BBC 6 Music Festival Sage Gateshead 21st February 2015
Hall 1: Maximo Park; The Fall; Kate Tempest; Royal Blood; Hot Chip
Hall 2: Ghostpoet; Father John Misty; Ibibio Sound Machine; Django Django; The Cribs
Hall 3: Craig Charles; Stuart Maconie; Ady Croasdell; Richard Searling
Concourse: Kate Tempest & Eliza Carthy; Villagers; Simian Mobile Disco; Jungle; Gruff Rhys
The BBC 6 Music Festival decamped to the North East this year with events in the Academy on Friday, The Sage on Saturday and Sunday and a range of venues across Newcastle throughout the weekend. David and Shauna came up from London for the weekend, and we all (Marie, me, David, Shauna, Laura, Dale) trooped across to the Sage for the Saturday evening festivities.
The Sage had been transformed into a festival cum nightclub, with all of the halls open and simultaneously featuring music. All of the seats had been removed from the floor level of Hall 1. The first act that Marie and I caught was Kate Tempest, who was introduced by Don Letts. Now there’s a face from the past. The last time I remember seeing him was 1977 in Newcastle Students Union and he was holding a big camera, filming the Clash. He was managing the Slits at the time and went on to be a member of Big Audio Dynamite. Kate Tempest got the crowd going with her spoken word hip hop music. We wandered into Hall 3 and found Stuart Maconie playing soul sounds, and then out onto the concourse to watch Jungle. For me the highlight was Royal Blood, who made a loud intense blues noise and played to a packed Hall 1. Its hard to believe that two guys (guitar, vocals, drums) can produce such a wall of classic rock music, in the tradition of Hendrix, Zeppelin and Cream. Great stuff. The others all reckoned Hot Chip as the highlight of the night. Laura and Dale went off to the Boiler House after the Sage closed at 11pm, for further 6 Music fun.
Its great that a national event like this has chosen to come to the North East. The 6 Music festival continues today with more music around the city and in the Sage tonight.
Posts Tagged ‘pop’
22 Feb
BBC 6 Music Festival Sage Gateshead 21st February 2015
21 Feb
XTC Newcastle City Hall 19th May 1981
XTC Newcastle City Hall 19th May 1981
I saw XTC a few times at Newcastle University during 1978 and 1979. They played the University students union on 4th February 1978, 4th November 1978 and 27th April 1979. I think I was at least two of those gigs, but can’t recall exactly which ones. This was the early version of the band with a line-up of Andy Partridge, Colin Moulding, Terry Chambers and Barry Andrews. Andrews left in early 1979 to be replaced by Dave Gregory. Early XTC were all jerky rhythms; much more experimental and punky than the later post-Andrews band, which became poppier. By the time I saw them at Newcastle Mayfair on 21st September 1979 XTC had entered the single charts with the excellent “Life Begins at the Hop” and had just released their new single, the classic “Making Plans for Nigel”. Support came from the Yachts. 
I saw XTC once more before they quit touring, at a concert at Newcastle City Hall on 19th May 1981. They had just been in the singles chart with “Sgt. Rock (Is Going to Help Me)”, another classic pop tune. Support at the City Hall came from Last Touch. “Senses Working Overtime” was XTC’s last Top 10 hit in 1982. After that they became a studio band of Andy Partridge and session musicians.
A great pop band who have been hugely influential. You can hear XTC in Franz Ferdinand, Kaiser Chiefs and many other guitar-oriented jerky pop bands.
Setlist (something like): Real by Reel; Life Begins at the Hop; When You’re Near Me I Have Difficulty; Respectable Street; Sgt. Rock (Is Going to Help Me); Snowman; Paper and Iron (Notes and Coins); Ball and Chain; Love at First Sight; No Language in Our Lungs; Scissor Man; Towers of London; Burning With Optimism’s Flames; Making Plans for Nigel; Living Through Another Cuba; Generals and Majors; Helicopter; Are You Receiving Me?.
20 Feb
X Ray Spex Redcar Coatham Bowl 23rd April 1978
X Ray Spex Redcar Coatham Bowl 23rd April 1978
The night the Coatham Bowl turned Dayglo.
