The Priory of Brion (Robert Plant) Whitley Bay Dome 8th April 2000 
Whitley Bay is a seaside resort just outside Newcastle, and the Dome was a disused building in an old amusement funpark; so named because of its domed roof. The Dome played host to a number of concerts around this time. When we heard that Plant was playing there with his band The Priory of Brion, as part of a “secret” club tour, we scrambled to make sure that we got tickets. The place was rammed and Plant and his band were just amazing. It was great to see him so close up in such an intimate setting. The concert consisted of Robert singing some of his favourite old tunes including ’60s classics like Morning Dew, If I Were A Carpenter, and Gloria. The highlights for me were Darkness, Darkness (the classic song from Jesse Colin Young in his days with the Youngbloods) and Donovan’s Season Of The Witch; both of which are among my favourites songs anyway. An amazing night. Perhaps the best time I have seen Plant as a solo artist. The tickets says “Whitley Bay Dome…proudly presents music at its very best..” and it ain’t far wrong. Setlist: Morning Dew, A House is Not A Hotel, If I Were A Carpenter, Darkness, Darkness, Bluebird, Early In The Morning, Think, We’re Gonna Groove, Baby Please Don’t Go, No Regrets, Gloria, Bummer In The Summer, Season of the Witch, Trouble in Mind
Posts Tagged ‘heavy rock’
14 Feb
The Priory of Brion (Robert Plant) Whitley Bay Dome 8th April 2000
13 Feb
Robert Plant Newcastle City Hall 12th December 1990
Robert Plant Newcastle City Hall 12th December 1990
I next saw Robert Plant at Newcastle City Hall in December 1990. This tour was to promote his fifth solo album Manic Nirvana. By now Plant was back into a full-on heavy rock groove, and this album gained mixed reviews at the time; with some critics loving it because it seemed to take him back to his Zep rock roots, and others dissing it for the same reason. The tour programme followed a similar theme, with lots of pictures of Plant the rock god, and Plant the bluesman, and heavy trippy use of psychedelic eastern-influenced graphics and fonts. The programme contains the lyrics to the songs from the new album and an extract (not sure where it is taken from) which talks about bluesman Tommy Johnson, who sold his soul to the devil at the crossroads.
“He said the reason he knowed so much, said he sold hisself to the Devil..I asked him how. He said, ‘If you want to learn how to play anything you want to play and learn how to make songs yourself you take your guitar and you go to where a road crosses that way, where a crossroads is. Get there, be sure to get there just a little ‘fore twelve a clock that night so you’ll know you’ll be there. 
You have your guitar and be playing a piece sitting there by yourself. You have to go by yourself and be sitting there playing a piece. A big black man will walk up there and take your guitar, and he’ll tune it. And then he’ll play a piece and hand it back to you. That’s the way I learned how to play anything I want.”
Plant’s live performances continued to be impressive occasions and this show at the City Hall was no exception. Along with tracks from his solo albums, Robert also played Nobody’s Fault but Mine, Ramble On, Immigrant Song, and Living Loving Maid from Zeppelin days. Great stuff!
Setlist: Watching You; Nobody’s Fault but Mine; Billy’s Revenge; Tie Dye on the Highway; Anniversary; In the Mood; Liars Dance; Ramble On; Mirror in the Bathroom (The Beat cover 🙂 ); Nirvana; Immigrant Song; Hurting Kind (I’ve Got My Eyes on You); Ship of Fools; Living Loving Maid; Tall Cool One
11 Feb
Robert Plant Newcastle City Hall 24th March 1988
Robert Plant Newcastle City Hall 24th March 1988
Robert Plant was back on tour in the UK in 1988, calling at Newcastle City Hall again. This time he had a new band, with Doug Boyle on guitar, Chris Blackwell on drums, Phil Johnstone on keyboards and Charlie Jones on bass.
Plant released his fourth album, Now and Zen in February 1988. The album was a return to a blues rock style reminiscent of Zeppelin and even featured Jimmy Page playing guitar on two of the tracks. The single “Tall Cool one” was also released around the same time. The UK tour was named the Non Stop Go tour, and for the first time a few Zeppelin classics were featured as part of the set. For the UK shows Plant played “In the evening”, “Trampled under foot” and “Misty mountain hop”; 
further Zep songs were added as the tour progressed and made its way across to the USA. The Newcastle gig was a great show, I particularly enjoyed it because it was the first time I had seen the old songs performed for some ten years. Support came from the excellent It Bites who were on top form and played the classic “Calling All The Heroes”.
