T Rex Sunderland Empire 15th Feb 1976
Two years on and T Rex were touring again, this time to promote their new album “Futuristic Dragon”. The truth was that the T Rex star was waning, and they weren’t hitting the charts in the way that they used to. But in Marc’s head he was, of course, as big a star as ever, and if you read the programme you would believe that the band were as popular as ever: “Marc Bolan is back in Britain and set to lead T Rex on their first major UK tour since 1973….Today when Marc Bolan declares he is a ‘rock and roll phenomenon’ it is no wild exaggeration… he has become a legend to millions of fanatically enthusiastic young people. It was with T Rex that Marc brought back the screamage excitement which had not been seen since the halycon days of the Beatles….With a little help from his lady Gloria Jones (vocals and keyboards), Steve Curry (bass), Dave Lutton (drums), Tyrone Scott and Dino Dines (both on keyboards) the ‘little bopper’ is about to put the bounce back into rock. Look out!” Usual Bolan under-statement 🙂 
The tour called at Sunderland Empire on 15th Feb 1976, and support came from Lennie MacDonald. For the people of Sunderland that evening, it was T Rex mania all over again. The venue was packed and the crowd went crazy for Marc; we were back in 1972 again. A huge (futuristic) dragon stood at the back of the stage breathing flames towards us. The crush at the front resulted in some seats being smashed; and at one point during the acoustic set a guy jumped on stage to hug Marc. Unfortunately he grabbed Marc around his neck causing him to choke and he had to leave the stage for a little while. Luckily Marc was ok and T Rex returned to continue their set. The concert featured a selection of the hits and a few nods back to the early days. Life’s a Gas has always been one of my favourites. I can’t believe the ticket price was only £1.25 !
Setlist: 20th Century Boy; Jeepster; Solid Gold Easy Action; Children of the Revolution; Debora; Conesuala; One Inch Rock; Life’s a Gas; Dreamy Lady; London Boys; Teenage Dream; Hot Love
“As the years pass by” he said at one point “I’m still only 16, and so are you baby. You’re my stars….”
Posts Tagged ‘gigs’
1 Oct
T Rex Sunderland Empire 15th Feb 1976
30 Sep
T Rex Newcastle City Hall 21st January 1974
T Rex Newcastle City Hall 21st January 1974
1974 was a year of big change for Marc Bolan and T Rex. Marc announced that “glam was dead” and that “T-Rex no longer exists.” He released the album ‘Zinc Alloy and The Hidden Riders of Tomorrow – A Creamed Cage in August’ and declared that his new band was called ‘Zinc Alloy and The Hidden Riders of Tomorrow’, an idea clearly borrowed from Bowie and his Ziggy persona. The record company was having none of it, and insisted that the T Rex monicker was retained. In January T Rex began their first British tour in over a year. The short six date tour started at Newcastle City Hall, and featured a new nine piece line-up. The new band still included previous members Steve Currie on bass and Mickey Finn on bongos, and added wife-to-be Gloria Jones and Pat Hall on backing vocals, two sax players and two new drummers Davey Lutton and Paul Fenton, replacing Bill Legend. A new single ‘Whatever Happened to the Teenage Dream’ was released, but it’s chart success was moderate. The tour sold well, although demand was nowhere near the heights of the 1972 outings.
Marc emerged onstage lying on a massive hydraulic star which raised him from the floor so that he was facing the audience. Behind him was “T Rex” in massive lit stars. Marc had gained weight, and had his hair cut short (apparently his ex-wife June Child had cut his hair just before they split). The new larger band gave the songs a fuller sound, and was beginning to resemble a soul review, but in doing so it lost some of the raw rock’n’roll edge of the previous T Rex. Although some screamers were in attendance, the crowd reaction was much more subdued, and there was none of the mad craziness of their 1972 shows at the City Hall. The T Rex star was definitely starting to fade. I don’t recall who the support act was; I have a feeling that there may not have been one (although the ticket says otherwise).
