Rod Stewart Newcastle Arena 7th Dec 2005 The Great American Songbook tour
By 2000 Rod Stewart was a massive world wide star, having sold over 100 million records worldwide. In 2002 his career took a change in direction as he began to record 1930s and 1940s pop standards from the “Great American Songbook”, written by songwriters such as Irving Berlin, Cole Porter, and George and Ira Gershwin. Although this met with great popular success, giving Rod the same level of album sales as he enjoyed during the 1970s, it was also met with disappointment and dismay by those of us who still held memories of Rod the Mod and Rod the Rocker, and of those great Faces concerts. So when I decided to go along to see Rod perform some of these classics in 2005, I feared the worst. The first half of the concert was a standard Rod set (good 🙂 ), with the Great American Songbook” reserved for the latter part of the evening. So in the first part of the show we got Rod, complete with his band, playing his normal sort of stuff. There was then an interval and for the second part of the show Rod donned his tux and was accompanied by a “Palm Court” type orchestra. The show was slick, and yes I had to admit that the songs are classics and that Rod delivered them well, but it still didn’t feel right. 
However the “Songbook” part of the show was, in the event, only five or so songs, and it was then back to more traditional Rod (relief), some (I think) with the orchestra, and the later songs (Maggie May, Baby Jane) with the band. I spent the second part of the evening wandering around the rear of the arena, viewing the show from different vantage points. For me this was a strange event, which I still have mixed feelings about it. I enjoyed it in parts, but there were other times during the night where it just didn’t feel right.
The setlist will have been something like this (Rod varied the set from night to night)
First set: You Wear It Well; This Old Heart of Mine; Young Turks; Sweet Little Rock & Roller; Every Beat of My Heart; Tonight I’m Yours; Downtown Train; The First Cut Is the Deepest; Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright); Reason to Believe; Hot Legs; What Am I Gonna Do (I’m So in Love With You); I’m So Excited; Have I Told You Lately; You’re in My Heart.
Second set: I’ve Got My Love to Keep Me Warm (Irving Berlin); They Can’t Take That Away From Me (Gershwin); Blue Moon (Rodgers & Hart); As Time Goes By (Herman Hupfeld); A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square (Maschwitz & Sherwin); Pennies From Heaven (Johnson & Burke); I Don’t Want to Talk About It; It Takes Two; Twistin’ the Night Away; Having a Party; Rhythm of My Heart; Sailing; Maggie May / Gasoline Alley; Baby Jane
Posts Tagged ‘gigs’
10 Jul
Rod Stewart Newcastle Arena 7th Dec 2005 The Great American Songbook tour
9 Jul
Pearl Jam Leeds Arena 8th July 2014
Pearl Jam Leeds Arena 8th July 2014
This was my initiation to Pearl Jam. I’ve been meaning to go and see them for some time and finally did so last night in Leeds. The closest I got until now was seeing singer Eddie Vedder guest with The Who at the Albert Hall a couple of years ago.
My evening started shortly after 5pm, as I set off down the A1. I had am uneventful journey south into Yorkshire and was parked up in a multi- storey car park in Leeds by 7pm. It was then a short walk to the First Direct Arena, before I took my seat in the first tier, just to the left of the stage. Pearl Jam came on just before 8.30pm; there was no support act. This was one of only two UK dates which they are playing this time around, the other being a massive open air show at Milton Keynes bowl.
Leeds First Direct Arena is a fine venue, which holds around 10,000 people, but somehow has the feel of a much smaller hall. This is my second visit, having seen Springsteen there last year.
I’m familiar with very little of Pearl Jam’s material, but I’ve read a lot about them, and was really looking forward to this gig.
