It had been 7 years since I last saw Rod; far too long. I drove up to Glasgow with a group of mates for this concert. Baby Jane had been a big hit, and I saw it as a return to rock’n’roll for Rod. We had a drink in a proper spit and sawdust pub (I think it actually did have spittoons on a concrete floor covered in sawdust). Think it was called The Ibrox? I remember I asked for a half of lager (I was driving and that was all I was going to have to drink) and the barman told me in his strong Glaswegian accent “We dinna sell halves of lager in here”. Support came from disgraced rocker Gary Glitter who was having a little bit of a comeback at the time. From Everything2: “1982 and 1983 were spent by Glitter touring universities with his show. This appealed to Glitter as the people at university at this time were the teenagers who bought his records at the peak of his success. This success was followed by Glitter being asked to appear as a guest by his friend Rod Stewart in 1983 at his concert at Ibrox Park in Glasgow. Glitter jumped at this and appeared in front of an audience of 20,000 people [note. I am sure there were more than 20,000 people there, I would have said more like 50,000?] which was many more than he was used to at this time. At the beginning of his set, Glitter had a mixed reaction from the audience, but his unique style of working the crowd had them crying out for more by the time he had finished, so much that Stewart had to put in a very good performance to compete.”
The rest of the bill consisted of JoBoxers, who grew out of Subway Sect and had a hit with Boxer Beat and Scottish band Passionate Friends: “in the summer of 1983, following a series of gigs around the country, the band were brought to the attention of Harvey Goldsmith. Harvey was promoting the Rod Stewart gig at Ibrox Stadium in Glasgow, and invited the boys to play support to Rod, Gary Glitter, and Jo Boxers.” (Wikipedia) 
There was a great atmosphere at the gig, lots of Scottish flags, and a very warm welcome for Rod from his adopted home crowd. Rod had by now moved fully into rock/pop hero mode, and the set reflected his late 70s and early 80s solo work, with very little from the Faces days or his early solo outings. Favourites of mine were always “I’m Losing You”, “Mandolin Wind” and “Reason to Believe”, none of which featured in Rod’s seat at the time, although he did sing the excellent “Gasoline Alley” and finish with a rocking version of “Stay With Me”. An excellent concert, with the now traditional footballs being booted out into the stadium and onto the Ibrox turf.
Setlist: Tonight I’m Yours (Don’t Hurt Me); Sweet Little Rock & Roller; Dancin’ Alone; Tonight’s the Night (Gonna Be Alright); Passion; She Won’t Dance With Me; Little Queenie; Jimmy Z Blues; Sweet Surrender; I Don’t Want to Talk About It; You’re in My Heart (The Final Acclaim); Baby Jane; Young Turks; What Am I Gonna Do (I’m So in Love With You); Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?; Gasoline Alley; Maggie May; Sailing; Hot Legs; Baby Jane (Reprise); Stay With Me
Posts Tagged ‘pop’
5 Jul
Rod Stewart Ibrox Stadium Glasgow 18th June 1983
4 Jul
Rod Stewart Newcastle City Hall 14th December 1976
Rod Stewart Newcastle City Hall 14th December 1976
This was Rod’s first major solo outing, and it was billed as “The Concert” (I remember thinking that this was quite pretentious at the time, and to add to the pretentiousness; the tickets were printed gold!). I went with Marie to queue for tickets on the day they went on sale. Rod was playing four nights at the City Hall, and I figured that it wouldn’t be too difficult to get tickets with so many concerts. How wrong I was! When we arrived at the City Hall the queue was already right down the road. We joined the queue and stood for a few hours, only to be told that all the tickets had been sold. Gutted! However all was not lost. By chance I was going to the City Hall that night with a mate, to see David Essex, as I recall, and we asked at the box office if they had any tickets left for Rod. “You are in luck” said the lady. “We found two tickets after we closed up. They are single seats for different nights. Do you want them?” We snapped them up, I took one for the first night, and my mate took the other. I had to explain to Marie how I was now going to see Rod on my own….but she was ok with that.
The show was great. This was Rod at his best, and the crowd was massively up for it. His band was tight and hot, and he was Rod the Mod, great rasping vocals, massive ego and stage presence, lots of singalong, and loads of footballs kicked into the crowd at the end. I have never been a fan of “Sailing” but the rest of the set made up for it, in spades.
Support came from Liverpool Express.
