Alice Cooper Newcastle Arena 2005
Dirty Diamonds tour
Support from Twisted Sister
It was 17 years until I saw Alice Cooper again, some 7 years ago at Newcastle Arena. Support came from mad glam rockers Twisted Sister, led by crazy maniac Dee Snider. I’d seen Twisted Sister in the early 80s at Newcastle Mayfair; they are always good for a laugh, and play some nifty metal. This gig used around a third of the arena, which allows for a (slightly) larger crowd than the City Hall, but also guarantees a much more stale and cold atmosphere. Alice’s set included all the favourites and a few tracks from his new album ‘Dirty Diamonds’. The usual stage theatrics featured large, with our hero pulling the usual tricks out of the bag, wriggling his way out of a straitjacket, losing his head at the guillotine and then emerging alive again from a coffin. The show now features his beautiful daughter Cailco Cooper, who kills her dad as part of the fun. Setlist: Department of Youth; No More Mr. Nice Guy; Dirty Diamonds; Billion Dollar Babies; Be My Lover; Lost in America; I Never Cry; Woman of Mass Distraction; I’m Eighteen; Between High School & Old School; Sunset Babies (All Got Rabies); Is It My Body; Go to Hell; Black Widow; Gimme; Feed My Frankenstein; Welcome to My Nightmare; The Awakening; Steven; Only Women Bleed; Ballad of Dwight Fry; Killer; I Love the Dead; School’s Out. Encore: Poison; Wish I Were Born in Beverly Hills; Under My Wheels
Posts Tagged ‘heavy metal’
15 Aug
Alice Cooper Newcastle 1986 and 1988
Alice Cooper Newcastle 1986 and 1988
It was around ten years till I saw Alice Cooper again. He visited the UK in 1982, but for some reason I didn’t make a show on that tour. However he was back again in 1986, and paid his fist visit to Newcastle. After experiencing the splendour of the “Welcome to my Nightmare” tour, I was looking forward to this gig. Support came from Alien Sex Fiend, a deathrock band formed at the Batcave club in London. Alice was promoting the Constrictor lp, which was his 16th(!) album, and the tour was named “The Nightmare Returns”. 
It was seen as a return to form, if perhaps a little more heavy metal than previous outings. The show was as theatrical as ever, with Frankenstein making an appearance for the song “Teenage Frankenstein”. The set contained a selection of all the classic Alice tracks. Setlist: Welcome to My Nightmare; Billion Dollar Babies; No More Mr. Nice Guy; Be My Lover; I’m Eighteen; The World Needs Guts; Give It Up; Cold Ethyl; Only Women Bleed; Go to Hell; Ballad of Dwight Fry; Teenage Frankenstein; Sick Things; I Love the Dead; School’s Out. Encore: Elected; Under My Wheels. Seem to recall that I went to the gig with my mate Norm and that we went down to Tiffanies (it may have been another club) afterwards and saw We’ve Got A Fuzzbox and We’re Gonna Use It!! 
Alice was back in Newcastle two years later; this time for a two night stay at the City Hall. Support this time came from heavy metal act Chrome Molly, and Alice’s new album was Raise Your Fist and Yell. I found the following interesting snippet on the sickthingsuk site: “During the first night at Newcastle City Hall 8th April, 1988, Alice accidentally threw one of the dancers whips [during Go To Hell] up into the balcony and was caught, much to the delight of a female member of the audience (Steve Olley, January 2009).” The set was quite similar to Alice’s previous visit, and this time the show featured Freddie Kreuger appeared in the show!
