Queen St James Park Newcastle 9th July 1986
Support acts: Status Quo, Zeno
The Magic Tour was the biggest and final tour by Queen. Over a million people saw them, making it one of the largest tours ever. The Magic Tour took in 26 dates around Europe’s stadiums, in support of their latest album A Kind of Magic. The UK leg of the tour played at Wembley Stadium, Manchester Maine Road, and Newcastle St James Park (which I attended). The tour ended with a massive show at Knebworth Park. Support acts for the Newcastle gig were Status Quo and Zeno (featuring Zeno Roth, the brother of Uli Roth). Status Quo had just reformed with a new line-up of original front men Francis Rossi and Rick Parfitt, and new members Rhino (bass) and Jeff Rich (drums). It was good to see the mighty Quo back out on the road again, although it must be said that it was only a couple of years since their 1984 farewell “End of the Road” tour. I’m a big fan of Quo and continue to go and see them today. Their set was a classic hits sing (and rock) along. One song I miss is Dirty Water which was a great crowd favourite in the ’80s. 
Status Quo setlist: Whatever You Want; Paper Plane; Roll Over Lay Down; Little Lady; Mystery Song / Railroad / Most of the Time / Wild Side of Life / Rollin’ Home / Again and Again / Slow Train; Hold You Back; Don’t Drive My Car; Dirty Water; Rockin’ All Over the World; Big Fat Mama; Don’t Waste My Time; Roadhouse Blues. Encore: Caroline; Rain.
By 1986 Queen were in the groove of delivering mega stadium concerts, and Freddie had grown into a spectacular front man. The set consists of Queen classics, a few album tracks (some of which were not so good in my view) and great rock n roll covers. The tour was captured on the album Live Magic.
Queen setlist: One Vision; Tie Your Mother Down; In the Lap of the Gods… Revisited; Seven Seas of Rhye; Tear It Up; A Kind of Magic; Under Pressure; Another One Bites the Dust; Who Wants to Live Forever; 
I Want to Break Free; Impromptu; Now I’m Here; Love of My Life; Is This the World We Created…?; (You’re So Square) Baby I Don’t Care/Hello Mary Lou/Tutti Frutti; Bohemian Rhapsody; Hammer to Fall; Crazy Little Thing Called Love. Encore 1: Radio Ga Ga. Encore 2: We Will Rock You; Friends Will Be Friends; We Are the Champions; God Save the Queen.
Queen ceased touring in 1987, due to Freddie’s illness. They would not tour again until 19 years later, when the Queen + Paul Rodgers Tour began in 2005, after the tragic death of Freddie Mercury on 24 November 1991, and the retirement of John Deacon in 1997.
Posts Tagged ‘music’
11 Mar
Queen St James Park Newcastle 9th July 1986
10 Mar
Queen Live Aid Wembley Stadium London 13th July 1985
Queen Live Aid Wembley Stadium London 13th July 1985
The next time I saw Queen was at the massive historic Live Aid concert in Wembley Stadium on 13th July 1985. Queen’s performance at Live Aid at Wembley is often referred to as their greatest single live performance. Indeed, more than that, their short 21 minute set is often spoken of as one of the greatest rock performances ever (indeed; an industry poll in 2005 named it the greatest rock performance of all time). Their set was sandwiched between some great acts: U2 and Dire Straits preceded them; David Bowie and then The Who had the unenviable task of following Queen’s epic performance. It was one of those performances where everything came together. It was the right time of day, as the momentum and magnitude of the event was building, and the crowd were ready for the stadium-filling anthems of Queen. The band were on fire, clearly ready to give it their all, realising that they were performing to a world-wide audience. And Freddie was in command of us all, leading us through a few of their classic songs. Now I am a massive fan of Bowie and The Who, and for me they were the stars of the day, but I must agree that Queen delivered the strongest performance of the event.
From Wikipedia: “At Live Aid, held at Wembley on 13 July 1985, in front of the biggest-ever TV audience of 1.9 billion, Queen performed some of their greatest hits, during which the sold-out stadium audience of 72,000 people clapped, sang, and swayed in unison. The show’s organisers, Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, other musicians … and various music journalists ….. commented that Queen stole the show.