Rod’s Band: Carmine Appice (drums), Phil Chen (bass), Jim Cregan (guitar), Billy Peek (guitar), Gary Grainger (guitar), John Jarvis (keyboards).
“The tour got off to a terrible start. The band and I were only just getting to know each other and I thought, ‘I’ll show you who can drink’. For about three weeks I was staying out all night and I wasn’t eating. It didn’t help. Then I got sick. Well, I was existing on port and brandy afternoon tea and toast. When we opened at Olympia I felt so bad it was almost like somebody telling me I shouldn’t be there.” (Rod to the Daily Mirror at the time)
Setlist: Three Time Loser; You Wear It Well; Big Bayou, Tonight’s The Night; Wild Side Of Life; This Old Heart Of Mine; Sweet Little Rock’n Roller; The Killing Of Georgie; I Don’t Want To Talk About It; Maggie May; Angel; True Blue; You Keep Me Hangin’ On; Get Back; (I Know) I’m Losing You; Sailing; Stay With Me; Twistin’ The Night Away
27 Jun
Smokie Newcastle City Hall 22nd July 1977
Smokie Newcastle City Hall 22nd July 1977
I guess this has to rate as a guilty pleasure but I have to admit that it was a pretty good concert. This was the classic Smokie line-up of Chris Norman (vocals), Alan Silson (guitar, vocals), Terry Uttley (bass, vocals) and Pete Spencer (drums). By 1977 Smokie had the UK singles charts 8 times with “If You Think You Know How To Love Me” (No 3), “Don’t Play Your Rock ‘N’ Roll To Me” (No 8), “Something’s Been Making Me Blue” (No 17), “I’ll Meet You At Midnight” (No 11), “Lay Back In The Arms Of Someone” (No 12), “It’s Your Life” (No 5; I don’t remember that one), their cover of “Needles And Pins” (No 10), and of course, the classic 🙂 “Living Next Door To Alice” (No 5, and surprisingly not actually their biggest hit). The concert featured all the hits, Chris Norman was great, and Marie and I just lapped it up. I think support band Wilder went on to become Gilbert O’Sullivan’s backing band.
25 Jun
Peter Straker New Tyne Theatre Newcastle 26th Nov 1977
Peter Straker New Tyne Theatre Newcastle 26th Nov 1977
Sorry if my posts are a little short for the next few days. We are off to Glastonbury, so I have set up a few posts and scheduled them to appear each day, but my time was limited so they are briefer than they would normally be (and there will probably be even more typos than normal, which is saying something 🙂 ). I will return to normal next week and will also reflect on our Glastonbury experiences.
Anyway onward with the first of my pre-written and scheduled entries which is going to be Peter Straker. This guy was simply amazing! Peter Straker is a Jamaican born singer and actor, best known for appearances in Doctor Who (in the 1979 serial Destiny of the Daleks) and for being a friend of Freddie Mercury. He starred as Hud in the original 1968 London production of ‘Hair’. More recently his critically acclaimed one man show ‘Peter Straker’s Brel’ has featured at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
In 1977 Peter Straker was forging a career as a pop star, and had just released an album “This One’s on Me” which was produced by Freddie Mercury and Roy Thomas Baker. The tracks on the album were: Ada; I’ve Been To Hell & Back; The Day The Talkies Came; Heart Be Still; Alabama Song; Ragtime Piano Joe; Jackie; The Annual Penguin Show; The Saddest Clown; Vamp. His set consisted of tracks from the album. Straker’s performance was simply sensational, very theatrical, passionate and emotional. I remember both Marie and I really enjoyed the concert and thought that this guy was going to be massive. He has found success following a more theatrical path. The theatre was pretty empty, as I recall, which was a shame.
23 Jun
Splinter “Costafine Town” live at Newcastle City Hall
Splinter “Costafine Town” live at Newcastle City Hall
My friend John mentioned the band Splinter to me in an email the other day, which brought back memories of this fine duo. Splinter was a two-man vocal group from the North East, South Shields in fact. The two members were Bill Elliott and Bobby Purvis and they formed in the early 1970s. Elliott and Purvis had both been members of local rock band Half Breed, who were quite popular on the circuit in the early 70s; I remember seeing them at Newcastle Mayfair or Sunderland Mecca. Splinter were connected with George Harrison, being the first act to sign to Harrison’s Dark Horse Records label. The band’s sound was often compared to The Beatles and Badfinger. Their debut album, “The Place I Love” was released in 1974 and contained the hit single “Costafine Town”. “Costafine Town” is a great pop song, and a favourite of mine at the time.
