Tony Blackburn takes me right back to the 60s, Pirate Radio, and then Radio 1. I was brought up on 60s music and still love that era. Tony was a hero of mine at the time and I remember him playing the first song on Radio 1 which was, I believe, “Flowers in the Rain” by The Move. We all listened along to Radio 1. It was the soundtrack of my youth and I was a member of the Radio 1 club which visited Sunderland Top Rank (The Rink) sometime in the early 1970s.
It was an exciting day; we all got the bus to the town on our lunch break from School. The Rink was packed and we saw lots of people we knew from the town and from other schools. Dave Lee Travis was the DJ on that particular day, rather than Tony, and he was playing all of the chart hits of the time. “Double Barrel” by Dave and Ansel Collins was No. 1 and the Top Ten also featured T Rex (Hot Love), Dawn (Knock Three Times), Ringo (It Don’t Come Easy) and the Rolling Stones (Brown Sugar). Cool or what?!
I remember being very upset at having to leave to go back to school. Missed most of Paper Lace (who were later to hit the chart with “Billy Don’t be a Hero”) and some of my more fearless school mates decided not to return for the afternoon. Not sure if they received any comeback as a result. Great days. It was with such memories in my head that I went along to the City Hall with carers Jan and Jackie to see Tony Blackburn and the Sounds of the 60s band play the soundtrack of my youth once more. It sounded exciting and I would finally get to see my childhood hero, Tony. It doesn’t get much better.
The publicity for the concert said: “Every week, listeners across the UK tune into BBC Radio 2 to hear DJ Tony Blackburn OBE play the greatest songs of the 60s. Now, the legendary DJ will be bringing the Sounds of the 60s show to Bournemouth and celebrating the music of this much-loved decade. Featuring stories and songs from perhaps the most iconic 10 years in music, fashion and popular culture, the Sounds of the 60s tour will bring to life memories of the era.
The Sounds of the 60s All-Star Band and Singers will perform classic hits from the likes of Diana Ross & The Supremes, The Everly Brothers, Elvis, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys, The Drifters, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and many more. With this year marking the 60th anniversary of his first broadcast on pirate radio station Radio Caroline South in 1964, Tony Blackburn is remembered as a defining voice of the 1960’s.
His incredible career has seen him present on BBC Radio 1, Top of the Pops, and since 2017 he has presented Sounds of the 60s on Radio 2, a hugely popular show on BBC Radio. A champion, in particular, of Soul music throughout the 60s, Tony has been recognised with 37 awards to his name including two Gold Awards for Outstanding Contribution to Radio; becoming the first person in history to receive two of these lifetime achievement awards.”
So, the format of the show was Tony Blackburn telling anecdotes about Pirate Radio and the early days of Radio 1 along with the house band, the Sounds of the 60s, playing medleys of, Tony told us, over 100 songs from the 1960s. It was great to see Tony and the house band performed lots of familiar songs from throughout that decade. The Sounds of the 60s feature a full band and are fronted by a male and female singers who do a great job covering all of those classic songs. Lots of fun for a nostalgic night out and it was excellent witnessing Tony Blackburn and listening to his stories of Pirate Radio in the 1960s and the start of Radio 1.
Tony told how his favourite DJ of the time was Kenny Everett, and how he (Tony) was now 81 years old! He still looks great. He also mentioned Tom Jones and how he was still performing and that Tom was older than Tony. This was followed by a medley of Tom Jones’ classics. Tony took us right back to the start of the 60s when he played in a band in Bournemouth. This was followed by early 60s hits such as Cliff Richard and “The Young Ones ”, Brian Poole and the Tremeloes and other artists of the period. We were treated to a Motown section featuring classic soul tracks, and so on.
A great evening of nostalgia which Jan, Jackie and I all greatly enjoyed. Many thanks to Jackie for the photographs and Chris for manipulating the site.
It has been a long time since I last saw 
The Forum website told me: “He’s been a major star for four decades. Paul Young broke into the big time 40 years ago when No Parlez went to number one and spawned iconic hits like Wherever I Lay led to My Hat (That’s My Home). More success followed with the number one album The Secret Of Association and the worldwide hit Everytime You Go Away, not forgetting an appearance at Live Aid and more.
