Sheena Easton Newcastle City Hall 1981
Another guilty pleasure, I’m afraid.
I have always been a sucker for a good song, and if you link it with a TV show, then I’m sold. I’d seen Sheena Easton on the Esther Rantzen produced BBC programme The Big Time. This documentary film chronicled the unknown Sheena’s rise to stardom, and featured the single Modern Girl. The show was followed by the hit single 9 to 5, which got to No 3 in the UK charts and No 1 in the US charts. Both of these are great pop songs. By 1981 Sheena was a Bond girl, in that she sang the theme to For Your Eyes Only and featured in the film’s opening sequence. 
All of this tempted me and my mate to go along to see her in concert at Newcastle City Hall. The concert was, as you would expect, unashamed pure pop. We had great seats close to the front, and I recall the show as being very slick, classy and professional. Its easy to forget how successful Sheena Eason is, particularly in the USA. From Wiki: “Easton is a two-time Grammy Award winner and achieved 6 Gold albums and 1 Platinum and has sold over 4 million albums in the US alone, and 20 million records worldwide. She has recorded 16 studio albums, released 45 singles, and has 15 Top 40 hits on the US Billboard Hot 100. Sheena Easton is the only artist in the history of the US Billboard charts to have a top 3 hit on each of the Billboards key charts: Adult Contemporary, Dance, Pop, Country, and R&B.” Pretty impressive stuff for a girl from the outskirts of Glasgow.
Posts Tagged ‘music’
31 Oct
Sheena Easton Newcastle City Hall 1981
30 Oct
The Exploited Middlesbrough Town Hall 1981
The Exploited Middlesbrough Town Hall 1981
This gig was in Middlesbrough Town Hall Crypt, which is a small hall underneath the main hall. The Exploited came out of Scotland, enthused by the music of the Sex Pistols and The Clash, and developed their own style of hardcore, fast punk rock, with highly political lyrics. This gig was in their early days, at the time of their Punks Not Dead album. It was a strange gig, as singer Watty was not well so guitarist Big John asked if any of us could sing and knew the lyrics. A member of the crowd got up on stage, and he and Big John shared vocals for the show. The Exploited released a live album around this time, I’ve included the track list here to show their setlist of the period: Cop Cars; Crashed Out; Dole Q; Dogs Of War; Army Life; Out Of Control; Ripper; F*** The Mods; Exploited Barmy Army; Royalty; S.P.G.; Sex And Violence; Punks Not Dead; I Believe In Anarchy.
29 Oct
Echo and the Bunnymen in concert 1981 – 1984
Echo and the Bunnymen in concert 1981 – 1984
The Bunnymen crept up on me in the late 70s and early 80s. There seemed a refreshing change from punk, providing a more melodic alternative to the fast trash of many other bands of the period. I saw them a few times in concert in the early 80s, each time at Newcastle City Hall. All of those gigs were enjoyable experiences, and by 1984 they had some really great songs. I especially liked The Cutter in concert, and The Killing Moon and Seven Seas (Kissing the tortoise!) are also favourites. Ian McCulloch was super cool on stage; I’ve just been looking at some early videos on youtube which remind me just how great this band were. 
The Bunnymen blended punk and new wave with shades of psychedelia; they were very clearly fans of The Doors and would sometimes play Light My Fire or People Are Strange in concert. The last time I saw Echo and the Bunnymen was when they played a few songs at the opening concert for the Capital of Culture event at Liverpool Arena a few years ago. I really must make a point of going to see them again soon. 
Looking at the ticket stub for the 1982 gig, it seems that the show must have been postponed until 1983, although I don’t recall why. I can’t be sure which tour the programme pictured below comes from; it consists of a series of quite arty black and white photographs of the band, with no text at all; very cool! 
Setlist from 1983: Going Up; With a Hip; Gods Will be Gods; All That Jazz; The Cutter; Porcupine; In Bluer Skies; All My Colours (Zimbo); Rescue; Heaven up Here; Heads Will Roll; Crocodiles; Over the Wall; Do It Clean
28 Oct
David Essex in concert 1976 and 1977
David Essex in concert 1976 and 1977
I guess its not cool to admit a liking for David Essex on a blog named vintagerock, so this should probably rate as a guilty pleasure.