An enjoyable gig, but it didn’t reach the heights of the previous time I saw T Rex.
29 Sep
T Rex Newcastle City Hall 24th June 1972 6pm and 8.30pm
T Rex Newcastle City Hall 24th June 1972 6pm and 8.30pm
It is early 1972 and it all started with a question. “Who is the best live band?” The silly questions that kids ask each other, and that seem so important at the time. “Who is the best live band?”. The answers were usually Led Zeppelin (we had all seem them live a few months before and they totally blew us away), Free, Family (both bands were big favourites with rock fans in the North East), Deep Purple, The Stones, oh and T Rex. Eh? Yes one guy was insistent that the best band he had ever seen live was T Rex. We scoffed at this. T Rex? Hadn’t they “sold out” and become teenyboppers? Now if he had said Tyrannosaurus Rex (we would all nod sagely and knowingly when that name was mentioned) we might agree. Tyrannosaurus Rex were cool, progressive, hippy and all those cool things. But T Rex?
It’s funny how such trivial things are so crucial when you are young.
My friend posed a challenge to me. I had to go and see T Rex with him the next time they came, so that I could see for myself. I agreed.
Roll on to June 1972. T Rex have announced a short tour and are coming to Newcastle City Hall. They are playing two shows, at 6.00pm and 8.30pm. Now being a man of my word I have to keep my promise. I’ve never see T Rex live. I missed out on seeing Tyrannosaurus Rex, which I regret, and at the time I secretly fancied seeing T Rex, but it had become too uncool to admit to that, or so I thought. Any way, I had accepted the challenge, so I had to go, and secretly I was quite looking forward to it. But first there was the task of getting tickets. T Rex were the hottest ticket (with teenage girls) at the time. The tickets went on sale on a Saturday morning, and my friend and I agreed to meet early in the morning and get the train through to Newcastle, in time for the box office opening. When we arrived at the City Hall the queue was across the road and right down the street. A couple of policemen were trying to organise and control the crowds, but as soon as the box office opened its doors, there was a massive dash and the line of the queue descended into chaos. This gave us an opportunity to take our chances. We rushed to the front and managed to get close to the doors. We were planning to buy tickets for the late show, but as we found we were able to buy good seats, we decided to go to both shows. We ended up with seats in the middle of the third row for the early show and towards the side in the fifth row for the late show.
Roll on to the night of the concert. We turned up at the City Hall early, as the first show started at 6.00pm. Support were Quiver (soon to join forces with the Sutherland Brothers) who played a short, excellent, set which was lost on the screaming Bolanites. The City Hall was packed with girls in their early teens, all decked out in satin clothes, with T Rex scarves, and glitter on their cheeks. Several were wearing a top hat, mimicking the hat that Marc was wearing on the front cover of the recently released “Slider” album. To call the show pandemonium is an under statement. The screaming started from the minute the house lights went down and didn’t let up until T Rex had finished their short set. Marc was resplendent, an elfin rock god in a glitter jacket. He camped it up to the delight of the crowd. Everyone around was screaming “Marc! Marc!” and crying, tears running down their faces. I swear we were the only boys in the front block. T Rex were incredible. Very LOUD, and you could feel the energy flowing out of Marc and Mickey. The set included a few of the hits, I think they started with their current single “Metal Guru”, some album tracks, and a short acoustic set where Mark and Mickey sat cross-legged on a rug; Marc with acoustic guitar, and Mickey with small bongos between his knees, harking back to the Tyrannosaurus Rex days. Great stuff. Marc played the part of the rock god perfectly, pouting and prancing around the stage. Wonderful. The set was very short, less than an hour, and then by 8pm it was over, and we back out on to the street to join the queue for the late show.
