Steve Harley Newcastle City Hall Feb 1976 Timeless Flight
Steve Harley was back at the City Hall in February 1976, almost a year after his previous triumphant gig. This time he chose to play two nights; I went along to the first night’s show. I recall wondering if he could sell out two nights at the time and although it was quite full, the City Hall was no means full on the night I attended. The singles which followed Make Me Smile had not been very successful. The first single from the latest album Timeless Flight was Black and White, and didn’t register in the charts at all. Steve said at the time “I knew it was either going to be massive – top three – or a complete stiff. It turned out to be a stiff.” For me the stand out tracks on Timeless Flight is Red Is a Mean, Mean Colour. A second single from the album White, White Dove also failed to chart. 
None of this seemed to bother Steve who was on fine form at the gig in February 1976. In his mind, and through his performance, he remained a superstar and never seemed to doubt the course his music was taking. I went with my friend Ian, who was also a Steve Harley fan at the time, and we both enjoyed the gig. I don’t think there was any support act for the tour. As well as tracks from the new album, all the favourites were played. The closing song at the time remained Sebastian, with Tumbling Down and Make Me Smile held back for the encore. Steve Harley was an intriguing performer, coming over as very arrogant one moment, and then quite soft and sentimental the next. His songs were also difficult to categorise, and his lyrics quite deep. It seemed to me that he had immense confidence and self-belief, sticking to his own track even when the hit singles stopped coming, as was the case in early 1976. On stage his performance was as strong as ever.
Posts Tagged ‘music’
15 Apr
Steve Harley Newcastle City Hall Feb 1976 Timeless Flight
14 Apr
Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel Newcastle City Hall 1975
Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel Newcastle City Hall 1975
The Best Years of Our Lives: Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)
Support band: Sailor
1975 was a big year for Steve Harley. The original Cockney Rebel, which he formed with violinist John Crocker, had split with a lot of bad feeling. Steve quickly formed a new version of the band, with only drummer Stuart Elliott remaining from the old Rebel. The new band was named Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel rather than simply Cockney Rebel, and also featured Jim Cregan (ex-Family), George Ford on bass and Duncan McKay on Keyboards. Steve wrote a song about the break-up, blaming his former band-mates for deserting him. That song was Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me). As soon as I heard it, I knew Steve was back stronger and better than ever, and that he was going to have a mega hit. Make Me Smile was Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel’s biggest selling hit singkle, selling over one million copies globally; it was to be their only number one hit, reaching the top of the UK Singles Chart in February 1975. The single was taken from the Best Years of Our Lives lp, which was the most successful Cockney Rebel album. A tour was announced and sold out immediately and called at Newcastle City Hall in April 1975. My memories of that gig are of an amazing night. Make Me Smile had just dropped off No 1, and the crowd gave Steve and the new band a reception like few I have seen before or since. Support came from Sailor who were wearing their sailor suits, and were soon to hit the charts themselves with Glass of Champagne. I think Steve came on stage very late that night. I seem to remember a big delay before he took to the stqge; my memory tells me that he explained to us that he was late because he had been recording Top of the Pops (this is where I start to question my fuzzy recollections as Make Me Smile had dropped out of the charts at that point and Mr Raffles had not yet been released, so a Top of the Pops appearance that week doesn’t seem that likely). My fuzzy memory also tells me that they started the set with Make Me Smile, and played it again at the end, before the traditional crowd singalong to Tumbling Down. I’m sure they also played old favourites like Sebastian. What I am certain about was it was an amazing night with the crowd going crazy; it was about welcoming back Steve, being pleased that the new band was so good, and celebrating the success of Make Me Smile. This is another gig that I wish I could go back and relive. I have also seen that there was a programme for the tour, which I don’t have. They must have sold out earlier on the tour, as was sometimes the case in those days. I must look for one on ebay.