Got home late last night. This was an epic 3+ hours, 30+ songs, set from the band, and they exceeded all my expectations. Few bands connect with the audience in the way Pearl Jam did last night. At times I felt like I was the only one in the entire arena who didn’t know all the words to every song as the whole crowd sang along, arms waving. It was like being an observer at someone else’s massive party. The band were very clearly having a great time, and made several references to being pleased to be playing in Leeds, where The Who recorded their famous live album. The encores included covers of two Who classics: The Real Me and Baba O’Reilly. I find Pearl Jam’s music difficult to categorise; although they grew out of the grunge movement, their songs reflect their classic 70s rock roots. You can hear The Who, punk, The Ramones all mashed in there somewhere. In some ways the epic, lengthy nature of the set, and the loyalty of the fans reminded me of seeing the Grateful Dead back in the day. Perhaps that’s a strange comparison, as the music of the two bands is so different. However, I am not alone in making it: “Is Pearl Jam a Modern Grateful Dead? Pearl Jam has long been linked to flannel, but what about tie-dye? As the band closes in on its second decade making music, Pearl Jam and its follow-them-anywhere fans have slowly become one of the tightest communities in rock ’n’ roll, complete with a vibrant bootleg trade centered around the band’s ever-changing, much-lauded live show that many claim transcends the pomp and circumstance of normal rock shows for something more human. Sound like a mouthful? Sure. Sound like the Grateful Dead? Absolutely.” (You can read the full article by Justin Jacobs at http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2009/09/pearl-jamband-are-pearl-jam-a-modern-grateful-dead.html )
Last night what I witnessed was a classic rock act who transcend genres, were obviously enjoying themselves and unquestionably playing on top form. Many fans are already proclaiming it the best Pearl Jam gig they have attended.
Setlist: Pendulum; Of The Girl; Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town; Breakerfall; Hail Hail; Once; Mind Your Manners; Lightning Bolt; Tremor Christ; Wishlist; Who You Are; Ghost; Even Flow; Sirens; Push Me, Pull Me; Do The Evolution; Don’t Gimme No Lip; Army Reserve; Present Tense; Given To Fly; Setting Forth; Rearviewmirror.
Encore 1: Man Of The Hour; All Or None; Fatal; The Real Me (The Who cover); Porch.
Encore 2: Smile; Leaving Here; Black; Jeremy; State Of Love And Trust; Alive; Baba O’Riley (The Who cover); All Along The Watchtower (Dylan cover); Indifference
8 Jul
Joy Division Newcastle City Hall 4th October 1979 (supporting The Buzzcocks)
Joy Division Newcastle City Hall 4th October 1979 (supporting The Buzzcocks)
I am going to jump out of sequence a little here, as I have just realised that I haven’t written a piece on Joy Division, and in particular of seeing them in concert supporting the Buzzcocks at Newcastle City Hall on 4th October 1979. At the moment I am working on a chapter which discusses the roots of trance music, and I wanted to link that to Joy Division’s music, so writing about them here will help me do so. Anyway here goes.
My recollections of this 1979 concert are, in fact, more of support act Joy Division and of Ian Curtis’ unique, bizarre and compelling performance than of The Buzzcocks. It was generally accepted at the time, that “although Joy Division were the support act on the Buzzcocks tour of Britain, on several nights they completely out-performed the Buzzcocks” ( http://www.joydivisiondata.co.uk/joyd_concerts2.html ). I had seen Joy Division once before at an early gig in Newcastle Guildhall in 1997, when they were known as Warsaw, and I’d heard some of their album played at Middlesbrough Rock Garden. I’d also read reviews of the lp in the music papers which I bought each week; NME proclaiming that “Unknown Pleasures is an English rock masterwork” (Bell, 1979). So I was looking forward to seeing them again, and to experience the intensity of their performance.
Joy Division had just released their debut album “Unknown Pleasures” at the time of this concert, which was part of a nation wide tour as support for The Buzzcocks. The single “Transmission” was played quite a lot at the Rock Garden. This was before “Love Will Tear Us Apart” and the original line-up was, of course, Ian Curtis (lead vocals), Bernard Sumner (guitar, keyboards), Peter Hook (bass) and Stephen Morris (drums). Jon Savage described the music on “Unknown Pleasures” as “a definitive Northern Gothic statement: guilt-ridden, romantic, claustrophobic” (1994). Oksanen (2007) writes of “The revival of the Gothic in late modern culture” and how “the subject feels isolated and alienated and is left with a trance-like dream reality” and that “the works of Joy Division and Diary of Dreams underline personal emptiness, ambivalence and dream states.”
