Posts Tagged ‘music’

10 Aug

Elton John Darlington

Posted by vintagerock in Elton John. Tagged: , , , .

Elton John Darlington Stadium Sat 5 July 2008

I have been to see Elton John many times over the years; the first being at shows in Newcastle City Hall in the 1970s. In recent years I’ve seen him at several local venues; Carlisle Football Ground, Durham Cricket Ground; Newcastle Arena, Raby Castle and this year at Darlington Stadium.

Laura and I bought tickets at below face value on eBay for this concert. Our seats were at the back of the stadium, but given the price we paid for them this was fine with us. We drove down to Darlington, getting a little lost in the centre of town trying to find the way to the stadium; which is out of town. When we reached the stadium we parked the car in a makeshift  car park that a local farmer had set up in a field quite close to the stadium. Laura was quite amused by having to walk past lost of chickens and pigs on the way out of the car park.

We found our way into the stadium, and met up with Paul from work who had bought a ticket outside. We missed the support act (Richard Fleashman) and went to our seats just before Elton was due to take the stage. Elton came on stage and started with Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding and then straight into The Bitch Is Back and a couple of songs from Madman Across The Water. This was a very similar set list to that which we had seen last year in Carlisle. He played all the well known ones including Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, Daniel, Rocket Man and others.

The security in the stadium wasn’t very tight at all and Laura and I were able to walk around, sit in various parts of the stands, and get down onto the pitch. We ended up right at the front during the last few songs. Elton finished with the customary Saturday Night’s Alright and returned for encores, signing load of fans programmes and other items from the front of the stage. The encores were Pinball Wizard and the usual closer Your Song. The rain held off (it had been pouring earlier in the day) and Elton and the Band played well. I would rate this as a very good, but not great Elton concert. The crowd didn’t really seem to be into it until towards the end; it did seem that many people had just come along for the sake of it; without having a great interest in Elton or his music. This is in stark contrast to the last time we saw him in Carlisle, where the audience reaction was the best that I have ever seen at an Elton concert.

PS I have tired Laura of seeing Elton and she is now declaring herself a non-fan, and vowing not to see him again ( we will see about that : wait till next year)

my ticket

my ticket

the programme

the programme

 

Set list
Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding
The Bitch Is Back
Madman Across The Water
Tiny Dancer
Levon
Believe
Take Me To The Pilot
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Daniel
Rocket Man
Honky Cat
Sacrifice
Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me
I Guess That’s Why They Call It The Blues
Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word
Candle In The Wind
Bennie And The Jets
Philadelphia Freedom
Are You Ready For Love
I’m Still Standing
Crocodile Rock
Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting)
Encores:
Pinball Wizard
Your Song

Elton John site: http://www.eltonjohn.com/

9 Aug

Pentangle Reunion Tour The Sage Gateshead

Posted by vintagerock in Pentangle. Tagged: , , , .

Pentangle Reunion Tour

The Sage Gateshead July 12

I can’t remember whether I ever saw Pentangle before; I know that they played quite a lot of times at Sunderland Empire and I have a feeling that I might have gone to see them their once in the 70s but I couldn’t swear to it. I’d read a lot of good reviews of the reunion shows, and thought I would go along and see what I made of them.  The Sage is a wonderful venue with a lovely concert hall, and also offers cheap tickets for many of it shows (£7 each). You are seated right up in the top balcony above the stage, but the view isn’t bad, and well worth the price. So I’d bought a couple of these cheaper tickets and went along with Laura to the show.

I have a couple of the albums at home, and had been playing Basket of Light for a couple of days prior to the show to get into the mood; but the only song that I know really well is Light Flyte which came quite early on in the set. I quite enjoyed this concert, they are all excellent musicians and the reaction of the crowd was very positive. Laura wasn’t too impressed; it’s not really her cup of tea.

After the show we lined up and got my programme signed by all members. Laura got a flyer for the show signed.

my programme fully signed by all members

my programme fully signed by all members

ticket for the concert

ticket for the concert

Set list (this is actually the set list from Harrogate that I got from the Talkawhile message board; but I would guess that the Sage show would be very similar; if not identical; apologies if I am way off here!)

Set 1:
Intro
Let No Man Steal Your Thyme
Light Flyte
Mirage
Hunting Song
Once I Had A Sweetheart
Market Song
In Time
People On The Highway
House Carpenter
Cruel Sister

Set 2:
The Time Has Come
Bruton Town
No Love Is Sorrow
I Am A Maid That’s Deep In Love
I’ve Got A Feeling
The Snows
Goodbye Pork Pie Hat
No More My Lord
Sally free And Easy
The Wedding Dress Song
“Thank yous…”
Pentangling
encore break
Rain And Snow
Willie O’ Winsbury

Pentangle sites:

http://www.jacquimcshee.co.uk/

http://www.pentangle.info/

8 Aug

John Fogerty Manchester Apollo

Posted by vintagerock in John Fogerty. Tagged: , , , , .

