Dolly Parton Newcastle Arena 21st March 2007
I’m writing about another guilty pleasure today.
Laura mentioned that she quite fancied seeing Dolly Parton in concert (she particularly liked the song “Jolene”) and I had always secretly wanted to see her too. So when we saw that she was coming over to the UK for a tour and visiting Newcastle Arena we decided to go along. The show was, as you would expect, a big lavish affair with our heroine centre stage singing all of those great country and pop songs. Great fun.
Dolly is touring the UK again this year, and strongly rumoured to be playing the Sunday afternoon legends slot at Glastonbury, which we are looking forward to.
Setlist from 2007 tour: Act One. Baby, I’m Burnin’; Two Doors Down; Jolene; The Grass Is Blue; Shine; Thank God I’m a Country Girl; God’s Coloring Book; Little Sparrow; My Tennessee Mountain Home; These Old Bones; Coat Of Many Colours; Smoky Mountain Memories; Train, Train; Imagine. Interval. Act two. Marry Me; Those Were The Days; Me and Bobby McGee; I Dreamed About Elvis; Islands In the Stream; Here You Come Again; 9 to 5; I Will Always Love You; He’s Alive.
Another guilty secret is that “Coat of Many Colours” is one of my favourite songs 🙂
Posts Tagged ‘pop’
27 Feb
Dolly Parton Newcastle Arena 21st March 2007
26 Feb
Prince London O2 Arena 9th September 2007
Prince London O2 Arena 9th September 2007
Prince has been in the news recently, as he has been over here in the UK playing a series of guerrilla gigs in London and Manchester. The reviews of those gigs have been overwhelmingly positive, with fans and critics alike proclaiming the purple one as one of the best performers in the world. Now I don’t pretend to be a big Prince fan, but I did go to see him during his record-breaking unprecedented 21 night run at the O2 Arena in London in 2007, billed as the Earth Tour. Tickets were priced at a mere £31.21 a pop in order to “make the concerts affordable to everybody”, and also entitled the bearer to a free copy of Prince’s CD, Planet Earth. Similarly, the reviews of the time were extremely positive: “Every night, from the moment he hit the stage, he had the audience eating out of his hand with his consummate showmanship and musical genius — his guitar playing, in particular, was extraordinary. You got the feeling that he was simply pleasing himself, but the fun was mightily contagious” (totalproduction). I enjoyed the gig much more than I had anticipated, Prince included several of his hits, and some amazing covers. He stage was modelled in the shape of his trademark symbol, and he used it to its full extent, popping up at various different places during the evening. 
You can see shades of many influences in Prince’s music and style, but the artist who he most reminds me of is Sly Stone; now there is someone who I have never seen and would love to…(but I doubt I will get the chance to now). Prince may be back in the UK in the summer for shows at Glastonbury or Hyde Park.
Setlist: Let’s Go Crazy; Baby I’m a Star; Proud Mary (Creedence Clearwater Revival); All Along the Watchtower (Bob Dylan via Hendrix); Take Me With U; Guitar; Shhh; Musicology; Play That Funky Music (Wild Cherry); Sexy Dancer; Le Freak (Chic); What a Wonderful World (Louis Armstrong). Piano set: Somewhere Here on Earth; Diamonds and Pearls; Adore; Strange Relationship; Sometimes It Snows in April; 7; Come Together (The Beatles); If I Was Your Girlfriend. Encore: Black Sweat; Kiss; Purple Rain. Sampler set: Irresistible Bitch; Sign “☮” the Times; Raspberry Beret; When Doves Cry; I Wanna Be Your Lover; Soft and Wet; Lady Cab Driver. Encore 2: I Feel for You; Controversy
24 Feb
The Primitives Newcastle Mayfair 1st May 1988
The Primitives Newcastle Mayfair 1st May 1988
The Primitives burst out of the indie rock scene in the late ’80s with the single “Crash” which reached No 5 in 1988. It was on the strength of that single that a mate and I went to see them when they played Newcastle Mayfair. I can’t pretend to remember any of their material other than “Crash” but do recall enjoying the gig. From their official site: “Fronted by indiepop blonde bombshell Tracy Tracy, The Primitives emerged from the independent scene of the mid-80s …Their sound distilled the shimmering guitar jangle of the Byrds, the buzzsaw style of The Ramones and 60′s girl group melodies into two and a half minute pop gems….A widely acclaimed first album, Lovely, made them the UK’s indie darlings, while the huge success of the single ‘Crash‘ saw them cross over to a mass audience. Further chart success followed, along with two more studio albums, Pure and Galore, plus extensive tours of Europe and the US, before the band called it a day in 1992.” The Primitives have recently reformed and are now gigging again.
