The Police Milton Keynes Bowl 26th July 1980
Rockatta De Bowl
Support Acts: UB40; Squeeze; Tom Robinson’s Sector 27; Skafish
DJs: John Peel (who else) and Jerry Floyd
Not one of the best one day festival events that I’ve attended, but by no means the worst. It’s a long drive from the North East to Milton Keynes, and it seemed an even long drive back after standing all day getting soaked….
I went with a car load of mates; we had all recently discovered the Police and were quite big fans at the time, having seen them several times in Newcastle. This was the first big concert at the Milton Keynes Bowl, and it was organised by the same people that ran the Reading Festival. The Bowl is, as the name suggests, a natural round amphitheatre; “the site was a former clay-pit…filled in and raised to form an amphitheatre using sub-soil excavated by the many new developments in the area and it has a maximum capacity of 65,000. The arena is open-air grassland, without seats.” (Wikipedia). It was by no means full for the Police concert; reports suggest that around 25,000 people attended. There had been a lot of rain in the days leading up to the event and as a result, the bowl was a bit of a quagmire…. 
The line-up was interesting. I don’t recall whether or not we arrived in time to catch Tom Robinson and his new band Sector 27. I do remember SkaFace who were greeted by a hail of cans, and retreated after a few songs, the singer’s face was quite badly cut. Squeeze were good, as always; they can’t be anything other than good with those catchy pop songs like “Up The Junction”, and great hooks. UB40 were a big hit, with their reggae rhythms drifting around the bowl. There was then a long wait before The Police hit the stage, during which it poured down. The weather and the wait put a damper on things, and I remember that the Police were good, but I couldn’t really get into it for two reasons; first I was soaked (no tents or anywhere else to hide from the rain) and secondly I knew that I had a long four hour drive home. Sting had a pretty classy looking new upright bass (was it hanging from the roof on a wire? Or did I just imagine that?) and he led us all through lots of Yo Yo Yo..ing which started to annoy me after too long….
Some reviews from the time:
“The show by The Police in the hitherto rock and roll backwater of Milton Keynes, proved that there are still few greater thrills available anywhere than to witness a group playing at the absolute peak of its prowess and confidence… One is always astonished at any show The Police perform, by the remarkable power they manage to create with the basic line-up of bass, guitar and drums…” (Evening Standard)
“…they showed a move towards a more varied and mainstream approach, while retaining more than a hint of the white reggae style.” (The Guardian)
“They achieved a better overall sound with three musicians than anyone else did with eight… The white reggae beat was certainly conducive to the festival atmosphere, and the tribal chants brought out the football supporter in all of us.” (Sounds)
Police setlist: Voices Inside My Head; Don’t Stand So Close to Me; Walking on the Moon; Deathwish; Fall Out; Bring on the Night; De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da; Truth Hits Everybody; The Bed’s Too Big Without You; Driven to Tears; When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What’s Still Around; Message in a Bottle; Roxanne; Can’t Stand Losing You; Reggatta de Blanc; Next to You; So Lonely
Posts Tagged ‘gig’
19 Feb
The Police Milton Keynes Bowl 26th July 1980
18 Feb
Jimmy Page Newcastle City Hall 23rd November 1988
Jimmy Page Newcastle City Hall 23rd November 1988
Support from Dare.
In 1988 Jimmy Page released his solo album Outrider, which featured guest musicians included Chris Farlowe, who sang on a number of tracks, Robert Plant, who sang on one track, John Miles (sang on two tracks) and John Bonham’s son Jason on drums. Jimmy subsequently went out on tour with a band featuring John Miles (vocals and guitar), Durban Laverde (bass) and Jason Bonham (drums). The tour was relatively short, luckily he called at Newcastle City Hall. Jimmy reflected on the album and tour afterwards: “Outrider’s all right. It’s demo-like compared with those overproduced albums that came out at the time. It didn’t do very well — doesn’t matter — but I did tour. I was playing music on that tour going right back to The Yardbirds. Jason [Bonham] was the drummer on that tour.” Jimmy’s set included tracks from Outrider, Zeppelin classics, songs by his previous band (with Paul Rodgers) The Firm, and back to his Yardbirds days for Train Kept a Rollin’. 
