Yes Live 1969 – 1971
I am going to spend a week or so reflecting on the Yes concerts I have attended. I’ve seen Yes 14 times and have always been a fan, although there are times that I lost touch with the band and their ever-changing line-ups. I am going to start with a little self-indulgence by recapping on three Yes concerts that I have already written about, as the band were supporting another act.
I was luckily enough to see Yes in the very early days. The first proper gig I attended was Yes (along with Roy Harper) supporting the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band at Sunderland Empire on 8th March 1969. Yes were simply a revelation for me that night; they fascinated me with their bright, sharp, jazzy mix of rock and pop. And they played some songs that I knew: “Something’s Coming” from West Side Story and The Beatles’ “Eleanor Rigby”. They also played the excellent “No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed”, the Richie Havens song which appears on Yes’ second album, opens with the theme from the film “The Big Country”, and remains one of my favourite songs to this day. Yes had yet to release their first album, and the line up at that time was Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, Bill Bruford, Peter Banks and Tony Kaye. I was impressed by how Jon and Chris were dressed; Jon in a cool cheesecloth smock top and Chris sporting a natty hat and impressive flares and fringed boots.
The next time I saw Yes was once again at Sunderland Empire, supporting the Nice on 1st February 1970. By now they were playing material from their second album “Time and a Word”; the set again included the excellent “No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed”, “Then”, “Sweet Dreams” (an early single which has featured in their set off and on to this day), and “Astral Traveller”. There was an acoustic part to their set which featured the track “Time and a Word”.
I saw Yes again in 14th January 1971, supporting Iron Butterfly at Newcastle City Hall. By the time of this gig, guitarist Peter Banks had been replaced by Steve Howe, and the rest of the line-up was Jon Anderson (vocals), Bill Bruford (drums), Chris Squire (bass) and Tony Kaye (keyboards). Rick Wakeman was to join the band later that year. They were just about to release their classic third lp “The Yes Album”, and the set featured tracks from that new album and their previous two releases. They were just great that night. Their entrance on stage was heralded by the powerful “Also Sprach Zarathustra”. I think they opened with “Astral Traveller” and I also recall “Yours Is No Disgrace”, and “Clap” as highlights. 
I was just blown away by Steve Howe’s performance of the latter song, and was fascinated by the semi-acoustic Gibson, complete with f holes, that he was playing. I remember the whole hall clapping along while he played. The song which most sticks in my mind was their version of Simon and Garfunkel’s “America”, which was simply majestic; almost symphonic. Yes went down well with the crowd; it was very clear that they already had a lot of fans and that they were on the verge of major success.
That major success soon arrived. Later in 1971, Rick Wakeman joined, and Yes released their fourth album “Fragile”. “Fragile” was the band’s greatest success to date, reaching No. 7 in the UK, and included one of their most well-known songs “Roundabout”. Yes returned to the City Hall later in 1971 (thanks to Mitch for the picture of his flyer for that gig); for some reason I missed that gig. The next time I saw Yes was at the time of their 6th album “Tales from Topographic Oceans”. I’ll write about that show tomorrow.
Posts Tagged ‘music’
2 Mar
Yes Live 1969 – 1971
1 Mar
Steppenwolf Newcastle Mayfair 6th October 1972
Steppenwolf Newcastle Mayfair 6th October 1972
“Born to be Wild” was a big song in the early ’70s. We’d seen Easy Rider, with Peter Fonda riding his Harley to the song, and Slade would close their set with their version of the song. Everywhere we went it was played. So a chance to see the legendary American masters of biker rock and heavy metal thunder, Steppenwolf, in Newcastle Mayfair ballroom wasn’t to be passed on. The Mayfair was packed; I got myself a spot close to the stage and waited for what seemed like hours (and probably was) for the band to take the stage; bands came on late at the Mayfair, probably around 11pm, and the venue was open until 2am. There were a lot of songs which were unfamiliar to me, but I recognised the doomy anti-drug anthem (God Damn) “The Pusher”, and “Magic Carpet Ride” with its great swirling organ intro and which was a minor UK singles chart hit in the late ’60s. The encore was of course “Born to be Wild” and the Mayfair crowd did exactly that; went wild and crazy. Front man John Kay looked super cool; all in black leather with dark shades. Steppenwolf performed “Born to be Wild” on the Old Grey Whistle Test during their visit to England; you can see it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_8hAfRrTJ0 I just watched it and it brought back great memories of the Mayfair gig.