I first went to see David Essex at Newcastle City Hall in 1976 along with one of my mates. But before I write about David Essex I will set out my memories of the rest of that day, which relates to another teen idol of the 70s. I spent most of that day queueing outside the City Hall for Rod Stewart tickets, The queue was massive and Marie and I stood for hours, only to be turned away when the shows sold out. That was some feat, as Rod was booked for four nights at the venue, which shows just how popular he was at that time. This was his first solo tour, around the time that Sailing was a massive hit. My mate also fancied seeing Rod and he had also queued unsuccessfully. 
So we both arrived at the City Hall somewhat disappointed that we hadn’t scored tickets. Still we were looking forward to seeing David Essex. I don’t give up easily where tickets are concerned, so as soon as I arrived at the City Hall I went straight to the box office, just on the off chance, and enquired about Rod Stewart tickets. To our surprise and delight, the lady in the box office told me that a couple of single tickets had been left unsold by mistake. They were for different nights, and not particularly good seats, but we took them anyway. This cheered us up a lot for the David Essex show.
I recall us feeling a bit awkward at the David Essex gig, as the place was packed with screaming girls, and we were definitely in the minority. We went to the early 6pm show, and had seats up in the balcony. David had hit the charts several times by this time, including two number ones: Hold Me Close, and I’m Going to Make You a Star. I had also seen him in the movies That’ll Be The Day and Stardust, in which he gave two great performances. The concert was a fun experience, with lots of hits, a great atmosphere and some great pop songs. 
The following year David Essex toured again, and called at Sunderland Empire. This time I went along to the concert by myself, largely to see the support act the Alessi Brothers (or simply “Alessi”), a duo of American identical twins, who had a UK hit at the time with the single Oh Lori, and which I was quite taken with. I bought a cheap seat up in the gallery, at the top of the theatre, and made sure that I got in early to see Alessi. And pretty good they were too. I will probably have the ticket stub for that concert somewhere, but the Empire didn’t print the name of the act on the tickets in those days, so unless you know the date of the concert, working out which ticket is for which gig is tricky. David Essex was once again fun, and ran through all his hits. 
It was 28 years until I saw David Essex in concert again, on a Once in a Lifetime bill with David Cassidy at Newcastle Arena; a gig which I have already blogged about.
Postcript: I managed to find the ticket for the Empire gig. By process of elimination it has to be this one, which I have just scanned and added to this post.
27 Oct
Electric Light Orchestra gigs 1972 – 1976
Electric Light Orchestra gigs in the 70s
I first saw ELO at the Reading Festival in 1972. This was their first gig after the departure on Roy Wood. Roy was also on the bill with his new band Wizzard. At the time ELO were an intriguing mix of prog/psychedlia, orchestral/classical music and rock n roll. The only song I really knew was 10358 overture, which I loved at the time. I then saw them a few times at gigs in the North East. I remember one gig as part of the Harvestmobile tour, where they shared the bill with Babe Ruth and Spontaneous Combustion at Sunderland Top Rank. I also have a vague memory of seeing them play on the same bill as Status Quo in the same venue, but can’t be certain of that. ELO gigged a lot in the early 70s and started to build up a strong following. 
The set was drawn from their first album with a cover of two included. I recall them playing a great version of The Beatles Day Tripper, Jeff Lynne showing his obvious Beatles influences. I also remember Hall of the Mountain King as a stage favourite at the time. The encore would always be Roll Over Beethoven. I first was ELO at Newcastle City Hall in 1972. The gig was not particularly well attended as I recall, but the band impressed the crowd. By the time I saw them again at the City Hall in 1976, ELO had hit the charts on a few more occasions and were on the verge of greater success. By this time they also had a few albums under their belt, the programme of the time promotes the Face The Music album. 
