The Reading Rock Festival 25 – 27th August 1978
This was the year punk finally arrived. The festival was now officially known as the Reading Rock Festival, having dropped “jazz” from the title and the line-up, and weekend tickets cost all of £8.95. Our old friend John Peel was compere, as always, and a van load of us descended on the riverside site, having driven part of the way down on Thursday, gone for a drink in Wetherby and slept on Wetherby racecourse (the crazy things you do when you are young 🙂 ) Highlights of the weekend for me were Penetration (I was a big fan at the time), Sham 69, The Jam, Status Quo (most of our group were heavily into them) and Patti Smith.
Friday line-up: Dennis O’Brien; The Automatics; New Hearts (who would become mods and change their name to Secret Affair); Radio Stars; Penetration; Sham 69; The Pirates; Ultravox; The Jam.
Memories: Radio Stars were always good for a laugh; “Dirty Pictures” (turn me on) was a favourite at the time; it was great to see local north east punk heroes playing up on the massive Reading stage Penetration, although they suffered from murky sound throughout their set; The Pirates rocked the place with no-nonsense rock’n’roll, “Shaking All Over” and ace guitarist the late Mick Green (a big influence on Wilko); and the John Foxx version of Ultravox! played a quite moody atmospheric electronic set. The main event was Sham 69, who were excellent with Jimmy Pursey his usual cockney “boy on the streets” self, and those anthems “What have we got?”, “Borstal Breakout” and “If the Kids are United”. The Sham Army had come across to Reading in force, all braces, No 2 cuts, and Doc Martins, and ready to take on those hippies. We were right at the front, although we soon moved to the side of the crowd when the fights started. A bunch of skins climbed on to the stage, and Pursey tried to call order, pleading with the crowd to stop fighting to no avail. He was in tears, watching bedlam and violence all around him, and not being able to do anything to stop it. But that was the nature of a Sham gig at the time. Jimmy even brought Steve Hillage on stage to show that it was ok to mix with hippies, but that just annoyed the skins more. A nasty, frightening experience, which marred an excellent performance by Sham. The Jam were great, Weller the edgy young mod, getting himself into a strop at the poor sound quality, and trashing his gear. Punk really had arrived at Reading.
The Jam set included: Mr Clean ; Away From the Numbers; Don’t Tell Them You’re Sane; Tonight at Noon; David Watts; Down in the Tube Station at Midnight; “A” Bomb in Wardour Street; News of the World
Saturday line-up: Speedometors; The Business; Jenny Darren; Next; Gruppo Sportivo; Nutz; Greg Kihn Band; Lindisfarne; Spirit; The Motors; Status Quo.
Saturday was a little more straightforward rock. Lindisfarne had recently reunited and hit the charts with “Run For Home”. The Motors were OK (Airport!). Spirit were excellent, with great Hendrix-style guitar from Randy California. Status Quo played a solid respectable set, nothing earth shattering. I know quite a few people were disappointed with them that night, but I thought they were OK. “Dirty Water’ was to become a crowd singalong favourite.
Status Quo setlist: Caroline; Roll Over Lay Down; Backwater; Rockers Rollin; Is There A Better Way; You Don’t Own Me; Hold You Back; Rockin All Over The World; Dirty Water; 4500 Times; Big Fat Mama; Don’t Waste My Time; Roadhouse Blues; Rain; Down Down; Bye Bye Johnny.
Sunday line-up: After The Fire; Chelsea; Pacific Eardrum; Bethnal; Squeeze; John Otway; The Albion Band; Paul Inder; Ian Gillan Band; Tom Robinson Band; Foreigner; Patti Smith Group.
Memories: Paul Inder is Lemmy’s son and was 11 years old (!) at the time; what a great thing to do when you are 11 🙂 ; Bethnal were a good band, who had a manic violin player; Squeeze were fun; Otway was as crazy as ever (Really Free); Tom Robinson led a mass singalong of “Glad to be Gay”; and Foreigner went down well with the crowd. But the day belonged to Patti Smith who was amazing. I was a big fan and left my mates to push my way right to the front of the crowd for Patti’s set. She had the whole crowd with her as she tore into “Gloria”, “Because the Night” and great covers of the Byrds’ “So You Want to Be (A Rock ‘N’ Roll Star)” and the Who’s “My Generation”. Stunning. I saw her again at Newcastle City Hall two days later and she was equally as electric.
