Edgar Broughton The Adelphi Hull 21 April 2012
Out Demons Out! Norm and I went to see Edgar Broughton at the Adelphi Hull last night. Edgar is performing solo these days, just him singing his new songs with an acoustic guitar; the set consists largely of material that he has written over the past few years. We set off for Hull around 5.30pm and arrived around 7.45pm, after an uneventful drive via the York ring road, and found the Adelphi surprisingly easily. We popped into Wetherspoons for a bite to eat, and then went along to the venue around 8.45pm. The Adelphi is a great little venue which sits in De Grey street, just off one of the main routes through Hull. It has been running for many years, and has hosted gigs by some famous names such as Oasis, Pulp and Radiohead. It was the first time we had visited the venue and we were both pleasantly surprised. Support came from local, Scarborough-based, one man band Joe Solo, who gave us a set of folk protest songs, passionately delivered. For his last song he gave everyone in the audience a small percussion instrument and the whole room played along with him. Joe told us that it was 20 years since he first played The Adelphi. 
Edgar took to the stage around 10pm, starting with Soldiers of the Light, which is a recent song about his relationship with his brother. He has a unique voice; dark and mournful. The rest of the set was drawn mainly from his latest album. I recognised several, having seen him perform in York last year, and it was good to hear them again. The set consisted of something like (although not in this order, and I will have missed some): This England; Ice on Fire; My Salvation; Christmas Song; Red Star; There’s a Hole in It and Evening Over Rooftops (from the Edgar Broughton band days). He finished with Arabesque / All Fall Down / Speak Down the Wires, which is an Indian-based chant. The encore was two songs, the first of which was The Poppy (“an early eco song we wrote in 1971”). No Out Demons Out to Norm’s disappointment. The crowd seemed to enjoy the set; Edgar is as passionate as ever, and the songs still have strong elements of protest and social conscience. We left around 11.15pm and were back home by 1.15am.
Posts Tagged ‘gigs’
22 Apr
Edgar Broughton The Adelphi Hull 21 April 2012
21 Apr
Bert Weedon and Basil Brush Sunderland Empire 1979
Bert Weedon and Basil Brush in Pantomine
Dick Whittington Sunderland Empire 1979 
I was sad to hear of the passing of Bert Weedon. His name, his guitar playing, and his Play In A Day guitar tutor book, are legendary. I only saw him once “in concert”. It was actually in pantomine at Sunderland Empire in 1979, and he was co-starring with Basil Brush, of all people. We would make an annual trip to the panto, and this particular year I took our daughter Ashleigh, who was at the time a big Basil Brush fan. We’d just bought Ashleigh a Basil Brush toy, which said “Boom Boom!” when you pulled the string in his tail, and if I remember right, she brought him along to the panto with us. Bert played Alderman Fitzwarren, and popped up every now and then to play a tune on his guitar and say a few lines explaining the links between scenes. I remember being quite thrilled that Bert was in the show, as it gave the night an extra musical interest for me. He’d been in the lp charts a few years earlier with his 22 Golden Guitar Greats album which reached number one in 1976. I can picture Bert now standing at the corner of the stage, playing Guitar Boogie Shuffle. Actually, Ashleigh still has my copy of Play In A Day, which was using to learn to play her acoustic guitar. Rest in peace, Bert.
20 Apr
Black Sabbath Newcastle City Hall March 1977
Black Sabbath Newcastle City Hall March 1977
The 1977 Black Sabbath tour was to promote their new album Technical Ecstasy. This album took them further away from the darkness and simplicity of their earlier work, incorporated more keyboards and some more straight forward rock n roll. There are no real Sabbath classics on the album, however their concert set consisted of many of the old favourites. As a result this was still a great Sabbath gig. Support came from Nutz. 
However if some ways Sabbath were slowly becoming a more straight rock band, and had lost a little of the darkness and rawness that I saw a few years earlier. Don’t get me wrong these gigs were still great, but things were clearly not 100% in the Sabbath camp as Ozzy left for a brief period around this time, and was to leave for a much longer period soon. A typical set list from this period was: Symptom of the Universe; Snowblind; All Moving Parts (Stand Still); War Pigs; Gypsy; Black Sabbath; Dirty Women; Rock & Roll Doctor; Electric Funeral; Iron Man; Embryo / Children of the Grave; Paranoid; N.I.B.