Queen’s short set consisted of “Bohemian Rhapsody” (ballad section and guitar solo), “Radio Ga Ga”, a crowd singalong, “Hammer to Fall”, “Crazy Little Thing Called Love”, “We Will Rock You” (1st verse), and “We Are the Champions”. Mercury and May returned later on to perform a version of “Is This the World We Created?”
I saw Queen once more, on their 1986 “Kind of Magic” tour, when it called at St James Park, Newcastle.
9 Mar
Queen Leeds Elland Road Stadium 29th May 1982
Queen Leeds Elland Road Stadium 29th May 1982
Support from Heart, Joan Jett And The BlackHearts, Teardrop Explodes
In 1982 Queen toured in support of their new album “Hot Space”. “Hot Space” was Queen’s 10th album and saw them experimenting, not that successfully in my view, with disco. The UK leg of the tour consisted of two massive outdoor shows at Milton Keynes Bowl, and Leeds Elland Road football stadium, and two large indoor concerts at the Royal Highland Showground, Ingliston, Edinburgh. I drove down to the Leeds gig with a group of mates. It was a very hot Saturday, on a bank holiday weekend.
I think The Teardrop Explodes opened the show. Now, I was a fan of this band and of Julian Cope in particular. He was a crazy and intriguing front man and they had some pretty neat pop / new wave tunes; notably “Treason” and “Reward”. However, they were viewed as a “punk” band (and hence not “proper” rock) by a small section of the audience who decided to pelt them with bottles. Not a good start to the day.
We were all quite excited about seeing American rock band Heart who featured the amazing (and beautiful) Wilson sisters; Anne and Nancy. We had all been fans since one of us bought “Dreamboat Annie” in 1976; we all borrowed and played that album again and again. Heart’s set included great versions of some of our favourite tracks from their mid-’70s heyday: Magic Man”, “Crazy On You” and the excellent, rocking “Barracuda”. True to their classic rock roots, their encore was a cover of Led Zeppelin’s “Rock and Roll”.
The final guest act was ex-Runaway Joan Jett with her band the Blackhearts, who got the crowd singing along with “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll” , which had been high in the charts a few weeks earlier.
There was a long wait for Queen. I suspect that they were waiting until it was dark so that the light show would have its greatest effect. Finally, after what seemed forever, the intro to “Flash” boomed across the stadium, followed by ridiculously loud explosions and blinding white flashing lights. Queen exploded onto the stage, Freddie starting to sing “The Hero”. The sort of spectacular entrance that Queen had perfected. The rest of the show was similarly spectacular with Freddie leading the band in those anthemic classic songs, and goading the crowd to sing along. I remember wondering how they would recreate the David Bowie vocal on “Under Pressure” and secretly hoped that he might run out from stage left 🙂 (I wasn’t the only one; rumours were circulating that Bowie would appear with Queen to sing his parts onstage in Leeds and/or Milton Keynes; but of course he didn’t). Instead Freddie Mercury and Roger Taylor shared the vocal parts. Another great performance by Queen.
Setlist: Flash; The Hero; We Will Rock You; Action This Day; Play the Game; Staying Power; Somebody to Love; Now I’m Here; Dragon Attack; Now I’m Here; Love of My Life; Keep Yourself Alive; Save Me; Back Chat; Get Down, Make Love; Guitar Solo; Drum Solo; Under Pressure; Fat Bottomed Girls; Crazy Little Thing Called Love; Bohemian Rhapsody; Tie Your Mother Down. Encore: Another One Bites the Dust; Sheer Heart Attack; We Will Rock You; We Are the Champions; God Save the Queen
Musicians: Freddie Mercury – lead vocals, piano, tambourine, acoustic rhythm guitar; Brian May – electric & acoustic guitars, backing vocals, piano; John Deacon – bass guitar, rhythm guitar; Roger Taylor – drums, electronic drums, backing vocals; Morgan Fisher – piano, synthesizer, backing vocals.
7 Mar
Queen Hyde Park London 18th September 1976
Queen Hyde Park 18th September 1976
Support from Kiki Dee, Steve Hillage, and Supercharge.