Roll on to 8.30pm. If I’d thought the early show was crazy, the late show was total chaos. This time the fans were just that little bit older and that little bit more determined to get to the front and touch Marc. We had girls climbing over us, and were crushed from all sides. We ended up with girls on our shoulders (“Can I get on your shoulders, Mister?”), both (the girls, that is) screaming “Marc! Macr!” at the top of their voices. And is seemed even louder. My ears were ringing for days afterwards. At the end we had to run down to the station to catch the last train home.
So, returning to my initial question: “Who is the best live band?”. My friend was even more convinced that no-one could match T Rex. And in some ways I could see where he was coming from. I’d certainly never been to a gig quite lack it for craziness and energy, from the band and the audience. But it’s like comparing the proverbial “apples and pears”. T Rex and Zeppelin were, of course, completely different bands. So we agreed to disagree, and although I 100% enjoyed my T Rex experience, I also remained 100% committed to Zeppelin, The Stones, Purple and others. But I did cross a line that night, and realised that “cool” wasn’t everything and that there was serious fun in seeing pop bands like T Rex, and serious merit in their music. From then on I stopped worrying about whether a band was cool, and if I fancied going to see them, I went.
Setlist: Metal Guru: Cadillac; Jeepster; Cosmic Dancer; Telegram Sam; Debora; Spaceball Ricochet; Girl; Get It On; Hot Love; Summertime Blues
28 Sep
The Libertines Alexandra Palace London 27th Sep 2014
The Libertines Alexandra Palace London 27th Sep 2014
I finally got to see the Libertines last night at Alexandra Palace with Laura, David and Shauna, who are all fans. I wasn’t sure what to expect, being more familiar with the legend and the Pete Doherty saga, rather than the music. I had in my mind that it might be similar to going to see the Clash or, perhaps more like, Buzzcocks “back in the day”. Whatever my silly comparisons,it actually turned out to be great fun, with Pete, Carl and the band running through just about the entire Libertines catalogue to a packed Ally Pally crowd who danced, cheered, sang (and threw lots of beer) like there was no tomorrow. This was the second of three nights that the Libertines are playing at the massive London venue as part of their reunion tour.
The Alexandra Palace is a grand venue, set up on a hill overlooking the city, but it is hardly ideal for a rock concert. The sound was very murky at the start, but started to improve a few songs in. Pete is looking well, and he and Carl were clearly enjoying themselves. They came onstage just before 9.30pm to a deafening roar from the crowd. Everyone was pleased to see them, this band mean a lot to their fans, and the on/off brotherhood friendship of Pete and Carl is very much on again. The story of the Libertines is as much about two mates, their journey on the good ship Albion, and their attempt to (re)create a time of friendship, fun, and old Englishness, as it is about the poppy songs, the rocky punk riffs, and the slow, moving crowd singalong ballads. For a moment, looking at the grainy black and white images of Pete and Carl sharing the mike, it could be John and Paul up there.
Comments on Twitter this morning: “Pete in pretty good voice”. “Really enjoyed it tonight – they played well, very tight, sound was good, liked the lighting/video screen thing”. “Bloody magnificent”. “Absolutely smashed it”.
Setlist: The Delaney; Campaign of Hate; Vertigo; Time for Heroes; Horrorshow; Begging; The Ha Ha Wall; Music When the Lights Go Out; What Katie Did; The Boy Looked at Johnny; Boys in the Band; Can’t Stand Me Now; Last Post on the Bugle; Don’t Look Back Into the Sun; The Saga; Death on the Stairs; ; Tell the King; The Good Old Days
Encore: You’re My Waterloo; What Became of the Likely Lads; Up the Bracket; What a Waster; I Get Along
Returning to my comparison, I think musically more Buzzcocks than Clash. Scrub that, I’ll go for more Stones than the Beatles, and change my image of Pete and Carl, from being John and Paul to being Mick and Keef. Enough of my comparisons, which are getting silly. And no spitting these days.
