It’s been over 40 years since I first saw Culture Club in concert, and I’m pleased to say that their recent show at Newcastle Arena showed they’ve lost none of their flair. The gig was part of a special tour celebrating their first two albums, “Kissing to Be Clever” and “Colour by Numbers”, and featured those records played in full—track by track, hit by hit. I first saw Culture Club at Newcastle City Hall in 1983, just as they were really taking off.
At that point, they’d released their debut album, had already bagged a number one single, and the City Hall was packed out with fans eager to see what all the fuss was about. I remember George sweeping onto the stage in a multi-coloured suit with those trademark dreadlocks. It was a great show—more pop and reggae than rock, and noticeably quieter than most gigs I’d been to at the time. I also recall that after the concert, we went on to the Mayfair to catch Marillion—those were the days!
Move forward 40 years to when I saw Rod Stewart Durham Cricket Ground 30 June 2023. The support act was none other than Boy George and Culture Club. We arrived in time to catch most of their set including great versions of their hits “Church of the Poison Mind”, “Time”, “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?” And “Karma Chameleon”. All played with George’s usual classic style. Excellent. George also returned to his roots and played a great cover of T Rex’s “Get It On”.
Rod returns with a new outfit and is joined by Boy George. George explains that the next song “The Killing of Georgie” means a lot to him personally, and how his mother gave it to him as a present in a brown paper bag. It was her way of letting him know that she realised he was gay. Rod and George deliver the song together and it is very appropriate and very moving. George explains that he has to leave because his Nan is not well. Fast forward to 2024, and George may be older, but he still knows how to put on a show. From the opening number White Boy, the band powered through both albums with confidence and style.
The visuals were slick, the band tight, and George’s voice—while perhaps a little lower than it once was—was still rich and expressive. The hits came thick and fast: “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me”, “Time (Clock of the Heart)”, “Church of the Poison Mind”, and of course “Karma Chameleon”, which brought the house down. The whole arena sang along and it was hard not to be swept up in the energy of it all.
Support came from Tony Hadley and Heaven 17—both well-received and great fun in their own right—but it was George who held the night together. He remains a fascinating performer: charismatic, stylish, and full of personality. It’s always a risk seeing a band so far removed from their heyday, but this was no nostalgia cash-in. It felt like a proper celebration of some classic pop music, played with heart and a bit of theatrical flair.
Set List: White Boy, You Know I’m Not Crazy, I’ll Tumble 4 Ya, Take Control, Love Twist, Boy, Boy, (I’m the Boy, I’m Afraid of Me, White Boys Can’t Control It, Do You Really Want to Hurt Me, Karma Chameleon, It’s a Miracle, Black Money, Changing Every Day, That’s the Way (I’m Only Trying to Help You), Church of the Poison Mind, Miss Me Blind, Mister Man, Stormkeeper, Victims, Colour by Numbers, Kissing 2 Be Clever, Get It On.
The Thompson Twins were named after the bumbling detectives in the Adventures of Tintin books, which were also a TV show. The Crab with The Golden Claws was my favourite. I would run in from playing in the street to watch it. I can still hear the intro: “Hergé’s Adventures of Tintin: The Crab with The Golden Claws”. See my images of a Thompson Twin model which Jan kindly bought me and my Tintin book which I bought on eBay.
But these Thompson Twins were very different. These started as a new wave outfit, formed in a squat full on left wing anarchic values. In my mind I have them bracketed with the Raincoats and the Mekons, who were similar new wave acts of the time. They were a large band comprising seven members, fronted by 
I remember the set as being very rhythmic, verging on dance, with lots of drums and percussion, and that there was much running about the stage by everyone. This was at the time of their second album Set which featured the single “In the Name of Love”. “In the Name of Love” was a dance hit, particularly in the US, and encouraged the band to follow a dancie/pop direction. Shortly after Set the band split and was reduced to the trio of Bailey, Currie and Leeway. Big success was to follow.
In early 1983 the new slimmed down Thompson Twins released their third album Quick Step and Side Kick. The album was much more of a slick pop/dance record and reached No 2 in the UK charts. It also gave them four UK singles chart entries with “Love on Your Side” (No. 9), “We Are Detective” (No. 7; I often wonder if this was a further reference to Tintin and his sidekicks the detectives The Thompson Twins), “Watching” (No. 33) and “Hold Me Now” (No. 4).
The Thompson Twins had made the transition from a new wave act living in a squat to massive international success. Their Side Kicks tour sold out everywhere. I saw them when the tour called at Newcastle City Hall. A fun show, all the hits, and very different from the band that I had seen only one year previously.
Roll-on 40 years and the Thompson Twins are back (well one of them anyway). Lead singer and front man Tom Bailey announced his new tour thus: “Thompson Twins Tom Bailey has today announced a major headline UK tour celebrating the 40th anniversary of the iconic eighties’ album ‘Into the Gap‘. The Thompson Twins are widely regarded as one of the most iconic bands of the 1980s and provided the soundtrack to many people’s lives during that incredible era of music.