The last open air festival event I went to in the long hot summer of 1976 was Queen in Hyde Park. A group of us went down to London by train on a day return ticket, returning straight after the concert on the mail train which pulled out of Kings Cross at midnight. This was a free concert, which drew a crowd of over 150,000, and was organised by Richard Branson. The line-up consisted of Supercharge, Steve Hillage and Kiki Dee. Kiki Dee had just been No 1 in the charts with Elton John and their massive hit Don’t Go Breaking My Heart. There were lots of rumours about that Elton would join her onstage for the song, but he didn’t; instead she was accompanied by a life-size cardboard Elton figure, and we all had to sing the Elton parts with her. Steve Hillage was quite popular at the time, and was great on the day, lots of glissando guitar, and amazing psychedelic trippy versions of the Beatles’ All Too Much, and Donovan’s Hurdy Gurdy Man. There was a big fight in the crowd during his set. But the day belonged to Queen. It was quite a brave move headlining such a major event at what was still a relatively early point in their career, but they pulled it off and were as majestic as ever. Their set was relatively short, around an hour, because of curfew and time restrictions. Apparently Queen were prevented from returning for their usual long encore by the Police. This was just before they released the Day At The Races album. Freddy was amazing, although from where we were standing he was a tiny white figure shining across the massive sea of people (no big screens to watch in those days).
Setlist: A Day At the Races Intro; Bohemian Rhapsody; Ogre Battle; Sweet Lady; White Queen (As It Began); Flick of the Wrist; You’re My Best Friend; Bohemian Rhapsody; Killer Queen; The March of the Black Queen; Bohemian Rhapsody (Reprise); Bring Back That Leroy Brown; Brighton Rock; Son and Daughter; ’39; You Take My Breath Away; The Prophet’s Song; Death on Two Legs; Stone Cold Crazy; Keep Yourself Alive; Liar; In the Lap of the Gods… Revisited
6 Mar
Queen Newcastle City Hall 11th December 1975
Queen Newcastle City Hall 11th December 1975
A bit of an adventure involving a ladder and a night at the opera.
In late 1975, Queen recorded and released A Night at the Opera, which was at the time, the most expensive album ever 
produced. The album was a massive success, and featured the hit single “Bohemian Rhapsody”, which was No 1 in the UK charts for nine weeks and is the third-best-selling single of all time in the UK. This propelled Queen to megastar status, their late 1975 tour sold out in record time, and they were No 1 in the charts at the time of the concerts. For some crazy reason I didn’t get tickets for the City Hall gig, but as the day of the Newcastle concert approached, I became more and more determined to go.
So on the night of the gig I turned up outside the City Hall determined to blag a ticket somehow. Now I had done this several times, and had always managed to buy a ticket, sometimes paying a little more than face value. But that night was different. Demand had been huge, and no-one was selling any tickets. No touts and no spares. A group of us were hanging around with the same idea, all desperate to get in to the show. Time was passing and we could hear the support act, Mr Big, take the stage. Soon they finished their set, and things were getting desperate. Then one guy had an idea. He spotted a ladder around the back of the venue, and looking around, he also spotted an open window. So he climbed up the ladder and squeezed through the open window. A couple of us followed. 
The window was tiny, but I managed to squeeze through, finding myself above a sink in the upstairs ladies loo. Luckily there was no one in the ladies 🙂 I quickly sneaked out, and found myself in the circle, just as Queen took to the stage, exploding into Bohemian Rhapsody. Queen were amazing that night, although I must admit that my enjoyment of the gig was hampered to some extent as I remained on edge throughout the concert, in constant fear of being approached by a steward, and ejected from the venue. I stayed upstairs standing at the side throughout the gig. Luckily everyone was standing, so I easily blended into the crowd. The crowd went crazy for Queen that night; they had now actually become stars; it seemed to me that they always knew they could and would.
Setlist: Bohemian Rhapsody, Ogre Battle, Sweet Lady, White Queen (as it began), Flick Of The Wrist, Bohemian Rhapsody, Killer Queen, The March Of The Black Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody, Bring Back That Leroy Brown, Son And Daughter, The Prophet’s Song, Doing All Right, Keep Yourself Alive, Seven Seas Of Rhye, Liar, In The Lap Of The Gods…revisited. Encore: Now I’m Here, Hey Big Spender, Jailhouse Rock, God Save The Queen
Thanks again to Mitch for his photo which was taken by him that night.