I remember seeing Splinter live at the City Hall at least once; I think they were support act for the Kinks. I recall making a special effort to pass on visiting the City Tavern or the City Hall bar, so that I could see them, largely to hear them play Costafine Town, which they of course did. I have an old vinyl copy of their debut lp upstairs. Time to get on the turntable again.
I often wondered what Costafine Town was about, and a little googling revealed the answer, which I found on the Sheilds Gazette website: “Costafine Town took its inspiration from Corstorphine Town in Shields, the stretch of the riverside between West Holborn and Templetown, which includes McNulty’s shipyard. The name was said to derive from Robert Corstorphine, the landlord of the Cookson’s Arms there in the 1830s, but it later emerged that his surname was actually, originally, Robert Marsham, and he had simply adopted the name of the locality.”
“A dirty old hole, In the side of the road, For the man who cleans the streets, Open pub doors, Where the working class goes at night.
Written on walls, Where the cats never crawl, For the glass along the top, Man I was born there, I’m gonna walk right back.
Costafine town, it’s a fine town, I’m coming home
I feel so lonely, I’ve been too long away
Costafine town, it’s a fine town, I’m coming home
I wish I’d never, Made up my mind to stray”
(Splinter, 1974)
There’s a YouTube video of the guys performing Costafine Town on the Whistle Test. Check it out. Great song.
22 Jun
Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel with Orchestra & Choir Sage Gateshead 21st June 2014
Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel with Orchestra & Choir Sage Gateshead 21st June 2014
It was a truly amazing experience to see Steve Harley perform the first two classic Cockney Rebel albums “The Human Menagerie” and “The Psychomodo”, accompanied by full band, the Orchestra of the Swan and Choir, conducted by Andrew Powell, last night. This concert was first performed at the Birmingham Symphony Hall in 2012, and is now available on DVD. Steve Harley said at the time “ It’s been a long time coming – something like 39 years. Now we’re here, at last, with an orchestra and a choir and a big rock band, to play those first two albums pretty well the way they appeared on the original vinyl. Maybe some things should never change, in spite of progress. Welcome, my old friends.”
First Half; The Human Menagerie: Hideaway; What Ruthy Said; Loretta’s Tale; Crazy Raver; Sebastian; Mirror Freak; My Only Vice; Muriel the Actor; Spaced Out; Judy Teen; Chameleon; Death Trip.
Second Half; The Psychomodo: Sweet Dreams; Psychomodo; Mr. Soft; Singular Band; Ritz; Cavaliers; Bed in the Corner; Sling It!; Big Big Deal; Black or White; Tumbling Down.
Encore: Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me).
A great concert. Stand-outs (although there were many, with standing ovations for several songs) were: “Sebastian”, “”Tumbling Down”, and “Make Me Smile”.
Steve Harley put his heart and soul into the performance last night. His voice just gets better with time, and the songs found a new life when played with the full band and orchestra. Steve Norman (Spandau Ballet) was star number two of the show, playing great sax and clearly enjoying every minute of it. 
Steve had some great craic with us all, telling us stories about his days with the band in the 70s, and bringing back memories for me of classic gigs at Newcastle City Hall and Reading 1974, all of which he referred to. He related a memory from the City Hall of a guy jumping off the balcony and climbing down the light tower. He introduced “Tumbling Down” by reminding us all how we would leave the hall still singing the closing line “Oh dear!….look what they’ve done to the blues, blues, blues…”. Steve quoted Hammersmith Odeon as an example, with the Cockney Rebel crowds entering the tube still singing, but I recall the very same thing happening at Newcastle City Hall, and Reading in 74 and at a gig at Redcar Coatham Bowl. But for me the high point has to be “Sebastian”, Steve shrouded in dark gothic lighting, wringing every drop of emotion out of the epic, haunting, enigmatic ballad. Stunning and beautiful. And the mass singalong, including the full orchestra singing the “ooh la la la”s, for “Make Me Smile” took us all back to our youth. Me, I was back in the City Hall, Steve was No 1 in the charts and the atmosphere was simply electric; I thought the roof would come off.
Thanks for another great night, Steve.