I made a point of arriving at the City Hall early to see the support act, passing on a visit to the City Tavern or the downstairs bar. We had seats right down the front, and watched all of Joy Division’s set. Their music had developed a lot from the basic punk thrash that I saw at the Guildhall a couple of years earlier, and had become a dark, gothic, rhythmic, noise. The musicality of the songs impressed me and set them apart from their punk and new wave contemporaries. But most of all, I was transfixed by Ian Curtis, his blank expression, glaring eyes and crazy, manic epileptic dancing. It was clear that there was something awkward, different yet brilliant about the guy, which came through in his dark lyrics which painted dark images of alienation, his monotonic, snarling vocals and his manic, crazed dancing. The performance was intense, scary, compelling, and unnerving.
I found this great review by Adrian on http://joydivision-neworder.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/joy-division-newcastle-4-oct-1979-flac.html which describes the concert much better than I can, so I have reproduced it here:
“Joy Division in concert were simply astonishing. I’ve never experienced anything like it. I was 15 years old and into the post punk type of thing. I’d known for a while that Joy Division were coming to Newcastle and wanted to see them – I’d heard a few things on John Peel and caught the end of a TV appearance on Something Else some time earlier. The Buzzcocks were generally viewed as a pop band by this point, who often had good support bands.
My friends and I got to the City Hall late, and had just got to our seats as the hall lights went down. The stage was very dark I recall, and as they began to play, I wondered when the lights were going to come on properly (they never did!). The first thing that struck me was the power of the drums – I’d never felt such deep bassy drums at a concert, one’s whole body felt the beat. Ian Curtis was at the front of the stage, what seemed like the very edge – he appeared to be on a brink of a cliff. He couldn’t have been more than 25 feet from where I was sitting. The others were just figures in subdued light – maybe it was blue, I cannot recall.
When Ian Curtis started singing, it was loud and even deeper than the drums, and it caught you in the diaphragm – incredible feeling. I don’t think he did “the dance” until a few tracks into the short set, but when he did, staring into the audience, it sent shivers down my spine, and I realised that I was witnessing something extraordinary.
A few of us stood up out of our seats at that point (we had been told to remain seated), and bouncers attacked many of us, including my friend about three rows in front of us – the memory of a bouncer leaping over rows of seated people to attack my friend, while Ian Curtis did his dance above on the stage during “She’s Lost Control”, is something that will stay fixed in my visual memory forever.
Hooky was pretty animated on a few tracks, and I recall a broken bass string hanging down from his guitar – not something you usually saw at concerts. “Colony” also stood out as fantastic and alien-sounding. The set seemed to be over very quickly, and there was a feeling of…well, I suppose it was “shock” more than anything at watching Joy Division perform.
The Buzzcocks seemed to come on almost immediately to play their pop songs. When audience members stood up, unchallenged by the bouncers this time, I just walked out of the hall into the rain – it was October and sleety – down to the bus station. It didn’t seem right watching any other band, especially the poppy Buzzcocks, after what I had just seen.”
A recording of the concert exists; Joy Division performed the following songs: Disorder; Shadowplay; Colony; Day Of The Lords; Glass; Transmission; She’s Lost Control; Atrocity Exhibition.
Bell, M. (1979). Review of Joy Division: Unknown Pleasures (Factory). New Musical Express (NME), 14 July 1979
Oksanen, A. (2007). Hollow Spaces of Psyche: Gothic Trance-Formation from Joy Division to Diary of Dreams. In Nostalgia or Perversion? Gothic Rewriting from the Eighteenth Century until the Present Day, van Elferen, I (ed.). Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Savage, J. (1994). Joy Division: Someone Take These Dreams Away. Mojo. July 1994.
