Another great artist performing in Sunderland at the equally great Fire Station, which is fast becoming a regular venue for many friends and local residents. The Fire Station website advertised the performance: “All of Squeeze‘s best known songs were composed by Chris and songwriting partner Glenn Tilbrook. Chris performs them, along with some solo material … as part of his nationwide Not Only… But Also tour”
Chris says of his new tour: “My new songs written with Boo Hewerdine tell a story of celebration; 25 years writing lyrics and playing on stages big and small. A journey I look back on with great fondness and gratitude. I can’t wait to climb back on stage and perform. Although I have been shy in the past I now find myself feasting on the here and now deep within the shell-like of your ear. I will be joined on stage by Melvin Duffy on his pedal steel and together we will deliver an evening of warm and, I hope, funny stories. Melvin’s playing is outstanding and I feel so lucky to have him as my sideman, he cries over the songs and always makes them sound amazing. “Not Only But Also is not just a look back on 50 lyrical years, it’s a journey that asks, ‘What Happened?’ – What happened to all those years and mates I grew up with before I formed a band? I hope you enjoy this new show for 2023.”
And a journey and a feast of songs and stories it was. Chris was in a jovial mood telling many stories of how we grew up on a council estate in South London, became a skinhead and attended reggae nights at the local Palais as a teenager. Then he discovered progressive rock and became a Hawkwind fan. He was even lucky enough to attend the first Glastonbury festival witnessing an early morning set by David Bowie and a great performance by Hawkwind. Magic.
His tales were extremely funny in the way he told them, all of the crowd laughing and clapping along. He talked of old friends, early encounters with marijuana and early girlfriends; one of which stabbed him after an altercation! This guy lived life to the full and didn’t hold anything back in relating his stories. How much was exaggeration; who knows? That didn’t matter anyway, the evening was packed full of anecdotes and reminiscences.
The stories went on, to include tales of meeting Sting, Bono and Jon Bon Jovi when Squeeze were supporting them, or vice versa. We all laughed along with him as he joked about their massive success compared to that of Squeeze. Now, come on Chris you haven’t done too badly after all! The show was in two sets with a short interval in between. Along with Chris’ wonderful stories we were also treated to songs which comprised all of the well-known Squeeze chart hits and some of Chris’ solo material, which was equally engaging. Chris sang, among others, the big hit singles “Up the Junction” (my favourite), “Cool for Cats” and “Is That Love?” (another particular favourite of mine).
Chris was accompanied by, I assume, the aforementioned Melvin Duffy who played a Fender Telecaster, rather than a pedal steel guitar as promised by Chris above. Whatever, his guitar was excellent and he, like the audience, could not stop laughing along with Chris’ stories.
Many thanks to Jan for taking the photographs and Chris for manipulating the site as usual. Another great evening with a great artist in a fantastic venue which is attracting a wealth of talent to Sunderland. Happy days.
Setlist: Set1: Take Me I’m Yours; Unk; What Happened; Pulling Mussels (From the Shell); I Lived for Each Moment; Slap & Tickle; Tempted
Set 2: Up the Junction; Freddie and the Dreamers; Is That Love; Cowboys Are My Weakness; Goodbye Girl; Labelled With Love; Cool for Cats.
This was a special intimate concert at which local hero 
I took my younger daughter to see James at Newcastle City Hall several years ago and was very impressed by him then. However, I can’t say I know a lot of his material but I do remember his big hit “Impossible”. The guy has an interesting soulful voice and is massively popular, having sold out his arena tour and now headlining outdoor shows around the country, including one at the Middlesbrough Riverside Stadium, the massive football ground, for which I have tickets; the concert taking place in June.
The venue was full of young girls who were clearly ecstatic about seeing their hero in such a small setting. It was a short concert starting at 8:30 PM and finishing shortly after 9:30 PM. James was accompanied by two guitarists, a keyboard player and a two singers. Everyone on acoustic guitars including James himself. He came onstage to a massive cheer and screams from the crowd. This made me feel very old. In fact, I was probably the oldest person in the room. But, who cares, it was exciting to be at such an event.