19 Apr
Black Sabbath Newcastle City Hall October 1975
Black Sabbath Newcastle City Hall October 1975
Its easy to underestimate, or even forget, the influence of Black Sabbath and how important they are in the history of rock. Seeing Sabbath in the 70s was something special. There’s was a brand of rock which was truly dark, heavy and compelling. They are without doubt in my mind THE pioneers of heavy metal. On one level their imagery, lyrics and stance are simple, and yet on another level what they did at the time was innovative and pretty revolutionary. I certainly approached a Sabbath concert with a lot more excitement than I do most concerts these days. Maybe that was something about my age and the times we were living in, but much of it was also about the energy, vision and purity of the Sabbath music, brand and image. 
Black Sabbath were back in Newcastle at the City Hall in 1975, promoting the Sabotage album, and I was there ot see them with a group of mates. All of the Black Sabbath shows I attended in those days were great. I was much more a Tony Iommi man than an Ozzy fan and would carefully study his playing to see if I could pick up any tips. New favourites coming into the set in 1975 were Hole in the Sky and Symptom of the Universe, and old favourites such as Paranoid, Iron Man, Children of the Grave and Black Sabbath remained from earlier albums. Support on this our came from Brum band Bandy Legs who were to morph into Quartz when the New Wave of British Heavy Metal dawned a few years later. Typical set list from 1975: Hole in the Sky; Snowblind; Symptom of the Universe; War Pigs; Megalomania; Supernaut; Iron Man; Rock & Roll Doctor; Black Sabbath; Spiral Architect; Embryo / Children of the Grave; Paranoid; Killing Yourself to Live; Sabbra Cadabra
18 Apr
Ian Anderson plays Thick as a Brick Newcastle April 17th 2012
Ian Anderson Plays Thick as a Brick Newcastle City April 17th 2012
Went along with Will and Norm to see Ian Anderson and his merry band play Thick As A Brick 1 and 2. Thick As A Brick 1 is, of course, the original Jethro Tull album which was released in 1972, and Thick As A Brick 2 is a new album which has just been released by Ian. I was late getting away from work, so I had arranged to meet my friends through at the City Hall. I managed to arrive just 10 minutes after the 7.30 start time, so only missed a very small part of the show. The show was in two parts, with the first set being the old album. There was a short interval, followed by the new album played in its entirity. 
Ian has assembled an excellent band and the show is very theatrical with one guy playing the part of Gerald Bostock, and singing quite a lot of the vocals. The additional singer is a good move, giving Ian a break from singing at times. The show was supported by video and the use of props, and came over very well indeed. The situation around Ian Anderson and Jethro Tull is somewhat confusing to say the least. While it appears the Jethro Tull have not formally split, Ian Anderson is doing more and more things as solo projects, and Martin Barre has also started his own band, New Day, which will also feature Tull songs in their set. It also seems strange that Ian has chosen to revisit Thick as a Brick at this point, and that he is treating it as a solo project, when Martin Barre has been so intrinsic to the Tull sound for so long. 
Not with standing this, we all agreed that this was the best time that we have see Ian Anderson or Jethro Tull for some time. We also ran into a few old friends, which was nice.
17 Apr
Black Sabbath Newcastle Odeon December 1973
The second time I saw Black Sabbath was at Newcastle Odeon in December 1973. This was the Sabbath Bloody Sabbath tour and Newcastle was the first night of the tour. Newcastle Odeon is a bigger venue than the City Hall. I went along with a friend and we obviously bought tickets late as our seats were at the back of the (very large circle). I can remember looking down on some quite small dots, and the sound not being so great. Sabbath put on a great show that night, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as my first Sabbath experience, largely because of where we were sitting. 
I remember being quite excited at seeing the band this time, and my mate and I dressed specially for the gig, bit of us all in black. I also bought a large black cross to wear around my neck for this special occasion! Typical set list from the tour: Tomorrow’s Dream; Sweet Leaf; Killing Yourself to Live; Snowblind; War Pigs; A National Acrobat; Cornucopia; Sabbra Cadabra; Supernaut; Iron Man; Black Sabbath; Embryo / Children of the Grave; Paranoid; Megalomania. Many thanks to John for the poster scan.
16 Apr
Black Sabbath Newcastle City Hall February 1972
Black Sabbath Newcastle City Hall 5th February 1972
Support Act: Glen Cornick’s Wild Turkey
I remember the first time I saw Black Sabbath very well. Sabbath had just released Master of Reality and were touring to support their new album. I was sitting quite close to the back of the City Hall and remember being totally knocked out by the volume, and Geezer Butler’s bass in particular. It was almost as if the bass notes were hitting me in the chest. Ozzy was wearing a top hat and was just amazing. The band were still at a relatively early stage in their career and looked very young, Ozzy in particular. Their sound was raw, dark and very very heavy and loud. And they were just great. 