14 Aug
Alice Cooper Liverpool Empire 1975
Alice Cooper Liverpool Empire 1975
Welcome to my Nightmare tour
Support Heavy Metal Kids
This was the first time that I saw Alice Cooper. A group of us went to the gig in a couple of cars, all of us exciting at the prospect of seeing the king of shock rock. We’ll heard the singles, seen him perform “School’s Out” on Top of the Pops and read about the outlandish stage shows in the NME and Sounds. This was our chance to see Alice in the flesh in his ghoulish horror show which featured snakes, an execution and babies being sliced up. It was Alice’s first concert in the north of England; he had previously only played in London and Glasgow. Support came from Heavy Metal Kids, with Gary Holton on top form, giving his usual super cocky cockney act. We had seats right down at the front and all thought the gig was tremendous. There had been some luke warm reviews of the “Welcome to my Nightmare” album, largely because Alice had lost all of the original band members, and was now, in effect, a solo artist, rather than Alice Cooper the band. However, we needn’t have worried, as this was Alice Cooper at his theatrical best, fronting a stage show that was at times just astounding, and, for its time, unbelievable in places. The show started with the taped voice of Vincent Price booming over the PA system, followed by wonderfully choreographed dancers, who seemed to appear out of nowhere from a giant projection screen, which was the size of the stage. Next Alice suddenly appeared singing the opening lines of the title track. 
Alice had a giant toy box, and from that jumped devils, bats, and a bunch of skeletons who delivered a nifty dance routine complete with top hats and canes. There was a massive graveyard scene with Alice creeping through the gravestones, dancing demons, giant spiders for “Black Widow” and a cyclops during “Department Of Youth”. And he played School’s Out! Just Wonderful! Setlist: Welcome To My Nightmare, Years Ago, No More Mr Nice Guy, Years Ago, Billion Dollar Babies, Years Ago, I’m Eighteen, Some Folks, Cold Ethyl, Only Women Bleed, Devil’s Food, The Black Widow, Steven, Welcome To My Nightmare (reprise), The Awakening, Escape, School’s Out, Department of Youth
23 Jun
The Cramps Newcastle Mayfair March 1986
The Cramps Newcastle Mayfair March 1986
When I was very young, around 10 years old, I discovered horror movies and a magazine called Famous Monsters of Filmland. I loved the classic 30s horror movies: Frankenstein, Dracula, the Wolfman, and was fascinated by zombies, ghouls, the creature from the black lagoon. Through my teens I bought Famous Monsters from Filmland regularly, and saw as many 30s, 40s, and 50s horror and scifi films as I could on TV or at the cinema (which was sometimes difficult as many were X rated, which meant that you had to be 16 to see them). Why I am telling you this in a post about The Cramps? Simple. The Cramps blended together several of my favourite things: a love of gothic horror, the bizarre, scifi, surf music, garage, and rockabilly. They came out of the New York punk scene, and are often credited with starting the psychobilly genre. Looking through the pages of the programme from this gig reminds me how great this band were. The programme is crammed with images taken from B movies and features the 1985 movie Return of the Living Dead, for which The Cramps wrote a song “Surfing Dead”. 
The Cramps were at their peak of popularity on this, their 1986 world tour. The tour took in several nights at Hammersmith Palais and a few nights at Hammersmith Odeon, as well as gigs around the country, including this North East gig at Newcastle Mayfair. They were fronted by singer Lux Interior and guitarist Poison Ivy. I went to the gig with my mate Dave, and it was a load of fun. The show was totally wild and wacky, quite similar in many ways to The B-52s, but much crazier. Lux Interior was totally wild on stage; I can picture him now, crawling all over the top of the speaker cabs, stripping off at the same time. The guy had no fear; think of Iggy Pop at his wildest times 10. The place was packed, and the crowd lapped it up. The Cramps continued throughout the 90s, and split only when Luz Interior passed away in 2009.