Patti Smith setlist: Rock n Roll Nigger; Privilege (Set Me Free); Redondo Beach; Free Money; Ghost Dance; It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World; So You Want to Be (A Rock ‘N’ Roll Star); Ask the Angels; 25th Floor; Because the Night; Gloria, You Light Up My Life; My Generation; Godspeed
Posts Tagged ‘gigs’
19 May
The Reading Rock Festival 25 – 27th August 1978
18 May
Status Quo live in 1975 and 1976
Status Quo live in 1975 and 1976
1975 and 1976 were busy years for Status Quo. This wasn’t unusual, however, the work ethic of this band is outstanding; they just keep on playing. They hit the UK singles chart four times: with a live EP which featured “Roll Over Lay Down”, “Gerdundula” and “Junior’s Wailing”, then with one of my personal favourites “Rain”, then “Mystery Song” and “Wild Side of Life”. I saw the band twice at Newcastle City Hall; on 12th May 1975 and again on 9th March 1976.
From the 1975 tour programme: “”To begin with in 1971 we played for a tenner or a fiver just to keep going and retain the right to play things our way” says Richard Parfitt. “We knew it was the only way to build a future for ourselves and a reputation we could live with”. After a decade as rock musicians the Quo now have the respect and approval of a massive following who have put their seal on a band who can truly said to have succeeded by “Public Demand”. The swaying thousands who form massed choirs and wave their scarves at a Quo concert to sing “You’ll Never Walk Alone”…have turned the Quo into unsuperstars of the Seventies…When the critics eventually put their group hierarchy into perspective in later years it will almost inevitably be those groups who kept to basics like the Stones, the Who and Quo who will be remembered as being the heart of this Generation’s music….Quo believe in what they are doing and millions ll over the work have come to believe they are “On the Level” too.”
Support for the 1975 tour was the excellent Pretty Things, who were a big favourite of mine at the time. They had just released the “Silk Torpedo” album which saw them entering a glam / heavy rock phase. Its opening song “Joey / The Dream” is just great. Front man Phil May was as energetic as ever, the rest of the line-up had changed quite a bit since the first times I saw them in the early 70s. Quo released two albums” “On the Level” and “Blue for You”, both of which were respectable slabs of rock, although not as heavy as the “QUO” album. Andy Bown joined the band as a permanent member on keyboards. Support for the 1976 tour was Shanghai, a new band fronted by 60s rocker Cliff Bennett of the Rebel Rousers fame. These were, as always, great gigs.
Status Quo also recorded two shows at Glasgow Apollo in 1976, and released them as a live album, called simply “Live”. The record is one of the few that manages to capture the excitement and rawness of a band at the height of their powers, and documents just how great Quo live were in those days. That it was recorded at the Apollo was entirely appropriate; the great venue had, along with Hammy Odeon and Brid Spa, become a second home for the band. The Glasgow crowds really knew how to rock and got fully behind Quo. On the other side of the coin, if a Glasgow crowd didn’t like a band, they would let them know. The “Live” album was the blueprint for the recent classic frantic four line-up reunion.
Typical setlist of the period: Junior’s Wailing, Mad about the Boy, Backwater / Just take me, Is there a better Way, Little Lady / Most of the Time, 4500 Times, Rain, Roll over lay Down, Don’t waste my Time, Roadhouse Blues, Caroline, Bye Bye Johnny.
It was 1978 before I saw Quo again, when they returned to the Reading festival as triumphant headliners. I’ll write about that weekend of rock tomorrow.
17 May
Status Quo 1974 QUO and on tour again
Status Quo 1974 QUO and on tour again
Quo-woh-oh-oh-oh….Some time in the mid-70s the Quo rituals started. A few drinks in the City Tavern and then in the City Hall bar, catch some of the support act (always guaranteed to be good, so had to watch them), and then up to our seats, the lights would go down and then our chant would start…”Quo-woh-oh-oh-oh….” The Quo intro drone would play and then they would run on stage, Alan at the front for the first song, which we knew would be “Juniors Wailing”.
“Love me baby, love me when I’m down; I said love me baby, love me when I’m down; Yeah you gotta love me baby; ‘cos there’s no use hanging around” (Junior’s Wailing, cover of a Steamhammer song).
Yes it was the same every time, but that was part of the fun, the ritual. The guys (I was going to call them our heroes, which they were, but that just doesn’t feel right, they were more like our mates) were up on that stage and everything felt good. For a few hours we were removed from our day to day lives, and subjected to loud music, frantic rocking with a sell-out crowd, all of whom understood and felt it in exactly the same way as we did. Oh and we had to wear denim. Levi jacket and jeans and t-shirt (ok maybe Wrangler was also allowed).