It was a great concert; we had seats looking down on the stage, but a pretty good view nonetheless and it was amazing seeing the guitar maestro so close up. Jimmy did the full bit; violin bow; theremin, and classic Zep solos. Great stuff. Setlist: Who’s to Blame; Prelude; Over the Hills and Far Away; Wanna Make Love; Writes of Winter; Tear Down The Walls; Emerald Eyes; Midnight Moonlight (including excerpts from White Summer, Black Mountain Side and Kashmir); In My Time of Dying; City Sirens; Someone To Love; Prison Blues; The Chase; Dazed and Confused; Wasting My Time; Blues Anthem (If I Cannot Have Your Love …); Custard Pie; Train Kept A-Rollin’; Stairway to Heaven (instrumental version).
17 Feb
Robert Plant Strange Sensation Sage Gateshead 30th October 2005
Robert Plant Strange Sensation Sage Gateshead 30th October 2005
My next encounter with Robert Plant in concert was at the Sage Gateshead in 2005. The band was Strange Sensation and they were promoting Mighty ReArranger, which was Plant’s 8th solo album. The setlist consisted of songs from the new album, plus some oldies and was as follows: Tin Pan Valley; Shine It All Around; Black Dog; Freedom Fries; 7 and 7 Is; Win My Train Fare Home (If I Ever Get Lucky); Going to California; Another Tribe; Thank You; Hey Joe; Four Sticks; Gallows Pole. Encore: The Enchanter; Boogie Chillen’; Whole Lotta Love. Another good show, with the Eastern and psych influences showing through even more strongly; to the extent that the reworkings of Zep classics had moved even further from the originals. I saw Plant once more, at the Sage again in 2010, and blogged about that show at the time. I have yet to see his latest band, something which I intend to put right this year if I can. This concludes my reflections on Mr Plant; I have one Jimmy Page concert to write about, and will do so tomorrow.
15 Feb
Robert Plant Strange Sensation 21st October Newcastle City Hall 2002
Robert Plant Strange Sensation 21st October Newcastle City Hall 2002
A couple of years after his Priory and Brion outing came to Whitley Bay, Plant was back at Newcastle City Hall with his new band Strange Sensation. The band this time consisted of Plant (vocals), Justin Adams (guitars, gimbri, darbuka), John Baggott (keyboards), Clive Deamer (drums, percussion), Charlie Jones (bass) and ‘Skin” (guitar). Robert had just released his 7th album “Dreamland”, which featured him and Strange Sensation performing covers of blues and rock songs, several of which had been played during the Priory of Brion tour. The album was well received by fans and critics alike and was nominated for two Grammys in 2002 for The Best Rock Album and The Best Male Rock Performance. The programme sums up Plant’s influences: “Plant’s attraction to and affection for the music of Morocco, the Atlas region and beyond, as well as his lifelong leaning towards the psychedelic indo-rock of West Coast USA led to his new collision of styles and colours. The music draws together talent from a broad spectrum of renowned and respected UK musicians, now working together with Plant as the band ‘Strange Sensation.'” Reviews of the time were extremely positive: Hugh Davies wrote (in the Daily Telegraph) of his performance at Glastonbury 2002: “Of the 60 bands performing over the weekend, plant emerged as the most charismatic act”, and Steve Jelbert (the Independent) reviewed a concert at London Astoria: “Best of all is the sincerity of the performance….these are songs he obviously loves and he’s not selling them but sharing them….a refreshing display from a man with nothing to prove.” 