14 Jun
Cinderella and Slaughter Newcastle City Hall 1991
Cinderella and Slaughter Newcastle City Hall 1991
My mate Dave and I were quite into heavy rock in the 80s, and we went to see a lot of the American bands who came over and played in the North East. We’d seen Cinderella low on the bill at Donington Monsters of Rock a few years earlier. This tour was at the time of the Heartbreak Station album. Proper heavy rock stuff this. Big hair cuts, loud heavy rock. Great stuff. Support came from Slaughter. Found a setlist: The More Things Change; Push Push; Sick for the Cure; Make Your Own Way; Night Songs; Back Home Again; Somebody Save Me; One for Rock and Roll; Heartbreak Station; Coming Home; Fallin’ Apart At The Seams; Love’s Got Me Doin’ Time; Don’t Know What You Got (Till It’s Gone); Nobody’s Fool; Gypsy Road; Shake Me; Dead Man’s Road; Shelter Me; Brown Sugar
11 Jun
Bon Jovi Monsters of Rock Donington 1987
Bon Jovi Monsters of Rock Donington 1987
Support Acts: Dio, Mettalica, Anthrax, WASP
I attended quite a few of the Monsters of Rock festivals at Donington during the 1980s, usually with my mate Dave. I was lucky enough to win tickets from the local paper a couple of times, including this event in 1987. The line-up was pretty strong with headliner Bon Jovi supported by Dio, Mettalica and a couple of other bands. Dave and I had seen Bon Jovi at Monsters of Rock a couple of years earlier; this time they were back as headliner, and put on a great show, warranting their major league status.
Dio played a set which consisted of solo songs, and a few Sabbath and Rainbow tracks. Mettalica had not, in my view, reached their peak at this stage; that was to come later with the release of the Black album. Bon Jovi setlist: Pink Flamingos; Raise Your Hands; I’d Die for You; Tokyo Road; You Give Love a Bad Name; Wild in the Streets; Not Fade Away; Never Say Goodbye; Livin’ on a Prayer; Let It Rock / We Will Rock You; Get Ready; Runaway; Wanted Dead or Alive; Drift Away; Travelin’ Band (joined by Paul Stanley, Bruce Dickinson and Dee Snider); We’re An American Band
9 Jun
The Groundhogs York Fibbers 8 June 2012
The Groundhogs York Fibbers 8 June 2012
Laura and I decided at the last minute to go and see The Groundhogs in York last night. We arrived in time to catch support act Dan Hudson who was delivering a good solid set of blues. We also found time to pop over the road to the Black Swan where the York fold weekend was in full swing in a marquee in the carpark. The Groundhogs took the stage at 9.30 starting with “No more dogging”. As those of us who follow the band know, Tony had a stroke a couple of years ago which affected his speech, and as a result his wife and singing partner Joanna Deacon had joined the band and taken on the vocal duties. Having said that Tony sang two songs himself last night, the first being “Eccentric man”, with Tony making sterling efforts on the verses, with Joanna coming in the help out with the chorus. A pretty good version. Next the volume and pace were lowered for the beautiful “Garden” from the “Thank Christ for the Bomb” album. Tony started the song which some lovely understated guitar, and Joanna handled the vocals admirably. Tony sang old blues favourite “Still a fool” from “Scratching the Surface” next, including a great guitar solo. Joanna explained how the “cool kids’ at school would walk around with the “Split” lp under their arm, and admitted that she was a Slade fan at the time. This introduced “Split Part 1” which is always one of my favourites, followed by “Split Part 2”, during which Tony made extensive use of the whammy bar, to the extent that his guitar was quite out of tune by the end of the song. Joanna’s dancing became particularly manic and bizarre at this point! Side 1 of the album was (almost) completed by “Split Part 4”. Then it was back to the blues with “Natchez burning”. Next came “Strange town” which was a great surprise; I don’t recall seeing the band play this in recent times. Then, moving towards the end of the set, “Mistreated” from “Blues Obituary” brought back memories of early 70s gigs, where it was often the set opener. The set finished with “Cherry Red”. Encore was “Down in the bottom”. Fibbers club was pretty full, and the crowd gave the band a very warm and friendly reception. Its always good to see the Groundhogs, and everyone last night clearly holds a lot of affection for Tony in particular. Joanna fits well in the band, and whereas a couple of years ago I found the idea of her taking on vocal duties a little surprising, I know think it feels natural. Its great that she has been able to do this and thus help keep the band on the road. Joanna explained that regular bass player Dave Anderson was not well. His place was taken by Steve Cook, who had stepped in at short notice and did a great job. Drummer Carl Stokes sported a massive gong which he used to close the set. A great night, which Laura and I both enjoyed. The Groundhogs, finished at 11pm, and we were home by 12.30am. When we got back David told me that I needed to be up early to take him to Middlesbrough for 9am, as he was picking up a lift there to a school friends wedding in Penrith. So not much sleep for me last night! Oh well, it was worth it to see Tony again.