The other ritual was “the jig”. Not sure when it started, or exactly which song it featured in (I think it may have been included during “Roadhouse Blues” which was always extended and epic) but it became a regular feature of Quo shows in the ’70s, and we came to look forward to, and enjoy it. It’s going to sound naff now, and pretty uncool, but it was basically an Irish type jig played on guitar, led by Francis, and we all had to jump up and down to it. Picture a completely full, hot, sweaty, City Hall, towards the end of the gig, everyone in denim, hair flying around, jumping up and down in our seats with the three Quo front men on stage jumping up and down in front of us. Pure magic (ok it doesn’t sound cool, but you had to be there).
I saw Status Quo twice in 1974, the 9th and 10th times I saw the band. The first time was at Newcastle City Hall on 20th May 1974. The band were so popular that this time they sold out two nights at the City Hall, I went on the second night. I saw them again later that year when they came back to the North East and played at Sunderland Empire on 1st December 1974. I remember going to the Sunderland gig with a load of mates. Looking at the ticket for that gig we were right up in the cheap seats that night (40p! bargain). Note the Empire tickets never named the band in those days.
Support act for the City Hall show was Montrose and at the Empire it was SNAFU. There was a big buzz around Montrose at the time. Montrose were fronted by the late great guitarist Ronnie Montrose and (later of Van Halen) Sammy Hagar on vocals. They had just released their debut album, and the awesome tracks “Bad Motor Scooter” and “Space Station #5” were big dance floor favourites at rock nights in the local Mayfair (Newcastle) and Mecca (Sunerland) ballrooms. It was one of the few times that the City Hall was completely full for the support act.
I’d seen Montrose just two days before, when they appeared on the bill at the Who’s Charlton concert. Montrose were great, very loud, rocking and full of energy. One of the few acts who almost (in my view) managed to upstage the mighty Quo. Hagar was a crazy front man, and Montrose an ace guitarist. From the QUO tour programme: “Montrose have compiled an energy-laden set consisting mostly of original compositions with the bonus of an amazing live version of the Roy Brown classic “Good Rockin’ Tonight”, that’ll keep your feet a dancin’ and your fingers poppin’.” Well I don’t remember my fingers poppin’ 🙂 but I do remember some “Good Rockin'”.
Typical Quo Setlist from this year: Junior’s Wailing, Backwater/Just take me, Claudie, Railroad, Roll over lay down, Big Fat Mama, Don’t waste my Time, Roadhouse Blues, Caroline, Down Down, Bye Bye Johnny.
Status Quo released their seventh studio LP “QUO” 1974. The album included the single “Break the Rules” which reached No 8 in the UK single charts. QUO reached No 2 in the album charts. It is pure classic Quo and one of their heaviest, due to the influence of bass player Alan Lancaster, who wrote six of the eight tracks. “Backwater” and “Just Take Me” were soon to become live favourites; “Backwater” in particular, is one of Status Quo’s best rockers. Quo hit No 1 in November 1974, with “Down Down” another classic, and yet another live favourite. There were truly on a roll.
16 May
Status Quo Newcastle City Hall 24th September 1973 Hello!
Status Quo Newcastle City Hall 24th September 1973 Hello!
I was rapidly becoming a big Status Quo fan. I’d bought “Piledriver”, played it endlessly and was trying to learn the riffs to “Paper Plane”, “Big Fat Mama”, and “Don’t Waste My Time”. In September 1973 Quo released their 6th album “Hello!” which consolidated their success and went to No 1 in the UK chart. “Hello!” was the first of four Quo albums to top the UK Albums Chart, and the first album on which the group wrote all the songs (along with Bob Young the group’s roadie and harmonica player). Keyboard player Andy Bown played on “Forty-Five Hundred Times”. This was Andy’s first appearance on a Status Quo album, and he was of course soon to become a permanent member of the band. They hit the singles chart twice between “Piledriver” and “Hello”; first with “Mean Girl” which was an old song released by their previous label Pye, and reached No 20, and then with their trademark song “Caroline” which also appeared on “Hello!” and reached #5. This was the group’s first single to reach the UK top five. The relentless gigging continued (as it always has, and does to this day) and in September Status Quo went out on tour yet again to promote “Hello”. I saw them at Newcastle City Hall on 24th September 1973. This was the 8th time I had seen Status Quo within a couple of years. The concert was, as always, a triumph or rock and boogie, with Francis Rossi cracking on with us all as if we were his best mates. Quo were like that, just ordinary lads playing straightforward, no nonsense rock’n’roll. No airs and graces, no deep meaning to the songs. We all respected that, and just “got it” immediately and completely. 