The set at Newcastle was an excellent mix of reworked Zeppelin classics, covers of 60s psych, rock and blues and a smattering of Plant’s recent solo tracks. By the point, almost 20 years into his solo career, Plant was clearly enjoying himself; he had come to terms with his Zeppelin legacy, and wasn’t afraid of reworking those songs that mean so much to us all; he could play some of the songs which influenced him when he was starting out, and he had a respectable catalogue of recent solo material to draw from. Another great concert. Support came from the ever-crazy, and irrepressible, God of Hell Fire, Arthur Brown; another hero of mine whose performance and amazingly strong voice never fails to impress. Setlist: Hey Joe; Four Sticks; Down to the Sea; Morning Dew; Going to California; Hey Hey What Can I Do; Girl from the North County; In the Mood; Celebration Day; Funny In My Mind (I Believe I’m Fixin’ To Die); A House is not a Motel; Tall Cool One; Babe I’m Gonna Leave You. Encore 1: Darkness Darkness; Whole lotta love. Encore 2 : Song To The Siren
14 Feb
The Priory of Brion (Robert Plant) Whitley Bay Dome 8th April 2000
The Priory of Brion (Robert Plant) Whitley Bay Dome 8th April 2000 
Whitley Bay is a seaside resort just outside Newcastle, and the Dome was a disused building in an old amusement funpark; so named because of its domed roof. The Dome played host to a number of concerts around this time. When we heard that Plant was playing there with his band The Priory of Brion, as part of a “secret” club tour, we scrambled to make sure that we got tickets. The place was rammed and Plant and his band were just amazing. It was great to see him so close up in such an intimate setting. The concert consisted of Robert singing some of his favourite old tunes including ’60s classics like Morning Dew, If I Were A Carpenter, and Gloria. The highlights for me were Darkness, Darkness (the classic song from Jesse Colin Young in his days with the Youngbloods) and Donovan’s Season Of The Witch; both of which are among my favourites songs anyway. An amazing night. Perhaps the best time I have seen Plant as a solo artist. The tickets says “Whitley Bay Dome…proudly presents music at its very best..” and it ain’t far wrong. Setlist: Morning Dew, A House is Not A Hotel, If I Were A Carpenter, Darkness, Darkness, Bluebird, Early In The Morning, Think, We’re Gonna Groove, Baby Please Don’t Go, No Regrets, Gloria, Bummer In The Summer, Season of the Witch, Trouble in Mind
13 Feb
Robert Plant Newcastle City Hall 12th December 1990
Robert Plant Newcastle City Hall 12th December 1990
I next saw Robert Plant at Newcastle City Hall in December 1990. This tour was to promote his fifth solo album Manic Nirvana. By now Plant was back into a full-on heavy rock groove, and this album gained mixed reviews at the time; with some critics loving it because it seemed to take him back to his Zep rock roots, and others dissing it for the same reason. The tour programme followed a similar theme, with lots of pictures of Plant the rock god, and Plant the bluesman, and heavy trippy use of psychedelic eastern-influenced graphics and fonts. The programme contains the lyrics to the songs from the new album and an extract (not sure where it is taken from) which talks about bluesman Tommy Johnson, who sold his soul to the devil at the crossroads.
“He said the reason he knowed so much, said he sold hisself to the Devil..I asked him how. He said, ‘If you want to learn how to play anything you want to play and learn how to make songs yourself you take your guitar and you go to where a road crosses that way, where a crossroads is. Get there, be sure to get there just a little ‘fore twelve a clock that night so you’ll know you’ll be there. 
You have your guitar and be playing a piece sitting there by yourself. You have to go by yourself and be sitting there playing a piece. A big black man will walk up there and take your guitar, and he’ll tune it. And then he’ll play a piece and hand it back to you. That’s the way I learned how to play anything I want.”
Plant’s live performances continued to be impressive occasions and this show at the City Hall was no exception. Along with tracks from his solo albums, Robert also played Nobody’s Fault but Mine, Ramble On, Immigrant Song, and Living Loving Maid from Zeppelin days. Great stuff!
Setlist: Watching You; Nobody’s Fault but Mine; Billy’s Revenge; Tie Dye on the Highway; Anniversary; In the Mood; Liars Dance; Ramble On; Mirror in the Bathroom (The Beat cover 🙂 ); Nirvana; Immigrant Song; Hurting Kind (I’ve Got My Eyes on You); Ship of Fools; Living Loving Maid; Tall Cool One
12 Feb
Robert Plant (& Jimmy Page) Knebworth 30th June 1990
Robert Plant (& Jimmy Page) Knebworth 30th June 1990
I next saw Robert Plant as part of a multi-act bill at a massive show at Knebworth Park in 1990. This was the Silver Clef Award Winners Concert and had an amazing line-up including Pink Floyd, Paul McCartney, Cliff Richard & The Shadows, Tears for Fears, Eric Clapton, Dire Straits, Elton John, Genesis and Status Quo. Pretty strong bill! I won a pair of free tickets in a competition (with KitKat 🙂 ) and Marie and I went down for the weekend. This was a great concert, which deserves a blog post of its own. I’ll save that for another day, and limit my reflections today to Plant’s part of the event. Plant was by now regularly featuring Zeppelin classics as part of his set, alongside his excellent solo material. He played mid-afternoon and was one of the highlights of the day for me, not least because of the venue, which was brought back memories of the last time I had been in that field; for one of the historic Zeppelin gigs, and the surprise appearance of Jimmy Page for the last two songs of Plant’s set. 