John Fogerty

Manchester Apollo Sun 22 June 2008

John Fogery is someone who I have wanted to see for a long time, ever since Credence Clearwater Revival played Newcastle City Hall, and I missed it. One of my friend’s brother went along and declared it to be the best show he had ever since, topping Hendrix and Cream! I always regretted never seeing CCR, and had read recent reviews of John Fogerty; I knew that he was playing a lot of old CCR material and that was the closest I was ever going to get to see Credence.

I’d bought tickets the morning that they went on sale, and had seats in the first few rows. As the date of the concert got closer I mentioned it David and Laura and neither of them fancied going along so I decided to sell one ticket on eBay. A guy called Ron from Liverpool bought the spare ticket.

So I drove down to Manchester on the Sunday evening and got there around 7pm. I popped in to the pub next door for a drink before the show and was pleased to see so many people with Fogerty and CCR shirts on, and a big queue at the door. I go into the venue, buy a programme and go down to my seat. Have a bit chat with Ron, who is a friendly guy and a big John Fogerty fan. Ron is also going to see him at the Albert Hall on Tuesday night. We are in the second row of the front stall at the side; still a great view from here.

When John comes on the first couple of rows run down to the front of the stage. Ron and I end up right next to the stage to the left of John Fogerty. He starts with Born on the Bayou; the sound is clear loud and he seems on top form. Looks like it is going to be a good night!

Next up is Bad Moon Rising; this was always a favourite song of mine; takes me back to school discos; it sounds great. The we are into Green River; another old favourite. And so it goes on; each song sounds great; event the ones that I don’t know. The first couple of rows are up dancing but the rest of the stalls stay in their seats. The band is great with three guitarists and a great rhythm section. At one point in the set John recalls that he last played Manchester in 1970. A guy in the front corrects him (it ws 71) and points to his t-shirt. On the front he has a copy of his ticket and on the back is a copy of a flier for the gig. John is well-impressed with this and pretends to give the guy his guitar; he does however give him a pick.

The set ends with a great version of Travellin’ Band, and the final number in the encores is Proud Mary. By this time veryone is up and dancing. The show was great; even better than I expected. It must have been great to see Credence Clearwater all those years ago.

I give Ron a lift to the centre of Manchester to catch his bus home, and I start the drive home. Get back around 1am.

my programme

my programme

my ticket (I hate these print-out e-tickets)

my ticket (I hate these print-out e-tickets)

 

Set list:
Born On The Bayou;  Bad Moon Rising; Green River; Lookin’ Out My Backdoor; Don’t You Wish It Was True; My Toot Toot;Midnight Special; Gunslinger; It Ain’t Right; I Will Walk With You; Ramble Tamble;Broken Down Cowboy; Keep On Chooglin’; Have You Ever Seen The Rain; Night Time Is The Right;Comin’ Down The Road; Almost Saturday Night; Long Dark Night; I Can’t Take It No More; Premonition; Down On The Corner;  Rock And Roll Girls; Up Around The Bend; Hey Tonight; Old Man Down The Road; Fortunate Son;Travelin’ Band; Rockin’ All Over The World; Blue Suede Shoes; Proud Mary

 

John Fogerty site : http://www.johnfogerty.com/news.html

 

7 Aug

Leonard Cohen Edinburgh Castle

Posted by vintagerock in Leonard Cohen. Tagged: , , .

Leonard Cohen

Edinburgh Castle Wed 16 July 2008

I hadn’t seen Leonard Cohen since the 1970s, and figured that it was about time that I went to see him again. Laura had also heard a lot of his stuff and quite fancied coming along to see him. She’s really into Rufus Wainwright and his version of Hallelujah had got her interested in Mr Cohen in the first place.

So we take the train to Edinburgh to see Leonard at the Castle. We arrive in plenty of time and go for a pizza in a restaurant just off Princess Street. Then we get ready in our Travelodge which is just at the bottom of the Royal Mile. We then take the short walk up the Royal Mile to the Castle to see the show.