Addition to blog entry on 17 May 2021.
I always regretted that I did not get a programme that night. By the time I emerged from the ladies toilet, after climbing through the window Queen were onstage and I did not have a chance to buy a programme. But through the wonders of eBay I managed to put this to rights, and bought a 1975 UK programme for £30, which I think is pretty cheap. I have attached the image within my blog entry above.
I also regret not having a ticket for the concert. Once again a friendly guy on eBay sold me a ticket for the gig. I paid quite a bit more than I did for the programme, but it is nice to have the actual artefact in my collection. Of course it isn’t really my ticket as I had no seat! Happy days
5 Mar
Ultimate Rhythm and Blues show Sage Gateshead 4th March 2014
Ultimate Rhythm and Blues show Sage Gateshead 4th March 2014
The Zombies, The Yardbirds, The Animals, Maggie Bell, Dave Berry
A great concert with a host of acts from the 60s. Much more enjoyable than I expected. Two things stick in my mind from last night, and will be the themes of my blog entry today. The first is the subject of authenticity and the question “when is a band not a band?” (if you see what I mean 🙂 ), and the second is just how powerful a performer Maggie Bell is.
First up were The Animals and Friends which features original Animals drummer John Steel, keyboards player Mickey Gallagher (who replaced Alan Price in 1965), Danny Handley on guitar and Pete Barton on bass and lead vocals. Now you have to admire Pete Barton, he is an amazing front man, and has a growling, powerful voice which actually matches and rivals the original vocals of Eric Burdon. He also has the unenviable position of not only taking the position of the powerhouse Burdon, but also making announcements like “We’re going back to the Club A’Gogo” and introducing songs from 1964 (when he was actually 2 years old at the time). Amazingly, he pulls it all off and leads the band in authentic (there’s that word) renditions of all those great songs: We Got To Get Out Of This Place, Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood, and of course House of the Rising Sun. So although on the one hand, this version of the Animals features only one original member, on the other hand, the spirit and passion remains true to the roots of the ’60s band, and the performance comes over as authentic, true to the rich legacy and is delivered with passion and humility. A great start to the evening.
The Animals were joined first by Dave Berry, who has replaced Spencer Davis on the tour, as Spencer is not well at the moment. I wondered at first whether Dave would fit well with this bill. In my mind I link him with the ’60s revival package pop tour, rather than a R&B package. But, as Dave reminded us, his roots lie in the Sheffield (and UK) R&B scene in the early ’60s, and he geared his short set towards this. He sang a few R&B classics and finished with an excellent version of “The Crying Game”. His performance was professional and slick, and he came over as a pretty cool guy.
Now when I was a young teenage kid, I stood a few feet in front of Maggie Bell and Les Harvey at Sunderland Locarno at a Stone the Crows gig. My mate and I were totally blown away by her voice and her performance that night. The lady simply oozed the blues, and sang with a passion and authenticity which came from deep in her soul. Now I haven’t seen her since the ’70s and wasn’t expecting what I saw last night. Maggie was simply sensational in every way. Much better than I could have hoped. Her voice remains strong, her performance electrifying, and she looks great. She sang a few blues classics including I’d Rather Go Blind, and finished with a an amazing duet with Pete Barton (by now I was starting to really admire that guy) of P J Proby’s “Hold Me”. I’d forgotten that Maggie hit the charts with a version of this on which she dueted with B A Roberston. Stunning.
After a short interval, next up was the latest line-up of the Yardbirds. Again the subject of authenticity comes to mind. This line-up features original drummer Jim McCarty and, back in the band after 50 years (!), original guitarist Top Topham who was in the band in the very early years and was replaced by Eric Clapton. The rest of the line-up are all relatively new: Ben King on lead guitar, Andy Mitchell on vocals and mouth harp, and David Smale on bass. Original rhythm guitarist Chris Dreja has recently left the band because of ill health. Like The Animals, this line-up remains true to the roots of the music and delivered pretty flawless versions of all those classics; “For Your Love”, “Heart Full of Soul”, “Over Under Sideways Down” “Shapes of Things” and an amazing version of “Dazed and Confused” (I’d forgotten that this was a Yardbirds song which Page took with him into Zeppelin).