On the seven date UK tour in May 2024, Tom will perform Into the Gap the 1984 lauded number 1 album in full. The album which has sold over five million copies worldwide spawned the distinctive new wave singles ‘Hold Me Now’, ‘Doctor Doctor’, ‘You Take Me Up’, ‘Sister of Mercy’ and ‘The Gap’.”
“Along with the album Tom will also perform Thompson Twin favourites including ‘If You Were Here’, ‘Lies’, ‘Lay Your Hands on Me’, ‘In the Name of Love’ and many more. Of the new tour Tom said: “Unbelievably, it’s the 40th anniversary of ‘Into the Gap’ next year, so I’m especially looking forward to touring the UK and playing all those songs along with some other favourites. Hope to see you there!” Tom’s Into the Gap 40th anniversary tour follows major festivals appearances around the world and is his first major UK headline tour since 2018.”
And so it was that Jan, and I were in The Glasshouse to witness Tom Bailey and all-female band perform those classic hits. Support came from 
Tom performed the concert in two sets, each one containing a group of great hits. He was visibly proud and obviously enjoying returning to the limelight. Hit after hit followed. Tom started the proceedings straight into those classic songs with “In the Name of Love”, “Lay Your Hands on Me” and some which were less familiar to me. He concluded the first set with a song which was by “One of my favourite bands”, Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer” bringing back memories of seeing Talking Heads “back in the day” at Newcastle Polytechnic (with, I think, Dire Straits as support, no less) and later at Newcastle City Hall, when they became more mainstream.
The second set contained more hits: “Sister of Mercy”, “You Take Me Up”, “Doctor! Doctor!”, closing with “Hold Me Now”. Fantastic. It really took me back. The encore included the aforementioned “We Are Detective” and “Love on Your Side”. I really enjoyed it, even though the electronic 80s is not my favourite era/genre. Tom, you did credit to those old hits. Many thanks to Jan for the photos and Chris for manipulating the site as usual.
Set One: In the Name of Love; Science Fiction; Lies; Lay Your Hands on Me; Runaway; If You Were Here; Shooting Star; Psycho Killer.
I have been meaning to see 
I was surprised just how true to the original Jam ideology and mod culture From The Jam were. They were in fact a revelation to me. Much, much better than I expected. The Boiler Shop was completely sold out, packed full of mods from every era, some wearing sharp suits and others wearing Parka coats. And to my pleasant surprise, the support act was Purple Hearts who I remember well from the late 1970s and early 1980s; I saw them several times during that crazy period.
In The Jam, Bruce and drummer Rick Buckler were the driving force, power and rhythm section behind singer, guitarist, and songwriter Paul Weller. Bruce’s versatility is evident, taking lead vocals on “David Watts” (The Kinks) and writing “News Of The World”, which to this day appears as the theme to the BBC’s Mock the Week show and has introduced his work to a new generation of fans.”
It is nice to know that “Bruce is again friends with Paul Weller which he emphasises is more important than music…… Paul asked Bruce to perform on his Wake Up The Nation album and join him on stage at the Royal Albert Hall on 25th May 2010, to a rapturous standing ovation from the audience. “No one could quite believe what they were seeing, it was history in the making and grown men had tears in their eyes” said one fan.”” (Again from the From the Jam website).
Support band Purple Hearts are: “an English mod revival band, formed in 1977 in Romford, eastern Greater London. They were often considered one of the best English mod revival groups, the NME calling them “one of the few mod bands to actually cut it on rock ‘n’ roll terms. In September 1979, the band scored a minor hit with their debut single, “Millions Like Us” which reached number 57 in the UK Singles Chart. The band then toured the UK with Secret Affair and Back To Zero on ‘the March Of The Mods’ tour in 1979.” I remember the March Of The Mods tour very well and have written about it on this blog. It called at Newcastle Mayfair and there was complete mayhem, involving fights between skinheads (“We hate the mods”) and mods (“We are, we are the mods”) and tables being thrown from the balcony of the ballroom onto the dancefloor below. The bouncers came in, complete with Alsatian dogs and brought some control to the situation. Crazy days.
Jackie and I arrived in time to catch Purple Hearts who were excellent, playing a mix of songs old and new; each track blending punk with 60s mod. A great start to the evening. We went to look for some From the Jam merchandise. The guy at the merchandise stand told us “I am selling Purple Hearts merchandise, the guy selling From the Jam merchandise has not arrived yet but all the merchandise is under the table”. Well, I don’t know what had happened but he never appeared so we were unable to buy any From the Jam gear. Never mind. Perhaps I will be tempted to buy something from their online store.