The weather is OK but it does look like it might rain. We have seats on the floor about 20 rows back which is quite a good view of the stage. This is a pretty nice venue in a great setting.  Leonard comes on stage with his band and starts with Dance me to the end of love. His voice is deeper than on the records and he is almost speaking the words but, having said that, he is still singing well and its great to see him. The crowd are clearly excited at seeing a legend in the flesh, and hang on to his every word. However, I would say that I found the crowd quite subdued; there were also quite a lot of people around us who were talking during the show which was quite annoying at times, particularly during the quiet songs.

He does all the well known ones; Suzzane, Bird on the Wire, Sisters of Mercy, So Long Marianne. Great to hear them again sung by the man himself. The rain starts during the encore, and after the show we make the walk down the Royal Mile to our hotel. Back home on the train on the morning after bacon sarnies from a shop down the street. A pretty good trip all in all. Nice to see Leonard again.

the programme

the programme

my ticket

my ticket

 Leonard Cohen site: http://www.leonardcohen.com/

Set list:

Dance me to the end of love
The Future
Ain’t no cure for love
Bird on the wire

Everybody knows
In my secret life
Who by fire?
Hey, that’s no way to say goodbye
Anthem

(interval)

Tower of song
Suzanne
Boogie street
Hallelujah
Democracy
I’m your man
A thousand kisses deep (recitation)
Take this waltz

(encores)

So long, Marianne
First we take Manhattan
Sisters of mercy
If it be your will (sung by the Webb sisters)
Closing time

6 Aug

Chuck Berry Maryport Blues Festival

Posted by vintagerock in Chuck Berry. Tagged: , , , , .

Chuck Berry

Maryport Blues Festival July 25 2008

Support Acts seen: Little Jenny & the Blue Beans and Alvin Youngblood Hart

So its a warm Friday night and I set off for the 100 mile drive to see Chuck Berry at the Maryport Blues Festival. Chuck Berry! The guy is 81 and still playing. I haven’t seen Chuck since the 70s at the Newcastle City Hall and Sunderland Empire. Another show I remember is the nightmare (but so bad it was good in its own way) Buxton 73 festival which was taken over by Hells Angels; Chuck ended up dancing with a crowd of Hells Angels on the stage. So lots of memories and a long long time since I’ve seen the guy play; looking forward to this one. I guess I am not expecting too much; it will be great just to see him again.

The drive over goes quite well. Get lost in Carlisle and stuck behind a tractor on the windy round to Maryport. It starts to pour down with rain just as I enter Maryport. The festival has moved site from the last time I was here a few years ago; its now by the Rugby Club rather than down at the harbour. The car park is a short walk from the site so I don’t get too wet. The main stage is a pretty big marquee; must hold quite a few thousand in there and its pretty full. I feel quite at home in this crowd; lots of old grey haired people round me; many of them sporting t-shirts from other blues festivals.

I catch two of the other acts on the bill who are pretty good. I have a chance to walk around the site; it has quite an impressive camp site with a lot of lovely camper vans (I make a mental note that it would be great to have a camper van and start going to festivals again!).

At aorund 10.30pm Chuck Berry and his band take the stage. The vocal mike doesn’t work for the first song; the crowd is shouting at Chuck and the band to attract their attention but they don’t seem to realise what is wrong. Anyway after the first song is finished the mike starts to work and a mighty cheer goes up from the crowd. Chuck is great. It is hard to believe that he is 81. His voice sounds good and very strong; his guitar is a little out of tune; but then as I rmember it ; it often was. He plays lots of the favourites, No Particular Place to go, Sweet Little Sixteen, etc (but no Johnny B Goode). We all sing along to My DIng a Ling. He has his son Charles playing guitar for him and his daughter is singing and playing mouth harp. She is pretty good and gets a great cheer. The last number sees Chuck inviting girls (and then boys) up on to the stage to dance with him. The stage is soon full and Chuck and the band are hidden behind a sea of dancers. And then its over. He has been on stage 1 hour (as expected) and it was much much better that I had hoped. People start to leave the marquee and the general feeling is that he was great and can still rock. Pleased I went to see the old guy again; a true legend. The drive home seems to fly over; I’m still thinking of Chuck. Get to bed aorund 2am. A good night and a nice festival.

Festival site: http://www.maryportblues.co.uk/

Chuck Berry site: http://www.chuckberry.com/

My ticket

My ticket

wristband for the main marquee

wristband for the main marquee

programme for the festival

programme for the festival

6 Aug

Tom Waits Edinburgh Playhouse

Posted by vintagerock in Tom Waits. Tagged: , , .