5 Jun
Black Oak Arkansas Newcastle Mayfair 1975
Black Oak Arkansas Newcastle Mayfair February 28th 1975
Support came from Welsh rockers Sassafras
Jim Dandy to the Rescue!
My mate Norm reminded me to write about seeing Black Oak Arkansas at Newcastle Mayfair in 1975. I’d forgotten all about this gig, until Norm mentioned it last night. The tour advert for the time declared: “They’re hot, they’re nasty, and they’re gonna make you scream for more!” All tickets were £1 at “Black Oak Arkansas special request”. Black Oak were (and still are!) an American southern rock boogie band, and front man Jim Dandy was just crazy on stage. The highlight of the set was “Jim Dandy to the Rescue”, their cover of R&B singer LaVern Baker’s 1956 hit, which had the Mayfair crowd all singing along. I remember Jim Dandy had insanely long hair, jumped around a lot, and played the washboard. I also recall that they did a great version of “Dixie” and had several guitarists. Norm remembers that they had a pretty big stage show, and it being the first time we saw lights with hydraulics at the side of the stage, the lighting rig rising out of a metal case. Black Oak Arkansas are still playing in America, with Jim Dandy the only original member. Jim Dandy is said to have been a big influence on Dave Lee Roth; which I can understand. I was to see Black Oak once more a year later, when they played at the 1976 Reading Festival.
Thanks to John for the following insights, which he recently (Nov 2013) emailed me: “BOA are named after the town of Black Oak (population 272) in Arkansas, released their first major album in 1970 to little success.The band featured three guitarists and the famous Jim Mangrum who was nicknamed Dandy based on how he dressed and behaved, plus Tommy Aldrige on drums. In 1973 the band played 310 concert dates and in 74, 320 dates (all of them one nighters) and also recorded four albums.They were a Top 5 Concert Act in the US in 1974.They played at the California Jam, then the largest one day paying concert in the USA with 250,000 tickets sold (I always thought it was Watkins Glen) headlined by ELP then Deep Purple, Black Sabbath and BOA. A recent TV programme showed concert footage of the band from the Albert Hall in 75 playing a few songs – Hot N Nasty, Hard Ride, Mutants of the Monster and of course Jim Dandy. The song Jim Dandy is an old song and they recorded it based on the singers nickname.The vocals are Jim plus a lady Ruby Star.I heard that song a lot and I am sure that they played on the Old Grey Whistle test (but I could be wrong) and I thought it was good. However, on the footage from the RHA his vocals are just terrible – a bit like a mad version of Ted Nugent but out of tune and with a very heavy accent. David Lee Roth must have been very heavily influenced by his style and look. I have an old rock book from 1976 which says that they supported Black Sabbath on tour in 74 , and I can remember reading a big interview with them in Melody Maker and I think they played Reading one year (76). They have a new album out and are supposed to be touring in the US.All very interesting.”