The relentless touring up and down the country, with the gaps between tours of the city halls filled with club and festival appearances, the attitude, the approach, the authenticity, all forged a bond between Status Quo and the fans and created a loyalty that is, for many, still there to this day. Mick Rossi quietly became Francis Rossi some time in 1973. The Spring (Piledriver) programme lists him as “Mick”, while in the Autumn (Hello!) programme he is “Francis”. Support for the tour was the excellent blues band Savoy Brown, fronted by KIm Simmonds on guitar (who remains with the band to this day), and at the time, featuring the great Jackie Lynton on vocals. Jackie has a long association with Quo. His own band, the Jackie Lynton band, supported them on tour a couple of years later, and he used to announce them, his being the famous voice that says “Is there anybody out there that wants to rock? Tonight..Live..We have the No 1 rock’n’roll band in the land..Will you welcome the magnificent Status Quo!…” (cue Juniors Wailing) at the start of the Live album, recorded at Glasgow Apollo.
Typical setlist of the period: Junior’s Wailing, Someones Learning, In My Chair, Claudie, Roll over lay Down, Big Fat Mama, Railroad, Don’t waste my time, Caroline, Roadhouse Blues, Mean Girl, Bye Bye Johnny.
15 May
Status Quo gigs 1973 Piledriver
1972 and 1973 were busy years for Status Quo. They gigged relentlessly, playing up and down the country, and further afield, in clubs, ballrooms, student unions and festivals. They were building up a reputation as one of the best and most consistent live acts, guaranteed to deliver a night of no-nonsense rock and boogie with a few slower numbers and blues thrown in. Mike Rossi was the cheeky front man, always good for a bit banter with the crowd. You felt like he was taking directly to you. Rick was the rhythm machine, as he continues to be today. Alan was the tough little rocker thumping away on that bass, and coming to the front to take the lead vocals on some of the harder rockers. And John was at the back, a mane of long hair, pounding away at his drums. The stage show was frantic and fast with the heads down routine, as pictured here from my early 1972 programme and on the back of the Piledriver album, featuring as the show progressed.
In 1972 Quo were back in the UK singles chart with “Paper Plane” and late that year they released their defining album “Piledriver”. “Piledriver” consolidated all their hard work on the live circuit in an album that had great rockers in “Don’t Waste My Time” and “Big Fat Mama” and slow blues ballads like “Unspoken Words” and “A Year”. I found a review on Amazon by A Customer which expresses just how great the album is much better than I could: “This album changed my life. When I first played through the irrepressible bounce of Don’t Waste My Time, the show-stopping drive of Big Fat Mama and Paper Plane and right through to the end of the long, heavy, pounding version of the Doors’ Roadhouse Blues, my listening habits were changed forever. It was the first time I had heard such energy and intensity committed to record. Even today, the sound has a fearsome edge, a live rawness that defies technology, but that can only be borne of real attitude. All these years on, the Quo themselves might have mellowed and achieved a state of comfortable familiarity, but this piece of work never will. It was forged in a raging furnace, and is still hot enough to burn.”
The impact of “Piledriver” mustn’t be underestimated. It was a big achievement as a band, and one of the must-have albums for all of us at the time. Quo are often scoffed at these days, but back in 1973 they were on a roll, and were simply the best live rock’n’roll machine in the land. I saw Status Quo three times during this period: 20th March 1973 at Newcastle City Hall, 27th April 1973 in Sunderland (the Quo gigography lists this gig as being at the Locarno but I recall seeing them at both the Locarno and at the Rink around this time), and on 25th August 1973 I saw them play another storming triumph at the Reading Festival. Support at the Newcastle City Hall gig was Byzantium who gigged a lot at that time. Byzantium were a psychedelic music band of the 1970s who released three albums and are perhaps best remembered for their role in the early career of Chaz Jankel of Ian Dury and the Blockheads fame.
A typical Status Quo Setlist of the period: Junior’s Wailing, Someones Learning, In My Chair, Umleitung, Railroad, Caroline, Is It Really Me/Gotta Go Home, Big Fat Mama, Paper Plane, Don’t waste My time, Roadhouse Blues, Mean Girl, Bye Bye Johnny.
This was classic Quo, starting out on a period of massive success, some great songs and incredible live shows. Tomorrow I will move to the “Hello” period.
14 May
Status Quo live in 1971 and 1972 The birth of the boogie maestros
Status Quo live in 1971 and 1972
The birth of the boogie maestros
This is going to be a bit of a marathon.
I have seen Status Quo somewhere around 30 or 40 times, probably more than any other band apart from, perhaps, the Groundhogs. I am going to spend the next week or so reflecting on Status Quo live over the years (and by the end of this I might actually have a better idea of how many times I have actually seen them). I don’t intend to spend a day on each gig, rather I will combine some concerts I have seen into coverage of specific periods in the band’s career. Otherwise I will be writing about Quo for a month or so which will drive me crackers, and I don’t imagine it would be much fun for those who read my ramblings. However I will spend quite a bit of time discussing Quo in the 70s, when the classic “frantic four” line-up was at its peak. So off we go.