Tom Waits

Edinburgh Playhouse July 28 2008

This was the first time that I had seen Tom Waits. To be honest I don’t really know a lot of his stuff but I had read so much about him being the ultimate performer that I felt I had to go along and see what all the excitement was about. So Laura and I took the train to Edinburgh to see Tom in concert at the lovely Edinburgh Playhouse. We had managed to score great seats in the middle of the second row of the stalls, so we were really looking forward to this one.  We turned up early at the venue armed with our passports to prove our names matched those printed on our tickets (Tom had put special measures in place for these shows to combat touts).

Tom came on stage late at around 8.40 (advertised time was 8pm) to a great roar from the crowd, who were clearly all really up for it. I’ve heard some of his material before, but I was pretty suprised at just how deep and gutteral his voice is. He’s standing on top of a small podium surrounded by an assortment of stange items and he is dressed in a scruffy old suit with a bowler hat and work boots on. Each time he stamps his foot a cloud of dust rises from the podium.

I begin to realise that we are witnessing something quite unique; quite different to anything I have ever seen before. Some of this reminds me of seeing Beefheart perform Trout Mask Replica stuff in the early 70s, and that was some show too. His voice sounds similar to Beefheart and Edgar Broughton, but rougher. The songs have hints of old vaudeville, russian music, german nightclubs, scenes from Cabaret; its all here in parts, but it is much much more than that.

Half way through the set Tom sits at the piano and sings a few songs. This is the Tom Waits that I recall from seeing on TV in the 70s (probably on the Old Grey Whistle Test). Then its back onto the podium for the rest of the show.

When he leaves the stage the crowd go crazy until he returns for a few encores. Then at the end when he leaves the stage for the final time, the crowd cheer and clap until the house lights go up, and then some more. Laura and I both realise that we have just witnessed something quite special. I am not sure if it is one of the best shows that I have ever seen, but it sure was pretty different! Off we go to our Travelodge room for the night, before we return home on the train the next morning. (Also run into an old colleague in the foyer of the Travelodge the next morning; its a small world).

 

Ticket for the show

Ticket for the show

programme

programme

Tom Waits site:  http://www.tomwaits.com/

Set list:

Lucinda/Ain’t Goin’ Down To The Well 5:25; Rain Dogs; Falling Down; On The Other Side Of The World; I’ll Shoot The Moon; God’s Away On Business; The Part You Throw Away; Eyeball Kid; Singapore; Tom Traubert’s Blues; The Briar And The Rose; Take It With Me; Innocent When You Dream; Lie To Me; Hoist That Rag; Bottom Of The World; Cold Cold Ground; Green Grass; Way Down In The Hole; Dirt In The Ground; Metropolitan Glide; Make It Rain; Jesus Gonna Be Here; 9th & Hennepin; Anywhere I Lay My Head

6 Aug

The Project!

Posted by vintagerock in Rock Music. Tagged: , , , .

Hi I have just joined wordpress. I intend to use this to create a blog of the many (100s of) concerts that I have attended over the years, and a record of my collection and programmes and ticket stubs. i am still actively going to gigs, and I will try an update my blog with each new gig that I go along to. Expect this to be largely coverage of vintage rock bands. I am 51 years old and addicted to going to see old bands such as the Stones, the Who, Paul McCartney, the Groundhogs, and Wishbone Ash. In the past year I have been to see Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, the Stones, Sex Pistols, Morrissey, Iggy Pop, Chuck Berry, Bruce Springsteen, Led Zeppelin, Barbra Streisand, the Cure, Yoko Ono, John Fogerty, The Police, Neil Young, The Spice Girls, Prince, Man, Jethro Tull, Willie Nelson, Fairport Convention, Julie Felix, Sinead O’Connor, P J Proby, Ringo Starr, Van Morrison, the Groundhogs, Ian Hunter, Elton John, Rush, the Hollies, Ian Brown, Portishead, the Arctic Monkeys, Muse, Paul McCartney, Status Quo, Raidohead, Pentangle, Adele, The Streets and others. I will try and write an account of these and the many many other gigs that I have been to over the past 40 years. I am doing this to create a permanent record of what has become a lifelong obsession! I am aiming to add one new review each day for the rest of my life. I am going to start with the most recent and work back, but I will also try and add some from the 70s and 80s soon.

6 Aug

About me

Posted by vintagerock in Rock Music, vintage rock. Tagged: , .

Hi My name is Peter and I have finally come clean and admitted to myself that I am totally addicted to going to rock concerts.  I have also realised that all attempts at treatment are futile, and anyway I don’t want to be cured! This blog is part of my treatment, in creating a permanent record of all of the gigs that I have ever been to (or at least those I can remember)!. I also have a collection of concert programmes from concerts that I have been to (I have almost always bought a programme) and will be scanning these in and inlcuding them as part of the site.

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