13 Apr
Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel 1974 gigs
Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel 1974 Sunderland Locarno, Newcastle Mayfair and the Reading Festival
I’m going to spend a few days blogging on Steve Harley, who remains to this day one of my all-time heroes, a great songwriter, a very cheeky guy, and a great performer. Steve in 1974: “I set out to be a winner. I don’t want to lose. I spent four years in a hospital but I never expected favours from anyone. I don’t give sympathy because I don’t expect it. Nice guys don’t make it.” I was a big Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel fan in the 70s and saw them on every tour. I first saw them at Sunderland Locarno, on the Psychomodo tour in April 1974. Support act was Be Bop Deluxe, who I have already blogged about. The place was packed and a lot of people, including me, came along earlier than usual in order to catch Bill Nelson, who was great. Steve had hit the chart with Judy Teen by this point and was dressing extravigantly; his stage gear was very Clockwork Orange. I’d seem him play Hideaway on TV, and had heard the epic Sebastian, which is a favourite of mine to this day. Cockney Rebel were excellent that night; Steve always has great stage presence and those early singles are pure class. A live favourite for me was always the beautiful and haunting Sebastian. I can picture Steve now, standing in a single spot light, framing his face in his hands, singing the open lines: “Radiate simply, the candle is burning, so low for me; Generate me limply, can’t seem to place your name, cherie; To rearrange all these thoughts in a moment is suicide; Come to a strange place, we’ll talk over old times we never smile; Somebody called me Sebastian…..”. Pure Magic. And nothing beats being in a packed concert crowd singing along to the anthem Tumbling Down: “Oh! dear, look what they’ve done to the blues, blues, blues”. A group of us were so impressed by Cockney Rebel that we went along to see them again at Newcastle Mayfair a few weeks later, and lived it all again. And then I saw them at the Reading festival where they played the Sunday night, and the whole Reading crowd sang along to Tumbling Down. Simply awesome; you had to be there to understand. But the best was yet to come in the following year; and I’ll blog about that tomorrow. I think I’ll go upstairs and play Sebastian and Tumbling Down to remind me of those great days.
12 Apr
Tim Hardin Sunderland Empire Sat 19th April 1975
Tim Hardin Sunderland Empire Sat 19th April 1975
Special guests City Waites 
I can’t pretend that I knew much about Tim Hardin before I went to see him at Sunderland Empire. I knew he was a legendary figure and hey he was playing in my home town, so a friend and I went along to the concert. Support came from the City Waites, who specialise in traditional “English music of the 16th and 17th centuries from the street, tavern, theatre and countryside – the music of the common man”, and are still playing to this day. I am so glad that I got to see Tim Hardin. The concert was superb. It was just Tim sitting with an acoustic guitar singing those classic songs. I think he may have been accompanied by a double bass player (Danny Thompson is in my mind, but that could be my memory playing tricks again). I was pleasantly surprised to recognise quite a few of his songs that night: How Can We Hang On To A Dream, which I had seen the Nice perform at the same venue some years earlier; If I Were A Carpenter, I knew the Four Tops hit, and had also seen Stan Webb play an excellent version with Chicken Shack several times; Reason to Believe, which I knew from the Rod Stewart version; and Lady Came From Baltimore, the Scott Walker version was most familiar to me. A great concert by a true genius. How Can We Hang On To A Dream remains one of my favourite songs to this day. Tim Hardin suffered from a drug habit in his later years, and sadly died of a heroin overdose on December 29th 1980, just a few days after his 39th birthday. A tragic loss. 
Postscript. I found a ticket from the Empire which shows a date of Sun 20 April, while the flyer lists the show as being on Sat 19th April. I can’t be certain that this is my ticket for this particular gig, as (annoyingly) the Empire didn’t list the artist on the ticket at that time. The price looks right, as the flyer lists the price in the stalls as 50p and 60p, and my ticket is 60p for the front stalls. I suspect that this is the correct ticket and the show was moved by one day. I recall being quite close to the front, which would also fit (my ticket shows row E).