A Steppenwolf setlist in 1972 would be something like this: Sookie Sookie; Ride With Me; Foggy Mental Breakdown; Tighten Up Your Wig; Ball Crusher; Shackles and Chains; Monster / Suicide / America; The Pusher
Encore: Magic Carpet Ride; Born to Be Wild; Hoochie Coochie Man
Line-up at the time: John Kay (vocals); Kent Henry (guitar); George Biondo (bass); Goldy McJohn (keyboards) and Jerry Edmonton (drums).
Steppenwolf split in 1972, but reformed in the mid-’70s. Marie and I saw the reformed band when the returned to the Mayfair in, I think, 1975.
“Like a true nature’s child, We were born, born to be wild, We can climb so high, I never wanna die.
Born to be wild, Born to be wild”
(Born to be Wild, Steppenwolf, 1968)
26 Feb
Wizzard live 1972 & 1973
Wizzard live 1972 and 1972
I’ve always been a big Roy Wood fan. “Fire Brigade” and “Blackberry Way” are two of my favourite songs; I remember sitting as a kid, in front of the TV with my parents, watching Top of the Pops totally transfixed by Roy and the late great Carl Wayne. By the time I got to see Roy live the Move had split, Roy had formed ELO with Jeff Lyne, and then left to form his own ultimate rock’n’roll band Wizzard. I first saw Wizzard when the made their second live appearance at the Reading Festival in August 1972. They had just released “Ball Park Incident”. I recall being surprised how different to the Move Wizzard were, complete with horns and that great full big band sound. I saw Wizzard twice more; at Sunderland Locarno on 19th January 1973, with the Jook support and again at the Locarno on 13th July 1973 with Silverhead support (thanks to Mitch for confirming the dates and support acts). Roy Wood was a marvel to behold in those days, with his distinctive warpaint make-up, long backcombed dyed locks and colourful costumes. And Wizzard were a big crazy band, complete with piano, cello and horns. They completely filled the small Mecca stage, and the ballroom was packed for those two shows. Wizzard were flying high in the UK single charts with two Number 1 singles “See my Baby Jive” and “Angel Fingers” during 1973, and of course that Christmas song later in the year. Roy Wood understood rock’n’roll and managed to create the Phil Spector “Wall of Sound” both on record and live in concert. Wizzard was, however, a big and expensive band to maintain, because of the large line-up, and in terms of recording costs. Bassist Rick Price: “When we finished recording “Angel Fingers” it was rumoured that we had spent more time in the studio than Paul McCartney had with the whole of the Band on the Run album. Whether it was true or not, this meant that most of the record company’s money was spent in studio time and that the members of the band had to rely on live touring work for their income. A couple of tours in the U.K. and one tour of the U.S. were not enough to ensure regular wages for the band.” By autumn 1975 they had split.
Wkzzard line-up: Roy Wood (vocals, guitars, saxophone, percussion); Mike Burney (saxophone, clarinet, flute); Charlie Grima (drums, percussion, vocals); Nick Pentelow (saxophone, clarinet, flute); Rick Price (bass); Keith Smart (drums); Bill Hunt (keyboards, French horn); Hugh McDowell (cello, synthesisers).
24 Feb
Neil Young & Eagles Newcastle City Hall 9th November 1973
Neil Young & Eagles Newcastle City Hall 9th November 1973
I went along to this concert on spec, hoping to score a ticket outside. The City Hall sometimes used to let fans pay to sit on the choir seats which surround the stage. These seats are on the stage itself, facing the back of the performers. On this occasion, there was quite a queue of ticketless people hoping to see Neil Young, so they decided to let us into the choir seats. Support came from the Eagles, who were simply on fire, and in many ways upstaged Neil Young. This was the original Eagles line-up of Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner, at the time of their second album “Desparado”, and their set featured songs from their first two lps. So that included classics like “Take it Easy”, “Tequila Sunrise”, “Witchy Woman” and “Peaceful Easy Feeling”. Stunning. I became an Eagles fan that night and remain one to this day.