Poly Styrene exploded onto the stage; a bundle of crazy youthful energy. Art-I-Ficial !! Off we went, the crowd jumping and pogoing along to the loud raucous noise. A manic hippy looking guy with long hair ran to the front of the stage, squeezing discordant noises from his sax. Poly screamed into the mike, shook her head, swung her dreads around and around, and lost herself in a childish whirling dance. The pace, the noise and the music were relentless. Identity !! ……Warrior in Woolworths (my favourite)….They played many of the tracks which would make their classic debut Germ Free Adolescents so great. X Ray Spex were joyous, hectic, amateur, funny, bright and loud. They were also amazing and one of the most fun acts to emerge from punk. Their songs each had a message, but not in the serious gloomy way of many of the bands of the time. Poly was a one-off and the songs all had catchy hooks and were 100% pure pop. They crashed through Oh Bondage! Up Yours! And then they were gone, back to the planet Plastic, from whence they came. Wonderful.
Support came from local Teesside punk rockers Britzkrieg Bop.
Setlist (something like): Art-I-Ficial; Obsessed With You; Identity; Let’s Submerge; Plastic Bag; I Live Off You; I Am a Poseur; Genetic Engineering; I Am a Cliche; The Day the World Turned Dayglo; Warrior in Woolworths; Oh Bondage! Up Yours!
RIP Poly Styrene
8 Feb
Reading Festival 24th – 26th August 1979
Reading Festival 24th – 26th August 1979
This was my 8th visit to Reading. The line-up was a predictable mix of new wave and heavy rock. It was also a year of line-up changes. Two of the main bands who were billed to play: Thin Lizzy and The Ramones did not appear. Thin Lizzy pulled out at a few days notice due to Gary Moore’s departure from the band. Lizzy were replaced by Scorpions and The Ramones by Nils Lofgren. Both of these changes were major disappointments. The weather wasn’t bad and the event was well-attended, but didn’t sell out. My recollections of the weekend are below:
Friday line-up: Bite the Pillow, The Jags, Punishment of Luxury, Doll by Doll, The Cure, Wilko Johnson, Motorhead, The Tourists, The Police.
Friday was the “new wave” day. I watched all of the bands from Punilux onwards. Highlights were The Cure who impressed me even though the only song I had heard before was “Killing an Arab”, and Wilko and Motorhead, both acts going down a storm with the crowd, who preferred their rock heavier and more traditional. The Police were riding on the crest of a wave of success, and were amazing, Sting had the crowd in the palm of his hand, and the entire field sang along to the hits. It was great to witness a band at their peak.
The Police setlist: Deathwish; Next To You; So Lonely; Truth Hits Everybody; Walking On The Moon; Hole In My Life; Fall Out; Message In A Bottle; The Bed’s Too Big Without You; Peanuts; Roxanne; Can’t Stand Losing You; Landlord; Born In The 60s
Saturday line-up: Root Boy Slim; Fame; The Yachts; Little Bo Bitch (not sure that they played?); The Movies; Bram Tchaikovsky; Gillan; Steve Hackett; Cheap Trick; Inner Circle; Scorpions
We spent much of Saturday enjoying the delights of local hostelries and didn’t venture into the arena until later in the day. To be honest, looking at the line-up now, it was pretty uninspiring. We made it into the festival for Gillan onwards. Gillan seemed to play everywhere at the time, and were always good fun. I’d seen them so many times that I was getting to know the new songs, but I also always looked forward to hearing Purple classics, which they did including ‘Smoke on the Water”. Steve Hackett played “I Know What I Like” which prompted a mass crowd singalong. The highlight was Cheap Trick with crazy antics from Rick Nielson and an exquisite performance by Robin Zander. A video of their performance that night is on YouTube. You can find “I Want You To Want Me” here, a bit rough, but still amazing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTLEYcO2VnE
For the encore Cheap Trick were joined onstage by Dave Edmunds and Bad Company guitarist Mick Ralphs for a rendition of The Beatles’ “Day Tripper”. Classic 😄
Inner Circle’s reggae rhythms went down well. Scorpions were great (I really liked “Loving You Sunday Morning” at the time), but we were disappointed that we weren’t seeing Lizzy who had become a Reading favourite and were massive at the time.
Sunday line-up: The Cobbers; Terra Nova; Speedometers; Zaine Griff; Wild Horses; The Members; Molly Hatchett; Climax Blues Band; Nils Lofgren; Peter Gabriel; Whitesnake.