Paul sustained that success – while having fun in his tex-mex band, Los Pacaminos. Now, on the 40th anniversary of No Parlez, he’s releasing a remarkable new record and publishing his extraordinary memoir; both called Behind The Lens. He’s touring the UK, too, where he’ll meet fans, sing songs and tell stories about his incredible career. It’s time to revel in the classic hits and learn the stories behind them as Paul steps out from Behind The Lens.”
As the above description explains this was very much a speaking tour, with Paul reminiscing about many career highlights, interspersed with excerpts from his back catalogue, for which he accompanied himself on acoustic guitar. He was also accompanied by one of his long-time collaborators, who also acted as the interviewer during the Q&A session. The stage was set out with a couple of seats for Paul and his friend as shown in the image. However, photography was not allowed so as not to detract from this intimate show; hence the lack of any pictures within my blog entry this time.
Paul started with tales of his youth and how he first got into music. He moved on to his early soul review band which comprised up to nine members at one-time, namely the Q-Tips, who I saw on two occasions, the first at Middlesbrough Rock Garden and then at Redcar Coatham Bowl. They were excellent on both occasions, Paul very much the front man, leading a band including vocalists and a brass section.
After Q-Tips followed The Street Band and chart success with the quirky hit record “Toast” from which he showed a short video snippet. I had forgotten this particular part of his career. Next Paul proceeded to discuss his massively successful LP record No Parlez which included the hit “Wherever I Lay my Hat” and my particular favourite “Love of the Common People” a reworking of the reggae song originally released by Nicky Thomas in 1970.
Paul then moved to his second, equally successful album, The Secret of Association, and another massive chart hit “Every Time You Go Away”. He then showed a short clip of his appearance at Live Aid, which I attended in Wembley Stadium in 1985. A fantastic memory of momentous day. It brings tears to my eyes when I think of all of the crowd walking out of the stadium singing “Feed the World” after witnessing Bob Geldof leading the entire cast of the day through the song.
The second half of the show brought us up-to-date with Paul discussing his latest band Los Pacaminos and his latest album and book Take a Piece Of Me with You. I bought a copy of the lovely book which contained an autographed card (see images). The other images of the Q-Tips ticket, the Live Aid programme and the No Parlez LP are of items from my own collection. Many thanks to Jan and Chris for the photographs and Chris for manipulating the site. A greatly enjoyable evening with a hugely talented and successful guy.
Much respect to 
The Glasshouse website promoted the show thus: “The tour will get under way in Lulu’s hometown of Glasgow on April 9 and The Glasshouse – which changed its name from Sage Gateshead in September – is to be her third port of call. The tour will wrap up at The London Palladium on April 17 which was the anniversary of the day in 1964 that she first stormed into the UK charts , at the age of just 15, with the iconic Shout. The six dates are set to be a real celebration of a career that has turned Lulu into a national treasure and which has seen her become a Eurovision winner, a Bond theme singer and star of the biggest-selling record in the US – To Sir With Love in 1967. She is one of the first pop artists to have performed behind the Iron Curtain in Poland; has had a number one with Take That and has just this summer performed two nights at the Hollywood Bowl. And now the tour promises to show off Lulu “as you’ve never seen her”.”
The concert was in two parts with a short interval. Lulu focused on the many highlights of her career. The first part covered the 60s and 70s. The second part covered later years including the famous collaboration with Take That. She started with the 1960s “Shout”, and images of her with the Beatles and other stars from the era. And that was how the show progressed.
The format was Lulu talking about her life and her music, interspersing her story with images and the great songs which made her famous. She was accompanied by an excellent band and singers. She focused upon the highlights of her career, which are many and very impressive. After “Shout” Lulu talked about singing a Neil Diamond song: “The Boat That I Row” and showed a picture of her with Neil Diamond, whilst performing the song. Next was my favourite Lulu song “To Sir With Love” which she explained was never a hit in the UK, as it was released as a B-side in this country, but was a massive number 1 in America. She performed the song to a backdrop of clips from the film and many images of herself with Sidney Poitier.