Neil Young was touring with backing band the Santa Monica Flyers, who were Billy Talbot (bass), Ralph Molina (drums), Ben Keith (pedal steel) and Nils Lofgren (guitar, piano). Now Neil is a pretty uncompromising performer and for this tour he decided he would play his forthcoming album “Tonight’s the Night” in its entirety. A brave and crazy move, but then Neil Young plays what Neil wants to play; even today. 
The stage was set out as a beach, complete with sand and a palm tree, and Neil was drinking from a bottle of Tequila throughout the show. We were all expecting tracks from “After the Goldrush” and “Harvest” but instead we were treated to a set of unfamiliar tunes, much to the annoyance of most of the audience. After he had finished playing the new songs, Young did play “Cinnamon Girl” with a crazy, meandering guitar solo, which got a great reception from the crowd; who were pleased to hear something familiar. Published setlists suggest that he also may have played “Southern Man”, although I don’t remember him doing so, and I think I would have remembered if he did, as it was one of my favourite songs at the time. A great gig, with Neil Young on great form, even if the set wasn’t what we had expected or hoped for.
Setlist: Tonight’s the Night; Mellow My Mind; World on a String; Speakin’ Out; Albuquerque; New Mama; Roll Another Number (For the Road); Tired Eyes; Tonight’s the Night; Flying on the Ground Is Wrong; Human Highway; Helpless; Cinnamon Girl; Southern Man??; The Losing End; Don’t Be Denied
23 Feb
The Vibrators live 1976 – 1978
The Vibrators live 1977 – 1978
Well I’m getting within sight of the end of my project. I’ve covered the letters up to and including “X”, leaving only “Y” and “Z” to do. I’ve been working through my concert memories with the aid of my tickets and programmes, which means I’ve missed some bands for whom I don’t have anything in my collection. For instance, any gig where I paid on the door, and wasn’t given a ticket, may have been missed. So over the remaining period I will be jumping about a bit, trying to cover those bands, or at least the ones I can remember and who I feel should be mentioned. I also have some festival events to cover. Still I reckon another couple of months and I will probably be finished. Mitch reminded me that I hadn’t written about The Vibrators, so here goes.
Ian “Knox” Carnocan, bassist Pat Collier, guitarist John Ellis and drummer Eddie formed The Vibrators in early 1976, and they played their first gig supporting The Stranglers in London. The band’s debut single “We Vibrate” came out in November 1977 and was one of the first punk singles. Marie and I first saw the band at Middlesbrough Rock Garden in December 1976. The gig was close to Christmas, I think it may have been 23rd December, and if I remember correctly, the band played two nights at the venue. This was one of the first gigs at the Rock Garden and our first visit, of many, to the venue which was to become the home of punk rock in the North East. I remember them playing “We Vibrate” which was quite a catchy rock’n’roll single. The Rock Garden was quite empty, punk (and the venue) were just starting to take off. We saw the Vibrators again at a packed gig in Newcastle Poly bar a few months later. 
I remember we were standing right in front of Knox, and the music was deafening in the small venue.
