James Arthur Newcastle City Hall 29th January 2014
Support from Titch
This is definitely a guilty pleasure. Laura quite fancied seeing James Arthur; in fact we were all impressed by him, and followed his progress on X Factor. In fact we feel so guilty admitting that we went to see James that Laura didn’t tell her friends that she was going (hope they don’t read this 🙂 ). But James isn’t your stereotypical X Factor contestant; his music, image and attitude draw from indie, grunge, soul, R&B and hip-hop. James is now on the cusp of becoming a regular pop star, selling out concerts up and down the country. He has, of course, had a few blips, said some inappropriate things, is a bit controversial and has been in the press along the way. This was a sort of home-coming show; bringing James back to the North East, although the real home town gigs take place in a couple of days time when he headlines two nights at Middlesbrough Town Hall. The City Hall was packed with James’ fans who are, in the main, young girls, but there were also a sprinkling of older ladies, some mums and dads who had brought their daughters, a few couples and a few male fans too. A young girl in the front row had “I love you James” written across her face in makeup. It was that sort of night. 
The set comprised his debut album in its entirety, and the closing encore was his hit Impossible. James is backed by an impressive band with guitar, bass, keyboards, drums and two excellent lady singers. The songs are very much r’n’b/soul/pop; the only cover was Marvin Gaye’s Lets Get it on. His set was powerful, and relatively short (an hour and a quarter), and the crowd was on its feet and screaming throughout. Lots of ladies underwear was thrown on stage and James must have touched hands with everyone down at the front (the girl with “I love you James” on her face cried). We had seats in the middle of the third row, right in the throng of it. Pretty good fun, musically and as an event. I bet the Middlesbrough gigs are good.
Setlist: You’re Nobody ’til Somebody Loves You; Flying; Emergency; Roses; Smoke Clouds; Suicide; Get Down; Recovery; Let’s Get It On; New Tattoo; Certain Things; Supposed. Encore: Is This Love?; Impossible
Posts Tagged ‘music’
30 Jan
James Arthur Newcastle City Hall 29th January 2014
29 Jan
Procol Harum live Newcastle 1973, Reading 1974 and Middlesbrough 1976
Procol Harum live Newcastle 1973, Reading 1974 and Middlesbrough 1976
I am a big fan of Procol Harum, although I have only seen them three times in concert. White Shade of Pale, Homburg and Conquistador remain favourite songs of mine to this day. Their appearances in the UK are few and far between these days; although they do continue to play a small number of shows in mainland Europe. I first saw Procol Harum at a concert in Newcastle City Hall on 16th March 1973. The 1973 line up was Gary Brooker (keyboards, vocals), Alan Cartwright (bass), Chris Copping (keyboards), Mick Grabham (guitar), B J Wilson (drums), Keith Reid (lyrics). Support for the concert at the City Hall came from Hemlock, who were a new blues rock band fronted by Miller Anderson (ex Keef Hartley band). My memories of the performance are of a great, powerful set, which started with Conquistador, but I was also disappointed that they didn’t play White Shade of Pale that night. The setlist will have been something like this (based on published setlists of the time): Conquistador; Bringing Home the Bacon; Toujours L’Amour; The Devil Came from Kansas; Homburg; Fires (Which Burnt Brightly); For Liquorice John; Whaling Stories; Grand Hotel; Kaleidoscope; Robert’s Box; Power Failure; Simple Sister; Repent Walpurgis; A Salty Dog.
I next saw Procol Harum at the Reading Festival in 1974. They played, I think, on the Saturday afternoon, and were equally as good; and this time they did play Whiter Shade of Pale 🙂 . 
The next time I saw Procol was at a concert at Middlesbrough Town Hall on 7th January 1976. This time there were supported by the very brilliant and much-lamented Vivian Stanshall, who entertained us with a crazy set featuring Bonzo classics and his solo material. Procol were magnificent that night, the swirling chords of their majestic pieces reverberating around the beautiful main hall of Middlesbrough town hall. They were joined by Viv Stanshall for the encores which included a crazy song called the Browns, which Viv had written with Keith Reid; it was based on a story Viv had read in the newspaper about a family called the Browns. The setlist will have been something like this (based on published setlists of the time): Toujours l’Amour; Bringing Home the Bacon; Shine on Brightly; Fresh Fruit; As Strong as Samson; The Unquiet Zone; Grand Hotel; Conquistador; Pandora’s Box; Cerdes (Outside the Gates of); Souvenir of London; Power Failure; A Salty Dog; The Blue Danube. Encores: I keep Forgetting; The Browns (with Viv Stanshall); A Whiter Shade of Pale.