My first memory of Status Quo is, as it will be for many of us, hearing “Pictures of Matchstick Men” on the radio. My mate down the street had the single and played (and sang) that song endlessly, along with the B-side “Gentleman Joe’s Sidewalk Cafe”, which is also a great track. “Matchstick Men” was also played a lot at the Saturday morning disco that we used to go along to at Sunderland Top Rank (aka “The Rink”). We can’t have been more than 11 or 12 years old at the time. Along we went to the Rink every Saturday morning, having graduated onto this from the Saturday morning pictures (the ABC Minors), decked out in our finest mod kids gear; hipster trousers, kipper ties, and wide black plastic belts with double prongs (you got them in Woolies). I had a massive wide red plastic watch strap which was so 60s and I thought it was so cool to wear it. “Matchstick Men”, “Mony Mony”, “Jumping Jack Flash” and then “Ice in the Sun”. Happy days. Everything seemed so bright, so sunny and so simple.
The next time I saw Status Quo there were on the telly playing “Down the Dustpipe” or “In My Chair” and, hey they had long hair, looked scruffy and were dressed all in denim. Something had clearly changed. I recall seeing an advert in our local paper announcing a performance by Status Quo at a local club, Doxford Park Workingmen’s Club; it must have been around 1970. My mates and I talked about how we might go, and started to make plans (which would never have worked) to get in somehow, as we were only 13 years old at the time, and well below the age of “going to the club”. The gig didn’t happen (not sure why) so we didn’t have to enact our plans.
The first time I actually did get to see Status Quo was at Sunderland Locarno in 1971. I can’t be certain exactly when it was, and the gig doesn’t appear in any Quo gigographies, but I am certain that it happened. I think it may have been in December 1971, just after the release of “Dog of Two Heads”. By now Quo had made the transition from pop chart heroes to denim boogie merchants. So the Quo I saw at that gig (and three more times in 1972) was a full-on, loud, heads down, long haired, denim, boogie machine. Pure class. The band members were: Mike (he had not yet changed his name to Francis) Rossi, Rick Parfitt, Alan Lancaster, John Coghlan, with road manager Bob Young joining them on stage on harmonica towards the end of the set. And the set…true rock’n’roll classics: always starting with Alan singing and leading on Junior’s Wailing, the wonderful Someones Learning, Umleitung, the great single In My Chair, Railroad, Is It really Me/Gotta Go Home, Mean Girl, a class cover of the Doors Roadhouse Blues, and the closer which was always their cover of Chuck Berry’s Bye Bye Johnny. It just didn’t get any better. Honestly.
One thing I forgot to mention about that gig at Suderland Mecca. Rick and Mike (soon to be Francis) were running around the small stage criss crossing their guitars and heads down hair flailing. Rick tripped over. He got up and discovered that he had snapped the neck of his guitar. The show was halted and Quo went off stage. After a few minutes someone came on stage to tell us that Rick didn’t have another guitar and the gig was abandoned. The story goes that he asked the guitarist in the support act to borrow his guitar, but he didn’t want to lend his precise 60s Strat to Rick. And so it was back to the disco (“See Emily Play”, “Southern Man” and “Gypsy” always went down well, filling the dance floor).
I was lucky enough to see Quo three more times during this period, before “Piledriver” and “Paper Plane” took them back into the mass public eye. These were on 29th May 1972 at the Lincoln Pop Festival, on 13th August 1972 at the Reading Rock Festival, and then on 23rd September 1972 at the Grangemouth Pop Festival, just north of Edinburgh. The Lincoln Bardley Great Western Festival is often rated as “one of Quo’s most influential appearances.” According to the QuoGigography site, this was “the festival that got Quo recognised as a high class live act and cemented their change to the 12-bar boogie rock that would prove to be their trademark for decades to come.”
Those festival performances were amazing. John Peel was a great supporter and champion of the band, and he was DJ at Reading and Grangemouth, telling us all that Quo were the “best rock’n’roll band in the world” (or something like that). Happy days. Tomorrow I will move on to Piledriver, Paper Plane, renewed success, and nationwide concert tours, always calling at Newcastle City Hall. Oh and a tradition of strong support acts.