Sunday highlights for me were The Members who were in the charts with “Sounds of the Suburbs” and got a mixed reaction from the crowds with some people liking them, and others lobbing cans, and Peter Gabriel who started with “Biko” and played classic solo tracks like “Moribund The Burgermeister”, “Solsbury Hill” and “Here Comes The Flood”. Phil Collins joined Gabriel for the end of his set for “The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway”. Whitesnake closed the evening and were worthy headliners (although they weren’t billed as so, with Peter Gabriel and non-showers The Ramones having shared top billing in the pre-festival publicity). They started with an amazing new song “Walking in the Shadow of the Blues” which set the tone for the evening. Ian Paice had just joined on drums and Whitesnake now had three former Purple members (Coverdale, Lord and Paice).
Whitesnake setlist: Walking In The Shadow Of The Blues; Ain’t No Love In The Heart Of The City; Steal Away; Belgian Tom’s Hat Trick; Mistreated; Soldier Of Fortune; Love Hunter; Breakdown; Whitesnake Boogie.
An enjoyable Reading weekend, if not one of the strongest line-ups.
4 Feb
Brian Wilson Newcastle City Hall 6th March 2004
Brian Wilson Newcastle City Hall 6th March 2004
No support.
I didn’t think I would ever get to see Brian Wilson in concert. I’d seen the Beach Boys twice in the early 1970s, but on both occasions Brian was not in the band. At one of the concerts, at Wembley Stadium, Brian was there backstage and I think he may have come on stage to say “hello” to the crowd. But he had not actually played with the band for some years.
Then in the late 1990s the impossible happened. Brian Wilson put a band together and starting to play concerts. Those who saw him, reviewers and fans alike, were ecstatic and unanimous in praise for the man and his music. It is easy to use the word “genius”; we probably do so too often, but in the case of Brian Wilson, the term is true and well-deserved.
I got my first chance to see Brian Wilson when he came to Newcastle City Hall in March 2004. We (me, Marie, David and Laura) went along. We all wanted to see this. It was the “Smile” tour and consisted of a Beach Boys greatest hits set, followed by the legendary “Smile” album played in its entirety.
Brian Wilson had assembled a large band of first class musicians and vocalists to help him recreate the Beach Boys music and their lush harmonies. And they did so, faultlessly. This was a long show, but the pace and the pure class of the music and the performance didn’t let up for a moment. It was great to see Brian on stage, a few feet in front of us, looking and sounding great. Most of the Smile album was unfamiliar to me, but that didn’t matter. An amazing concert, and the first of a few visits by Brian to the UK. And during the encore, they played my favourite songs: “Do It Again” and “I Get Around”. It really doesn’t get much better 🙂
First Set: And Your Dream Comes True; In My Room; Hawaii; Please Let Me Wonder; All Summer Long; Good Timin’; You’re Welcome; Sloop John B; God Only Knows; Time to Get Alone; Soul Searchin’; California Girls; Dance, Dance, Dance; Darlin’; City Blues; Marcella
Brian Wilson Presents SMILE: Our Prayer/Gee; Heroes and Villains; Roll Plymouth Rock; Barnyard; Old Master Painter / You Are My Sunshine; Cabinessence; Wonderful; Look (Song for Children); Child Is Father of the Man; Surf’s Up; I’m in Great Shape / I Wanna Be Around / Workshop; Vega-Tables; On a Holiday; Wind Chimes; Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow; In Blue Hawaii; Good Vibrations
Encore: Do It Again; I Get Around; Help Me, Rhonda; Barbara Ann; Surfin’ U.S.A.; Fun, Fun, Fun
Encore 2: Love and Mercy
3 Feb
Robbie Williams Roundhay Park, Leeds 9th September 2006
Robbie Williams Roundhay Park, Leeds 9th September 2006
Support from Basement Jaxx and Orson
Time to admit to another guilty pleasure. I like Robbie Williams. There I said it. I know he isn’t classic or vintage rock but I can’t fail to be impressed by the guy. There is something about his confidence, his clearly enormous ego, and that I find impressive. Laura and David were also fans at the time, so we thought we would go along and see him at this massive event at Leeds Roundhay Park, where he played for two nights in September 2006. I even joined the Robbie fan club to be sure of tickets, which also got me a Robbie t-shirt which Laura still has.
Rounhay Park is a massive area, and it was crammed with 100,000 or so people for Robbie. Support acts Orson and Basement Jaxx went down well, but everyone was there for Robbie. The place erupted when he came on stage, the crowd went crazy and continued to do so throughout his set. Robbie of course, knows how to play the crowd, and has a knack of talking to 100,000 people in a way that feels likes he is talking to you. The guy really is the ultimate showman. A great show, which we all enjoyed. Even if it did take us 2 hours to get out of the car park 🙂
Here are a few comments from fans who attended the concert (from the Yorkshire Post):
“Once again a spectacular performance from the best entertainer out there. From the second Rob popped up on stage 100,000 people were eating out of his hand. The screaming was deafening, the atmosphere created memories that will last a lifetime.