7 Jul
Rod Stewart Hampden Park Glasgow 3rd July 1999
Rod Stewart Hampden Park Glasgow 3rd July 1999
Seeing Rod Stewart in concert in Glasgow is an experience; he commands a mighty following, wearing his Scottish roots with pride, and the people have certainly taken him to their hearts. This was the second time that I saw Rod playing North of the Border, this time it was in the massive newly re-opened Hampden Park stadium. Support came from The Proclaimers (great singalongs, although they played very early, as the crowd was just arriving) and Abba tribute act Bjorn Again (a strange choice for an opening act, but actually quite fun).
Rod’s arrival was greeted by a stage full of Scottish Pipers who led the massive crowd in the Flower of Scotland, flags waving everywhere: “O flower of Scotland, When will we see your like again, That fought and died for, Your wee bit hill and glen, And stood against him, Proud Edward’s army, And sent him homeward, Tae think again…….” Very patriotic and moving. And then “Ladies and Gentlemen, Please give a big Hampden roar to the only Cockney Scotsman: Rod Stewart” and he was straight into “Tonight I’m Yours”. Great stuff. 
I went with Marie to the concert; we spent the weekend in Glasgow and had a great time. A video of the entire concert exists on YouTube. I watched some of it last night and it brought back memories. The video claims to contain the entire concert, but only includes 10 songs:
Tonight I’m Yours; Baby Jane; First Cut Is The Deepest; Stay With Me; I Don’t Want To Talk About It; Rhythm Of My Heart; Do Ya Think I’m Sexy; Sailing; Maggie May; Twisting The Night Away. I’m certain he played more.
6 Jul
Rod Stewart, Status Quo & Joe Cocker Gateshead Stadium 2nd June 1991
Rod Stewart, Status Quo & Joe Cocker Gateshead Stadium 2nd June 1991
This was an excellent line-up with three class acts, and played for two nights at Gateshead Stadium in 1991. How could I not go to this one, Rod, The Quo and Joe Cocker. I have always been a big fan of Joe Cocker, and was very much looking forward to the opportunity of seeing him in concert again. It had been almost 20 years since I had last seen him perform, on a cold windy night in a field somewhere near Lincoln. 
If my memory is correct this was also a wet day, but all three acts played great sets to a packed crowd. I took Ashleigh along to this concert, and although she wasn’t a fan of any of the acts and a teenager at the time and into punk and heavy metal, she also enjoyed it. Rod Stewart setlist: Tonight I’m Yours; Sweet Little Rock’n’Roller; This Old Heart Of Mine; The First Cut Is The Deepest; Downtown Train; Hot Legs; Tonight’s The Night; Passion; Go Out Dancing; Every Beat Of My Heart; Sweet Soul Music; Rhythm Of My Heart; Da’Ya’ Think I’m Sexy?; Sittin’ On The Dock Of The Bay; Time Is Tight (band only);Every Picture Tells A Story; Mandolin Wind; You’re In My Heart; Muddy Waters Blues; Baby Jane; Some Guys Have All The Luck; Reason To Believe; Maggie May; You Wear It Well; I Don’t Want To Talk About It; Sailing; Twistin’ The Night Away; It Takes Two; Stay With Me
5 Jul
Rod Stewart Ibrox Stadium Glasgow 18th June 1983
It had been 7 years since I last saw Rod; far too long. I drove up to Glasgow with a group of mates for this concert. Baby Jane had been a big hit, and I saw it as a return to rock’n’roll for Rod. We had a drink in a proper spit and sawdust pub (I think it actually did have spittoons on a concrete floor covered in sawdust). Think it was called The Ibrox? I remember I asked for a half of lager (I was driving and that was all I was going to have to drink) and the barman told me in his strong Glaswegian accent “We dinna sell halves of lager in here”. Support came from disgraced rocker Gary Glitter who was having a little bit of a comeback at the time. From Everything2: “1982 and 1983 were spent by Glitter touring universities with his show. This appealed to Glitter as the people at university at this time were the teenagers who bought his records at the peak of his success. This success was followed by Glitter being asked to appear as a guest by his friend Rod Stewart in 1983 at his concert at Ibrox Park in Glasgow. Glitter jumped at this and appeared in front of an audience of 20,000 people [note. I am sure there were more than 20,000 people there, I would have said more like 50,000?] which was many more than he was used to at this time. At the beginning of his set, Glitter had a mixed reaction from the audience, but his unique style of working the crowd had them crying out for more by the time he had finished, so much that Stewart had to put in a very good performance to compete.”