The evening closed with a performance by the Zombies, who remain pretty authentic in that they feature two of the main originals in Colin Blunstone (vocals) and Rod Argent (keyboards, or was in “organ” in those days? 🙂 ). The Zombies took us through all the hits, including Argent’s Hold Your Head Up, Blunstones’ Say You Don’t Mind, and the classis Time Of the Season. The closed the evening with She’s Not There. Great stuff.
From the promotional material: “Relive the musical revolution of 1964 as the chart-topping stars of the 1960s, including The Zombies, The Animals, The Yardbirds, Dave Berry and Maggie Bell perform some of their greatest hits. This amazing line-up have collectively, over 50 years, delivered 37 hit records and held chart-topping positions for more than 300 weeks.”
4 Mar
Queen gigs in 1973 and 1974
Queen gigs in 1973 and 1974
I will spend the next few days reflecting on the occasions that I saw the mighty and majestic Queen in concert.
I first saw Queen when they played as support for Mott the Hoople at Newcastle City Hall on 22nd November 1973. They had just released their first album, the single “Keep Yourself Alive” was out, and there was already a great buzz about this new band. This was one of the few times where everyone wanted to see the support act, and the hall was full for Queen’s performance. They were excellent, much better than many of the bands who would support major tours, and gave Mott a hard act to follow. It was clear, even then, that this was a band who could well make it big, although few would have predicted just how successful they would ultimately become. Freddie Mercury was already a star in his head and in his stage presence, and Brian May’s guitar playing was excellent, his unique custom(self)-made guitar adding an extra dimension of interest.
My friend’s John’s views on Queen at the time of their support slot at Newcastle City Hall: “This was the first and only time I saw them, and I though they were sensational. Really a glam version of Led Zeppelin with some great straight ahead rock songs in Keep Yourself Alive, Liar and Son and Daughter. I immediately went out and bought the album – I had to order it from Bergs [a local record shop at the time]. I told everybody I knew how great they were and that they would be a big success. I felt a very personal connection with them. I can recall being very confused by Seven Seas of Rye as a single, but when Killer Queen was released I was so disgusted that I gave my album away and vowed never to see them again. I lived up to that promise. Aaah the impetuousness of youth.”
A few months later and Queen were back in the region, playing to a packed Sunderland Locarno on 8th March 1974. This, their first headline tour, was at the time of the Queen II album, which was released in the UK on the very same day as the Sunderland gig. The single “Seven Seas of Rhye” had been released a few days earlier, and became the band’s first hit, reaching No 10 in the UK charts. The big show-stopping number was “Liar” which extended to around 10 minutes live and was a massive favourite at the time. This was a great gig, that everyone I knew attended and talked about for months, if not years, afterwards. Queen were amazing, and starting to make a big name for themselves.
Setlist from Sunderland 1974: Procession; Father To Son; Ogre Battle; White Queen; Great King Rat; Doin’ All Right; Son And Daughter; Keep Yourself Alive; Liar. Encore 1: Jailhouse Rock; Shake Rattle And Roll; Stupid Cupid; Jailhouse Rock (reprise). Encore 2: Big Spender; Modern Times Rock’n’roll
By the end of the year, Queen had released their third album “Sheer Heart Attack” and moved up from headlining ballrooms to a tour of concert halls. I next saw them on 7th November 1974 at Newcastle City Hall. Support came from Hustler. The single “Killer Queen” had just been released and became the band’s biggest hit to date, making No 2 in the charts. Queen were now a confident, major band, and the sold-out City Hall crowd gave them a great reception. Freddie’s performance was simply rivetting, and his vocal range outstanding. We had seats up in the balcony looking down on the stage. I remember very heavy use of dry ice, to the extent that at one point the entire stalls disappeared from our view, completely shrouded in a massive white cloud. Another great gig, with Freddie resplendent in a massive fur coat.