“Whatever your opinion of Robbie or his music, you have to admire the showmanship of someone who can attract so many people of different ages to his concerts. Robbie doesn’t only attract girls in their twenties (as the TV coverage would suggest) – there were men and women of all ages. The youngest person we saw was about seven, the oldest probably in their seventies. Everyone, regardless of age, danced and sang along with great enthusiasm, and despite the amount of alcohol consumed by some, the vast majority of people remained very good natured.”
“Excellent performance by all but far too many people in 1 place. Could have been serious problems if the area needed to be cleared for any reason. But all in all an excellent day.”
Setlist: Radio; Rock DJ; Tripping; Monsoon; Sin Sin Sin; Millennium; Make Me Pure; Me and My Shadow; Strong; Back for Good; Advertising Space; Come Undone; Feel
Encore: Let Me Entertain You; Rudebox; Angels; Kids
2 Feb
Stevie Wonder Wembley Arena 6th September 1980
Stevie Wonder Wembley Arena 6th September 1980
No support
There was a massive buzz around Stevie Wonder’s first performances in Britain since 1974. Tickets for the six night “Hotter Than July Music Picnic” run of concerts at Wembley Arena were sold by postal application, and were massively over-subscribed. We were lucky enough to score tickets in the fourth row of the front block, giving us a great view of Wonder and his band.
The stars turned out in force for the show. As we took our seats we noticed Kate Bush sitting two rows behind us with a group of friends. We also noticed Goodie Bill Oddie in the front row.
Stevie began the first set with a run through some of his ’60s hits, starting with “For Once In My Life”. From a NME review of the time, written by Paul Du Noyer: “…there’s Stevie Wonder up there, the best soul voice this side of Smokey and he’s giving us ‘My Cherie Amour’ and ‘Signed Sealed Delivered’ and ‘If You Really Love Me’ and, oh, you really should have been there because it was a tremendous thing to hear.”
The show was in two sections, full of classic Motown, most of the “Innervisions” album, and those tremendous Wonder songs like “Living for the City” and “Higher Ground”. There were moments where it really just couldn’t have been any better, and others where Wonder got the crowd to singalong to the songs, almost spoiling them. “…those hoary old call-and-response sequences: ‘Now I want all you fellas to sing this part… and the ladies sing this part…’…..just a pointless pantomime” (Paul Du Noyer, NNME).
After the interval Wonder re-appeared as the young “Little Stevie Wonder”, dressed in a cute red velvet suit and bow-tie and proceeded to play an amazing version of “Fingertips”; complete with note-perfect mouth harp. Then it was back to classics: “You Are The Sunshine Of My Life” and an amazing “Superstition” which stunned everyone. The new songs of the evening were “Happy Birthday” in honour of Martin Luther King, and the single “Masterblaster” (more singalong, but still great). A breath-taking performance.
The following evening, which was last of the six night run, just before the very last song Stevie said “I’d like to bring on a couple of guests” and on walked Marvin Gaye and Diana Ross to sing along with him. Now I wish I’d been there that night.
Setlist. Set 1. For Once In My Life; My Cherie Amour; Signed Sealed Delivered; If You Really Love Me; Golden Lady; Boogie On Reggae Woman; Living For The City; Higher Ground; Don’t You Worry ’bout a Thing.
Interval.
Set 2. Fingertips; Sir Duke; You Are The Sunshine Of My Life; Superstition; Visions; You and I; Secret Life Of Plants; Happy Birthday; Masterblaster Jammin’ ; Did I Hear You Say You Love Me
26 Jan
Wishbone Ash Newcastle City Hall 16th October 1977 “Front Page News”
Wishbone Ash Newcastle City Hall 16th October 1977 “Front Page News”
Support from the Motors
Wishbone Ash released their eighth album “Front Page News” in 1977. The album contained a clutch of slower soft rock ballads with the influence of the Miami sun coming through in the songs and their lush harmonies. This was Wishbone Ash’s fourth album to be recorded in the US, and marked the end of a three year period of living and recording in the States. The band returned to the UK the following year. The band went out on their now annual UK tour in Autumn 1977. I saw them at Newcastle City Hall on 16th October 1977, the first night of the tour. Using the “Front Page News” concept, the band took out full page advertisements in the music papers which featured the red-top newspaper “Daily Wishbone” with the headline news stories: “Ashes Back in Britain”, “Hot from Miami: a brand new album” and “Brand New Tour!”