12 May
Small Faces Newcastle City Hall 19th April & 17th September 1977
Small Faces Newcastle City Hall 19th April & 17th September 1977
Small Faces are one of the most important bands ever. As well as being central to the mod movement they also produced some of the best 60s pop in Lazy Sunday and Itchycoo Park, pioneered blues-rock and presented a blue-print that Zeppelin would model themselves on (listen to You Need Loving from their 1966 album) and experimented with mixing soul/blues/pop with psych on Tin Soldier and the wonderful Ogdens’ Nut Gone Flake album. I have written before about how I believe that Steve Marriott was one of our greatest ever singers and performers. The more I watch old videos of Marriott in Small Faces and Humble Pie, the more I realise just how sensational and unique he was.
I never got to see Small Faces in the 60s, they split up before I got into concert going. I did see Humble Pie several times, and was always totally blown away by Steve Marriott’s soul, emotion and power. So when Small Faces reunited after the Faces broke up in 1975, I was totally up for seeing them. The guys first reformed briefly to film videos miming to the reissued “Itchycoo Park” which hit the charts again. Ronnie Lane left after the first rehearsal due to an argument. 
Although the others didn’t know he was already unwell and was beginning to display the symptoms of multiple sclerosis. McLagan, Jones and Marriott decided to stay together as Small Faces, recruiting ex- Roxy Music bassist Rick Wills to take Lane’s place. As well as touring they also recorded two albums: Playmates (1977) and 78 In The Shade (1978) neither of which were very successful.
The Small Faces played at Newcastle City Hall twice in 1977; in April and September. The first show was pretty full, perhaps even sold-out, but the second gig was quite poorly attended. Perhaps it was just too soon after the first (there was after all only 5 months between the two gigs). I was near the back for the first concert and right down the front for the second gig. They were supported by cockney punks Cock Sparrer at the first concert. Cock Sparrer would go on to pioneer the skinhead Oi movement. I remember thinking that they were incredibly raw, very like the Jam and old Small Faces. Ace young guitarist Jimmy McCulloch also briefly joined Small Faces after leaving Wings, and was with them at the second of the City Hall gigs. I think old mate P P Arnold was also with them, providing backing vocals. Blue (fronted by ex-Marmalade Hughie Nicholson) were support at the September concert. Unfortunately for Small Faces, music in Britain was rapidly changing and punk rock was becoming firmly established. 
The reunion concerts and the albums didn’t result in the success and adoration that, in my view, they should have. At the time, this reunion wasn’t recognised for what it was, another chance to experience one of our greatest ever bands and one of our greatest ever front men. The time just wasn’t right for this reunion and Small Faces broke up again in 1978. For me, it was amazing to see Small Faces live at the City Hall. The shows were incredible, and I simply marveled at actually seeing Marriott perform Tin Soldier and All or Nothing, both of which remain two of my all time favourites. Their like will never be seen again.
The set for the concerts consisted of old faves and a few new songs including: Whatcha Gonna Do About It; Everybody Needs Somebody to Love; High and Happy; All or Nothing; Find It; Itchycoo Park; Smiling in Tune; Tin Soldier; Playmates; Looking for Love; Lazy Sunday
11 May
The Seekers The Sage Gateshead 10th May 2014
The Seekers The Sage Gateshead 10th May 2014
I have already admitted to one guilty pleasure this week. Today, I am afraid, I am writing about yet another. Last night I relived part of my childhood. I went to see The Seekers on their 50th anniversary reunion tour, which called at the Sage Gateshead. Many years ago, when I was young, one of the first records I can remember getting was The Beatles “Help” album. It was Christmas 1965 and I was 9 years old. From then on I started to collect records, and bought lots of pop singles, graduating to more grown up stuff by the late 60s. But in the background to all that was my parent’s record collection and their choice of music. One of the people they played all the time was The Seekers. When the lp “Best of the Seekers” came out in 1968, my dad went out and bought it. He played that lp record again and again. Of course, by then I would scoff at the pure pop and folk harmonies, and I felt I was much too cool to listen to anything as “straight” as The Seekers. But secretly I liked some of those tunes and still do; “Georgy Girl” in particular is one of those songs which sticks in your brain and rumbles around and around, driving you mad. The Seekers split in the late 60s and I never got the chance to see them at the time. They reunited for the first time for their 25th anniversary and toured the UK in 1993 and 1994, calling at Newcastle City Hall. I foolishly missed that concert, and have regretted it ever since. So when it was announced that they were returning to the UK, for what is quite likely to be the last time, I decided to set coolness aside and go along and spend an evening with part of my childhood and those great harmless tunes. The tour had been delayed (The Seekers were originally due to play the Sage last September) because singer Judith Durham suffered a brain hemorrhage last May. The good news is that she is now fully recovered and able to tour again.