Support came from fellow Brummies, The Steve Gibbons, who I have blogged on separately. I recall this as being a great gig, by then ELO had built up a strong set. A favourite of mine at the time was Do Ya, partly because I remembered it as the B side of The Move’s California Man. This was the last time I saw ELO; I didn’t go to any of their mega concerts with the spaceship, although one of mates did, and was hugely impressed. Whether we will ever see Jeff Lynne take ELO out on the road again, who knows. I for one would be in the queue to see them, if he ever does. Setlist from 1976: Fire on High; Poker; Nightrider; Ocean Breakup / King of the Universe; Oh No Not Susan; Bluebird Is Dead; New World Rising / Ocean Breakup Reprise; Showdown; Eldorado Overture; Can’t Get It Out of My Head; Poor Boy (The Greenwood); Illusions in G Major; Eldorado; Eldorado Finale; Violin Solo; Strange Magic; 10538 Overture / Do Ya; Evil Woman; Ma-Ma-Ma Belle. Encore: Roll Over Beethoven
26 Oct
Eagles Glasgow Apollo Sunday 1 May 1977
This was the Hotel California tour and The Eagles were returning to the UK as a massive sell out act. I’d seen them twice before, once supporting Neil Young at Newcastle City Hall in the early 70s, and secondly on a bill with Elton John and The Beach Boys on a long hot day at Wembley Stadium. They were great on both occasions so I was looking forward to seeing them as a headline act. Their UK tour took in a few dates, and the nearest was in the wonderful, and sadly missed, Glasgow Apollo. They played two nights, Saturday and Sunday and we went to the second of the two gigs. I drove up with my mate Ian, and we were both excited about seeing The Eagles. We had seats reasonably close to the front, but not too close, as the Apollo stage was very high and the view from the first few rows sometimes wasn’t great and you were guaranteed to leave with a stiff neck. According to the ticket support came from Dan Fogelberg, although I believe this was changed and the actual support was Valerie Carter. A published setlist (from the Apollo website) shows them opening with Hotel California, which would now seem a strange choice for a first song, but the album was new at the time and therefore not well known at all. My memories are of a great concert, and of the band returning for an encore wearing kilts and accompanied by a lone Scottish piper. 
We drove home through the night playing a cassette of the Hotel California album, constantly rewinding and replaying the title track. Great memories of a great band in a legendary venue. Setlist: Hotel California; Take it easy; Life in the fast lane; Take it to the limit; New kid in town; Victim of love; James Dean; Witchy woman; Lyin’ eyes; One of these nights; Doolin’ Dalton; Desperado; Best of my love; Already gone; Rocky mountain way; Turn to stone
25 Oct
Dave Edmunds Redcar Bowl 1977 and Newcastle City Hall 1979
Dave Edmunds Redcar Bowl 1977 and Newcastle City Hall 1979
When I was a young kid, I was just amazed by a version of “Sabre Dance” by a band called Love Sculpture. I tried and tried (and failed) to learn the guitar part, which was super fast and very difficult to copy. I watched the guitarist on Top of the Pops, me eyes glued to his fingers running up and down the fretboard. At the time I didn’t realise that the guitarist was Dave Edmunds. The next time I heard of Dave Edmunds was when I Hear you Knocking was a massive hits and was played at all of the school dances at the time. 
Roll on 7 years or so, and I finally got to see Dave Edmunds in concert, fronting his band Rockpile along with Nick Lowe on bass, Billy Bremner on guitar, and Terry Williams on drums. Dave Edmunds is often called the Welsh Wizard, and he sure is a wizard of rocn ‘n roll, and Rockpile were one great rock band. They had some great songs: Here Comes the Weekend, I knew the Bride, Girls Talk, Queen of Hearts, and they all seemed so cool at the time. I recall the Redcar Coatham Bowl gig well. 
I went with my mate Will and we were standing right at the front, a few feet away from Dave and Nick. I can’t remember much about the City Hall gig, but I’m sure that it was also good fun. I found a weblink which suggests that Lew Lewis was support for that 1979 tour. But my favourite is still I Hear You Knocking, which takes me back to those school dances…..Postcript. I just found a programmme from the City Hall gig, which I’d forgotten I had. It confirms that Lew Lewis was the support act. Lew was a friend of the Feelgoods and a member of Eddie and the Hot Rods in their early days. The programme advertises the latest albums by both Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe.