10 Apr
Fashion Newcastle Polytechnic 1982
Fashion Newcastle Polytechnic 1982
I just found this programme in a box. I obviously missed this when I covered the letter F; anywhere here goes. I saw Fashion at Newcastle Polytechnic in October 22nd 1982. Kajagoogoo were the support act. The programme lists the members of Fashion as: Troy Tate; Mulligan; Darby; Dik Davis; Marlon Recci. Although largely forgotten, Fashion were quite influential at the time. They grew out of the post-punk movement in Birmingham, alongside, and influencing Duran Duran, who supported them on their early shows. I first saw Fashion as support for the B-52s at Redcar Bowl in 1978. The line up had changed a little by the 1982 tour, as had their music. By 1982 Fashion had lost their lead singer Luke Sky, and had released their second album Fabrique, which was much in the new romantic and electronic mode. Fashion were also very much about image, all of them dressing very trendily; the programme features some quite arty photos of the band and its members. Mulligan was, as I recall, the main man, with dreadlocks and playing keyboards and bass. From wiki: “At the end of 2007 beginning of 2008, Luke (Sky) James, the original guitarist and singer of Mulligan’s Fashion, launched a Myspace site devoted to the band. On the site James wrote of the original line-up: “2 Dead” (Davis and Cottrell) / “1 living” (James) and “1 missing” (referring to Mulligan.)”
9 Apr
Roy Harper 100 Club London 19 Jan 2007
Roy Harper 100 Club 19 Jan 2007
I went with David to see Roy Harper at the legendary 100 Club on 19th January 2007. Roy played a run of shows at the London club, featuring one of his classic albums in its entirety each night. I think we got Stormcock that night, along with a selection of Roy favourites (I remember him playing White Man). This is the only time that I’ve been to the 100 Club, although I’ve walked past many times, wondering what it was like inside. The club is a great little venue for an intimate concert, and it was packed to the walls for Roy’s gig. 
You could hardly move, and getting a good view of the small stage wasn’t easy. Roy was his usual amicable self, with lots of chat with the crowd. Sadly a drunken guy was heckling him and threw his shirt at Roy, which hit him in the face. Roy carried on and handled it as well as anyone could. Roy seems to attract some crazy people as well as friends to his gigs. Roy did a signing session after the show, and I bought a copy of the Passions of Great Fortune lyric book, which he kindly signed for me. Then David and I walked back to our hotel somewhere along the Euston Road and we were up early in the morning to catch our train back up North and home.
This is the last of my posts on Roy. I’ve seen him a couple of times since this gig, including a show at the Sage, which I went to with Laura, where he supported Joanna Newsom, and his 70th birthday concert at the Roya Festival Hall a couple of years ago, which I went to with David. I have already blogged on those shows. I hope I get the chance to see Roy again one day. He is playing a couple of festivals this summer, but I’m not aiming to go to along. Maybe next year. Soon, as Roy wrote in my book (see scan :)).
8 Apr
Roy Harper Newcastle Tyne Theatre 2003
I’ve spent the last ten years or so reconnecting with some of my favourites bands and artists. Roy Harper is one of those. I went along to this show at the Tyne Theatre with David, not having seen Roy live for around 15 years, and was really looking forward to seeing him again. I wasn’t disappointed. Roy was accompanied by Matt Churchill on guitar. A 95-minute audience recording exists from the Glasgow show of this tourwith Tom Tiddler’s Ground, First Thing In The Morning, Don’t You Grieve, Pinches Of Salt, Highway Blues, Another Day, When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease, Me And My Woman, North Country, One Man Rock And Roll Band and The Green Man. David enjoyed the gig and went along with a friend to see Roy at Leeds City Varieties a couple of weeks later.
6 Apr
Roy Harper Buddle Arts Centre Wallsend 1986
Roy Harper Buddle Arts Centre Wallsend 1986 
I next saw Roy Harper at the Buddle Arts Centre in Wallsend on 30th Sep 1986. The Buddle is a sadly missed local venue, that played host to many concerts over the years, although this was the only occasion that I attended a gig there. The Buddle was housed in an old school, and the concert room was a small intimate venue. It was great to see Roy close up again; just him, his acoustic guitar, his songs and his great banter with the crowd. I can’t recall the exact set, but I do remember that I was pleased that he played a lot of old favourites. I think that included When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease, Tom Tiddler’s Ground, Me And My Woman, I Hate The White Man and One Of Those Days In England.