23 Feb
Roundhouse Rising Festival 21st – 24th February 2014
Roundhouse Rising Festival 21st – 24th February 2014
So the Shift-Static guys made it down to London for their big-city debut at Camden’s Chalk Farm Roundhouse, courtesy of Generator and the Roundhouse Rising festival. Second on the bill on the Saturday evening; Gordon, Laura, Charlie, Joe and Will took to the stage at 9pm in front of a packed Studio audience, including many friends and family who had ventured south especially for the occasion. After some technical glitches which were sorted during sound-check, their short 30 minute set went beautifully, without any further hitch. Their aural soundscapes filled the room much to the delight of the crowd, who gave the band a reception fit for heroes. Shift-Static music is a mix of pounding beats, soaring vocals and challenging musical dynamics. In it I hear elements of Joy Division, Julie Tippetts, Portishead and Eno with a smattering of the African rhythms of Osibisa; but they probably won’t thank me for any of those comparisons 🙂 .
Roundhouse Rising is the Roundhouse’s annual festival of new music. Taking place across 4 days, the festival sees live music from over 75 artists plus 3 days of special events dedicated to help new atcs break into the music industry. Each year the Roundhouse works with over 3,000 11-25 year olds enabling them to realise their creative potential in live music, circus, spoken word, theatre and new media. Around 45 of the artists performing this weekend have come through this route.
22 Feb
The Pretenders Newcastle City Hall 17th January 1984
The Pretenders Newcastle City Hall 17th January 1984
The Pretenders regrouped in 1983 with original members Chrissie Hynde (guitar and vocals), and Martin Chambers (drums). They were soon back in the UK charts with “Back on the Chain Gang” and “2000 miles”. By the time I saw them in concert at Newcastle Hynde and Chambers had been joined by Malcolm Foster (bass) and Robbie McIntosh (guitar). The line-up was professional, and the concert good, but I felt some of the rawness of the original band was lacking. However, Chrissie Hynde remains an engaging performer to this day. I last saw the Pretenders when they supported Rod Stewart at St James Park Newcastle a few years ago.
From an article by Andy Schwartz in New York Rocker (June 1980): “Seeing [The Pretenders] live brings home just how new they are to all of this. Their entire stage repertoire can’t encompass more than twenty numbers, and even Hynde, already a potent presence and the obvious center of attraction, hasn’t yet taken full command of the stage. 
She’s still awed by the roar of the crowd, still slightly amazed to find herself in the spotlight in place of her teenage idols: Lennon, Townshend, Ray Davies.”
A Pretenders setlist from 1984: The Wait; Message of Love; The Adultress; Time the Avenger; My City Was Gone; Show Me; Talk of the Town; Birds of Paradise; Thin Line Between Love and Hate; Thumbelina; Back on the Chain Gang; I Hurt You; Pack It Up; Bad Boys Get Spanked; Mystery Achievement; Middle of the Road; Up the Neck; Precious. Encore: Brass in Pocket;Tattooed Love Boys
21 Feb
The Pretenders Newcastle gigs 1979 – 1981
The Pretenders Newcastle gigs 1979 – 1981
Chrissie Hynde moved to London from the USA in 1973, finding work at the NME and at Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood’s clothes store. She became involved with the early punk scene, and hung around with the Pistols, The Clash and The Damned. She had a few short-lived bands and then formed the Pretenders in 1978 with Pete Farndon on bass, James Honeyman-Scott on guitar, and Martin Chambers on drums. They released a cover of The Kinks “Stop Your Sobbing” in 1979, followed by the great “Kid”. It was around the release of “Kid” when I first saw the Pretenders on 3rd August 1979 at Newcastle Mayfair. The Mayfair was a big heavy metal haunt, and the audience would give punk and new waves bands a hard time. The Pretenders were no exception, and they faced an onslaught of beer glasses.