The Middlesbrough gig was the last time I saw Procol in concert, although I had a ticket for a gig at the Tyne Theatre in Newcastle in 2002, which was sadly cancelled. I still have my ticket which is pictured here. I hope I can get to see them one more time, and await their next performance in the UK. Thanks to John for his scan of the poster from the 1973 Newcastle City Hall concert with Hemlock support.
28 Jan
Paice Ashton Lord Newcastle City Hall 28th March 1977
Paice Ashton Lord 28th March 1977
Paice Ashton Lord were formed in 1977, after the break-up of Deep Purple. Ian Paice (Purple’s drummer) and Jon Lord (Purple’s keyboardist), joined Tony Ashton (keyboards and vocals; ex Ashton, Gardner and Dyke and Family) for the project. The band was completed with Bernie Marsden on guitar and Paul Martinez on bass. Paice Ashton Lord (PAL) released their first album, Malice in Wonderland, in 1977, and undertook their only UK which I saw at the City Hall. I think some of the dates on the tour were cancelled because of poor ticket sales. I saw the show at Necastle City Hall, which was not well attended. The group didn’t last for long, and broke up shortly after the tour: I think Tony Ashton broke his leg falling off a stage. The set consisted on tracks from the new alsbum, and as far as I can remember, they didn’t play any Purple classics. 
Support came from a band called Bandit who were fronted by Jim Diamond. Lord, Marsden and Paice went on to join David Coverdale in his band Whitesnake. Martinez joined Stan Webb’s Chicken Shack, before going on to play with Robert Plant. Both Tony Ashton and Jon Lord died of cancer; Ashton in 2001; Lord in 2012. From the tour programme: “This is the first tour of a band, already making a big impression on the music scene…this new band are certain of a brilliant future on their own merits which will in no way be reflected glory from the now past Purple band”. A CD of PAL in concert has the track listing: Ghost Story; On The Road Again, Again; Silas And Jerome; Arabella (Oh Tell Me); The Ballad Of Mr. Giver; I’m Gonna Stop Drinking; Steam Roller Blues; Remember The Good Times; Malice In Wonderland; and Sneaky Private Lee. I would imagine this was the set that I saw at Newcastle.
27 Jan
Del Amitri Newcastle City Hall 26 January 2014
Del Amitri Newcastle City Hall 26 January 2014
Support from The Os
I’ve never seen Del Amitri, and quite like some of their songs, so last night I was making up for lost time, and went to see them at Newcastle City Hall on the fourth night of their reunion tour. And good there were too. I’d forgotten just how many great songs this band have. They started with Always the Last to Know and Kiss This Thing Goodbye. The set featured an acoustic section which closed with a rousing version of Nothing Ever Happens. Other highlights were Roll to Me, and the final encore, the simply beautiful Move Away Jimmy Blue, which is my favourite and actually was the main reason I went along last night. 
Setlist (something like): Always the Last to Know; Kiss This Thing Goodbye; The Ones That You Love Lead You Nowhere; Just Like a Man; What I Think She Sees; Not Where It’s At; Hammering Heart; This Side of the Morning; Sleep Instead of Teardrops; Be My Downfall; Food for Songs; Tell Her This; In the Frame; Nothing Ever Happens; Roll to Me; Driving With the Brakes On; Spit in the Rain; Being Somebody Else; Drunk in a Band. Encore: In the Meantime; Here and Now; Just Before You Leave; Move Away Jimmy Blue.
Justin Currie speaking of the current tour in the Scotsman newspaper: “We started talking quite honestly about it….You know, will it be any good or will it be rubbish? We wanted to only enter into it if it was going to be decent, although only the audience can tell us that, of course.”