The short set consisted of a mix of new songs from the soon to be released album and old favourites including my own particular favourite “Impossible”. Everyone seemed to know the words to all of the songs including the new ones, yet to be released; but presumably streamed through James Arthur’s site. It was a great party atmosphere and James had plenty of banter with the crowd. “Who’s here from Middlesbrough?” A massive cheer. “Who’s coming to see me at Newcastle Arena?” Another massive cheer. “Who’s coming to Manchester Arena?” Another big cheer. I was clearly surrounded by a group of real fans.
The banter continued “are you going to buy my new album and help it make number 1?” A massive cheer. “Please come along to the Riverside to see me, there are still tickets left” (the venue holds 35,000 people). Another cheer. The songs were catchy, soulful and James was in a great playful mood. And then it was over after what seemed like a few minutes. Roll on the Riverside concert in June. We all trundled out in orderly fashion into the cold Newcastle evening. My taxi was waiting to take me back home. Yes I remain a not so secret James Arthur fan.
Many thanks to Jackie for taking the pictures.
Two interesting acts at a local venue. It has been many years since I have seen both of these. I last saw 
The last time I saw 
We had a great vantage point on the wheelchair platform. First up were The Primitives who played a great selection of jangly pop tunes including, of course, “Crash” which sounded as fresh and singalong today as it did all those years ago. During Hugh Cornwell’s set Tracy was down in front of the merchandise stand and we caught her and she kindly signed my ticket (see image).
Soon Hugh took to the stage with his three-piece band. Himself on vocals and guitar, a bass player who pounded away on his bass guitar in a similar way to that of Stranglers bass player Jean-Jacques Burnel and mid-stage a drummer also pounding away at his kit. The set was once again a mixture of solo material and a few Stranglers gems thrown in here and there.
In total he played around 9 Stranglers tracks, some of which I recognised including “Always the Sun”, “Strange Little Girl” and the closing track which took me right back to the early days “Hanging Around”. A two hour set which didn’t drag at all. The crowd loved it and Hugh seemed to enjoy himself. At the end a guy dressed as a chicken arrived on stage to play maracas. Bizarre.
Setlist: I Wannahideinsideaya; Too Much Trash; Skin Deep (Stranglers); Wrong Side of the Tracks; Delightful Nightmare; Strange Little Girl (Stranglers); Totem and Taboo; Bad Vibrations; Who Wants the World? (Stranglers); Moments of Madness; When I Was a Young Man; Tramp (Stranglers); Pure Evel; Mr. Leather; Always the Sun (Stranglers); Duce Coochie Man; Goodbye Toulouse (Stranglers); Another Kind of Love; Out of My Mind (Stranglers); Live it and Breathe it; Leave Me Alone; Thrown Away (Stranglers); Lasagna; Hanging Around (Stranglers).
Every year Ian Anderson (who is now to all effects 
After a short taxi ride to Durham station, Elaine, Jan and I joined a train to York. We then had a short walk over the cobbled streets of this lovely city to arrive at The Minster where an extremely long queue of attendees weaved its way around the historic cathedral. We soon found our way to the accessible entrance and, beating the massive queue, made our way into the building. Jan and I had seats close to the front, while Elaine should have been seated quite a few rows behind us. However, and quite fortuitously, her seat had been removed to allow space for the sound desk. The extremely helpful staff at the Minster quickly located her right next to ourselves. I purchased a Jethro Tull Christmas concerts T-shirt on our way into the venue.
I have seen Jethro Tull many times over the years since 1971 at Sunderland Empire, and they are always fantastic in performance, however these Christmas concerts are very special indeed. The lineup of the band has changed many times and is now essentially Ian Anderson with a group of ever-changing musicians, some of whom have accompanied him for several years, some joining more recently. The current line-up is: Ian Anderson – vocals, flute, acoustic and electric guitar, other instruments (the only original member); bass player David Goodier and keyboard player John O’Hara who have both been with Ian since 2007; drummer Scott Hammond who joined the band in 2017 and recent recruit guitarist Joe Parrish who joined in 2020.
