Quo. Tagged: , , , , , .

Status Quo Newcastle City Hall September 27 2008

Loud. Rocking. Great atmosphere. The Quo army. Lots of Quo t-shirts. Deafening. Old songs and new(ish) songs. Pretty awesome actually.

So the mighty Quo return to the City Hall, where they always get a great reception, to start their Pictures 40 Years of Hits tour. There has been lots of chat on the fanclub message board about what the promised (and long overdue) changes to the setlist might be. Lots of expectations for this one, and fans in the front rows have travelled from all over the UK to see the first night of the tour.

I’m sitting 7 rws from the front to the left of the stage right in front of the speakers (dangerous). Quo come on to the usual drone intro and are straight into Caroline (no change yet then). But we soon realise that this is going to be  a new show, and pretty special too. Lots of old ones have been brought back : Mean Girl, In MY Chair, Softer Ride, Is There a Better Way.  And yes they did play Pictures of Matchstick Men and Ice in the Sun (the only song from last night which I’ve never seen them do before ; they probably haven’t played this one since the late 60s). The stage show has 3 screens at the back which worked pretty well; they showed some great old pictures of the band.

The last few songs were as usual : Down Down, Whatever you Want, Rocking All Over the World, with Juniors Wailing, Rock n Roll Music and Bye Bye Johnny as encores.

A pretty great show actually. Must be the best I have seen them for a long time, and Quo and I go back a long way (have seen them 30+ times since 1971). If you were getting tired of the show, and were going to give them a miss this time please think again and go along and see them; you won’t regret it.

Francis was in great cheeky form, having jokes with the front few rows. Rick’s voice is sounding pretty good too, and he got to sing quite a few. The crowd were, as always, up for it (although the centre of the balcony stayed seated pretty much throughout). My ears are still ringing this morning. Now do I go and see them again at the Arena shows in December (Sheffield or Glasgow is pretty tempting….. Manfred Mann is support for those shows…)

Setlist:

Caroline
The Wanderer
Rain
Don´t Drive My Car
Mean Girl
Softer Ride
Beginning of the End
Is There a Better Way
Proposin´ Medley
Big Fat Mama
Pictures of Matchstick Men
Ice In the Sun
The Oriental
Creepin´ Up On You
In My Chair
Living On an Island
In the Army Now
Roll Over Lay Down
Down Down
Whatever You Want
Rockín´ All Over the World
–Encores—
Junior´s Wailing
Rock´n´Roll Music
Bye Bye Johnny

Website: http://www.statusquo.co.uk/

28 Sep

The Moody Blues Newcastle City Hall 2008

Posted by vintagerock in Moody Blues, The Moody Blues. Tagged: , , , , , , .

The Moody Blues Newcastle City Hall September 23 2008

The Moody Blues just keep going. On Tuesday night they were at Newcastle City Hall, where they come every couple of years or so now. No big surprises in the set list; all the favourites were played : Tuesday Afternoon, Nights in White Satin, Voices in the Sky, Question, I’m Just a Singer in a Rock and Roll Band, The Voice. The set is in two halves with the well known songs spread pretty evenly throughout. My seat was 4 rows from the front to the left of the stage, and the sound from there was pretty mirky. I couldn’t hear the vocals very well at all, so for the second half I went upstairs and sat in a empty seat about half way back. My view wasn’t as good but the sound was crystal clear from there.

The band played, as always, pretty faultlessly. Justin Haywood and John Lodge both look great, and Justin’s voice is still pretty strong. The only other long time member is Graeme Edge the drummer (who is actually the only original member from the Go Know days).  The backdrop showed lots of pictures of the band in the late 60s and early 70s. The encore was, as usual, Ride my SeeSaw. All great songs and well played.  

 

website : http://www.moodyblues.co.uk/index_main.html

14 Sep

Stevie Wonder Manchester Arena Sept 9 2008

Posted by vintagerock in Stevie Wonder. Tagged: , , , , , .

Stevie Wonder Manchester Arena September 9 2008

Its been 28 years since I last saw Stevie Wonder at Wembley Arena, and I was really looking forward to seeing him again. Laura and I took the train to Manchester to see the great man in concert at the vast Manchester Evening News Arena. We arrived at the arena in time to have a good look at the merchandise. Laura was delighted to discover that the t-shirts had braille on them and she bought a “Isn’t She Lovely” t-shirt and a key-ring which also had braille on it. I was a little disappointed that there were no programmes (apparently they hadn’t been printed in time for the early dates and will be joining the tour later).

Our seats were on the floor; half way back. Two rows in front of us was sat Ian Brown who was looking as cool as ever and sporting a great Motorhead t-shirt. Laura was well chuffed when I spotted Ian! Stevie came on playing some great bluesy harmonica ; first song I recognised was Master Blaster (Jammin).  Everyone was on their feet from the start; lots of shouting; a great roaring reception; a lot of people had waited a long time for this. 

The set was a mixture of hits and less well know songs. I would guess I knew around half of the songs. Lots of singing along, with Stevie getting the men and women to sing different parts a couple of times. Perhaps a little too much singing along; and not enough hits; but actually it was OK; balance was probably about right on reflection. He was backed by a great 14 piece band including his daughter as one of the singers (she also got a solo).

The guy sitting next to Laura was really into in it, dancing and singing all the time (he knew absolutely all of the words from every song).  There were a few occassions where everyone sat down; this guy refused to; even when someone behind him asked him to and then threatened him; thought they were going to fight! The guy behind got a steward who had a word with them both and managed to calm the situation.