A typical set list from this period was: N.I.B.; War Pigs; Sweet Leaf; Black Sabbath; Iron Man; Embryo; Children of the Grave; Wicked World; Paranoid; Fairies Wear Boots. I remember War Pigs and Ozzy giving us all peace signs with both hands above his head. I also recall Sweet Leaf (I think they may have started with it) and I Am Iron Man booming out of the speakers. They finished with Paranoid and Fairies Wear Boots was the encore. My friend John was also at the gig, sitting down the front with a couple of school friends. 
I was to see Black Sabbath several more times over the next ten years, but my memories of this concert are the strongest. As I recall, the band were yet to become really popular, and I don’t think the City Hall was sold out that night. I’m pretty sure I just went along and paid at the door on the night. Support came from Wild Turkey, featuring Glenn Cornick who had recently left Jethro Tull. I recall Glenn displaying some pretty frantic bass playing with his long hair waving about. He was wearing a tassled waistcoat and his trademark headband. Many thanks to John for the scan of the flyer and the Wild Turkey album.
15 Apr
The Hollies Sage Gateshead 14 April 2012. 50th Anniversary Tour
The Hollies Sage Gateshead 14 April 2012. 50th Anniversary Tour.
Went to see the Hollies again last night at the Sage Gateshead. It’s great to see that they have reached their 50th anniversary. A Hollies concert is exactly that; a concert. It isn’t really a rock gig, and it wouldn’t be fair to class it along the lines of a 60s show, as it is much more than that. This is a band with a great back catalogue, who have continued as a band through several line ups and the loss of key members, in particular Graham Nash and Alan Clarke. New singer Peter Howarth has now been with the band eight years, and is as natural in the lead singer role as anyone could be. The Hollies were they in my childhood years throughout the 60s. I used to buy ex juke box singles from the pub over the road. Bus Stop was one and I played and played it on a little record player. The Hollies may not have the social (or musical) significance of the Stones, The Beatles or The Who, but they were a very important part of the 60s, particularly in the UK. I was in a cheap seat looking down on the stage again. As ever the band were 100% professional and presented us with an evening of classic 60s songs. Tony Hicks still looks great and displays some nifty fret work on his electric sitar during the intro to The Baby and some great banjo on the intro to Stop Stop Stop. Bobby, is the elder statesman on the band and keeps them on all track form the “engine room” (Peter’s term) at the back.
Another great show by a band who just keep on going. If I have one criticism it is that the set has remained largely unchanged for the past few years. However, the band have reinterpreted several of the songs, and given them something fresh. Look Through Any Window has been completely rearranged. King Midas in Reverse is sung by Steve Lauri, rather than Peter. Peter performs Can’t Tell the Bottom from the Top alone with an acoustic guitar and gives it new life (he is a really good guitar player). Last night Tony played an acoustic guitar on Bus Stop, and it sounded the best I have heard it for years. They have also added a couple of songs which were hits in Scandinavia, namely Stewball and Very Last Day. Set list: Set 1: The Day That Curly Billy Shot Down Crazy Sam Mcgee; I Can’t Let Go; Jennifer Eccles; Yes I Will; On A Carousel; Then, Now Always; Sandy; King Midas In Reverse; Very Last Day; Emotions; The Baby; Look Through Any Window. Set 2: I’m Alive; Sorry Suzanne; Bus Stop; Stewball; I Can’t Tell The Bottom From The Top (Acoustic); Listen To Me; Here I Go Again; Gasoline Alley Bred; Weakness; Just One Look; Stay; Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress; Carrie Anne; Stop Stop Stop; He Ain’t Heavy He’s My Brother; The Air That I Breathe; Let Love Pass.