20 Oct
The Crazy World of Arthur Brown Fibbers York 19 Oct 2012
The Crazy World of Arthur Brown Fibbers York 19 Oct 2012
Laura had expressed interest in seeing veteran psych crazy guy Arthur Brown, so last night we took a trip to York to see our hero perform in all his splendour at Fibbers Club. The current Arthur Brown show returns to the “Crazy World of” moniker and concept, and thus focusses on his early material, drawing heavily from the 1968 album of the same name. Arthur has put together a band of young musicians who authentically replicate the 60s sound, with swirling keyboards reminiscent of the late great Vincent Crane (courtesy of Lucyy Rejchrtova), and lots of fuzz and wahwah guitar (from Nona Gromniak). Jim Mortimer is on bass, and was also introduced as the musical director of Arthur’s latest project, and on drums is Samuel Walker. Arthur was accompanied at the front of stage by dancer Angel Fallon, who wore a series of bright different costumes throughout the show. We arrived around 8pm and said hello to Charlie who was doing the sound. The set was a mix of covers (Kites, Green Manalishi) and tracks from the early days (Devils Grip, Spontaneous Apple Creation, I Put a Spell on You). Quite a few of the other songs in the set sounded familiar to me, but I’m not able to put a name to them. Arthur was as manic as ever and in good spirits, having a bit chat to us all, and indulging in some crazy, silly dancing. The new show is very theatrical and Arthur and the band have obviously put a lot into creating it. It features lots of costume changes, and great dance routines between Arthur and Angel. The band took to the stage wearing quite spooky bird masks with massive beaks, which set the tone for a quite dark night. The set ended with Fire with Arthur going mad, and Angel in a splendid costume with a massive silver cape and a large crown-like hat. Arthur’s voice is really strong, with screaming very much in evidence; not bad for a guy who entered his 7oth year in 2012. The encore was a super version of The Animals’ Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood. The crowd loved it, as did Laura and I. Support act The Moulettes are worth a special mention. They were very different and quite unexpected, playing acoustic instruments: violin, cello, autoharp, bassoon; their music being a blend of folk and elizabethan. They reminded me a little of Blackmore’s night, and are certainly worth watching out for. Apologies for the grainy photo, I am really going to have to practice using my iphone camera.
18 Oct
Bob Dylan Newcastle Telewest Arena 8 May 2002
David and I had great seats for this Dylan gig, in the front block and a few rows from the front. It was a real treat to have such a good view of our hero. The gig itself was ok; but my no means the best time I’ve seen Dylan in concert. Reviews afterwards were very mixed, which is often the case with Dylan concerts. Its almost as if some fans were at different concerts; its funny how different people see the same gig in so many different ways. Reviews on the Boblinks site showed both ends of the spectrum, with one guy saying “There are simply no bad Bob Dylan concerts these days.” and “Last night there were of course some songs I enjoyed more than other songs, but that does not give me the right to knock those other songs, for they still are multiple times preferable to anything else performed by any other band or artist out there.” 
Another fan declared the Newcastle gig “The Newcastle show was over, and so far Kait and I were immensely disappointed. The crowd was horrible, security was bad, Bob’s guitar solos were terrible, his harmonica was less than great, and he just wasn’t trying with his performance in general.” and “Anyway, this show was the worst Bob show I’ve seen and I’m not exaggerating: it was disappointing.” David and I enjoyed the gig, and being so close to Dylan was enough in itself. I do remember that his singing wasn’t great, and there was lots of his “up-singing”. Setlist: Wait for the Light to Shine; Song to Woody; It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding); Love Minus Zero/No Limit; Solid Rock; Just Like a Woman; Subterranean Homesick Blues; Cry a While; Mr. Tambourine Man; A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall; Tangled Up in Blue; Standing in the Doorway; Summer Days; Cold Irons Bound; Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat. Encore: Love Sick; Like a Rolling Stone; If Dogs Run Free; Honest With Me; Blowin’ in the Wind. Encore 2: Highway 61 Revisited
17 Oct
Bob Dylan Newcastle Telewest Arena 19 Sep 2000
Bob Dylan Newcastle Telewest Arena 19 Sep 2000
I took David to this gig, for his fist taste of Dylan in concert. This was one of the better times that I have seen Dylan, and David was impressed enough to come and see him with me on several more occasions in the years that followed. We had bought tickets quite late and, as a result, we ended up with seats which were quite far back. Still our view of the stage was still ok. The arena was full this time, after a far from sold out gig at the same venue in 1998. Dylan and his band were on great form and the set featured a lot of his better known songs. There was a mix of electric and acoustic versions, and the encore contained a surprising seven songs. He finished with a lovely acoustic version of Blowin’ in the Wind. 
This was the start of me trying to see Dylan every time he came to the North of England or Scotland over the coming years, often accompanied by David or Laura. Setlist: Duncan and Brady; The Times They Are A-Changin’; It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding); Delia; Tangled Up in Blue; Searching for a Soldier’s Grave; Country Pie; Standing in the Doorway; Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again; Tell Me That It Isn’t True; The Wicked Messenger; Rainy Day Women #12 & 35. Encore: Things Have Changed; Like a Rolling Stone; Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right; Man of Peace; Forever Young; Highway 61 Revisited; Blowin’ in the Wind.
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