It was fun to join a big party of 10,000 20-something and 30-something year olds, all enjoying a reunion trip on the good ship Albion. After all, it’s a trip they never thought they would make again, and one many of them have dreamed of. Last night two young mates stood on that stage, sang those songs again, and relived days , not so long ago, when the world was, for a short time, a different and happier place.
We joined the queues stumbling out of the venue, passed the crammed buses, walked down the hill and along to Wood Green, where we caught a bus back to David and Shauna’s. I’d bought some badges and we shared them out; David’s had a picture of the band, Shauna’s a skull and crossbones, Laura’s a mod target image, and mine simply said “The Libertines” in a Sex Pistols style font. I’ve just checked my lapel; I’ve already lost mine. So it goes 🙂
27 Sep
Julie Tippetts (Julie Driscoll) The Argus Butterfly Peterlee March 1976
Julie Tippetts (Julie Driscoll) The Argus Butterfly Peterlee March 1976
I’m going to start my meander through acts beginning with the letter “T” with a gig that was strange, musically scary, and unique. And it is also one that I am so glad I attended. But first I’ll think back to when I was a kid in the ’60s.
The image of Julie Driscoll on TV, with her wide made-up eyes and scary hair, singing “Wheels on Fire”, remains forever etched in my memory. I would have loved to see her perform during that period; her work with Brian Auger is simply incredible, and I watch her quite often on YouTube. The first chance that I got to see her live was when she came, with her band Butterfly, to perform at the Argus Butterfly pub in Peterlee. By then she had married, become Julie Tippetts, and had undergone a radical change in vocal style and musical direction. The Argus was, of course, a legendary venue (see below for a picture of the pub) having hosted many bands in the late 60s, when it was the home of the Peterlee Jazz and Folk Club, including an early show by Led Zeppelin, and gigs by Family, Jethro Tull, Free, Deep Purple, Man and others. It was a sparse crowd that gathered to see Tippetts that night in 1976, which was a shame, because what we witnessed was something simply astounding. Tippetts had released the album “Sunset Glow” the year before.
Miles explained in the NME (1975): “In 1970 Julie Driscoll married Keith Tippett, the modern composer, and entered the mysterious other world of contemporary music….She began training her voice and got more involved with experimental work”. All Music Guide says: “After her soul, pop, and R&B beginnings, Tippetts redeveloped her voice… began to extend its reach in improvisation, breath control, and uncommon phrasing. She is one of the most compelling and original singers in recorded music’s history. Sunset Glow is a curious recording, one that walks the razor’s edge of composition and improvisation….strange song structures, varying dynamics”.
Her performance that night was truly way out there in left field. This was vocal improvisation and strange curious songs, and timings. 
Unlike anything I had heard before. Her band was Brian Godding (guitar), Harry Miller (bass), Mark Charig (cornet) all of who were with Julie in Centipede in 1973, and a “new” guy John Mitchell (percussion) who used to be with Arthur Brown. Julie accompanied herself on piano. One song ‘Mongezi Feza’ consisted entirely of Julie singing the name over and over again, improvising and playing with the sounds. To call the music avant garde jazz does it a disservice; this was experiments in sound, using the voice as an instrument and seeing how far she could take it. It was mind blowing stuff. Sometimes so strange I wanted to laugh, yet compelling and so challenging and moving. Marie and I sat near the front, wondering what on earth we were experiencing.
The gig sticks in my mind today, and I keep promising myself that one day I will go and see Julie perform again. She performs rarely these days, usually with her husband on piano, and in London or the south-west. I really must try and see her again.