“Eleven years after Led Zeppelin’s historic two-night stand at Knebworth in England, Robert Plant returned to the concert grounds for a massive festival that featured sets by Pink Floyd, Paul McCartney, Genesis, Elton John and Eric Clapton. For his final two songs surprise guest Jimmy Page came out to join Plant on “Wearing and Tearing” and “Rock and Roll.” It was very well received, and a sign of things to come” (Rolling Stone magazine). Setlist: Hurting Kind (I’ve Got My Eyes on You); Immigrant Song (Led Zeppelin); Tie Dye on the Highway; Liars Dance; Going to California (Led Zeppelin); Nirvana; Tall Cool One; Misty Mountain Hop (Led Zeppelin); Wearing and Tearing (Led Zeppelin; with Jimmy Page); Rock and Roll (Led Zeppelin; with Jimmy Page)
Thanks to John for the image of his signed Page and Plant programme which comes from the 1995 US tour.
11 Feb
Robert Plant Newcastle City Hall 24th March 1988
Robert Plant Newcastle City Hall 24th March 1988
Robert Plant was back on tour in the UK in 1988, calling at Newcastle City Hall again. This time he had a new band, with Doug Boyle on guitar, Chris Blackwell on drums, Phil Johnstone on keyboards and Charlie Jones on bass.
Plant released his fourth album, Now and Zen in February 1988. The album was a return to a blues rock style reminiscent of Zeppelin and even featured Jimmy Page playing guitar on two of the tracks. The single “Tall Cool one” was also released around the same time. The UK tour was named the Non Stop Go tour, and for the first time a few Zeppelin classics were featured as part of the set. For the UK shows Plant played “In the evening”, “Trampled under foot” and “Misty mountain hop”; 
further Zep songs were added as the tour progressed and made its way across to the USA. The Newcastle gig was a great show, I particularly enjoyed it because it was the first time I had seen the old songs performed for some ten years. Support came from the excellent It Bites who were on top form and played the classic “Calling All The Heroes”.
Setlist (something like): Helen of Troy; Little by little; Billy’s revenge; In the evening; In the mood; Heaven Knows; Big log; Dimples; Trampled under foot; Tall cool one; Misty mountain hop; Other arms; Break on through (the Doors classic featured as an encore on several nights of the tour).
Thanks to John for the picture of his poster from the Non Stop Go tour.
10 Feb
Robert Plant Newcastle City Hall 28th November 1983
Robert Plant Newcastle City Hall 28th November 1983
It was the early 1980s. Zeppelin were no more, and Robert Plant began to establish himself as a solo artist. He released two excellent albums: Pictures at Eleven (1982) and The Principle of Moments (1983), both of which had shades of Zeppelin and yet also enabled Plant to forge his own identity. In the Autumn of 1983 he embarked on a full UK tour, calling at Newcastle City Hall in November. Demand was high to see Plant on his first major outing since Zeppelin days, and a second night was added at several venues, including Newcastle. He was also having his first real solo single chart success with the excellent “Big Log”. The line-up of Robert Plant’s band for the 1983 tour was Robbie Blunt (guitar), Jezz Woodroffe (keyboards), Bob Mayo (keyboards), Paul Martinez (bass) and Ritchie Hayward (drums; Phil Collins played on the US leg of the tour). The concert consisted of tracks from Robert’s first two albums. We were all hoping that he would throw in a few Zeppelin classics, but that wasn’t to be. 
This was made clear in the souvenir programme: “Tonight there will be no Slverhead, Black Sabbath, Foreigner, no Little Feat, Adverts [referring to the bands which each of the members had previously played in] or Led Zeppelin. Only music from the last two years and maybe…a medley of our hit [referring to Big Log]”. Never mind; Plant’s solo songs were strong, and his band was excellent, including amazing guitar work by Robbie Blunt, who had been in the very under-rated bands Bronco and Silverhead. The set started with “In The Mood” which had just been released as a single.