She then went on to talk about her marriage to Maurice Gibb, “I married a Bee Gee”. Which led into showing a video of Lulu duetting with Maurice some years later on the Bee Gees’ track (and my favourite song of theirs) “First of May”. She explained how, long after they had been divorced, she was recording a duets album and someone suggested that she ask Maurice to do a duet with her. She was a little nervous of doing so, but when she did ask him he accepted immediately. Hence the video, during which Lulu sat down and watched the screen. Very touching.
The 1970s saw Lulu representing the UK in the Eurovision Song contest, so she sang “Boom Bang a Bang”. She went on to win the contest. As she sang images from the Eurovision Song contest were displayed on the screen behind her. Fantastic nostalgia. Then she talked about her collaboration with David Bowie, treating us to “The Man Who Sold the World”. Next we moved to the James Bond film theme “The Man with the Golden Gun” which was accompanied by video clips from James Bond films. This lady really was busy in the 1970s!
The second set followed a similar format moving into collaborations with Take That and Tina Turner. Again, some fabulous music and video to support the songs. However, I must admit to preferring the 60s and 70s material. Overall, an absolutely excellent showcase of Lulu’s many career highlights and a fantastic mind-boggling career.
Setlist: Set 1: Shout; Heat Wave; The Boat That I Row; To Sir With Love; Boom Bang-A-Bang; First of May; Oh, Me Oh My (I’m a Fool for You Baby); The Man Who Sold the World; The Man With the Golden Gun; I Could Never Miss You (More Than I Do); Scotland is a Place Called Home.
Back in the City Hall with carers Jackie & Jan, along with my daughter Laura who is a fan of the Smiths, Morrisey and 
The crowd, by the way, was absolutely massive: it looked like you could hardly move down there. It was the biggest crowd I have ever seen standing in the City Hall. We were all set for a fantastic evening with tremendous atmosphere.
Gaz Coombes got the proceedings off to a great start. He has a new band and played a clutch of solo material. As far as I am aware, no Supergrass material at all (as for I am aware). Very entertaining. But everyone was there to see the main man Johnny Marr. He came on stage to a massive roar from the crowd.
The publicity for the tour described him thus: “Founding member and songwriting genius of The Smiths, superstar collaborator and sensational solo artist, Johnny Marr is rightly regarded as a bona fide British music icon. He has just released Spirit Power: The Best of Johnny Marr, a collection of songs curated from the last 10 years of his sublime solo output, together with a pair of new tracks, Somewhere and The Answer. The album, which debuted in the UK Top 10, came hot on the heels of Marr’s last studio album, Fever Dreams Pts 1-4and 2023 photography book Marr’s Guitars.”
Johnny took to the stage and truly commanded it. He waved his guitar about and played a selection of songs from his back catalogue including several Smiths songs (Laura counted seven, more than we have ever seen him play before) including “Panic”, “This Charming Man”, “Bigmouth Strikes Again” and “How Soon Is Now?” Great stuff! He closes with the Electronic song “getting away with it”. I am even getting quite familiar with his solo material. An excellent selection of songs drawn from throughout his career.
The encore included an excellent stomping version of Iggy Pop’s “The Passenger”. For the very last song we were once again taken back to the Smiths and “There Is a Light That Never Goes out”. We all agreed that the entire concert was very enjoyable indeed. A great night with a modern icon who is a true hero to Laura and me.
Johnny Marr Setlist: Sensory Street; Generate! Generate!; Panic; New Town Velocity; Spirit Power and Soul; This Charming Man; Somewhere; Walk Into the Sea; The Answer; Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want; Get the Message; Bigmouth Strikes Again; Hi Hello; How Soon Is Now?; Easy Money; Getting Away With It.
Another great concert at the Fire Station which is proving to be an excellent hometown venue. And with two of my favourite 1980s bands.