Setlist from Newcastle City Hall 1974: Procession; Now I’m Here; Ogre Battle; Father To Son; White Queen; Flick Of The Wrist; In The Lap Of The Gods; Killer Queen; March Of The Black Queen; Bring Back That Leroy Brown; Son & Daughter; Keep Yourself Alive; Seven Seas Of Rhye; Liar; Stone Cold Crazy; In The Lap Of The Gods… revisited. Encore 1: Big Spender; Modern Times Rock’n’roll. Encore 2: Jailhouse Rock; God Save The Queen
Queen line-up: Freddie Mercury – lead vocals, piano; Brian May – guitar, vocals; Roger Taylor – drums, vocals; John Deacon – bass guitar, vocals.
Thanks to Mitch for sending his pictures, one of which I have included here. This one of Brian May was taken by Mitch at the Queen gig at Newcastle City Hall in 1975, which I will write about next, in a day or so.
2 Mar
Classic Legends of Rock and Folk Newcastle City Hall 1st March 2014
Classic Legends of Rock and Folk Newcastle City Hall 1st March 2014
Martin Turner plays the music of Wishbone Ash
Curved Air
Strawbs
So the Classic Legends of Rock (and Folk) came to The City Hall, the spiritual home of rock in the North East of England. This was an evening of mixed emotions for me. I’ve seen all of these bands headline the City Hall to packed houses. It was great to see them back on the big City Hall stage again, but also a little sad to see such a small crowd (I would guess there were a few hundred people there) which filled the front part of the stalls (the circle wasn’t open). So I enjoyed seeing the bands perform last night, but the memories of 40 years ago, when I stood in a capacity crowd cheering and singing along to “Blowin’ Free” (or on even earlier tours “Jailbait”), “Back Street Luv” or “Lay Down” are forever etched in my mind, and bring back memories of just how great all these acts were; back in those days which are now beginning to seem such a long time ago (which is because it was a long time ago 🙂 ). Anyway, back to the show.
Strawbs were on stage when I arrived just after the advertised start time of 7.30pm. This was the three piece acoustic version, which features David Cousins, Dave Lambert and Chas Cronk, all of whom have been with the band since 1973, and in Cousins’ case from the very start. Their short 30 minute set featured (among a few others songs) the excellent “Hangman and the Papist” (Cousins commented on the fact that old band-mate Rick Wakeman is coming to the City Hall soon, and recalled how they played this track on Top of the Pops during a period when the show featured a regular “album spot”), “Ghosts” and finished with the hit single “Lay Down”. A few minutes to change the gear and Curved Air appeared on stage. The first track was instrumental, with Sonja Kristina joining the band for “It Happened Today”. The latest version of Curved Air features Sonja (vocals), fellow original member Florian Pilkington-Miksa (drums), Kirby Gregory (guitar), Paul Sax (violin), Chris Harris (bass) and Robert Norton (keyboards). We were treated to the beautiful “Melinda (More or Less)” (a favourite of mine), a couple of new songs, a shortened “Vivaldi” and closer “Back Street Luv”. They were on stage for around an hour.
After a short break, Martin Turner and his band took to the stage. Those of us who follow both Martin’s band and Wishbone Ash (featuring Andy Powell) will know that the outcome of a recent court case means that Martin is no longer allowed to use the name Martin Turner’s Wishbone Ash and is hence now touring as Martin Turner plays the music of Wishbone Ash. I’ve seen both bands several times over the past few years; Martin in particular has been touring a lot. Because of this I wasn’t really too bothered about staying for their set; I’d come more to see Curved Air. As it happened, I was really impressed by Martin and his band last night, and staying through to the encore of “Blowin’ Free”. He has assembled a line-up which faithfully recreates the music of classic ’70s Wishbone Ash with himself as front man, vocals and bass; Ray Hatfield and Danny Wilson having the unenviable task of reproducing the twin-guitar sound, which they do amazingly well, and Tim Wilson on drums. The set included well-known Wishbone Ash songs such as “King Will Come”, “Warrior” and “Pheonix” alongside less often played tracks like “Lullaby” from the “Pilgrimage” album and Laurie Wisefield’s “Goodbye Baby Hello Friend”. A great set with a nice mix of songs; Martin and his band deserved headline status last night.