Setlist (something like): In the Mood; Pledge Pin; Messin’ With the Mekon; Worse Than Detroit; Thru’ With the Two Step; Other Arms; Horizontal Departure; Moonlight in Samosa; Wreckless Love; Slow Dancer; Like I’ve Never Been Gone; Burning Down One Side; Big Log; Stranger Here… Than Over There; Treat Her Right
“My love is in league with the freeway, Its passion will ride, as the cities fly by, And the tail-lights dissolve, in the coming of night, And the questions in thousands take flight.” (Big Log, Robert Plant, 1983). I loved “Big Log” at the time and still do; it was a very different song, quite distinct in terms of the chart of the time and from Zeppelin music; but I could never figure out what it was about 🙂
At the Hammersmith Odeon show Plant was joined onstage by none other than Jimmy Page for the encore ‘Treat Her Right’.
9 Feb
The Reading Festival 22nd – 24th August 1975
The Reading Festival 22nd – 24th August 1975
The Reading Festival hit its peak of success in the mid ’70s, and the 1975 festival sold out in advance. Although the previous years’ festivals that I had attended all seemed pretty full, you were still able to roll up and pay at the entrance. In 1975 the success of the festival and the draw of bands like Yes and Wishbone Ash ensured the site was completely packed, with hardly any room to be found in the campsites and car parks.
Friday line-up: Stella, Judas Priest, Wally, Kokomo, UFO, Dr Feelgood, Hawkwind. Judas Priest were an up and coming heavy rock band and were gigging constantly, as were UFO. Kokomo were a jazz/rock/funk outfit who were very successful during the ’70s. But the big success of Friday (and arguably the entire weekend) was Dr Feelgood, who were a massive hit with the festival crowd; Wilko and Lee being on red hot form. I was with a couple of guys who had recently become big Feelgood fans; “Back In The Night” had just been released and they were constantly singing it in my ear. “All around visible signs of the Doctor’s now-massive popularity – such as the many home-made banners (“Feelgood”, “Wilko” et al), the rapturous reception, the sea-of-weaving arms” (NME, 1975). “When Dr Feelgood stamped off they had within an hour, transformed this alfresco association into a tiny, sweaty, steaming R&B club. Charisma is too weak a word to describe what the Feelgoods had going for them that night.” (Brian Harrigan, Melody Maker, August 30, 1975). Hawkwind were ok, but it was cold, and they found it difficult to follow the Feelgood’s storming set.
Saturday line-up: Zzebra, SNAFU, Alberto Y Lost Trios Paranoias, Kursaal Flyers, Thin Lizzy, Alan Stivell, Heavy Metal Kids (billed simply as “Kids” in the programme), Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Supertramp, Yes.
My memories are of Thin Lizzy delivering an excellent set as always; they were gradually building up their own following and would soon break through to become massive; The Heavy Metal Kids being as OTT as ever; and Yes, who were amazing. I must also mention the Kursaal Flyers, who are sadly often forgotten in the history of pub rock; they would hit the charts in the following year with the great pop single: “Little Does She Know” (“I know that she knows that I know she’s two timing me”). Supertramp were on the verge of mega-success; they had hit the charts with “Dreamer” and had a considerable following. I was, and remain, a big Yes fan and their performance at Reading came at a point where the band were at the peak of their success. I recall it being very cold, with epic versions of “Close to the Edge” and “And You and I”, and a great version of “Roundabout” as an encore (very late and off to our tents). A bootleg exists of Yes’ set that night: Sound Chaser; Close To The Edge; And You And I; Awaken; The Gates Of Delirium; I’ve Seen All Good People; Ancient; Long Distance Run Around; Ritual; Roundabout.
Sunday line-up: Joan Armatrading, Babe Ruth, String Driven Thing, Climax Blues Band, Caravan, Soft Machine, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Robin Trower, Wishbone Ash. My memory of Sunday is of Wishbone Ash. Like Yes they were enjoying massive success at the time, and also like Yes they played a set of pure class, with the twin guitars of Andy Powell and Laurie Wisefield soaring through the cool, late Sunday evening.
Our DJs for the weekend were once again John Peel and Jerry Floyd. The weather was cold, with some rain, and the beer can fights were constant throughout the weekend. The festival had always been an organised, carefully planned event, but was becoming even more commercial. The nature of the festival, and its line-up, would transform further in the years which followed; with the emergence of punk and the re-emergence of heavy metal through the NWOBHM (New Wave Of British Heavy Metal). Any elements of the jazz festivals of the 60s had also disappeared.
Thanks to BaldBoris for allowing his image of the festival to be used through the WikiMedia Commons licence agreement.
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