Early in 1977 I saw The Vibrators again, this time at Newcastle City Hall supporting Iggy Pop (the “Idiot” tour with David Bowie on keyboards). Around this time they released their classic “Baby Baby” single, which was a big live favourite, followed by their debut lp “Pure Mania”, a punk rock classic, which spent five weeks in the UK album charts. A second, live, single from the album “London Girls” (another great song, which I remember seeing them play), came out in Summer 1977. We next saw The Vibrators supporting Ian Hunter at Newcastle Mayfair (Hunter’s “Overnight Angels” tour). Bassist Pat Collier left soon after the Ian Hunter tour, and was replaced by Gary Tibbs (who would go on to play with Roxy Music and Adam and the Ants). The last time I recall seeing The Vibrators was at a headline gig at Seaburn Hall, Sunderland (pictured). This was soon after they released the single “Automatic Lover”, which reached No. 35 in the UK singles chart and got the band a spot on Top of the Pops. They released their second lp “V2” in April 1977; another punk classic, and the line-up of the band started to change shortly afterwards. Drummer Eddie continues to lead The Vibrators today. The Vibrators were a great live act, full of energy and with some classic punk tunes, and a very important part of the early punk scene.
22 Feb
BBC 6 Music Festival Sage Gateshead 21st February 2015
BBC 6 Music Festival Sage Gateshead 21st February 2015
Hall 1: Maximo Park; The Fall; Kate Tempest; Royal Blood; Hot Chip
Hall 2: Ghostpoet; Father John Misty; Ibibio Sound Machine; Django Django; The Cribs
Hall 3: Craig Charles; Stuart Maconie; Ady Croasdell; Richard Searling
Concourse: Kate Tempest & Eliza Carthy; Villagers; Simian Mobile Disco; Jungle; Gruff Rhys
The BBC 6 Music Festival decamped to the North East this year with events in the Academy on Friday, The Sage on Saturday and Sunday and a range of venues across Newcastle throughout the weekend. David and Shauna came up from London for the weekend, and we all (Marie, me, David, Shauna, Laura, Dale) trooped across to the Sage for the Saturday evening festivities.
The Sage had been transformed into a festival cum nightclub, with all of the halls open and simultaneously featuring music. All of the seats had been removed from the floor level of Hall 1. The first act that Marie and I caught was Kate Tempest, who was introduced by Don Letts. Now there’s a face from the past. The last time I remember seeing him was 1977 in Newcastle Students Union and he was holding a big camera, filming the Clash. He was managing the Slits at the time and went on to be a member of Big Audio Dynamite. Kate Tempest got the crowd going with her spoken word hip hop music. We wandered into Hall 3 and found Stuart Maconie playing soul sounds, and then out onto the concourse to watch Jungle. For me the highlight was Royal Blood, who made a loud intense blues noise and played to a packed Hall 1. Its hard to believe that two guys (guitar, vocals, drums) can produce such a wall of classic rock music, in the tradition of Hendrix, Zeppelin and Cream. Great stuff. The others all reckoned Hot Chip as the highlight of the night. Laura and Dale went off to the Boiler House after the Sage closed at 11pm, for further 6 Music fun.
Its great that a national event like this has chosen to come to the North East. The 6 Music festival continues today with more music around the city and in the Sage tonight.
21 Feb
XTC Newcastle City Hall 19th May 1981
XTC Newcastle City Hall 19th May 1981
I saw XTC a few times at Newcastle University during 1978 and 1979. They played the University students union on 4th February 1978, 4th November 1978 and 27th April 1979. I think I was at least two of those gigs, but can’t recall exactly which ones. This was the early version of the band with a line-up of Andy Partridge, Colin Moulding, Terry Chambers and Barry Andrews. Andrews left in early 1979 to be replaced by Dave Gregory. Early XTC were all jerky rhythms; much more experimental and punky than the later post-Andrews band, which became poppier. By the time I saw them at Newcastle Mayfair on 21st September 1979 XTC had entered the single charts with the excellent “Life Begins at the Hop” and had just released their new single, the classic “Making Plans for Nigel”. Support came from the Yachts. 
I saw XTC once more before they quit touring, at a concert at Newcastle City Hall on 19th May 1981. They had just been in the singles chart with “Sgt. Rock (Is Going to Help Me)”, another classic pop tune. Support at the City Hall came from Last Touch. “Senses Working Overtime” was XTC’s last Top 10 hit in 1982. After that they became a studio band of Andy Partridge and session musicians.
A great pop band who have been hugely influential. You can hear XTC in Franz Ferdinand, Kaiser Chiefs and many other guitar-oriented jerky pop bands.