The show started with a video montage of The Seekers in the 60s, played to The Seekers’ cover of The Beatles “In My Life”. The four of them then walked onstage, to a loud and warm standing ovation from the audience. The Seekers are, as they were in the 60s, Athol Guy (double bass), Keith Potger (12 string guitar), Bruce Woodley (guitar) and Judith Durham (vocals). The stage set-up was simple with the four of them, their acoustic instruments, a drummer, a couple of keyboard players, and a large video screen. The show was in two parts, and was interspersed with video clips of the band back in their heyday and of the swinging 60s. Athol Guy did many of the introductions, telling little stories of their success. They are clearly very proud of what they achieved in those days, and lots of famous names were mentioned. For me the most impressive clip was taken from the NME Poll Winners concert, which was held at Wembley Empire Pool in 1966. The Seekers shared the bill with, among others, The Beatles; who were shown playing “I Feel Fine”; and the Stones; who were shown playing “The Last Time”. The Seekers were then introduced as “a new act who are playing their brand new single”; cue the group launching into “A World Of Our Own”. Another clip showed the band back in the 60s joking about whether they would still be together in 50 years time and then cutting to a shot of what they might look like if they were; and showing each member with grey hair, an ear trumpet, a bath chair; etc. You get the idea.
I usually learn something new about the band when I go to a concert, and last night was no exception. I’d hadn’t realised how many people The Seekers had worked with; that they had written “Red Rubber Ball” with Paul Simon, and that they were friendly with Tom Paxton (sue “Last Thing on my Mind”). I sort of knew, but had forgotten, that most of their big hits were written by Tom Springfield of the Springfields, and brother of Dusty. And did you know that Tom Springfield wrote “Georgy Girl” with Carry On actor Jim Dale? Or that Bruce Woodley of the band wrote “I am Australian” which has joined “the ranks of other patriotic songs considered as alternatives to the Australian national anthem…is commonly taught in primary schools (Wikipedia)?
They played all the hits, keeping “Georgy Girl” to the end, and encoring with “The Carnival is Over”. I still can’t get away with the happy clappy gospel songs and cringed in my seat during those parts of the show, but I was also swept away with the nostalgia and emotion of hearing them play “I’ll Never Find Another You”, “A World of Our Own” and “Georgy Girl”. Oh and they didn’t play “Island of Dreams” (although the song was played over the PA during the interval (try the ginger ice cream)).
My final mention has to go to Judith Durham. I’ve seen many artists from the 60s in recent years. Some of them are ok, and some are shadows of their past selves. In many cases their voices have mellowed, changed, and they often can’t hit the notes in the same way as they could. Of all of them, this was the strongest vocal performance I have seen. Judith’s voice is as pure and clear as it ever has been.
An enjoyable evening. I thought I would be the youngest person there, but actually I wasn’t; the audience consisted of all ages, from young to old. It was of course very respectable, and I have to say, pretty uncool; I suppose. But then who is to say what is “cool”. My ears aren’t ringing this morning, and I wasn’t in fear of my life in any way last night, so maybe uncoolness is ok in some ways 🙂
Back to some rock bands for my writings for the rest of the week.
Setlist.
Set 1. Come the Day; I’ll Never Find Another You; A World of Our Own; Love Is Kind, Love Is Wine; The Water Is Wide; When Will the Good Apples Fall; Silver Threads And Golden Needles; Colours of My Life; Morningtown Ride; Just a Closer Walk With Thee; Myra; I Am Australian; Medley: This Little Light Of Mine/Open Up Them Pearly Gates/We Shall Not Be Moved.
Set 2. Someday One Day; When the Stars Begin to Fall; The Last Thing on My Mind; You’re My Spirit; Walk With Me; Guardian Angel/Guiding Light (Keith Potger solo); Louisiana Man (Keith Potger, Bruce Woodley & Athol Guy); The Olive Tree (Judith Durham solo); Red Rubber Ball; Georgy Girl; Keep a Dream in Your Pocket.
Encore: The Carnival Is Over.
10 May
Sigue, Sigue Sputnik Newcastle Mayfair 12th March 1986
Sigue, Sigue Sputnik Newcastle Mayfair 12th March 1986
Recipe for a successful pop/new wave band.
1. To start off you must have some existing credibility. In this case, Tony James had a significant punk pedigree, and had starred in Generation X. Tony was, and remains, a good friend of Mick Jones of the Clash, who was to be the new band’s sound engineer.
2. Find a charismatic and, ideally crazy, lead singer. Enter Martin Degville, or simply “Degville”.
3. Craft a new art-based image, and wear the wildest clothes you can. It helped that Degville was a clothes designer and worked in YaYa clothes shop in Kensington Market.
4. Choose a wild, obscure, strange name for the band, so everyone can talk about you and discuss what the name means (by the way what does Sigue, Sigue Sputnik mean?).