26 Sep
Stackridge Live 1972 – 1976
Stackridge Live 1972 – 1976
Stackridge toured endlessly in the early to mid 70s. I must have seen them at least half a dozen times including performances at the Reading Festival in 1972 and 1973, at the Elton John and Beach Boys show at Wembley Stadium, supporting Lindisfarne at Newcastle City Hall, and headlining at Sunderland Polytechnic Wearmouth Hall. I am sure there will have been other occasions which have slipped my mind. For me it was the original Stackridge line-up which was in place up until 1973, which was the classic band. This was the band which was fronted by Mutter Slater, recorded the album “The Man in the Bowler Hat” (Mutter would always wear a bowler hat on stage), and had great songs which married intricate prog, Beatle-ish tunes, with fascinating storytelling, great hooks, and some west country humour thrown in for good measure. The song “Slark”, from their first album was the highlight of the set. “Slark” tells a somewhat dark, yet poignant story of a (friendly, I think) monster and was an eccentric lengthy prog/folk epic, during which Mutter captivated us all, and lead us in the sing-a-long chorus. I would look forward to seeing them play “Slark” and would go home disappointed if the song wasn’t aired. But there were other classics songs: “Dora the Female Explorer”, “Let there be Lids” (the band would all bang dustbin lids, while we clapped along with them), “Do the Stanley” (the “Stanley” was Stackridge’s very own dance, which the band invented, and encouraged us all to join in with on several drunkens ocassions), and other great Stackridge stories including “Amazingly Agnes”, “Purple Spaceships Over Yatton” and “The Road To Venezuela”.
Stackridge always seemed to be on the verge of bigger success, but it then somehow seemed to allude them. Perhaps the ever-changing line-up didn’t help. At one point, Mutter and a couple of other members left the band, and a new Stackridge went out on tour with a very different line-up to promote their third album “The Man in the Bowler Hat” (and of course the man who actually wore the bowler hat wasn’t there!). The album was produced by George Martin and should have ensured great success. Mutter and the others did return to the fold, and the band were signed to Elton John’s Rocket label. However by 1976 it was all over, and Stackridge split, leaving fanatical followers up and down the country and a bunch of great memories and excellent songs. For me, Stackridge were an important, yet often forgotten, part of the early 70s music scene.
Stackridge reformed ten years or so ago, and are touring again.
“Careering along in my creosote car
From Kebeeble to Kenn I didn’t get very far
The sky turned black and a dark cloud grew
The monster Slark came in to view
I pleaded with Slark to pass me by
“I’ve done nothing wrong, I don’t want to die”
He scooped me up in his huge grey claws
And bore me away without any cause”
(Slark, Stackridge, 1971)
This is absolutely the last (at least for now) of my blog entries on acts beginning with the letter “S”. I will definitely move onto the letter “T” tomorrow 🙂
25 Sep
Soft Machine Live 1974 and 1975
Soft Machine Live 1974 and 1975
I saw Soft Machine twice; once at a concert at Newcastle Guildhall on 29 June 1974, and again at Reading Festival on August bank holiday weekend 1975. But my first recollections of Soft Machine are much earlier. I recall listening to a Radio 1 in concert by the band in the late 60s or early 70s, and was totally blown away by the experimental free-form improvisation, which was, to a young teenager, simply mind-blowing and unlike anything I had heard; very different from the rock and pop that I was listening to at the time. I held that concert in my mind, but it was a few years until I finally got to see the band. By then they had transformed from the early psych band of the late 60s to a much more jazz-oriented outfit playing purely instrumental concerts, featuring long numbers with extended improvisation. Allan Holdsworth had joined the band and they had become a much more guitar-oriented band. They were promoting their album ‘Bundles’ at the time and the line up at the time was Mike Ratledge – keyboards; John Marshall – drums, percussion; Karl Jenkins – oboe, saxophone, keyboards, synthesisers; Roy Babbington – bass and Allan Holdsworth – guitar. By the time I saw them at Reading Holdsworth had been replaced by John Etheridge.
The 1974 concert that I attended was part of the Newcastle Jazz Festival. I found a review of that concert in Melody Maker, posted on the website of support act the Steve Brown Band: “The Softs began to project their intricate, fluent music to a packed house. Each solo was performed to perfection, especially some stunningly complex drumming from John Marshall. They blended their inborn jazz origin with the essential urgency of rock to full effect and produced a generally rich all-round sound. Allan Holdsworth emerged as one of the all-round stars of the evening with some really fine guitar playing on “Hazard Profile”, “Floating World” and the exceptional “The Man Who Waved At Trains”. If I remember correctly this was a late night concert with doors at 9pm, and Soft Machine coming on stage very late, and sadly we had to leave before the end to catch our train home.