Setlist (something like): Helen of Troy; Little by little; Billy’s revenge; In the evening; In the mood; Heaven Knows; Big log; Dimples; Trampled under foot; Tall cool one; Misty mountain hop; Other arms; Break on through (the Doors classic featured as an encore on several nights of the tour).
Thanks to John for the picture of his poster from the Non Stop Go tour.
10 Feb
Robert Plant Newcastle City Hall 28th November 1983
Robert Plant Newcastle City Hall 28th November 1983
It was the early 1980s. Zeppelin were no more, and Robert Plant began to establish himself as a solo artist. He released two excellent albums: Pictures at Eleven (1982) and The Principle of Moments (1983), both of which had shades of Zeppelin and yet also enabled Plant to forge his own identity. In the Autumn of 1983 he embarked on a full UK tour, calling at Newcastle City Hall in November. Demand was high to see Plant on his first major outing since Zeppelin days, and a second night was added at several venues, including Newcastle. He was also having his first real solo single chart success with the excellent “Big Log”. The line-up of Robert Plant’s band for the 1983 tour was Robbie Blunt (guitar), Jezz Woodroffe (keyboards), Bob Mayo (keyboards), Paul Martinez (bass) and Ritchie Hayward (drums; Phil Collins played on the US leg of the tour). The concert consisted of tracks from Robert’s first two albums. We were all hoping that he would throw in a few Zeppelin classics, but that wasn’t to be. 
This was made clear in the souvenir programme: “Tonight there will be no Slverhead, Black Sabbath, Foreigner, no Little Feat, Adverts [referring to the bands which each of the members had previously played in] or Led Zeppelin. Only music from the last two years and maybe…a medley of our hit [referring to Big Log]”. Never mind; Plant’s solo songs were strong, and his band was excellent, including amazing guitar work by Robbie Blunt, who had been in the very under-rated bands Bronco and Silverhead. The set started with “In The Mood” which had just been released as a single.
Setlist (something like): In the Mood; Pledge Pin; Messin’ With the Mekon; Worse Than Detroit; Thru’ With the Two Step; Other Arms; Horizontal Departure; Moonlight in Samosa; Wreckless Love; Slow Dancer; Like I’ve Never Been Gone; Burning Down One Side; Big Log; Stranger Here… Than Over There; Treat Her Right
“My love is in league with the freeway, Its passion will ride, as the cities fly by, And the tail-lights dissolve, in the coming of night, And the questions in thousands take flight.” (Big Log, Robert Plant, 1983). I loved “Big Log” at the time and still do; it was a very different song, quite distinct in terms of the chart of the time and from Zeppelin music; but I could never figure out what it was about 🙂
At the Hammersmith Odeon show Plant was joined onstage by none other than Jimmy Page for the encore ‘Treat Her Right’.
28 Jan
Paice Ashton Lord Newcastle City Hall 28th March 1977
Paice Ashton Lord 28th March 1977
Paice Ashton Lord were formed in 1977, after the break-up of Deep Purple. Ian Paice (Purple’s drummer) and Jon Lord (Purple’s keyboardist), joined Tony Ashton (keyboards and vocals; ex Ashton, Gardner and Dyke and Family) for the project. The band was completed with Bernie Marsden on guitar and Paul Martinez on bass. Paice Ashton Lord (PAL) released their first album, Malice in Wonderland, in 1977, and undertook their only UK which I saw at the City Hall. I think some of the dates on the tour were cancelled because of poor ticket sales. I saw the show at Necastle City Hall, which was not well attended. The group didn’t last for long, and broke up shortly after the tour: I think Tony Ashton broke his leg falling off a stage. The set consisted on tracks from the new alsbum, and as far as I can remember, they didn’t play any Purple classics. 
Support came from a band called Bandit who were fronted by Jim Diamond. Lord, Marsden and Paice went on to join David Coverdale in his band Whitesnake. Martinez joined Stan Webb’s Chicken Shack, before going on to play with Robert Plant. Both Tony Ashton and Jon Lord died of cancer; Ashton in 2001; Lord in 2012. From the tour programme: “This is the first tour of a band, already making a big impression on the music scene…this new band are certain of a brilliant future on their own merits which will in no way be reflected glory from the now past Purple band”. A CD of PAL in concert has the track listing: Ghost Story; On The Road Again, Again; Silas And Jerome; Arabella (Oh Tell Me); The Ballad Of Mr. Giver; I’m Gonna Stop Drinking; Steam Roller Blues; Remember The Good Times; Malice In Wonderland; and Sneaky Private Lee. I would imagine this was the set that I saw at Newcastle.