Some information about the Buddle from the North Tyneside Council website: “For 27 years, the Buddle Arts Centre in Wallsend was North Tyneside’s community arts and creative industries resource and gained a deserved reputation as one of the most distinctive and innovative arts facilities in the North East. When the centre closed in October 2008, it brought to an end the latest phase of a history stretching back more than 130 years. The building was originally commissioned by the Wallsend School Board and completed in 1876. 
It was officially opened as the Buddle Board Schools on 30th July 1877. For some years the building housed the Wallsend Arts Centre, a voluntary organsiation, but its future was uncertain before beginning a new era as the Buddle Arts Centre on 21st September 1981. The Buddle Arts Centre was one of the first facilities of its kind in the North East – but from its earliest days it was really one of a kind. The core of the facility was the intimate performance space and exhibitions gallery. The centre quickly built up a reputation for its music and theatre programme, the quality of its exhibitions, its pioneering support for disability arts, its resources for youth music development.”
5 Apr
First Tyneside Music Festival 1986 Roy Harper
First Tyneside Music Festival mid 1980s Roy Harper
Strange one this. I googled this festival and can find very little on it. I have the small programme which I have included here, and looking at the line-up this event must have taken place in the mid 80s. The festival was at Exhibition Park just outside of the town. There were folk, rock and jazz stages. Roy Harper appeared in a marquee on the Friday night, as part of the Folk stage. Support came from Michael Chapman and Isaac Gullory. A group of us went through to see Roy. He was back to playing solo with an acoustic guitar, and sang a set of favourites. The rest of the bill included Beloius Some and Gonzalez. I also recall seeing Joan Jett and the Blackhearts at an event on Exhibition Park. I can’t recall whether this was the same event, however, Joan Jett is not mentioned in the programme, so I guess it was a different event. Actually my (very bad) memory seems to be telling me that the Joan Jett concert was a Radio 1 event held at Newcatle? I also saw Roy Harper at Newcastle Riverside around the same time, and remember him playing a very long (and excellent) version of Me and My Woman. Roy went through a difficult time in the 80s, both financially and musically. Roy, speaking to the Telegraph in 2011: “I ended up owing EMI £82,000 in 1980. I lost my house because I was in so much debt. So in 1982, I started again from scratch. But I wouldn’t want you to write this up in a negative way, because it’s been another lifetime since then, and it’s been a great life, actually.” 
Postscript. I found my ticket for this event which shows it took place on Friday 8th August 1986. Mystery solved.
4 Apr
Roy Harper Newcastle City Hall 1977
Roy Harper Newcastle City Hall 1977
The next time I saw Roy Harper was in October 1977 at a concert at Newcastle City Hall. The programme lists the Albion Band as support (they were formed by Ashley Hutching, founding member of Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span). However I also have a flyer for Spriguns in the programme, and Mitch tells me that is was them who supported that night. Roy was backed by the same electric band as earlier in the year. I think by now they were called Black Sheep, and featured Henry McCullough on lead guitar. Roy was performing a full electric set at the time. An audience recording from a concert in Dublin in 1977 shows the setlist as: One Of Those Days In England, Another Day, Naked Flame, Forget Me Not, Cherishing The Lonesome, Prick Up In The Saddle, Take Me Home, Referendum, When An Old Cricketer Leaves The Crease, Highway Blues and Grown Ups Are Just Silly Children. 
I guess this is the sort of set that Roy will have played at the City Hall, however, he has always tended to vary the set from one night to another. The cover of the tour programme shows Roy with one of his famous Black Sheep. The black sheep story came out when Roy became seriously ill with a strange illness called Osler-Weber-Rendu disease. He told the papers that he’d become ill after giving a sheep the kiss of life. In Roy’s words: “That same day, it was headline news in Australia and New Zealand. A big story there, given that the sheep outnumber the people about four to one. Then it hits the broadsheets here. The next thing I know, I’ve been kissing a sheep.” The illness was hardly a laughing matter, though. At first he was given seven years to live. However, “the doctor came back to my bedside a fortnight later and said ‘I think I’m wrong’. It’s been that sort of situation ever since.”
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