The rest of the bill consisted of JoBoxers, who grew out of Subway Sect and had a hit with Boxer Beat and Scottish band Passionate Friends: “in the summer of 1983, following a series of gigs around the country, the band were brought to the attention of Harvey Goldsmith. Harvey was promoting the Rod Stewart gig at Ibrox Stadium in Glasgow, and invited the boys to play support to Rod, Gary Glitter, and Jo Boxers.” (Wikipedia) 
There was a great atmosphere at the gig, lots of Scottish flags, and a very warm welcome for Rod from his adopted home crowd. Rod had by now moved fully into rock/pop hero mode, and the set reflected his late 70s and early 80s solo work, with very little from the Faces days or his early solo outings. Favourites of mine were always “I’m Losing You”, “Mandolin Wind” and “Reason to Believe”, none of which featured in Rod’s seat at the time, although he did sing the excellent “Gasoline Alley” and finish with a rocking version of “Stay With Me”. An excellent concert, with the now traditional footballs being booted out into the stadium and onto the Ibrox turf.
Setlist: Tonight I’m Yours (Don’t Hurt Me); Sweet Little Rock & Roller; Dancin’ Alone; Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright); Passion; She Won’t Dance With Me; Little Queenie; Jimmy Z Blues; Sweet Surrender; I Don’t Want to Talk About It; You’re in My Heart (The Final Acclaim); Baby Jane; Young Turks; What Am I Gonna Do (I’m So in Love With You); Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?; Gasoline Alley; Maggie May; Sailing; Hot Legs; Baby Jane (Reprise); Stay With Me
4 Jul
Rod Stewart Newcastle City Hall 14th December 1976
Rod Stewart Newcastle City Hall 14th December 1976
This was Rod’s first major solo outing, and it was billed as “The Concert” (I remember thinking that this was quite pretentious at the time, and to add to the pretentiousness; the tickets were printed gold!). I went with Marie to queue for tickets on the day they went on sale. Rod was playing four nights at the City Hall, and I figured that it wouldn’t be too difficult to get tickets with so many concerts. How wrong I was! When we arrived at the City Hall the queue was already right down the road. We joined the queue and stood for a few hours, only to be told that all the tickets had been sold. Gutted! However all was not lost. By chance I was going to the City Hall that night with a mate, to see David Essex, as I recall, and we asked at the box office if they had any tickets left for Rod. “You are in luck” said the lady. “We found two tickets after we closed up. They are single seats for different nights. Do you want them?” We snapped them up, I took one for the first night, and my mate took the other. I had to explain to Marie how I was now going to see Rod on my own….but she was ok with that.
The show was great. This was Rod at his best, and the crowd was massively up for it. His band was tight and hot, and he was Rod the Mod, great rasping vocals, massive ego and stage presence, lots of singalong, and loads of footballs kicked into the crowd at the end. I have never been a fan of “Sailing” but the rest of the set made up for it, in spades.
Support came from Liverpool Express.
Rod’s Band: Carmine Appice (drums), Phil Chen (bass), Jim Cregan (guitar), Billy Peek (guitar), Gary Grainger (guitar), John Jarvis (keyboards).