The newspaper concept was also carried forward to the tour itself. When we entered the City Hall a newspaper featuring fake news stories had been placed on each of the seats (see mine in the picture). This time the paper was called “Wishbone News” and the headlines were “Ash and MCA in Miami Connection” and “Laurie Locked in”. A nice touch and, for once a free programme for my collection 🙂
For this tour Wishbone Ash decided to start with five classic songs: “Blind Eye”, “Lady Whiskey”, “The King Will Come”, “Warrior” and “Throw Down The Sword”. What a great start. “Blind Eye” has always been one of my favourite Wishbone Ash songs, and it was great to hear it again. The title track from the new album “Front Page News” is a great rocker and made a strong impression live, as did the Laurie Wisefield song “Goodbye Baby Hello Friend”, a lovely soft-rock ballad which was released as a single and reminded me a little of Laurie’s old band Home. The rest of the set included songs from previous albums and more classic Ash in the form of “Phoenix”, “Time Was”, “Jailbait” and of course “Blowin’ Free”. By this point in their career Wishbone Ash had an amazing strong and diverse back catalogue, and on this tour they really played to their strengths. Martin Turner explained to Melody Maker: “We decided to play a lot of old songs that we hadn’t done live in ages, rather than play the whole of the new album. We’ve done that in the past, but it’s very ambitious if people don’t know the material, and the new album is quite studio-orientated, with orchestrations on some tracks.” 
Support for the tour was London band The Motors, who had just been formed by Ducks Deluxe members Nick Garvey and Andy McMaster, together with guitarist Bram Tchaikovsky and drummer Ricky Slaughter. The Motors had scored a minor hit with their first single “Dancing the Night Away”, which reached number 42 in the UK Singles Chart. This was before this big success with “Airport”, which was a number 4 UK hit single in 1978. The Motors were a good solid pub rock band, who were influenced by the new wave, and had some catchy pop songs. We made a point of watching their performance and weren’t disappointed. However, many Wishbone Ash fans were a little dismayed by the appearance of The Motors on the tour. This was after all 1977, the year of punk, and The Motors were seen as a “new wave” band, so those Wishbone Ash fans who remained committed to classic rock chose to stay in the bar.
Chas de Whalley reviewed the Newcastle Wishbone Ash concert in Sounds, giving it an excellent review: “Whatever your tastes in music, there’s one thing you can never argue about. Audience reaction. A hall full of standing rock fans, clapping their hands above their heads and screaming their appreciation…..any band can inspire that has got to be good at what they do. Needless to say, on the first night of their first British tour in a year, Wishbone Ash came out finally on top. Their particular brand of middle class heavy rock sent Newcastle home in ecstasies.”
Setlist (based on published setlists of the time): songs: Blind Eye, Lady Whiskey, The King Will Come, Warrior, Throw Down The Sword, Front Page News, Sometime World, Goodbye Baby Hello Friend, You Rescue Me, Runaway, Come In From the Rain, Phoenix, Time Was, Jailbait, Blowin’ Free, No Easy Road, Bad Weather Blues.
Thanks to Mitch for his photos of The Motors and of Andy Powell, which he took at this concert.
25 Jan
Wishbone Ash New England tour Newcastle City Hall 14th November 1976
Wishbone Ash New England tour Newcastle City Hall 14th November 1976
Support from Supercharge
Wishbone Ash released their sixth album “Locked In” in early 1976. It featured much softer rock songs, and wasn’t as successful as their previous lps. They soon, however, followed this with their seventh album “New England” which was released later in 1976 and was a return to the traditional Wishbone Ash style. “New England” was recognised by fans and critics as classic Ash and was a much bigger success than “Locked In”. “New England” contained much harder rock songs along with soft rock ballads, and the classic twin guitar style returned in force.
Wishbone Ash toured to promote “New England”, calling at Newcastle City Hall on 14th November 1976. Support came from Supercharge; a great Liverpool band fronted by singer and sax player Albie Donnelly. Supercharge built up quite a following in the mid-70s gigging a lot on the college and club circuit; I remember seeing them several times, at Newcastle Poly and Middlesbrough Town Hall Crypt, I think. They were always good fun and guaranteed a good night. 