18 Jun
Skid Row Whitley Bay Ice Rink 15th Nov 1991
Skid Row Whitley Bay Ice Rink 15th Nov 1991
Support from Love / Hate
I often learn something new when I do a blog entry. I already knew, of course, that Skid Row had been an Irish Rick band of the early 70s featuring Gary Moore and Brush Sheils (and later Tonka Chapman). And I also knew that the US Skid Row was a very different, heavy rock, band who were big during the late 80s and early 90s. What I didn’t realise until today (thanks to Wikipedia) is that the latter band had connections with Jon Bon Jovi and that “reportedly, Jon Bon Jovi asked Gary Moore – guitarist with late ’60s Irish rock group Skid Row – to sell the rights to the name for $35,000.”
I took Ashleigh and her friend to see Skid Row at Whitley Bay Ice Rink in 1991. They were big fans while, to be honest, I knew little by the band. I lurked at the back of the hall while Ashleigh and her mate joined the mosh down front. Ths tour was at the time of Skid Row’s second album “Slave to the Grind”, which “marked the band’s move towards a heavier sound. The lyrics were more complex, criticizing modern ways of life, authority, politics, drugs, and organized religion, among other topics.” (Wikipedia). The line-up of the band at the time was Rob Affuso on drums; Sebastian Bach on lead vocals; Rachel Bolan on bass, and guitarists Scotti Hill and Dave “The Snake” Sabo.
Setlist: Slave to the Grind; Big Guns; Here I Am; Makin’ a Mess; 18 and Life; Piece of Me; Sweet Little Sister; Psycho Therapy; Wasted Time; Psycho Love; Mudkicker; Midnight / Tornado; Quicksand Jesus; Get the **** Out; Monkey Business; Riot Act; Train Kept A-Rollin; Youth Gone Wild
17 Jun
The Stiff Tour 1977 Middlesbrough Town Hall
The Stiff Tour 1977 Middlesbrough Town Hall and Newcastle Poly
The Stiff tours were a highlight of the late 70s rock calendar. These amazing events featured a selection of artists from Stiff records, travelling up and down the UK dropping into concert halls, university student unions and your local theatre. The first tour was known as the Live Stiffs Tour or 5 Live Stiffs, and took place in late 1977. My ticket stub from the gig at Middlesbrough Town Hall is here on the right, I’ve been trying to work out what the title for that concert was! Perhaps it was “The First Stiffs’ Tour” ?? Who knows 🙂 This first extravaganza boasted a stellar line-up of the new wave aristocracy with a young Elvis Costello with his fine Attractions, Ian Dury and the magnificent Blockheads, the crazy, wild and 100% authentic Wreckless Eric, The Jesus of Cool Nick Lowe (featuring rocker supremo Dave Edmunds) and ex Pink Fairies, Motorhead (and great Lewis leather jacket) Larry Wallis. A bunch of mates and I caught the tour at this Middlesbrough Town Hall gig. At the time punk was really taking off around the UK, and the old town hall was packed. I remember seeing Elvis Costello outside talking to a group of kids; my mate Norm recalls him giving them a penny for the guy. We witnessed some great music with wonderful performances from Elvis and Ian Dury that night. Ian stole the show; he was at his height at the time, performing material from New Boots and Panties!!: “Sweet Gene Vincent”, “Billericay Dickie”, and “Clever Trevor”. The gig ended with everyone on stage performing Dury’s “Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll”. Amazing!!
The tour called at Newcastle Polytechnic a couple of weeks later. I enjoyed the show so much, I went along again, this time with Marie. Marie has a better memory than me on this gig, and can recall us chatting to Elvis Costello in the union bar. She swears that Captain Sensible was with him, holding court to a few of us, in a typical mad mood, and show off that he is, he ate an entire packet of crisps, including the bag, all in one go in front of us. I do have a vague memory of meeting the Captain, but couldn’t be certain that it was the same night as the Stiffs tour. I wish I had kept a diary…
A bargain at £1.50
13 Jun
The Stranglers Sunderland Manor Quay 27th August 2005
The Stranglers Sunderland Manor Quay 27th August 2005
The next time I saw The Stranglers was in 2005 at a gig at Sunderland Manor Quay, which at the time, belonged to the Students’ Union of University of Sunderland, although this was not a student gig. It was 20 years since I had last seen The Stranglers in concert, and 25 years since the band last played in Sunderland. This was quite an event for the city, and a home-coming for local guitarist Baz Warne who joined The Stranglers in 2000, so come the night the venue was packed with punks and rock fans, young and old. The Manor Quay has a long history of music. I first started going to see bands there in the 70s when it was the Boilermakers Workingmen’s Club, and recall seeing Son Of A Bitch there, who became Saxon. The club then became the Barbary Coast nightclub, and in the 80s I saw Screaming Lord Sutch, Bo Diddley and Lords of the New Church play there. Anyway; back to The Stranglers. It was great to see them live again, and the concert brought back loads of memories of happy days. Their set included many of the old classics, lots of which had been dropped from their live show when I last saw them perform back in the 80s. There was, of course, much beer bring thrown around, and lots of pushing and shoving on the dance floor, but all in good spirit. I took David, who also enjoyed it. Support came from local band The Golden Virgins.