14 Apr
The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band Sunderland Empire 1969. Supported by Roy Harper and Yes
The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, Roy Harper, Yes, Mad Dog
Sunderland Empire Theatre March 8th 1969
(Semi) memories of my first gig
The first concert I ever attended was the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band at Sunderland Empire in March 1969. I was 12 years old at the time and had been getting into pop and rock music for a year or two. I’d started to buy the New Musical Express and was beginning to collect records. I managed to persuade my parents to let me attend the concert on the basis that there were two shows at 6pm and 9pm, and that if I went to the earlier show, I could safely get the bus home. None of my friends at the time were interested so I bought myself a ticket, reserving myself a seat in the front row of the stalls. First gigs are important in my view. They can shape musical taste and set allegiances for life. For me this gig set me on an unavoidable path to becoming obsessed with seeing bands, with rock music in general, and gave me a life long interest in Yes and Roy Harper, who both formed part of the supporting bill. I can still remember aspects of this gig some 43 years later as I write this. I sat fascinated at the performers on stage, and entranced by the loud music. In fact the volume was something that did it for me. The bands (I probably called them groups at the time) seemed very, very loud to me; I was almost frightened that my hearing would be damaged (in fact, it is starting to go slightly now, but it has taken a long time, and I can’t be sure that it is a result of going to rock concerts, but I suspect it is). And the power, passion and energy of the performers also struck me. First up was a band called Mad Dog. I’m not sure what happened to them, and the only song I can recall was a great version of Moby Grape’s Can’t Be So Bad, which appears on one of the Rock Machine albums. Next up was Yes who were a revelation, and fascinated me with their jazzy mix of rock and pop. And they played some songs that I knew: Something’s Coming from West Side Story and The Beatles’ Eleanor Rigby. They also played No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed, which is a Richie Havens song and appears on Yes’ second album, and opens with the theme from the film The Big Country. Yes had yet to release their first album, and the line up at that time was Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, Bill Bruford, Peter Banks and Tony Kaye. I was impressed by how Jon and Chris were dressed; Chris in particular was sporting a natty hat and impressive flares and boots. I recall that a compere introduced each band and chatted to the audience while the stage set up was being changed around, in the way that I imagine it worked on 60s package tours. Next up was Roy Harper who sat to the right of the stage on a high stool, directly in front of me. He had incredibly long hair (something else which impressed me) and was wearing a pair of beat up old jeans and big work boots. I think he sang Hells Angels, Nobodies Got Any Money in the Summer, and I Hate The White Man. 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. Finally the bill toppers took to the stage, accompanied by some amazing machines and props which were always an important part of the Bonzos show. The Bonzo Dog Band (they had shortened their name at this time) performed tracks from their first two albums Gorilla and The Doughnut in Granny’s Greenhouse, including such great (and fun) songs as: Cool Britannia, The Equestrian Statue, Jollity Farm, Look Out There’s a Monster Coming, Death Cab for Cutie (which I has seen them perform on TV in the Beatles Magical Mystery Tour show), Can Blue Men Sing the Whites?, Trouser Press (featuring some natty on stage trouser pressing), and of course I’m The Urban Spaceman, during which Viv Stanshall blew through a long plastic tube while swinging it around his head. And so the die was cast, I set out on my life long concert journey which has given me great joy over the years, and also caused me some trouble at times when I become obsessive and attend too many! Sadly I don’t have a ticket stub for this concert. I hadn’t got into the habit of saving them at that stage, and the tickets for shows at the Empire at the time simply listed the date, and not the artist, so didn’t seem worth keeping.
13 Apr
Jean Jacques Burnel Newcastle Mayfair 1979
Euroman cometh
Jean Jacques Burnel Newcastle Mayfair 1979
And thus a strangler was reborn as a Euroman and he did cometh to the toon of Newcastle to perform at the glorious Mayfair ballroom for a (rather sparse) crowd of punks and rockers. And those of us there, in the presence of the Euroman, did marvel at his skill and prowess as a bass player and as a musician, even if we were a little perplexed at, and surprised by, the nature of the musical tapestry which he unveiled to us. For this was an evening of euro electronica, far removed from the punkish tunings of his regular combo The Stranglers, obviously influenced by the powerful sound of Kraftwerk and other similar Euro bands. 
Yes this was a strange night, and not at all what I expected at the time. I hadn’t taken the trouble to hunt out the Euroman Cometh lp before going to this gig, and wasn’t sure what I was going to see. What I didn’t expect was a set of heavy synth and drum music. It made for a very different and more enjoyable evening than Marie and I had anticipated. Jean Jacques’ band for the tour featured John Ellis from the Vibrators, and I also recall that he drove his beloved Triumph motorbike on stage and revved it up for the intro to Triumph of the Good City, which is one of the tracks on the album. I picked up a vinyl copy of the album some years ago at a car boot sale, and was pleasantly surprised by it, all over again. It is actually a great album; do listen to it if you get the chance. The CD issue features nine bonus tracks recorded live on the 1979 tour at the Hemel Hempstead gig.
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