18 Jan
Pink Fairies live in the mid-’70s
Pink Fairies live in the mid-’70s
I was a big fan of the Pink Fairies in the early and mid ’70s and went to see them a number of times in concert. Those guys represented everything that was great about rock music; attitude, far-left politics, anti-establishment views, freedom and some great underground tracks. My mate had a copy of their “Kings of Oblivion” album which we played again and again, especially “City Kids” and “When’s the Fun Begin” (which was co-written by hero of the counter-culture, Mick Farren, who sadly recently passed away). Another favourite of mine was their version of “Walk Don’t Run” from the “What a Bunch of Sweeties” album, which adds vocals to the Ventures instrumental, and bends it into a piece of psych-tinged surf guitar grunge. 
You got the feeling that these guys lived on the edge, on the outside, and were 100% authentic. The line-ups that I saw featured Paul Rudolf and/or Larry Wallis on guitar, Duncan Sanderson on bass, and Russell Hunter on drums. The legendary Twink had departed some time before. My ticket stubs included here are for gigs at Middlesbrough Town Hall Crypt and Redcar Coatham Bowl, probably around 1975 or 1976. I also saw the Pink Fairies at Newcastle Mayfair a couple of times; in 1976 and 1977. These guys were pure raw rock’n’roll live and LOUD. Amazing. It seems a reunion of some sort is in the air; as the 100 club is advertising a Pink Fairies gig in May, although its not yet clear who will be in the line-up. Something for me to watch out for.
17 Jan
Ozzy Osbourne live 1982 to 1986
Ozzy Osbourne live 1982 to 1986
On 19 March 1982 a light aircraft piloted by Andrew Aycock (Ozzy’s band’s tour bus driver) carrying guitarist Randy Rhoads and Rachel Youngblood, the band’s make up designer, crashed while performing low passes over the band’s tour bus. In a prank turned deadly, the left wing of the plane clipped the bus, causing it to crash, killing Rhoads, Aycock, and Youngblood. Randy was only 26, and although he played for only a short period, he has been an immense influence on a whole generation of musicians in heavy rock and metal. Guitar World proclaimed that the guitarist “could have been the greatest”.
The Ozzy band were shocked and crushed by the tragedy, but regrouped with a new line-up (Bob Daisley and Lee Kerslake had left the band). By the time I saw Ozzy again on the Speak of the Devil tour when it called at Newcastle City Hall on 18th December 1982 the band was: Ozzy, Brad Gillis (from San Francisco band Ranger) on guitar, Tommy Alridge (from Black Oak Arkanas, and the Pat Travers Band), Pete Way (UFO) on bass. They were also joined by actor John Allen who was executed in a mock hanging as part of the now highly theatrical stage show. 
Support once again came from Budgie. From the 1982 tour programme: ” Tragedy struck, and rock lost a great guitar hero and a friend in Randy Rhoads. And yet in the midst of the quiet that followed our loss, there was movement. When the music stopped there was silence. However, it wasn’t a simple silence. It was a silence that would whip itself into a greater sound – a sound that would Speak of the Devil. As time changed me, as time has no doubt changed you, my infatuation with horror made things move faster. The tracks you’ll hear capsulize a real life story that helped cleanse my soul of the 13th anniversary of my career. I am Ozzy Osbourne…and sometimes we all Speak of the Devil”.
Setlist: Over the Mountain; Mr. Crowley; Crazy Train; Revelation (Mother Earth); Steal Away (The Night); Suicide Solution; Goodbye to Romance; Flying High Again; Believer; Sweet Leaf; Children of the Grave; Iron Man. Encore: Paranoid.
Ozzy was back in Newcastle on 18th November 1983 at the Mayfair for the Bark at the Moon tour with support from Heavy Petting. The line-up had changed again and was Ozzy, Jek E Lee on guitar, the return of Bob Daisley on bass, Don Airey on keyboards, and the legend Carmine Appice (Beck, Bogert and Appice; Vanilla Fudge) on drums. Ozzy had morphed into a werewolf, and the show was even more theatrical. I saw the show again as part of the 1984 Monsters of Rock festival at Donington where Ozzy joined a bill headed by AC/DC and also featuring Van Halen; Gary Moore; Y&T; Accept; and Mötley Crüe.