The line-up of the band at the time was Jean-Jacques Burnel, Jet Black, Dave Greenfield, “new” singer Paul Roberts (who had actually been in the band 15 years by this time) and local lad Baz Warne on guitar. The Stranglers released their 15th studio album, Norfolk Coast, the year before and the set included quite a few songs from that album. Singer Paul Roberts left the band shortly afterwards, and Baz Warne took up vocal duties.
I’ve seen The Stranglers once since then, at Glastonbury a few years ago.
12 Jun
The Stranglers Newcastle City Hall 12th Feb 1983 and 18th Feb 1985
The Stranglers Newcastle City Hall 1983 and 1985
The Stranglers were back at the City Hall again in 1983 for the “Feline” tour and in 1985 for the “Aural Sculpture” tour.
“Feline” was the Sranglers’ seventh album and was released in January 1983. It did better than their previous album, “La Folie”, reaching No. 4 in the UK Albums Chart. “Feline” produced three singles, the best known of which is “European Female” which reached No. 9 in the UK singles chart in January 1983.
“Aural Sculpture” was the Stranglers eighth album and reached No. 14 in the UK album chart in November 1984. Three singles were released from the album: “Skin Deep” (No. 15 in the UK Singles Chart), “No Mercy” (No. 37) and “Let Me Down Easy” (No. 48).
Although I still enjoyed both of these gigs, the material that they played live was becoming less and less familiar, and I must admit to finding some of the newer songs quite hard going at times. I particularly remember wondering whether to go to the 1985 concert at all, and deciding to do so at the last minute for “old times sake” and partly out of curiosity. I went along late and paid at the door, and found the City Hall far from full; a very different scenario to Stranglers gigs in the late 70s and early 80s. I remember being quite surprised to find the band accompanied by a brass section (now come on, what’s all about? Punk and brass?!). I was also intrigued by the large ear backdrop hanging behind the band.
Here is one guy’s memory which I found as part of a review of the “Aural Sculpture” album: “I remember going to the “Aural Sculpture” tour at the Preston Guild Hall… What was different was the addition of a brass section in the top left hand corner of the stage. When I bought the “Aural Sculpture” LP it came with a free single it was a long poem which ended with Hugh declaring “now i give you aural sculpture” [the single actually came free with the “Feline” lp. 
It is called the “Aural Sculpture Manifesto” and it was played before The Stranglers appeared on stage during concerts on both the 1983 “Feline” Tour and the 1985 “Aural Sculpture” Tour]…….I remember Hugh was wearing a long black leather coat and shades; all black of course.”
I must admit that I was beginning to lose faith in the band at this time, as I I did with many other bands of the period. Looking back I regret giving up on going to see many of those bands. At the time I was just getting tired of hearing a band play “the new album”; I wanted to hear the old songs…I know, perhaps I should have invested more time in listening to new material from those bands, but the truth was in many cases the new stuff just didn’t cut he mustard compared to the songs which made the band famous in the first place. 
Many of the bands from those days are now back, reformed (or in some cases, including the Stranglers, they never went away), playing again, usually with a slightly different line-up. In all cases they are now returning to their back catalogue and playing the old classic songs again.
For me the Stranglers were at their peak in those early days of punk, playing those classic singles and tracks from their first couple of albums. There was a craziness, an air of danger, and an excitement about those gigs, which can never be recreated. The Stranglers were never the coolest of bands, and they were never fully accepted by the punk community, or the much press, in the same way the Pistols or the Clash were, but they had great tunes, throbbing bass, swirling organ, and an attitude about them that you just couldn’t ignore. And their legacy is an amazing number of excellent songs and many, many hit singles and albums over a long career which is still going continuing.
Happy days.
A few years after the 1985 tour Hugh Cornwell left the band, and it was around 20 years until I went to see them again in concert. I’ll write about that gig tomorrow.
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