If I remember right, Chrissie Hynde put on a brave front arguing with the hecklers, but they eventually abandoned the gig, soaked with beer. Nonetheless, they played a great set, and left me wanting to see them again. In January of 1980 the Pretenders hit No 1 in the UK charts with “Brass in Pocket”. On 8th February 1980 I saw them play to a packed, sold out, Newcastle Polytechnic. They gave a storming performance, and Chrissie was simply amazing. This was the best time I have seen them in concert, and a gig that sticks in my mind as something pretty special. It was one of those nights where you felt that you were seeing a band on the verge of the big time, they knew it, we knew it and the atmosphere was electric; I think they may have been No 1 the week of the gig. 
From there on the next couple of visits to Newcastle were to the City Hall; on 6th October 1980 with (Swords of 1000 men) Ten Pole Tudor as support and again on 30th November 1981. The Pretenders were a great live act; Chrissie all swagger, tunes with great hooks, and a sense of their ’60s pop roots blended with punk and new wave. By the end of 1982 both Pete Farndon and James Honeyman-Scott had died from drug overdoses, and it seemed that the band would be no more. However they were to regroup in 1983, and were back at the City Hall in 1984. I’ll blog about that gig tomorrow.
19 Feb
The Police Milton Keynes Bowl 26th July 1980
The Police Milton Keynes Bowl 26th July 1980
Rockatta De Bowl
Support Acts: UB40; Squeeze; Tom Robinson’s Sector 27; Skafish
DJs: John Peel (who else) and Jerry Floyd
Not one of the best one day festival events that I’ve attended, but by no means the worst. It’s a long drive from the North East to Milton Keynes, and it seemed an even long drive back after standing all day getting soaked….
I went with a car load of mates; we had all recently discovered the Police and were quite big fans at the time, having seen them several times in Newcastle. This was the first big concert at the Milton Keynes Bowl, and it was organised by the same people that ran the Reading Festival. The Bowl is, as the name suggests, a natural round amphitheatre; “the site was a former clay-pit…filled in and raised to form an amphitheatre using sub-soil excavated by the many new developments in the area and it has a maximum capacity of 65,000. The arena is open-air grassland, without seats.” (Wikipedia). It was by no means full for the Police concert; reports suggest that around 25,000 people attended. There had been a lot of rain in the days leading up to the event and as a result, the bowl was a bit of a quagmire…. 
The line-up was interesting. I don’t recall whether or not we arrived in time to catch Tom Robinson and his new band Sector 27. I do remember SkaFace who were greeted by a hail of cans, and retreated after a few songs, the singer’s face was quite badly cut. Squeeze were good, as always; they can’t be anything other than good with those catchy pop songs like “Up The Junction”, and great hooks. UB40 were a big hit, with their reggae rhythms drifting around the bowl. There was then a long wait before The Police hit the stage, during which it poured down. The weather and the wait put a damper on things, and I remember that the Police were good, but I couldn’t really get into it for two reasons; first I was soaked (no tents or anywhere else to hide from the rain) and secondly I knew that I had a long four hour drive home. Sting had a pretty classy looking new upright bass (was it hanging from the roof on a wire? Or did I just imagine that?) and he led us all through lots of Yo Yo Yo..ing which started to annoy me after too long….