5. Rehearse a lot, and play rarely, and only at select trendy venues.
6. Talk to the press and “big up” your band. James described the band as “Hi-tech sex, designer violence, and the fifth generation of rock ‘n’ roll”.
7. Wait until you feel the time is right, and the band have gained enough of a buzz around them and then, and only then, release a single. Link the single with a movie, for mass exposure. In this case the band’s first single “Love Missile F1-11” was included in the film “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”. It reached No 3 in the UK charts.
8. Go out on tour at last. Make sure that there is lots of publicity around the tour. In this case the band were billed as the latest shock rock band; the next Sex Pistols. The Sun featured the usual shock-horror stories. Some of their shows were marred by violence and Sigue, Sigue, Sputnik were, as a result, banned from several venues. The Newcastle gig was moved from Tiffanies to the Mayfair, because of fears of violence.
Now to the concert. The gig itself was not that well attended, and the security entering the venue was one of the strictest I have seen. Full searches on the way into the ballroom. The show was as expected; outrageous, strange, fun and like nothing else we had seen. The music was a mix of dance, electronic, rockabilly and punk; if that makes any sense. Degville was very much a star, wearing the most outrageous headgear and costume. A video of the Newcastle gig can be seen on YouTube. Google Sigue, Sigue, Sputnik and Newcastle Mayfair and you’ll find it.
Sigue, Sigue Sputnik were Tony James – space guitar; Martin Degville – vocals; Neal X – electric guitar; Ray Mayhew – drums; Chris Kavanagh – drums; Yana YaYa (Jane Farrimond) – keyboards, space echo, special effects.
I saw them once more at Newcastle Riverside a year or so later.
9 May
The Spice Girls Reunion O2 Arena London 15th December 2007
The Spice Girls Reunion O2 Arena London 15th December 2007
On 28 June 2007, the Spice Girls held a press conference in London, announcing that they were to reunite. They revealed that they were going to embark on a world concert tour as a celebration of the group’s legacy and a final farewell to fans. Eleven concerts were announced in North America, Europe, Asia, Oceania, Africa and South America and we were informed that we had to pre-register for tickets on the Spice Girls’ website. Lucky “winners” were sent a code which allowed them to buy tickets for the concerts. Initially only one night in London was planned, but it sold out in only 38 seconds, and more dates were quickly added. Concerts continued to be added, and they eventually played a massive 17 nights in London at the O2 Arena, and 3 nights at Manchester Arena. Laura wanted to see her childhood heroes again and we were lucky enough to get tickets for the opening night, thanks to a friendly Spice Girls fan from Germany who gave us a code to but tickets when they first went on sale, having not been successful ourselves in the initial draw. Our trip to planet Spice started on the train from Durham station down to Kings Cross, onward to a trusty Travelodge to dump our bags, and then to the classy O2 Arena to take our seats for a nostalgic trip back to the days of Girl Power !! 🙂 Laura bought a t shirt (perhaps I should have got one). We had pretty decent seats on the arena floor about half way back and with a great view of the stage. The first bit of excitement came when Will Young took his seat a few rows in front of us, to massive cheers and screams from the crowd.
The show began with a video of five young girls (representing our five heroes) playing inside a house. They find a magic box, open it, fireworks appear, and they all wish that they can become pop stars when they grow up (does it work like that?). Cue the music for “Spice Up Your Life” and videos and press cuttings of the Spice Girls. The girls then appeared on five massive high platforms and the whole place erupted. I have literally never heard such loud screaming go on for so long. The 20,000 strong O2 crowd gave the Spice Girls a reception unlike anything else I have seen. Breathtaking. Girl Power had returned to London.
“Spice Up Your Life” was followed by “Stop” and their reunion single “Headlines (Friendship Never Ends)” closed the first act. The second act had a jazz theme: “The Lady Is A Vamp” and a showgirl-style performance. The girls performed jazz versions of “Too Much” and “2 Become 1” with the girls dancing around pink and white poles. In the third act each of the girls took a solo spot which started with lots of catwalking from Posh to a remix of “Like a Virgin”. Scary then took a male member of the audience and chained him to a ladder while she performed (as of course she did for part of the Spice Girls career) and the four piece band performed “Holler”. She then returned to perform her big solo hit single “It’s Raining Men”, followed by Mel C singing her solo single, “I Turn to You”. The next section included “Mama” with images of the Spice Girls with their mothers and their own children. After a medley they finished with “Goodbye” and the concert ended with the slogan “SPICE – MISSION ACCOMPLISHED”. The encore was (of course) their biggest hit and debut single “Wannabe”. and “Spice Up Your Life”.
Great fun actually.
Back to rock concerts tomorrow.
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