Support came from the semi psychedelic music of the
So, the lineup I saw was this duo of McNabb and Layhe and it was great to see them together again. My favourite song is “Love Is a Wonderful Colour” which closed the set. A great support act, worthy of headline status in their own right.
Bought myself a lovely lyric sheet for “Love Is a Wonderful Colour” which Ian and Chris kindly signed for me. Setlist: Hollow Horse; Little Girl Lost; Evangeline; Out of Season; Starry Blue Eyed Wonder; Understanding (Country) Jane; Birds Fly (Whisper to a Scream); Love Is a Wonderful Colour
Following Adamson’s death in 2001, Big Country reformed in 2007, with the surviving members. Between 2010 and 2013, they also reformed with Mike Peters of The Alarm on lead vocals. Since then Big Country has continued with two of the original members (Watson and Brzezicki) and Simon Hough on vocals.
Steeltown was the second studio album by Big Country, recorded at ABBA’s Polar Studios in Stockholm. Released in 1984 Bruce Watson remembers: “We started work on Steeltown back in June 1984 at Abba’s studio. My Dad was a miner, so what we did was knuckle down to hard work for six weeks”. The album was based around the steel industry in Corby, Northamptonshire which was mainly populated by Scottish workers. The album went straight to number 1 in the UK album charts.
They have recruited an excellent new guitarist whose playing gives homage to the late, great Stuart Adamson. To my shame I am not familiar with Steeltown (although I probably saw them on the tour to promote the album). It was great to hear their music again. Particularly as they also performed great personal favourites such as: “Look Away” And “In a Big Country”. They concluded their set with “Fields of Fire” incorporating another great Celtic song “Whiskey in the Jar”. An excellent end to an excellent evening.
Setlist: Flame Of The West; East Of Eden; Steeltown; Where The Rose Is Sown; Come Back To Me; Tall Ships Go; Winter Sky; Rain Dance; The Great Divide; Just A Shadow; Look Away; Chance; In A Big Country; Wonderland; Fields Of Fire / Whiskey In The Jar
I am entering this report for completeness really. I went to see Barbara Dickson recently and she played quite a few Beatles songs, mentioning that the Beatles have been an important part of her career, starting with her rendition of Beatles tracks for the musical John Paul George Ringo & Bert which I saw at Sunderland Empire sometime around 1974. So I searched on my blog for the musical and to my shame discovered that I had not done an entry for this. So here I am today rectifying this error.
From the 
It has been many years since I last saw 
So, it was about time I saw Kiki again. Especially as she was playing in a local venue 1719, named so because of the date it opened : “Holy Trinity Church (sometimes Church of the Holy Trinity or Sunderland Parish Church) is an Anglican church building in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear formerly the area’s parish church. It was opened in 1719 as the church for the newly created Parish of Sunderland, and served the local community until dwindling numbers forced its closure in 1988. It has since been in the ownership of the Churches Conservation Trust who have preserved the space and converted it into a community cultural hub.” (Wikipedia). It is now a lovely venue for many events including concerts such as this.
Kiki Dee is now performing with Carmelo Luggeri and has been doing so for several years. She has performed quite a few times in the region and I have been meaning to go and see her. Well tonight I finally did and I am glad I did so.
“A large and influential TV audience was delighted to see Kiki not only looking superbly fit, but her unique voice even better than they remembered. Both performers enjoy a heritage which stretches back through decades of fine musicianship, yet in all that time Kiki Carmelo concerts never became a museum piece, a go through-the-motions tribute act.”
1719 is a lovely venue with a great view of the stage. I would estimate that it holds around 100 or so people. Everyone was looking forward to seeing Kiki and Carmelo perform a wonderful set of Kiki hits and covers. They started off with a song that I was not familiar with, followed swiftly by a slowed down version of Kiki singing “Don’t Go Breaking my Heart”. This took me back to when I saw Kiki supporting Queen at the legendary band’s free concert in Hyde Park. Aha so Middlesbrough Town Hall was not actually the last time I saw her. My memory plays tricks on me again. There were lots of rumours flying around Hyde Park that day that Elton would join her on stage to duet with Kiki. However it was not to be. We had to remain satisfied with a cardboard cutout of Elton John (I kid you not).