Setlist (something like): Real by Reel; Life Begins at the Hop; When You’re Near Me I Have Difficulty; Respectable Street; Sgt. Rock (Is Going to Help Me); Snowman; Paper and Iron (Notes and Coins); Ball and Chain; Love at First Sight; No Language in Our Lungs; Scissor Man; Towers of London; Burning With Optimism’s Flames; Making Plans for Nigel; Living Through Another Cuba; Generals and Majors; Helicopter; Are You Receiving Me?.
20 Feb
X Ray Spex Redcar Coatham Bowl 23rd April 1978
X Ray Spex Redcar Coatham Bowl 23rd April 1978
The night the Coatham Bowl turned Dayglo.
Poly Styrene exploded onto the stage; a bundle of crazy youthful energy. Art-I-Ficial !! Off we went, the crowd jumping and pogoing along to the loud raucous noise. A manic hippy looking guy with long hair ran to the front of the stage, squeezing discordant noises from his sax. Poly screamed into the mike, shook her head, swung her dreads around and around, and lost herself in a childish whirling dance. The pace, the noise and the music were relentless. Identity !! ……Warrior in Woolworths (my favourite)….They played many of the tracks which would make their classic debut Germ Free Adolescents so great. X Ray Spex were joyous, hectic, amateur, funny, bright and loud. They were also amazing and one of the most fun acts to emerge from punk. Their songs each had a message, but not in the serious gloomy way of many of the bands of the time. Poly was a one-off and the songs all had catchy hooks and were 100% pure pop. They crashed through Oh Bondage! Up Yours! And then they were gone, back to the planet Plastic, from whence they came. Wonderful.
Support came from local Teesside punk rockers Britzkrieg Bop.
Setlist (something like): Art-I-Ficial; Obsessed With You; Identity; Let’s Submerge; Plastic Bag; I Live Off You; I Am a Poseur; Genetic Engineering; I Am a Cliche; The Day the World Turned Dayglo; Warrior in Woolworths; Oh Bondage! Up Yours!
RIP Poly Styrene
19 Feb
Roger Waters plays Dark Side of the Moon Hyde Park 1st July 2006
Roger Waters plays Dark Side of the Moon Hyde Park 1st July 2006
Hype Park Calling Festival 2006
Main Stage: Roger Waters (featuring special guest Nick Mason); Texas; Starsailor; Breaks Co-op; Chris Difford
Stage 2: The Lightning Seeds; Robert Cray; Suzanne Vega; Blackbud; Rocco DeLuca and the Burden
I booked a cheap hotel room online for David and I to stay in for this event. The room was not far from Marble Arch. We arrived at Kings Cross and tool the tube over to the hotel. When we arrived the guy on reception apologised and explained that there had been some mix-ups with bookings and that he was going to have to move us to another hotel nearby. He offered to drive us there, and took us through a maze of streets, where we arrived at a run-down seedy looking hotel. He took us to our room which was upstairs and left. As we looked around the room we realised how we had got the booking so cheap….the bathroom had no door and the beds were worn and scruffy. Still, we decided it was only going to be for one night, so we shrugged our shoulders and walked over to Hyde Park; we still weren’t far from the Marble Arch entrance to the event.
Hyde Park Calling was a new festival. Roger Waters headlined the Saturday night and the Who were doing the honours on the Sunday night. The supporting line-up was strong. I remember we watched and enjoyed Texas, and some of the Lightning Seeds.
The main event was Roger Waters who was playing Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety, along with Floyd buddy Nick Mason on drums. The show featured an elaborate stage design by Mark Fisher (who was behind the design of Pink Floyd’s The Wall shows), and included giant puppets, large video screen displays and a 360° quadraphonic sound system. Roger’s performance was divided into two sets: the first featured Pink Floyd material and songs from Roger’s solo career, and the second The Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety, plus encores. The songs were performed true to the recording, and the sound was crisp and clear from where we stood about half way back in the park. What better way to spend a summer evening than listening to the Floyd’s classic album. A guy in front of us was incredibly drunk, and insisted on singing all of the words to the songs right into our faces. Sometimes he would stop singing, hug us and tell us how great Pink Floyd were.