Some reviews from the time:
“The show by The Police in the hitherto rock and roll backwater of Milton Keynes, proved that there are still few greater thrills available anywhere than to witness a group playing at the absolute peak of its prowess and confidence… One is always astonished at any show The Police perform, by the remarkable power they manage to create with the basic line-up of bass, guitar and drums…” (Evening Standard)
“…they showed a move towards a more varied and mainstream approach, while retaining more than a hint of the white reggae style.” (The Guardian)
“They achieved a better overall sound with three musicians than anyone else did with eight… The white reggae beat was certainly conducive to the festival atmosphere, and the tribal chants brought out the football supporter in all of us.” (Sounds)
Police setlist: Voices Inside My Head; Don’t Stand So Close to Me; Walking on the Moon; Deathwish; Fall Out; Bring on the Night; De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da; Truth Hits Everybody; The Bed’s Too Big Without You; Driven to Tears; When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What’s Still Around; Message in a Bottle; Roxanne; Can’t Stand Losing You; Reggatta de Blanc; Next to You; So Lonely
8 Feb
The Battleship Potemkin, Pet Shop Boys , Swan Hunter’s shipyard, Wallsend, 1st May 2006
The Battleship Potemkin, Pet Shop Boys , Swan Hunter’s shipyard, Wallsend, 1st May 2006
In 2003 The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) in London, asked Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe (Pet Shop Boys) to write a new score for the film The Battleship Potemkin, and perform it as a free concert in Trafalgar Square. They did so, and have performed the piece several times since, including this performance in the North East, which David and I attended in May 2006. The Battleship Potemkin is a propaganda film that tells the story of the 1905 mutiny of the Russian ship. The film is recognised as a silent classic, and is often cited as one of the greatest films of the period. I attended a film studies course at college; The Battleship Potemkin was one of the films we were shown, and I had to write an essay about it. “Battleship Potemkin is a 1925 silent film directed by Sergei Eisenstein and produced by Mosfilm. It presents a dramatized version of the mutiny that occurred in 1905 when the crew of the Russian battleship Potemkin rebelled against their officers of the Tsarist regime. Battleship Potemkin has been called one of the most influential propaganda films of all time, and was named the greatest film of all time at the Brussels World’s Fair in 1958.” (Wikipedia). 
On May 1st, 2006, Pet Shop Boys with the Northern Sinfonia performed the music with the film at a special event held at Swan Hunter’s shipyard, Wallsend, and presented by the Newcastle Gateshead Initiative. Tickets were distributed free through a ballot, and 14,000 people attended the event. The music reflected the sombre mood of the film, and used a mixture of electronica and orchestration to provide an appropriate accompaniment to the grainy images shown on the screen. It was a cold evening, and there was quite a wait before Pet Shop Boys and the film started. Then local actor Tim Healy appeared on a raised platform to the left of the stage to introduce the performance. The film’s credits rolled and the music started. This was a very different type of performance for most of the crowd, including me, and fans of Pet Shop Boys who were hoping to hear some of their many hits will have gone home disappointed; indeed we could hardly see the band, as they spent most of the evening hidden behind a screen on the dimly lit stage. 
The music was mostly instrumental, although Pet Shop Boys had composed a few new songs as part of their score. It was very loud in parts, and fitted well with the film and its battle sequences. It was, as it should have been, the film which was the star of the evening. I went with David and we both agreed it was quite a strange, but ultimately fulfilling, experience. The walk down to the shipyard was marked by stickers (showing Pet Shop Boys) on the pavement; I managed to pull one up on the way home, and have pictured it here 🙂 I have also included a picture from the film The Battleship Potemkin, which is now public domain and available thanks to the Wikimedia Commons licence.
NewcastleGateshead Chief Executive Andrew Dixon said when the performance was announced: “This event promises to be an amazing and unforgettable audience experience set against the striking backdrop of one of the region’s most historic and iconic symbols of its industrial roots. To use Swan Hunters as a stage set for one of the most exciting and innovative musical events of 2006 is very fitting.” Sage Gateshead performance director Simon Clugston: “To hear Northern Sinfonia perform the soundtrack to the classic film Battleship Potemkin with the Pet Shop Boys in the apt industrial setting of Swan Hunter’s shipyard will be a night to remember.”