Andy Powell from my “New England” tour programme: “We’ve finally pulled all the elements together. We finally got back to what Wishbone Ash is all about…For a while we lost direction and had an identity problem. This band has never been hyped. Anyone with longevity has substance.’New England’ will confirm that substance.”
The programme goes on: “Like six years beofe, Wishbone Ash will provide a pleasant musical change from recent bands more adept at applying eye mascara and spitting blood capsules into the audience than playing musical instruments. The return of the guitar hero awaits your viewing pleasure. Although Wishbone Ash now live in America, they have retained those distinct British characteristics that have always been the trademark of their music. Upton will undoubtedly address the audience from centre stage, exposing his latest footwear [Now that rings a bell, Steve Upton would always show off his new shoes and colourful socks]. Turner will still split out vocals with fierce aggression while laying down the firm foundation of rhythmic support with drummer Upton. And another generation of aspiring guitarists will soon discover two idols to mould their styles after. Powell and Wisefield have taken those initial twin guitar relationships into untrodden territory….Wishbone Ash are blowin’ free once again.” And indeed they were.
When I opened my programme yesterday, possibly for the first time since the concert almost 39 years ago, I discoverd a flexi disc had been popped safely inside. This must have been given away on the night, and features snippets of four tracks from “New England”: “Outward Bound”; “Runaway”; “Mother of Pearl”; and “(In all my dreams) You Rescue Me”. I put it on my record player and played it, possibly for the first time. Straight away the music took me right back; the record started with some quite heavy rock, but soon the familiar twin guitar sounds came, weaving their way towards the melody. Classic stuff 🙂
The 1976 Newcastle concert was another excellent Wishbone Ash performance. The set featured old favourites, several songs from”New England” and a couple from “Locked In”.
Based on published setlists it is likely to have been something like this: Jail Bait (from “Pilgrimage”); Time Was; Blowin’ Free; Warrior; The King Will Come (all from “Argus”); Rest in Peace (from “Locked In”); Runaway; (In all my dreams) You Rescue Me; Lorelei; Outward Bound (all from “New England”); Bad Weather Blues (live favourite); Mother of Pearl (“New England”); Persephone (“There’s the Rub); It Started in Heaven (“Locked In”)
20 Jan
Kim Wilde Newcastle City Hall 9th October 1982
Kim Wilde Newcastle City Hall 9th October 1982
Another (semi) guilty pleasure today? Kim Wilde burst onto the music scene in 1981 with her debut single “Kids in America”, which reached number two in the UK charts. Kim is, of course, the daughter of 1950s rock ‘n’ roller Marty Wilde. The single was a great catchy pop song with a new wave / rock’n’roll edge, and was promoted by a wonderful video of a pouting dancing Kim, accompanied by her brother Ricky and band. I went to see Kim in concert at Newcastle City Hall on her first UK tour, which took place in 1982. Support for the tour came from BB featuring Stevie B and Jo Burt, who had both been members of Tom Robinson’s Sector 27. By the time of this concert Kim had been in the singles chart on five occasions with, in addition to “Kids”, “Chequered Love”, “Water on Glass”, Cambodia” and “View from a Bridge”. All classic pop singles. The songs on Kim’s debut album were all written by Marty Wilde and her younger brother Ricky and most of the music was played (rather surreally 🙂 ) by The Enid! However, by the time she went out on tour, Kim had her own backing band, which wasn’t The Enid and featured her brother Ricky. 
The concert was great fun, and featured all of her hits. I found this short review on the Wilde Life site: “Her music is catchy, pleasant but not very memorable, and Kim Wilde’s first visit to Newcastle was much the same. But that is not to detract from Miss Wilde for at least she knows her limitations. She will never be Chrissie Hynde, for example. She has waited a long time before touring which is a measure of the concern she has to give of her best. And for her devoted fans the wait was worth it. The quality of sound was first class, and for a new band, the musicians knitted together extremely well. The highlights for me were “Water on glass”, “26580” and the encore number “Kids in America” – MR”.
I saw Kim once more, when she supported Michael Jackson at a massive concert at Leeds Roundhay Park, shortly after she had a UK No. 2 hit with her great version of the Supremes’ song “You Keep Me Hangin’ On”.
Setlist: Water on glass; Tuning in tuning on; Our town; Everything we know; Take me tonight; Words fell down; When the boy’s happy (the girl’s happy too); View from a bridge; Child come away; Watching for shapes; You’ll never be so wrong; Boys; 26580; Falling out; Cambodia.
Encore: Kids in America.
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