Neil commented on one of my earlier posts on a 1975 City Hall concert by Soft Machine, which I missed: “Soft Machine came on and didn’t speak a word all night to a third full City Hall. Incredible gig – can still picture Mike Ratledge doing a solo bit – as the band were walking off he just played one note that went on forever. Marshall did a lengthy drum solo and Karl Jenkins showed us he had something special and he’s proved it lately with his popular classical works.” (Thanks Neil).
A bootleg exists of the Reading performance I witnessed which records the set as: The Floating World; Ban Ban Caliban; Out of Season; Bundles; Land of Bag Snake; The Man Who Waved At Trains; Peff. Mind-blowing stuff.
An amazing and much missed act, who successfully blended rock, jazz and prog to produce a unique, challenging sound. I notice that John Marshall and John Etheridge sometimes perform these days as Soft Machine Legacy and have been meaning to go and see them.
24 Sep
Silverhead live 1973 and 1974
Silverhead live 1973 and 1974
Actually….there a couple of more bands who deserve a day’s blogging before I move on to letter “T” (thanks Mitch and Neil). The first is Silverhead. Looking at singer Michael Des Barres gigography site, I reckon that I saw Silverhead three times, once supporting Wizzard at Sunderland Locarno on 13th July 1973, then supporting Nazareth at Newcastle City Hall on 19th October 1973, and then back, this time headlining, at Sunderland Locarno on 7th June 1974. I certainly remember seeing them at the Mecca (aka Locarno) and have my ticket stub for the Nazareth gig. These gigs blur into a glam rock’n’roll mist….
Silverhead were a British rock’n’roll proto-glam-metal band, with a style, sassiness and attitude, that made them stand apart, way out there from other bands of the time. Fronted by the singer and mime artist/actor, Michael Des Barres; the other members of Silverhead were: Robbie Blunt (guitar; went on to play with Robert Plant), Rod Rook Davies (guitar), Nigel Harrison (bass guitar; went on to play with Blondie) and Pete Thompson (drums). Silverhead only existed for two short years, during which period they recorded two albums, “Silverhead” and “16 and Savaged”, and played some crazy gigs which left a mark on anyone who saw them.
Looking back, Silverhead were way ahead of their time. The guys were the model for many sleaze/trash rock who followed. They all wore make-up, and Des Barres was a crazy, OTT frontman. There were hints of glam-rock in their stage show, but Silverhead were one hot rock’n’roll trash band, and Des Barres had a great screeching, raucous rock voice. These guys were fore-runners of punk, and role models for many sleaze/heavy metal rock bands of the 70s and 80s. I’ve just watched some video on YouTube of Silverhead live, and you can see exactly where Ratt, Motley Crue, Guns N’ Roses and even the New York Dolls (this was 1973 and Silverhead did tour the USA) got some of their ideas. Dave Thompson, in a review of their first album on AllMusic, calls Silverhead “the first and positively the greatest metal band ever to dress up like a bunch of weird-looking hookers.” And who influenced Silverhead? Well, you can certainly imagine that they listened to T Rex, and some of their music and attitude is not a million miles away from “BlockBuster” or “HellRaiser”; but they took the glamrock of Sweet and Bolan, coupled it with the loud rock of Slade and a hint of the Stones, and twisted it into something much seedier, rauchier and rockier. Live these guys were explosive with a high energy set which contained rock’n’sass classics, a couple of deep ballads, and the crazy adrenaline-charged screaming mania of Des Barres, posing bare-chested and wearing silver lurex trousers. They may have been playing to small clubs, or supporting more established acts, but you could tell, that in his head, Des Barres was already a big rock star.”Subtle as a flying handbag” (Dave Thompson, AllMusic).