“The tour got off to a terrible start. The band and I were only just getting to know each other and I thought, ‘I’ll show you who can drink’. For about three weeks I was staying out all night and I wasn’t eating. It didn’t help. Then I got sick. Well, I was existing on port and brandy afternoon tea and toast. When we opened at Olympia I felt so bad it was almost like somebody telling me I shouldn’t be there.” (Rod to the Daily Mirror at the time)
Setlist: Three Time Loser; You Wear It Well; Big Bayou, Tonight’s The Night; Wild Side Of Life; This Old Heart Of Mine; Sweet Little Rock’n Roller; The Killing Of Georgie; I Don’t Want To Talk About It; Maggie May; Angel; True Blue; You Keep Me Hangin’ On; Get Back; (I Know) I’m Losing You; Sailing; Stay With Me; Twistin’ The Night Away
3 Jul
Strawbs 1972, 1973 and Newcastle City Hall 23rd September 1976
Strawbs 1972, 1973 and Newcastle City Hall 23rd September 1976
My mate Tony had the Strawbs lp “Just a Collection of Antiques and Curios” which we listened to endlessly. It must have been 1970 or 1971. Our favourite tracks were “Fingertips”, the epic “Where Is This Dream of Your Youth”, which still sounds great today, and (strangely) Rick Wakeman’s piano solo “Temperament of Mind”. I didn’t get to see Strawbs live until May 1972 at the Lincoln festival, where they played on a cold wet evening between I think Stone The Crows and The Faces. By then Rick Wakeman had departed and the line-up was Dave Cousins (vocals), Tony Hooper (guitar), Richard Hudson (drums), John Ford (bass) and Blue Weaver (keyboards). By that point their set contained classics such as “The Man Who Called Himself Jesus”, “The Hangman and the Papist” and “Benedictus”.
There was, and is, something unique about Strawbs music which sets them apart from many of their folk-rock contemporaries. Dave Cousins voice has a strange, other worldy, yet vpleasant, quality and their songs tell great stories.
The line-up of the band changed dramatically in late 1972 and early 1973, and Strawbs began to pursue a more rock/pop sound, hitting the charts with the excellent “Lay Down” and “Part of the Union”. By the time I saw them again in, I think, 1973 at Sunderland Locarno the line-up was Dave Cousins (now the only original member), Dave Lambert (guitar), Chas Cronk (bass) and Rod Coombes (drums). This was much more a rock band; Dave Cousins even wore a bright sparkling glittery jacket 🙂
The ticket here is for a later gig, in 1976 at Newcastle City Hall. By then the band were focussing more on playing in the USA. They called it a day in 1980, but soon reformed. Cousins, Lambert and Cronk continue to play today. I’ve written elsewhere on recent Strawbs gigs which I have attended, and pretty good they are too.
2 Jul
Secret Affair March of the Mods Newcastle 1979 and 1980
“We are the Mods. We are the Mods. We are, we are, we are the Mods.” So went the chants, reverberating around the Mayfair ballroom, coming from the mouths of young guys in parkas festooned with patches proclaiming their support for The Who, The Jam and our new mod heroes Secret Affair. This was Friday 31st August 1979 and the March of the Mods Tour was stopping off at Newcastle Mayfair. The tour was headlined by new mod faces Secret Affair, supported by The Purple Hearts and Back To Zero. The Mayfair was packed with a mix of new mods, a few rock fans who were becoming increasingly frustrated at “losing” their Friday night out to gigs by punk and new wave acts, and groups of mean looking skinheads, who had come to taunt the mods, and “sort them out”. The skins had their own, far more sinister chant: “We hate the Mods. We hate the Mods. We hate, we hate, we hate the Mods.”
There was an air of edginess around the place all evening. You could feel it as soon as you entered the venue.