Ozzy setlist from Donington 1984: I Don’t Know; Mr. Crowley; Over the Mountain; Rock ‘n’ Roll Rebel; Bark at the Moon; Revelation (Mother Earth); Steal Away (The Night); Suicide Solution; Centre of Eternity; Flying High Again; Iron Man; Crazy Train; Paranoid
Two years later I saw Ozzy again; back at Newcastle City Hall on 12th February 1986. Support came from US rockers Ratt. A new tour and yet another line-up: Ozzy; Jake E Lee remaining on guitar; Phil Soussan on bass; the late Randy Castillo on drums (who went on to join Motley Crue) and John Sinclair on keyboards. The tour was in support of The Ultimate Sin album. From the programme: “”Ozzy Osbourne is still the reigning madman of rock’n’roll. He’s still an intense performer who often pushes himself too far……The music’s great, the band is hot and we’re ready to take on the world”.
Setlist: O Fortuna; Bark at the Moon; Suicide Solution; Never Know Why; Mr. Crowley; Shot in the Dark; I Don’t Know; Killer of Giants; Thank God for the Bomb; Flying High Again; Secret Loser; Iron Man; Crazy Train; Paranoid.
This was the last time I saw Ozzy live until the current Black Sabbath tour. Ozzy’s visits to the UK became less and less frequent as he concentrated on the US. I did have a ticket to see him at Newcastle Arena 10 years or so ago, but the concert was cancelled as Ozzy was not well at the time. Ozzy is a great heavy rock singer, and a crazy and compelling front man whose stage presence is as powerful today as it ever was.
16 Jan
Ozzy Osbourne Blizzard of Ozz September/October 1980
Ozzy Osbourne Blizzard of Ozz September/October 1980
When Ozzy left Black Sabbath in 1979 I honestly thought it could be the last we saw of him. Sure; he was a great, mad front man in Sabbath, but I really didn’t see him as a solo act. Ozzy always struck me as crazy, fearless, yet almost child-like. He fitted well within the Sabbath context, and as part of a group; but on his own? How wrong I was. No-one could have predicted just how successful his career would turn out to be. But it was obvious from the first time I saw him in concert and heard him play his new songs that Ozzy was going to be OK, more than OK in fact. The new album had some great tracks in “Crazy Train”; “Goodbye to Romance”; and “Mr. Crowley”, and he included Sabbath favourites “Iron Man”; “Children of the Grave”; and “Paranoid” in the live show, so how could he not be great. Oh, and Randy Rhoads was a simply incredible guitarist, just as good as his legend suggests. The tour called at Newcastle City Hall, Newcastle Mayfair and Sunderland Mayfair. Now this is another one of those gigs that has tested my memory; which has been playing tricks on me again. Now in my mind I went to see Ozzy at the City Hall concert; but I can’t find a ticket for that show, and I always keep them. I do have a programme so I know that I did see Ozzy that year, and on that tour, and I can definitely remember it was shortly after the Blizzard of Oz album was released. I can only conclude that I must have gone to the Sunderland Mayfair gig, and I either paid at the door or tickets were collected on the way in. I’m learning just to accept things like that now; I can’t always remember details fully these days, and it’s no good dwelling on them or trying to figure it out; it just drives me nuts 🙂 . The line-up of Blizzard of Ozz was Ozzy (of course) on vocals, the late and truly great guitarist Randy Rhoads; Bob Daisley from Rainbow on bass, Lee Kerslake fom Uriah Heep on drums and local lad Don Airey on keyboards (replaced by Lindsey Bridgewater for the tour). Support came from those excellent Welsh rock heroes Budgie.
Setlist for the tour was: I Don’t Know; You Lookin’ at Me Lookin’ at You; Crazy Train; Goodbye to Romance; Mr. Crowley; Suicide Solution; Iron Man; Children of the Grave; Steal Away (The Night). Encore: Paranoid
25 Dec
Ted Nugent in concert 1976, 1977 and 1980
Ted Nugent in concert 1976, 1977 and 1980
Ted Nugent is, to say the least, outspoken and holds some strong views. When I first went to see him he was proclaiming: “It ain’t Rock’n’Roll if it ain’t loud” and “If its too loud you’re too old!” and indeed, loud he was. This was at the time of his “Free For All” and “Cat Sratch Fever” albums. He arrived in the UK just as punk was breaking. Now if Ted Nugent is anything, he sure ain’t punk rock. Ted plays straight ahead rock’n’roll and some pretty neat guitar. I first saw him at the Reading Festival in 1976, and then at Newcastle City Hall in 1977 and Newcastle Mayfair in 1980. Ted was wild and crazy on stage, with a massive mane of hair. One memory from the Mayfair gig, that my mate Norm reminded me of. Remember this was at the time of punk rock, when certain elements of the crowd would spit at the band. Well for some crazy reason a guy in the Mayfair crowd tried spitting at Ted. Ted didn’t take too kindly to this and had it out with the culprit, threatening to come down onto the dancefloor and sort him out. Ted played a big Gibson guitar, and wore lots of leather. Ted also had a big ego and would say some quite outrageous things, and continues to do so today. 