After a short break the main act took to the stage exploding into “All Mod Cons” followed by a string of Jam hits. Each song sounded true to the original, Russell Hastings performing the front man part extremely well, and the full band accompanying Bruce and Russell were great. Hit after hit followed: “David Watts”, “Billy Hunt”, “A Bomb in Wardour Street”, “Down in the Tube Station At Midnight”, “Pretty Green” (now I realise where Liam Gallagher got the name for his clothing range: I recently bought a shirt from the site and foolishly did not wear it for the occasion), “Town Called Malice”, “That’s Entertainment” and closing song “The Eton Rifles”. The entire crowd sang along; this band is the real thing and, judging by my experience at The Boiler Shop they have a very strong and loyal following.
The encores were “Beat Surrender” (I had forgotten just how good that song is), “Going Underground” and finally, back to the start with “In the City”. Fantastic. I would have liked to have seen them play “The Butterfly Collector” (my favourite Jam song) and close with “The Batman theme” just as they did in the early days. But then you can’t have everything.
Setlist (something like this): All Mod Cons; To Be Someone (Didn’t We Have a Nice Time); Mr. Clean; David Watts; In the Crowd; Billy Hunt; It’s Too Bad; Fly; The Place I Love; English Rose; ‘A’ Bomb in Wardour Street; Down in the Tube Station at Midnight; Pretty Green; Town Called Malice; That’s Entertainment; Lula; Heat Wave; The Eton Rifles. Encore: Beat Surrender; Going Underground; In the City.
This was a Mini festival of music which started at 4:30 PM! As I had other commitments on the afternoon I could not make the start of the show. I went along at around 7:30 PM just in time to catch the end of 
A massive singalong and a great introduction to our evening. Sadly, we had already missed 
Next up was the Wedding Present who were one of my main reasons for attending, the other being to see 
They were very loud, fast; reminiscent of the noise of The Birthday Party (Nick Cave’s first band); and David’s favourite band at the time of their formation. David is a very charismatic front man. The songs were unfamiliar to me but I greatly enjoyed each of them. Shades of punk and the Clash ran through my mind. They played a lovely loud, fast version of “Make Me Smile (Come up and See Me)” as a tribute to the late, great, sadly missed Steve Harley. Thanks Ciaran for the recommendation. I must see them again.
I have seen Peter Hook several times over the years. Firstly, with the pre-Joy Division band Warsaw, then the legendary Joy Division themselves and several times with New Order. I also saw him in an intimate book launch show where he talked about his career, demonstrated his different bass guitars and signed copies of his book (which I purchased and stored away upstairs in my hoarder’s vault):. As expected, Peter was centre-stage, bass low down almost on his knee (although not quite as low down as it used to be, perhaps) and delivered an excellent set including many Joy Division classics.
One welcome surprise came a few songs into the set. Peter declared (something like this): “I played my second ever gig in this hall. Our first gig, when we were called Warsaw, before we transformed into Joy Division, was in Manchester and we were playing with north-east band Penetration. They kindly offered to let us play with them the following night here so we came up and supported Penetration and the Adverts in this very hall”. Well, you were almost right, Peter, but I was at that concert and I am 100% certain that it was not in the City Hall but it was in the old Guildhall down by the Quayside.
I remember this particular concert very well. I followed Penetration, and many other punk bands at the time, and met Gary, from Penetration by chance outside the Guildhall. He said something like “We were playing in Manchester last night and met this new great band Warsaw. We invited them up to play here tonight”. The lineup was (in order of appearance): Warsaw, Harry Hack and the Big G (local Newcastle punk band), Penetration and headliners the Adverts, featuring Gaye) Advert on base and vocalist and bandleader TV Smith, had just had a hit with “Gary Gilmore’s eyes” (Gary Gilmore was an American killer who was executed in 1976 and the song is about a guy who wakes up in hospital having had an eye transplant and realises he has been given Gilmore’s eyes!) Crazy or what?.
My recollection of Warsaw is very sketchy but I did watch them and thought they were a reasonable new fast punk band. I almost shouted from my vantage point on the wheelchair platform “No Peter it was the Guildhall” but I was too reserved to do so and anyway I don’t think he would have heard me. I have a flyer for the gig somewhere but it doesn’t mention Warsaw at all as they were a late addition to the bill. Peter Hook then proceeded to play a Warsaw song which I’m afraid I did not recognise but sound quite good. Peter also dedicated a song to Steve Harley; the guy is much missed they ended their set with a brilliant rendition of “Love Will Tear us Apart”. Another fantastic singalong.
Peter Hook & the Light Setlist: No Love Lost; Exercise One; Digital; Warsaw; Reaction; Inside the Line; Ice Age; Novelty; Disorder; New Dawn Fades; She’s Lost Control; Shadowplay; Isolation; Twenty Four Hours; Atmosphere; Ceremony; Transmission; Love Will Tear Us Apart
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