From early on there were skirmishes between the mods and the skins, with small tussles and fights breaking out on the dance floor. The support acts were greeted by showers of beer, complete with glasses. As the evening progressed the fights became more frequent and nastier. Marie and I thought of leaving, but hey I don’t give up easy, and I wanted to see how this new mod band Secret Affair would shape up. By the time they took to the stage, things were starting to turn really nasty. The mods were shouting loudly now “We are the Mods. We are the Mods. We are, we are, we are the Mods”. The skins responded equally as loudly “We hate the Mods. We hate the Mods. We hate, we hate, we hate the Mods.” The band were onstage playing while the ballroom was turning into something out of a Wild West film. The dance floor was becoming one mass brawl. Some guys started throwing tables and chairs from the balcony down onto the crowd on the dance floor below. The chairs hit the massive chandeliers which hung from the ceiling and one of them fell down onto the fighting crowds. Scary stuff. Marie and I were wandering around the balcony being careful who we looked at, smiling sheepishly at any other rock fans we saw. I felt quite out of place and vulnerable, being one of a small number of people with long hair. The bouncers came into the crowd complete with Alsatian dogs, and eventually managed to stop the fights. Secret Affair played on and were pretty good, although the gig was marred by the evening’s events.
I saw Secret Affair on two further occasions.
The first was at Newcastle City Hall on 17th April 1980.
The place was packed and me and my mate Norm were right down the front, surrounded by the Glory Boys. “We are the Mods. We are the Mods. We are, we are, we are the Mods.” That chant again. But this time no skins, no fights and a joyous evening. Secret Affair were at the height of their success, and at the time were a hot live act, with some great songs: Time for Action, My World, Glory Boys. The music was a mix of power pop and soul with Ian Page the coolest front man, wearing the sharpest of suits, neat shirt and skinny tie, and Dave Cairns on guitar and sporting a smart regency style jacket. “We are the Mods. We are the Mods. We are, we are, we are the Mods.”…the chant continued as we left the venue.
Saw Secret Affair once more at Newcastle City Hall a few months later on 30th September 1980. The venue was nowhere near as full. Perhaps the gig was just too close to their previous visit, or maybe the mod scene was already passing. The band played ok, but the power, passion and craziness of the first two gigs I attended was missing.
Secret Affair have recently reformed, with original members Ian Page and Dave Cairns. The Glory Boys return.
“We are the Mods. We are the Mods. We are, we are, we are the Mods.”
Secret Affair were Ian Page – vocals and super sharp suits, Dave Cairns – guitars, Dave Winthrop – saxophone, Dennis Smith – bass, and Seb Shelton – drums.
Mod. It’s a way of life.
“Cause we’re the Glory Boys
So scared of getting old
We’re the Glory Boys
We may look cold but our hearts are gold.
You look at me boy you tryin’ to match my stare
Dont you know Im a Glory Boy?
I can cut you down by combing my hair
Nothing touches a Glory Boy
We look too good for you
If you wanna know about us
You gotta be one too”
(Glory Boys, Cairns & Page, 1979)
30 Jun
Stray Cats Newcastle Mayfair 1980 & Sunderland Poly 1981
Stray Cats Newcastle Mayfair 1980 & Sunderland Poly 1981
The Stray Cats were an American rockabilly band formed in 1979 by ace guitarist and vocalist Brian Setzer, double bassist Lee Rocker, and drummer Slim Jim Phantom. The group came through just after punk and new wave and relocated to London, hitting the charts in 1980 with “Runaway Boys” and again in 1981 with “Rock This Town” and “Stray Cat Strut”. Marie and I went to see them at the Mayfair on their first UK tour, just after “Runaway Boys” was released. They were just starting to make a name for themselves and the ballroom was pretty empty, as I recall. They pulled out an amazing high energy performance, Brian Setzer being particularly impressive. Stray Cats were a breath of fresh air at the time, a welcome diversion from punk and new wave, and very different from anything else around. 
You could, of course, see the rock’n’roll and rockabilly influences; Brian Setzer becoming a cross between Eddie Cochran, Carl Perkins, and Gene Vincent on stage. By the time I saw them again at Sunderland Poly Wearmouth Hall, less than one year later, the place was packed, and lots of rockin’ and rollin’ went down that night. Great gigs by a great band.
The Stray Cats reunite now and then for live performances, and Brian Setzer is now part of his 1990s swing-revival band The Brian Setzer Orchestra, and a pretty amazing guitarist.
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