26 Jan
Pink Floyd reunion Live 8 Hyde Park 2nd July 2005
On 2nd July 2005 the impossible happened and the 1970s members of Pink Floyd reunited to perform at the London Live 8 concert in Hyde Park. I thought my chances of Roger Waters rejoining David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Richard Wright were very slim, and I was delighted to be able to be see them together once more. This was the band’s first performance together in over 24 years, since The Wall concerts in 1981. Marie, David, Laura and I all went to Live 8, and greatly enjoyed the day, which I will blog about on another occasion. Today I’ll limit by writings to Pink Floyd’s appearance. Gilmour announced the reunion less than a month before the gig, on 12 June 2005: “ Like most people I want to do everything I can to persuade the G8 leaders to make huge commitments to the relief of poverty and increased aid to the third world. It’s crazy that America gives such a paltry percentage of its GNP to the starving nations. Any squabbles Roger and the band have had in the past are so petty in this context, and if re-forming for this concert will help focus attention then it’s got to be worthwhile.” Pink Floyd appeared later in the day, sandwiched between great sets by The Who and Paul McCartney; who closed the show. Floyd’s set consisted of Speak to Me; Breathe; Money; Wish You Were Here; and Comfortably Numb; a good choice of songs for their short appearance. Waters said on stage: “It’s actually quite emotional standing up here with these three guys after all these years. Standing to be counted with the rest of you. Anyway, we’re doing this for everyone who’s not here, but particularly, of course, for Syd.” The band who played with Pink Floyd in Hyde Park were Tim Renwick (guitar); Jon Carin (keyboards); saxophonist Dick Parry Money (played on the original recording); and backing singer Carol Kenyon. The screens showed video from their past shows, and a film of the pig from the Animals flying over Battersea Power Station. This was simply mind-blowing stuff; for me it was the highlight of the day, and a very emotional experience. We were close to the front (I’d managed to score tickets in the enclosed area near the stage) and had a great view of the band. I found Wish You Were Here particularly powerful; you felt they were singing the song for Syd; which of course they were. Syd sadly passed away the following year. With Wright’s subsequent passing in 2008, this was to be the final concert to feature all four playing together.
25 Jan
Pink Floyd Knebworth 30th June 1990
Pink Floyd Knebworth 30th June 1990
The next time I saw Pink Floyd was as part of a multi-act bill at a massive show at Knebworth in 1990. This was the Silver Clef Award Winners Concert and had an amazing line-up including Paul McCartney, Cliff Richard & The Shadows, Tears for Fears, Eric Clapton, Dire Straits, Elton John, Genesis, Ray Cooper, Robert Plant (with guest Jimmy Page), and Status Quo. Pretty strong bill! I won a pair of free tickets in a competition; I think is was with KitKat, and Marie and I went down for the weekend. This was a great concert, which deserves a blog post of its own. I’ll save that for another day, and limit my reflections today to Floyd’s part of the day. Because of the number of acts appearing, everyone played a short set. Floyd appeared last, after Paul McCartney (although he was officially the “headliner”). Their set was limited to 7 songs: Shine On You Crazy Diamond 1 – 5; The Great Gig in the Sky; Wish You Were Here; Sorrow (the only track they performed from their most recent album A Momentary Lapse of Reason); Money & Comfortably Numb; with Run Like Hell as an encore. We’d had a little wind and rain during the day, and by the time Floyd took to the stage is was raining again, and they weren’t able to use their circular screen because of the wind. This was the Waters-less line-up of Pink Floyd which featured Gilmour, Mason and Wright and for the Knewborth show the following additional musicians: Guy Pratt (bass); Jon Carin (keyboards); Tim Renwick (guitar); Gary Wallis (percussion); Candy Dulfer (saxophone); and Durga McBroom, Sam Brown (who had recently been in the charts with Stop!), Vicki Brown (Sam’s mum and Joe’s first wife; ex Vernon girl, who sadly passed away a year after this gig) & Clare Torry (who sang the original vocal on Great Gig in the Sky on DSOTM) all on backing vocals. A fitting end to a great concert; it was good to see Pink Floyd again, and I particularly enjoyed Shine On You Crazy Diamond. We left during the encore; it took ages to find our car as there were no markings or lights in the car park.
24 Jan
Pink Floyd Wembley Empire Pool 17th March 1977
Pink Floyd Wembley Empire Pool 17th March 1977
The next time I saw Pink Floyd was during the “In the Flesh” tour, also known as “Animals” tour, in support of their new album “Animals”. The UK leg of the tour took in 5 nights at Wembley Empire Pool, and 4 nights at Stafford Bingley Hall. I went to the 3rd night at Wembley. I went down by train, leaving Newcastle around 3pm, straight on the tube across to Wembley, arriving at the Empire Pool around 7pm. The show followed the format that had become the norm for Floyd in the 70s; two parts, the first set featuring the new album “Animals”, and the second showcasing their last release “Wish You Were Here”. The encore was “Us and Them” from DSOTM the night I attended; some nights it would be “Money”, and one lucky audience in the States got the last ever performance of “Careful with that axe Eugene”. 