After the show we meandered back through the streets to our seedy hotel room. We were up early next morning and back on the train home.
Setlist. Set 1: In the Flesh; Mother; Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts I-V); Have a Cigar; Wish You Were Here; Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun; Southampton Dock; The Fletcher Memorial Home; Perfect Sense (Parts 1 and 2); Leaving Beirut; Sheep
Set 2 The Dark Side of the Moon, with Nick Mason: Speak to Me; Breathe; On the Run; Time; Breathe (Reprise); The Great Gig in the Sky; Money; Us and Them; Any Colour You Like; Brain Damage; Eclipse
Encore: The Happiest Days of Our Lives; Another Brick in the Wall Part 2; Vera; Bring the Boys Back Home; Comfortably Numb
Roger Waters band: Roger Waters (vocals, bass guitar and acoustic guitar), P.P. Arnold (backing vocals), Graham Broad (drums and percussion), Jon Carin (keyboards), Andy Fairweather-Low (guitar), Carol Kenyon (backing vocals and lead vocals on “The Great Gig in the Sky”), Dave Kilminster (guitar), Katie Kissoon (backing vocals), Ian Ritchie (saxophone), Harry Waters (Hammond organ, synthesiser, and Roger Waters’ son), and Snowy White (guitar).
18 Feb
War of the Worlds Newcastle Arena 27th April 2006
War of the Worlds Newcastle Arena 27th April 2006
I have the War of the Worlds album, so couldn’t resist going to see the concert. The pre-show publicity says it all: “For the first time ever, this highly anticipated classic album will now be staged as a full live production, featuring Jeff Wayne conducting The Black Smoke Band and the 48-piece ULLAdubULLA Strings. Moody Blues frontman Justin Hayward will feature in the show and, through the magic of modern technology, Richard Burton will be SEEN and heard in his role as ‘The Journalist’ in the musical spectacular of the year. To set the scene, Pink Floyd’s legendary set designer, Jonathan Parke, will be bringing the Martian invasion to life. Since it’s original release in June of 1978, ‘Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War Of The Worlds’ has grown into a true classic; garnering a new generation of devoted followers whilst still inspiring the faithful listeners from the past decades. Inspired by the HG Wells novel, the album features a compelling blend of prog rock and classical and literary influences….the album has enjoyed huge success and critical acclaim across the globe with around 13 million records sold and numerous accolades acquired. The War Of The Worlds initially spent over 260 consecutive weeks in the UK albums charts (now approaching 300)…”
Jeff Wayne: “I have waited for almost 28 years to present The War of The Worlds – combining the excitement of live performance complemented by various technological ingredients that will hopefully give our audiences, a night to remember.”
The show featured an all-star cast: A “virtual” Richard Burton: a large bust of the Journalist with a projected image; Justin Hayward; Alexis James; Chris Thompson; Russell Watson; Tara Blaise and Rachael Beck (all on spoken words and vocals)
The Black Smoke Band: Jeff Wayne (conductor), Chris Spedding (guitar), Herbie Flowers (bass), Tom Woodstock (guitars, keyboards), Laurie Wisefield (guitars, mandolin), Accy Yeats (drums), Julia Thornton (percussion, harp, keyboards), Steve Turner, Neil Angilley & Kennedy Aitchison (keyboards).
The Performance:
The Coming of the Martians: The Eve of the War, Horsell Common and The Heat Ray, The Artilleryman and The Fighting Machine, Forever Autumn, Thunder Child
The Earth Under the Martians: The Red Weed (Part 1), The Spirit of Man, The Red Weed (Part 2), Brave New World, Dead London, Epilogue.
The concert was very much a musical as much as it was a rock performance. It was a hugely enjoyable experience; very spectacular, although a little “lost” in the vastness of an arena setting. And “Forever Autumn” as sung by Justin Hayward is a beautiful song.
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