Richard Cromelin reviewed a 1973 concert at the Whisky a Go Go, Los Angeles for Phonograph Record magazine: “Des Barres…loves to pose for the cameras, and like the best rock ‘n’ rollers he feeds off the energy that comes from the crowd in front of the stage…..He has a marvelous face as well, with sunken eyes and hollow cheeks that he uses to project a demonic, stylized sexuality…they make you feel their love of performing, their total involvement in and enthusiasm for what they’re doing.”
23 Sep
Spandau Ballet Whitley Bay Ice Rink 19th December 1984
Spandau Ballet Whitley Bay Ice Rink 19th December 1984
The next time Spandau Ballet returned to play in the North East, they sold out two nights at the cold and cavernous Whitley Bay Ice Rink. Now very much pop stars, Spandau Ballet released their fourth album, Parade, in June 1984, which featured the hit single “Only When You Leave”. At the end of 1984, they performed on the Band Aid charity single. In a few short years this band had moved from being the darlings of the new romantic scene, playing small, intimate and exclusive events in trend-setting London clubs, to the pop star darling of thousands of screaming fans, headlining massive arenas up and down the UK.
In the tour programme, all of the band wax lyrically about the live experience. 
Tony Hadley describes it through a poem: “The dream was so real. The colours so clean. The atmosphere a richness that touched all the human senses. An expectation so overpowering that you no longer felt completely in control. A force greater than anything experienced before was urging you forward eager to tease and be teased. The curtain will rise and at once the party begins….Without any doubt at all, playing live is one of the greatest moments of my life.” Gary Kemp: “This is where ‘Parade’ really exists, in the event that we’ll both create tonight!” Martin Kemp: “…our stomachs ache with anticipation and our hands are clammy, this is by far the best time of any year…Welcome to the Parade.” Steve Norman: “Playing live is what we do best and it’s most certainly what we enjoy doing most.” John Keeble: “At Last! Spandau are back on stage and n-one is more pleased than me. I saw Spandau Ballet once more, in 1985, when they performed at Wembley Stadium as part of Live Aid.
I think that covers my ramblings on the letter “S”. It turned out to be a bit of a marathon. I need to double-check, but tomorrow I should be able to start the letter “T”! The end of my project is getting closer….
22 Sep
Spandau Ballet Newcastle City Hall 19th April 1983
Spandau Ballet Newcastle City Hall 19th April 1983
“Initially ‘mod’ meant a very small group of young working class boys who, at the height of the trad boom formed a small, totally committed little mutual admiration society totally devoted to clothes…” (George Melly, from his book Revolt Into Style.)
“…although they’ve played only a handful of gigs to invited audiences, every record company in London has been chasing their signatures, some without hearing a note of their music. Already they’ve been the subject of an entire television documentary owing to their large London cult following.” (Betty Page, Sounds, 1980)
Spandau Ballet was as sharp as a dagger, and cool as you could get when they emerged from the new romantic scene of the early 1980s. Their gigs were special, important, exclusive events held at small London club venues like Blitz and Heaven. And their first single “To Cut a Long Story Short” was pretty good. And the clothes were so outrageous, courageous and splendid.
By the time Spandau Ballet appeared at Newcastle City Hall in 1983 they were morphing into a more mainstream pop and blue-eyed soul band. They had just released their third album “True” which features the song of the same name and their other massive hit of 1983, “Gold”. The “True” album topped the charts all around the world, and the band were poised for further success.
Setlist: Foundation; Communication; Pleasure; Code Of Love; Gold; The Freeze; Glow; Lifeline; Heaven Is A Secret; True; Paint Me Down; Instinction; Chant No1; Cut a Long Story Short
Line-up: Tony Hadley (lead vocals), Gary Kemp (guitar), Martin Kemp (bass), Steve Norman (sax), John Keeble (drums)
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