The tour featured large inflatable puppets, including the famous inflatable pig which flew over us and around the Empire Pool during “Pigs on the Wing”. I enjoyed the gig but found the band somewhat distant, and distant in a literal sense from my seat way up in the tiers. I’d seen the Sex Pistols live a few months before, and was starting to get interested in punk, and as part of that I was losing faith in bands like the Floyd. After the show I got the tube straight back to Kings Cross and caught the midnight mail train north, which got me back home around 7am. This was the last time I saw Pink Floyd for some 13 years; I missed the Wall shows at Earls Court, which in hindsight was a mistake that I now regret.
First set: Sheep; Pigs on the Wing 1; Dogs; Pigs on the Wing 2; Pigs (Three Different Ones)
Second set: Shine On You Crazy Diamond 1 – 5; Welcome to the Machine; Have a Cigar; Wish You Were Here; Shine On You Crazy Diamond 6 – 9. Encore: Us and Them
23 Jan
Mogwai Newcastle Tyne Theatre 22nd January 2014
Mogwai Newcastle Tyne Theatre 22nd January 2014
Support from Aidan Moffat
Its a long time since I’ve been to see a band who I’m not familiar with at all. Thanks to David’s friend Dan, for giving Laura the chance to see Mogwai last night. I really didn’t know what to expect from this band; I’d heard of them, but to my shame I can’t pretend to know any of their material. The Tyne Theatre was packed, and I can see why. Mogwai’s music is powerful, intense, a little dark, very loud at times and just fascinating. They are a five piece from Glasgow who play largely instrumental pieces; I think I counted two songs with vocals. They are celebrating the launch of their new album, ‘Rave Tapes’ and last night was a special warm up gig for a tour, which includes two sold-out concerts at the Royal Festival Hall later this week. Their songs are lengthy and guitar-based pieces; on several of them there were four of them all playing guitar at the same time. Lots of strong, simple, repetitive, mathematical, patterned rhythms. Loads of distortion, dynamics, fuzz and reverb; quite difficult to categorise. I thought I heard shades of Pink Floyd, Joy Division, Kraftwerk, and even Hawkwind. Laura was reminded of Nirvana. Great stuff.
Setlist: Heard About You Last Night; Rano Pano; Master Card; I’m Jim Morrison, I’m Dead; Travel Is Dangerous; The Lord Is Out of Control; Friend of the Night; Ithica 27ø9; Ex-Cowboy; Blues Hour; How to Be a Werewolf; Remurdered. Encore: Deesh; Mexican Grand Prix; Batcat
Mogwai are Dominic Aitchison (bass), Stuart Braithwaite (guitar, vocals), Martin Bulloch (drums), Barry Burns (keyboard, computer, guitar) and John Cummings (guitar, computer).
22 Jan
Pink Floyd at the Knebworth Festival. Knebworth Park, 5th July 1975
Pink Floyd at the Knebworth Festival. Knebworth Park, 5th July 1975
Line-up: Pink Floyd; Steve Miller Band; Captain Beefheart; Roy Harper and Trigger; Linda Lewis; Graham Chapman (Monty Python); DJ’s John Peel & Pete Drummond.
This was my second visit to Knebworth, after seeing the Allman Brothers headline at the first festival in 1974. A group of mates had organised a coach to take us down there; it left on the Friday night (after closing time of course) from outside the Londonderry pub and got us to the site in the early hours of Saturday morning. The line-up for the day was pretty strong, but we were all there to see the Floyd play Dark Side of the Moon. Attendance was much higher than the previous year, there seemed to be a lot of people there. Ticket price was a bargain at £2.75 (one day I really must try to do a comparison with today’s prices). Linda Lewis opened the day and was her usual chirpy self; a great start to the festivities. Jesus was dancing down the front. Monty Python’s Graham Chapman kept popping up to entertain us between bands, although some of his humour was lost in the vast space between stage and crowd. Peel was DJ for the day (as was the norm for festivals in those days) along with Pete Drummond. 
Next up was Roy Harper, a favourite of mine whose set was in two parts; the first featuring Roy playing acoustically with a small orchestra conducted by David Bedford. He then strapped on his electric guitar and was joined by his band Trigger which featured Chris Spedding on guitar (ex Jack Bruce band, and soon to be solo star with “Mororbikin'” 🙂 ), Dave Cochrane on bass and Bill Bruford on drums (ex Yes and King Crimson). Roy had a chat with us all, as he always did, and played some great songs including the classic “Another Day”. The late great and magnificent Captain Beefheart booglarised us, confusing some of the audience who just thought he was weird (which of course he was, but he was also excellent). Steve Miller was next. We’d all heard the classic song “The Joker” of course, but looking at published setlists of his performance that day, it seems that he didn’t play it (which I find hard to believe, bet we were disappointed); to be honest I don’t recall much about his set. There was then a long wait before Floyd came on. Soon two spitfires were flying overhead to herald Floyd’s arrival on stage. The show was similar to that which I had seen at Newcastle Odeon a year previously; they had their large circular screen, and the first half of their set featured new songs which would ultimately appear on Wish You Were Here and Animals. The second half was Dark Side of the Moon, with Echoes as the encore. 