A few songs on and the duo performed an excellent cover of Kate Bush’s “Running up that Hill”,” Every Kinda People” and a beautiful version of Neil Young’s “Harvest Moon”. A short interval followed before the duo returned to perform a lovely rendition of my favourite Kiki Dee song “Amoureuse”. But this is very much a duo. Carmelo is a very accomplished acoustic and electric guitarist and also adds a second vocal to the songs. Next a little surprise. Kiki performs a poignant version of Leonard Cohen’s “Dance Me To the End of Love” during which she comes down into the audience and waltzes with a lucky guy from the front of the audience. A few songs further on and the audience singalong to “Forward Motion” a tune which is less familiar to me. They conclude the evening with “I’ve Got the Music in Me”. No “Star”. A great performance by two great artists.
I bought a lovely print of the venue. I have also been listening a lot to Kiki Dee’s early material on Fontana records, particularly “Why Don’t I Run Away from You”. There is a wonderful video on YouTube of her performing it in 1965. Please do have a look at it. The lady has been performing since the 1960s and is now 77 years old. She still looks and sounds wonderful. I treated myself to a copy of her early album courtesy of eBay.
Setlist: What You Wish For; Don’t Go Breaking My Heart; Small Mercies; Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God); Every Kinda People; Harvest Moon; The Long Ride Home; interval (30 minutes); Amoureuse; Dance Me to the End of Love; Amen and Goodbye / She’s Smiling Now (A Mother’s Song) ; Until We Meet Again; Forward Motion; I’ve Got the Music in Me
One year on and much has changed. Last year when I saw the band in the same venue they were at the point of retiring, as a result of the sad passing of original member and fantastic keyboards player Dave Greenfield. His Doors tinged keyboard mastery formed the backdrop and rhythm to many of their classic songs. Remaining founder member Jean Jaques Burnell felt strongly that it was time to call it a day and close 
The other big change was the layout of the City Hall. Last time it was all standing downstairs with the wheelchair area on a raised platform to the rear of the hall, with a great view of the stage. This time it was all seated with wheelchair customers right at the front of the hall. The view was equally good. However it was surprising that the hall was seated rather than standing. Most energetic bands including heavy rock and new wave/punk usually warrant a standing setup. I was surprised at this and the band also seemed somewhat surprised. Nevertheless everything worked well.
Finally the stage setup was amazing with raised platforms for the drummer and keyboard player who sat behind an amazing keyboard arrangement. Everything was set out in grey. It looked wonderful.
The other noticeable change is that Jean Jacques Burnell has taken more of a leading role. It seemed to me that he sang a lot more of the songs and has to some extent reclaimed the legacy of the Stranglers. I could almost hear him saying “this is my band and I am proud to lead it”. And so he should be. Alongside him local lad Sunderland’ s Baz Warne has taken over the space fronting the band which was left by Hugh Cornwell many years ago. And a great job he does of it.
As we got to the end and the encores, Jean Jacques announced “We started in 1974. There are few bands that have been around that long and kept going throughout. We came from the pub rock movement. Some bands seem ashamed of that but we are proud to have been born as a pub rock band. So let us go right back to the start and our first single “Go Buddy Go”. Fantastic. The Stranglers are back and proud to be filling venues like the City Hall again where I saw them over 40 years ago.
Setlist: Set 1: Just Like Nothing on Earth; Hallow to Our Men; The Raven; Baroque Bordello; North Winds; Genetix; Princess of the Streets; Breathe; Hanging Around; Down in the Sewer.
As the title suggests, this was a greatest hits tour. I have seen 
That was, of course, the original lineup of Eric Stewart, Graham Gouldman, Kevin Godley and Lol Creme. I then saw the later lineup during the period that they hit the chart with “Dreadlock Holiday”. I have not seen them since. So this was me reuniting myself with my old memories of excellent past concerts and the new version of the band fronted by Graham Gouldman.