Some Ted quotes from the 1977 tour programme: “The sounds I make are all power, you’ve got to feel it when you’re blowing your rocks off. People think I’m deranged but it’s all about sex and audible, physical and visual recreation.” “There’s a ringing in my ears and I think that’s it the call of the wild. I got ears, I can hear it. The kids are going crazy, foamin’ at the mouth, ready to tear the legs off the security guards…and I should be modest?” “I can play real tasty too, all the time in fact. Sure I’m a show man, I’m the best entertainer of them all but listen to the classy way I do it”. “People were writing all kinds of shit about me. How I’d raped too women – one of them a nun. How I ate raw meat. It was vindictive. The only people I ever beat up were journalists.” and there’s more…”There’s no one to overshadow me, there ain’t nobody who can outdo me at my own game. I mean have you ever heard anyone who sounds like me?”.
And a few more I found on the internet: “Vegetarians are cool. All I eat are vegetarians – except for the occasional mountain lion steak.” “Americans have the right to choose to be unarmed and helpless. Be my guest.” “I am the Great White Buffalo and I play an American-made Gibson guitar that can blow your head clean off at 100 paces.” “Gibson has been making the finest electric guitars the world has ever witnessed for over 70 years. They are as American as God, guns and rock and roll.”
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/t/ted_nugent.html
Typical Ted Nugent setlist from 1977: Stranglehold; Just What The Doctor Ordered; Free for All; Snakeskin Cowboys; Cat Scratch Fever; Wang Dang Sweet Poontang; A Thousand Knives; Dog Eat Dog / Stormtroopin’; Hey Baby; Great White Buffalo; Hibernation; Motor City Madhouse.
The late Mick Farren reviewed Ted’s Hammersmith Odeon show for the NME, 12 March 1977, and said: “We’ve heard a great deal lately about how Ted Nugent abjures drugs and alcohol. Perhaps that’s his mistake. The occasional soul searching high might have produced some kind of sensitivity in him. Sensitive this boy is not. Compared to him, Lemmy and Motorhead seem positively pre-Raphaelite.”
I found a flyer for the Steve Gibbons band in my programme for the 1977 gig, so I guess they must have been the support act that night.
18 Dec
Mungo Jerry in concert in the early 70s
Mungo Jerry in concert in the early 70s
For a short period in the early 70s, it must have been sometime between 1972 and 1974, I swear I saw Mungo Jerry almost every month. Now I know that will be an exaggeration, and my memory is probably playing tricks on me again, but I do remember seeing Ray Dorset and his band several times at Sunderland Locarno, and possibly once or twice at Newcastle Mayfair. I also saw them on the Friday night bill at the Reading Festival, on August bank holiday weekend in 1972, sandwiched between Genesis and headliners Curved Air. By the time I got to see Mungo Jerry the jug band of “In the Summertime” fame had morphed into a straight ahead boogie band. Gone was the washboard and the double bass, to be replaced by electric guitars and rock’n’roll. The line-up of Mungo Jerry seemed to change a lot, the only constant being front man and band leader Ray Dorset. Mungo Jerry had a lot of hits “back in the day” including the excellent “Baby Jump” which, along with “In the Summertime”, reached No. 1 in the UK singles chart. “Lady Rose” was another great song, followed by “You Don’t Have to Be in the Army to Fight in the War”, and “Alright, Alright, Alright”. 
“In the Summertime” was an absolutely massive smash, reaching No. 1 on the singles charts in the UK, the US, Canada, Ireland, Australia, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland and South Africa. Wow! The song has sold over 30 million copies, making it one of the highest selling singles of all time. Mungo Jerry last hit the top twenty with “Long Legged Woman Dressed in Black” in 1974.
You could go along to a Mungo Jerry gig and be sure that you were going to hear some high energy rock’n’roll, and sing along to all those hits. Ray Dorset was a crazy front man, lots or running about, leg kicking, a strong raucous voice, and great blues harp. Oh and I so admired those sideburns 🙂 Mungo Jerry (aka Ray Dorset) are still playing to this day, although their UK appearances are few and far between. Another one for my list of bands who I would like to see one more time.
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