As we go towards the end we got more hits: Signed, Sealed, Delivered and Superstition were great. I was a little disappointed that he didn’t do For Once in My Life which is my favourite; but hey you can’t have everything every time. Laura and I agreed that it was a great show from a legend!

Setlist included : Master Blaster All I Do Knocks Me Off My Feet Higher Ground Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing Visions Livin’ for the City Golden Lady Isn’t She Lovely My Cheri Amour Signed, Sealed, Delivered Sir Duke I Wish Do I Do I Just Called to Say I Love You Superstition As 
 

31 Aug

Portishead April 12 Edinburgh

Posted by vintagerock in Portishead. Tagged: , , , , .

Portishead April 12 Edinburgh Corn Exchange

Support : A Hawk and a Hacksaw

I’d seen Portishead on TV and youtube performing Roads with a full orchestra in New York and was very impressed, particularly with Beth’s voice. So what with all the hype of them returning with new material and a tour, I didn’t take much persuading by David and Laura to buy tickets for the nearest date which was a Saturday concert in Edinburgh. David and Mari took the opportunity to go to Scotland a little earlier to explore the sights of the capital. So when the day of the concert came it was Laura and I who took the 2+ hour drive to Edinburgh. I decided to take the route up through Jedburgh, which is a little shorter than via the A1; however, it does involve some quite windy roads which did not impress Laura.  Especially as we saw a car on its side in the grass verge at one point on the journey.

On arriving in Edinburgh we picked up David and Mari in Princes Street, and set off to find somewhere to eat. After some driving around we eventually stopped at a steak restaurant in Gorgie Road. Our steaks and burgers were lovely; straight after finishing we went directly to the Corn Exchange. We caught the tail end of the support act who sounded quite weird, and Laura bought a lovely P t-shirt.

David and Mari made their way to the front of the crowd, while Laura and I took seats in the disabled area which was at the back of the hall, directly in front of the stage. Portishead started with Silence which is the first track on their new album. Although many of the songs were new, they seemed to be familiar to most of the crowd, who greeted each new number with a roar and then fell silent as soon as Beth’s wonderful voice cut through the wall of sound. The light show was pretty impressive, with imaginative use of black and white video alongside some liquid lens effects reminiscent of 60s psychedelia. The well known songs (which were the only ones I knew!) were included; Wandering Star and Glory Box going down particularly well. My favourite, Roads, was one of the encores; Beth’s voice sounding amazing.

After the encores were finished we met up with David and Mari and made our way back home. We all agreed that this had been a great show and well worth the trip north of the border.

set list:

Silence
Hunter
Mysterons
The Rip
Glory Box
Numb
Magic Doors
Wandering Star
Machine Gun
Over
Sour Times
Nylon Smile
Cowboys

Encore:
Threads
Roads
We Carry On

website: http://www.portishead.co.uk/

30 Aug

Kasabian Newcastle Academy Aug 28 2008

Posted by vintagerock in Fratellis, Kasabian. Tagged: , , , , .

Kasabian Newcastle Academy August 28 2008

Arrived at the Carling Academy at around 8pm. Lots of people outside wanting tickets; heard a tout selling one for £60.  Get inside and join a very packed and hot crowd; not too good for Laura in the crush; we buy a t-shirt and then try and figure a way to get upstairs where we will have a better and safer view. The guys who guard the doors don’t listen to our pleas that it will be safer for Laura upstairs but we manage to swap tickets with a couple of guys who are trying to blag their way into the downstairs area.

Make our way upstairs and take a couple of seats in the middle of the balcony. There are quite a few empty seats; some people must have sneaked their way into the downstairs area. Don’t have long to wait for Kasabian to take the stage to a mighty roar from the crowd, who go crazy from the word go. Everyone sings along to Shoot the Runner; beer flying around; looks pretty crushed downstairs. The singer is the spitting image of Phil May from the Pretty Things in the early 70s with his long dark hair and shades. Lots of influences here; I can hear T Rex, Mott the Hoople, the Stone Roses, Oasis, the Who. Atmosphere (and volume; which is mega-loud) reminds me of seeing Slade in the early 70s. Can’t me many better bands than this; set is only about an hour and then some encores. I haven’t seen a better crowd reaction for a long time.  Out into the street after the show and into the welcome cool air; everyone still singing along to LSF. Awesome.

This was the second time we had seen Kasabian. The first encounter was at Newcastle Arena a couple of years earlier (see ticket below). On that occasion we went along primarily to see the Fratellis who were the support act, and an obsession at the time. We were both suffering from flu, so to our shame left during Kasabian’s set.

 

Set list:

Shoot The Runner
Sunrise Like Flies
Cutt Off
Processed Beats
By My Side
Fire
Reason Is Treason
Me Plus One
ID
Butcher Blues
Empire
Last Trip
The Doberman
Fast Fuse

Encores:
Club Foot
Stuntman
LSF

website: http://www.kasabian.co.uk/home/

17 Aug

Classic Legends of Rock

Posted by vintagerock in Focus, Groundhogs, Wishbone Ash. Tagged: , , , , , , .

Going to see Classic Legends of Rock show in October with two of my friends. This show features Focus, Martin Turner’s Wishbone Ash and the Groundhogs; three great bands on one bill!

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