5 Feb
Public Image Ltd, Creation for Liberation Benefit Gig, Manchester Belle Vue, 23rd February 1979
Public Image Ltd, Creation for Liberation Benefit Gig, Manchester Belle Vue, 23rd February 1979
This was Public Image Ltds 5th gig, and their first in the North of England. I’d been a massive Pistols fan, having seen them twice in 1976 and 1977, so I was looking forward to this one. I’d bought their first album, and found it quite strange and rather disconcerting, it was so different to the Sex Pistols. Marie and I went to the concert which was in the massive Kings Hall our at Belle Vue Manchester. We drove down and stayed at a hotel in the city centre (the Portland I think).
The concert was entitled ‘Creation for Liberation’ and was a benefit gig in aid of the ‘Race Today Friendly Society’. Also on the bill were Bristol’s The Pop Group (punky/jazzy/art-rock), Merger (a great reggae band), and poets Linton Kwesi Johnson and John Cooper Clarke. We arrived early to see all the bands. I remember seeing a lot of people from the Manchester punk scene; a couple of members of the Buzzcocks were in the crowd. Everyone had turned out to see what John’s new band was like. I remember both dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson (“England is a bitch’ was a stand-out) and local hero John Cooper Clarke (super fast) going down well, and then there was a long wait for PIL. 
The line-up of PIL was: John Lydon (vocals), Keith Levene (guitar); Jah Wobble (bass) and Eddie Edwards (from the Vibrators sitting in on drums for this one gig). There was a long, cold, ait before PIL came on stage. When they did, they wandered on and Lydon famously said to the waiting crowd, “No gimmicks, no theatre, just us. Take it or leave it”. They then launched into ‘Theme’ and played a set which featured songs from their first album, and the controversial Pistols songs ‘Belsen Was A Gas’ (this was the last time that PIL would ever perform the song, and the last time that it was performed live until the Pistols played it again during their reunion tour in 2002). The sound was poor and murky and you couldn’t hear Lydon’s vocals very well at all. John was as scary and engaging as ever, but overall the band’s performance was a little shaky, and lacking the power and depth that PIL can achieve on a good night. I was hoping we would get a Pistols hit for the encore (I should have known that was never going to happen), but they simply played ‘Annalisa’ again. It was great to see Lydon on stage again, and in a strange way, this was a memorable concert. It represented everything that PIL was about at the time: challenging, strange, not quite what you would expect, noisy and discordant.
Set List: Theme; Annalisa; Low Life; Religion; Attack; Belsen Was A Gas; Public Image; Annalisa
Thanks to Paul B. Toman for allowing the use of his image of the PIL button badge through the Wikimedia Commons licence agreement.
4 Feb
Robert Palmer Newcastle Mayfair 19th May 1983
Robert Palmer Newcastle Mayfair 19th May 1983
Robert Palmer was a cool guy and a great R&B and soul singer. I first came across him when I saw him in Dada, a jazz/rock fusion band, who supported Iron Butterfly on their 1971 UK tour. Dada also featured Elkie Brooks, and the pair of singers were soon to form the great Vinegar Joe, who I was lucky enough to see several times in the early 70s. Palmer and Brooks were great together live; the cool, suave Yorkshireman was the perfect complement to Brooks’ fiery, wild and raucous stage persona. After Vinegar Joe folded, Palmer went on to forge a solo career, achieving particular success in the USA. By the time I saw him again at this gig at Newcastle Mayfair in 1983, he had released 7 albums. The tour was to promote the Pride album, and followed his success in the UK singles chart with Some Guys Have All The Luck which reached No 16, and was his biggest hit to date. 
The show saw Palmer looking particularly cool in a snappy suit, and singing his blue-eyed soul to an appreciative Newcastle crowd. A live recording exists of the Hammersmith Palais show of the 1983 tour which shows the setlist as: Every Kinda People; What Can You Bring?; Dance For Me; Want You More; You Can Have It (Take My Heart); Woke Up Laughing; Say You Will; Sneakin’ Sally Through The Alley; Pride; It’s Not Difficult; Some Guys Have All The Luck; Best Of Both Worlds; Sulky Girl; Looking For Clues; Johnny And Mary. I would imagine that the set at the Mayfair will have been similar. Palmer went on to even bigger success a few years later with Addicted To Love (and that iconic video) and She Makes My Day. He died of a heart attack in a Paris hotel room on 26 September 2003 at the age of 54.
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