Just before the start of Dark Side of the Moon a plane flew down over the crowd (travelling down a wire from the lighting tower) and crashed into the stage. And then came the familiar opening voice “I’ve been mad for f***ing years, absolutely years…..” and the haunting laughter….and we were off, witnessing the last performance of DSOTM by the Floyd with Roger Waters. It would be another 30 years until I saw this line-up play some of it again at Live 8 in Hyde Park; but that’s a story for a few days time. The sound wasn’t great from where we were sitting, but it was amazing to see them perform their classic album in a field on a cool summer’s evening. Echoes was the perfect closer for the day. Then it was out of the field through the crowds and campsites (and chants of “Wally”) and back on bus, and up the A1. Actually I think we were missing one guy, and had to wait a little before the driver decided he would leave without him. We then saw the guy hitching at the side of the road and picked him up. We were back in the early hours of Sunday morning, tired but with the sound of Echoes still running through our heads.
My friends John and Susan were also on the coach. Susan’s memories of the day: I don’t remember very much about the acts apart from Pink Floyd and I think that was because I was so thankful that it meant the festival was almost over! I remember the day as sitting on a blanket in a damp field amongst thousands of people (and a few small dogs), with mist and drizzle falling pretty much all day, being absolutely starving and having to use the most horrendous bathroom facilities I had ever encountered. I remember being terrified that we would miss the bus home, and I have never been so thankful as I was to see the Toll Bar on that Sunday morning!
Setlist: Raving and Drooling (Sheep); You’ve got to be Crazy (Dogs); Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts 1 to 5); Have a Cigar (with Roy Harper); Shine On You Crazy Diamond (Parts 6 to 9); 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: Echoes. The image of Knebworth House is reproduced here through the permissions of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
21 Jan
Pink Floyd Newcastle Odeon 8th November 1974
Pink Floyd Newcastle 1974
Pink Floyd issued The Dark Side of the Moon in March 1973, over a year after I’d seen them perform early versions of the songs at a concert at Newcastle City Hall. Dark Side of the Moon was a massive and immediate success, topping the US LP chart and reaching No 2 in the UK chart. It remained in the chart for 741 weeks from 1973 to 1988. Pink Floyd did a short winter tour of the UK in late 1974, stopping off for two nights at Newcastle Odeon. I attended the first of the two nights. The concert comprised two sets, the first set consisting of new material, and the second being a performance of their latest album (Dark Side of the Moon). They would retain a similar format for their next tour. Floyd said little to the audience; they wandered quietly on stage and performed the music, illuminated by an impressive light show, and a large circular screen, which showed a series of videos recorded to accompany each song.
The first set consisted of three songs; a lengthy version of Shine on You Crazy Diamond (which was to appear on “Wish You Were Here” the following year and sounded amazing on first hearing) and early versions of Sheep and Dogs (which were to develop and would later appear on “Animals” in 1977). The concert was excellent; technically perfect though the band appeared distant. The programme (pictured here) took the form of a great little “The Pink Floyd” comic: “A Super All-Action Official Music Programme for Boys and Girls!” and featured stories about each band member who became “Rog of the Rovers”, “Captain Mason R.N.”, “Rich Right £”, and “Dave Derring” (Wizzo stuff 🙂 ).
First Set: Shine On You Crazy Diamond; Raving and Drooling (early version of “Sheep”); You’ve Got to Be Crazy (early version of “Dogs”).
Second Set: Speak to Me; Breathe; On the Run; Time; The Great Gig in the Sky; Money; Us and Them; Any Colour You Like; Brain Damage; Eclipse. Encore: Echoes.
Pink Floyd: David Gilmour; Roger Waters; Richard Wright; Nick Mason.
Additional tour musicians: Dick Parry (saxophone); The Blackberries (Venetta Fields & Carlena Williams; backing vocals).
“You reached for the secret too soon, you cried for the moon.
Shine on you crazy diamond” (Pink Floyd, 1974).
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