The website of The Glasshouse proclaimed: “50 years on from their debut album, art pop and soft rock legends 10cc are back on tour. Their live shows are a hit Parade of sing-along classics like “I’m Not in Love,” “Rubber Bullets” and “The Things We Do For Love” that capture the band’s witty lyrics and innovative studio wizardry.”
“Having sold over 15 million albums in the UK alone, 10cc have eleven Top 10 hits to their name, including three No 1 singles – Rubber Bullets, Dreadlock Holiday and the ubiquitous I’m Not In Love – along with Donna (No 2), Art For Art’s Sake and Good Morning Judge (both reaching 5), The Things We Do For Love and I’m Mandy Fly Me (6), and The Wall Street Shuffle (10).”
The new band is led by Graham Gouldman, and also features Rick Fenn (lead guitar, bass), Paul Burgess (drums) – both of whom have been with 10cc since the early years; alongside Keith Hayman (keyboards, guitars, bass,) and Iain Hornal (keyboards).
Particular favourite songs were, for me: “Rubber Bullets” (which closed the evening), a wonderful a cappella version of “Donna”, “I’m Mandy Fly Me” and (of course) “I’m Not in love”. All of which took me back many years to many, many happy memories. At one point a wonderful image of Kevin Godley appeared on the screen. Almost spooky! Excellent.
Setlist: The Second Sitting for the Last Supper; Art for Art’s Sake; Life Is a Minestrone; Good Morning Judge; The Dean and I; Old Wild Men; Clockwork Creep; Feel the Benefit; The Wall Street Shuffle; Floating in Heaven; The Things We Do for Love; Say the Word; Silly Love; I’m Mandy Fly Me; I’m Not in Love; Dreadlock Holiday.
Yes you know the song, don’t you?
From Happening Next: “Look at the Guinness Book Of Hit Singles and you could be forgiven for thinking SMOKIE’s success story was a 1970s phenomenon. After all, 11 of their 14 British hits came in that eventful musical decade. However, their massive success story has continued to flourish around the globe including Scandinavia, South Africa, Germany and even China. Smokie are a band which has sold out tours and gained platinum records in four decades – 70s, 80s, 90s and the present day. A quick recap then on past glories. Smokie first got together at school in Yorkshire in the late 60s. After going through various names and styles, they signed with Mickie Most’s then ultra-hot RAK label and found themselves chartbound. Songs like ‘If You Think You Know How To Love Me’, ‘Don’t Play Your Rock’n’Roll To Me’, ‘It’s Your Life’ and ‘Oh Carol’ (all Top 10 entries) became radio staples and gave Smokie their ticket to travel the world.”
“Smokie continue to be one of the most successful bands in the world today. Recent global events, as well as the devastating news of the passing of Terry Uttley have seen the line-up of today having to change and develop with the addition of Pete Lincoln, formerly of The Sweet on lead vocals, and rhythm Guitar and Luke Bullard, son of Martin Bullard stepping into Terry’s shoes on bass and backing vocals, the legacy of Smokie that was founded by Terry will live on and Smokie look forward to seeing you all on their continuing journey.”
Smokie’s current line – up: Steve Pinnell on drums; Mick McConnell on lead guitar; Pete Lincoln on lead vocals and rhythm guitar; Martin Bullard on keyboards and Luke Bullard on bass guitar. Some of the band have been with Smokie from the 1990s, so I guess that means this grouping is pretty authentic. I last saw Pete Lincoln when he was the lead singer in a later version of The Sweet as mentioned above.
But before Smokie we were all treated to a short set by alternative/indie rock band
During the short interval I took the opportunity to purchase a “We sang Who the F**K is Alice with Smokie” T-shirt. Yes they really were selling them.
Setlist: (something like) I’ll Meet You at Midnight; It’s Your Life / Take Good Care of My Baby / Mexican Girl / For a Few Dollars More; (I Just) Died in Your Arms; Wild Wild Angels; Wild Horses; I Don’t Want to Talk About It; Have You Ever Seen the Rain?; Baby It’s You; Boulevard of Broken Dreams; Rose-a-Lee; Needles and Pins; Oh Carol.
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