Looking back this morning on the concert last night, I enjoyed seeing all those classic songs performed again, but for me the evening was tinged with a little sadness and a wish that I could turn the clock back and relive the concerts of the early ’70s. Never mind; I’ve just watched “Hangman and the Papist” from Top of the Pops 1971 on YouTube; powerful; amazing stuff; Cousins is wearing a great coat 🙂 .
Is it really 43 years ago..? I couldn’t print my e-ticket at home then.
“Who will be the hangman in the dawn?”
1 Mar
Punishment of Luxury, Buzz and The Period Dunelm House Durham 14th January 1978
In writing this blog, I can usually remember something of each gig. However, I am defeated by this one. This is one gig of which I have no memories at all of even being there. I can remember going to many gigs at Dunelm House, the home of Durham University Students’ Union, throughout the ’70s; but this one just doesn’t ring any bells at all. I have two ticket stubs (which are conveniently opposite halves and I have put together to form one in the picture here) so I must have attended and Marie must have come along with me. I do, of course, recall seeing the excellent Punishment of Luxury several times in 1978 including a packed gig at Newcastle University Canteen, and supporting local punk heroes Penetration at the City Hall. Punishment of Luxury (or Punilux as they were often called) were quite quirky and unique in their approach. Although their music undoubtedly grew out of punk, their spiky staccato art-rock had much more depth to it, and their performances were very theatrical (they had previously been members of a local theatre group) strange and in some ways scary, with use of masks and dance, lead by front men Brian Bond on vocals and Neville Luxury on guitar. They released the single “Puppet Life” in Summer 1978, and had some significant success, gigging around the UK, and becoming a favourite of John Peel. This gig at Dunelm house came quite early in their career, before they had released any recorded material, and was probably one of the first times I saw them. I googled and found that Buzz and The Period were local punk bands of the time; I’m not sure what O.H.C. was, or what the benefit gig was for. Hope someone can enlighten me 🙂
28 Feb
Graham Parker and the Rumour Live in the late ’70s
Graham Parker and the Rumour Live in the late ’70s
There was no better band than Graham Parker and the Rumour in the late 70s. They exploded out of pub rock and were part of the scene, and sound, which influenced punk and new wave. Graham Parker was the coolest guy on the planet and rocked and sang white soul and R&B like no-one else (OK maybe that’s a little unfair on Van Morrisson who was clearly a strong influence on Graham). The Rumour came with all the right pub-rock credentials featuring the legnedary Brinsley Schwarz (lead guitar) and Bob Andrews (keyboards) (both ex Brinsley Schwarz), Martin Belmont (rhythm guitar, ex Ducks Deluxe) and Andrew Bodnar (bass) and Steve Goulding (drums). And those songs: Fool’s Gold, Pourin’ It All Out, White Honey, and the show-stopping reggae-tinged (Hey Lord) Don’t Ask Me Questions; it makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up just thinking about being at a gig with the entire audience singing along “Hey Lord; Don’t Ask Me Questions”. There was just no-one to touch them on a good night; power, passion, rhythms, rock, dancing, and Graham Parker on fire in terms of his singing and his overall performance. 
Graham Parker and the Rumour gigged relentlessly from 1976 on, and I saw them lots of times. My tickets tell me I was at gigs at Newcastle City Hall on 23rd March 1977 with Southside Johnny as support, 17th November 1977 (Marie’s birthday, she agreed to come along although she wasn’t a fan, and a drunken guy behind us spilled a bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale all over her head…I still haven’t been forgiven for that night… 🙂 ), 5th March 1979 and 5th April 1982 (by that point the Rumour had departed and the concert was Parker solo). I also remember a great gig at Newcastle Poly and seeing Parker as part of the supporting bill for Bob Dylan at his massive Blackbushe concert. There were probably others which escape my fading memory.
Graham Parker has been absent from UK stages for too many years, but has reunited with the Rumour and is playing over here again. Something else for me to look forward to.
Note added on 18th May 2014. I have just discovered a large poster programme for Graham Parker, which comes from the 1982 tour. I had it filed away separately because it was so big. I have added it today. 
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