4 Jun
Babe Ruth 1973
Babe Ruth 1973
Babe Ruth are often forgotten, memories of them lost over time. I’m getting towards the end of posting on bands beginning with the letter B, and wanted to make sure that I covered every band of note that I have ever seen, and Babe Ruth came to mind. Babe Ruth only existed for a short period between 1972 and 1976, but made a big impression at the time, although their biggest success came in Canada rather than the UK. The original band consisted of Jenny (Janita) Haan on vocals, Alan Shacklock on guitars, and Dave Hewitt on bass. They were a classic rock band; Jenny Haan was a raucous singer in the Janis Joplin mould, and totally wild on stage. Alan Shacklock was a tremendous guitarist and wrote a lot of the material. I recall seeing them performing Wells Fargo from their first album First Base on TV on the Old Grey Whistle Test and then saw them live a few times in local ballrooms. I remember in particular seeing them at Sunderland Top Rank on the Harvestmobile tour (see flyer) which was a package tour featuring bands from the Harvest stable, including Spontaneous Combustion, ELO, Roy Wood’s Wizzard, Kevin Ayres, Roy Harper & The Edgar Broughton Band. The Sunderland gig featured Babe Ruth, ELO, and Spontaneous Combustion. 
Spontaneous Combustion were a largely instrumental power rock trio, with a great guitarist. ELO were just great in those days (will post about them separately one day), but for me the best band that night was Babe Ruth. Their first album (see left) is excellent. Go to Youtube and listen to Wells Fargo, Black Dog” (not the Zepellin track), The Mexican, and Joker. They also did a great version of Zappa’s King Kong which was a favourite of mine at the time. By 1976 Jenny Haan had left the band to form her own band Jenny Haan’s Lion. She was replaced by Ellie Hope, and by this point the band contained no original members. I remember setting off with Marie to see Jenny Haan’s Lion at a college gig somewhere near Darlington one night, driving around and never finding the gig (no satnavs in those days) and giving up in the end. I think I did get to see them in the end, possibly at Bede College in Durham. I also have vague memories of seeing the new line up of Babe Ruth with new vocalist Ellie Hope, and being disappointed as the magic had gone. That final lineup changed their name to Liquid Gold, found Disco and hit the charts in 1980 with Dance Yourself Dizzy. Enough said. I’ve done some searching for Babe Ruth material on the internet, and discovered that they reformed a couple of years ago and played a reunion tour in Canada. More recently, in May 2012, Janita Jenny Haan and Dave Punshon from the original band played “a relaxed evening of musical storytelling and piano jazz like you’ve never heard before’ in Swindon. I’m going to keep an eye on their site (http://www.baberuthband.net/news.html) and watch for further opportunities to see them.
1 Jun
Guns N Roses Gateshead Stadium 1992
Guns N Roses Gateshead Stadium 1992
Seeing Guns N Roses last week has made me cast my mind back to the first and only other time I saw them. This was when they were at the height of their success, on the Use Your Illusion tour. The tour called at Gateshead Stadium in 1992, with support from Soundgarden and Faith No More. This was of course the original classic line up including Axl Rose on lead vocals, Slash on lead guitar, and Duff McKagan on bass. 
I went along to the gig with Ashleigh and her friend, who were raving about the band at the time. It was a good gig, although to be honest I don’t remember being as impressed by them as I was last week (is that heresy?). The Guns N Roses history site notes of the gig: “25,000 people see GN’R at the Gateshead International Stadium in Newcastle (!), England. Duff had a verbal altercation with one fan. After Axl’s words of warning – “I wouldn’t mess with him, he’s not had a drink in two weeks!” – the fan piped down. After the show the band fly back to London to continue their stay at the exclusive Conrad Hotel, where fellow guests included Prince and INXS.” Setlist: It’s So Easy; Mr. Brownstone; Live and Let Die; Bad Obsession; Attitude; My Michelle; Double Talkin’ Jive; Civil War; Patience; Welcome to the Jungle; You Could Be Mine; November Rain; Speak Softly Love; Sweet Child O’ Mine; Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door; Don’t Cry; Paradise City
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