Master of ceremonies for the evening was a clergyman named George who was parading around the building resplendent in top hat, frockcoat, cod – please complete with flashing lights, twirling a lovely silver headed cane. He was happy to pose for a picture. Throughout the performance he was dancing and tripping around the Minster across the stage and into the audience. The concert started with a blessing from the Minster cleric and a very fitting performance of “God bless ye merry gentlemen” performed by Jethro Tull, largely instrumental, with Ian taking the lead on flute.
The first guest was a very welcome surprise, none other than 
The final set concluded with more Christmas songs, Loyd rejoining for a 1977 punk classic (which to my shame I did not recognise) and “I believe in Father Christmas” in memory of the sadly missed Greg Lake who had been a guest at a previous Ian Anderson Christmas concert. A very fitting lovely tribute. Marc rejoined to sing the Soft Cell classic “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye” which brought back memories of seeing them in Kirklevington country club (the Kirk) and which was apparently a favourite haunt of his in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Marc was also a secret progressive rock fan when at school so he led Jethro Tull in a rocking rendition of their hit single “The Witch’s Promise”. Fantastic
The end was, as expected, “Aqualung”, followed by “Locomotive Breath” with Marc back to assist with the vocals on a great rendition of the latter Jethro Tull song. And then we made our way out of the Minster into the cold York evening, down to the Tap public house in the station. After a swift drink and a sandwich purchased from the Sainsbury’s Direct in the station, we were back on the train to Durham and then in our taxi home. I was in my bed for 1 AM tired but in the knowledge I had experienced something very special.
Many thanks to Jan for the photographs, Elaine for joining us for the evening and Chris for assisting with the post. A good time was had by all. Apologies for any errors which are entirely my own!
It is quite a few years since I last saw the human dynamo that is 
The Glasshouse website proclaimed Suzi thus: “Influential. Unstoppable. Timeless rock legend. A Suzi Quatro concert is a high-octane rock extravaganza; commanding the stage with her signature leather jumpsuit and rockstar attitude. Backed by her band, she rips through beloved retro hits as well as new material with her raspy vocals and searing bass lines. Quatro’s lively performance and rapport with fans create an electrifying experience celebrating one of music’s pioneering female rebels.” Well, I can’t argue with that.
I arrived in little late after a hospital visit to see my mam who is not so well at the moment. This meant I missed some of the first set. Suzi had no support act and performed two sets with a short interval. Sadly, I missed her singing “Stumblin’ In” which is one of my favourite songs. Never mind I saw her close the first set with a lovely quiet song on which she accompanied herself on piano and a great cover of Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World”. During the interval a double Jack Daniels went down just nice and relaxed me ready for the second half of the show.
Suzi returned complete with leather catsuit and performed a rocky set of her own hits and some great covers. She explained that she has recently released an EP on which she has covered some of her favourite songs. Up on the screen behind her was a picture of Suzi in the early 1970s just as I remember. Fantastic. So we got “Can the Can”, “Devil Gate Drive”, “If You Can’t Give Me Love” and returning to covers, a great version of Credence Clearwater Revival’s “Bad Moon Rising” and the final encore was a beautiful rendition of Eagles “Desperado”. Suzi can still rock out with the best of them. Everyone was up on their feet and enjoying one of the best female rock stars I have ever seen.
Many thanks to Joanne for the photos and Chris for navigating the site for me.
Set Two: Motor City Riders; I Sold My Soul Today; Bad Moon Rising; She’s in Love With You; Overload; Too Big; Glycerine Queen; Can the Can; Devil Gate Drive.
The Fire Station website proudly proclaims: “A National Treasure and Glam Rock Royalty who have taken the world by storm for six decades, Sweet are at their best, performing all their iconic hits to audiences from every continent, all over the world. From the beginning to the end … Full Circle! Guitarist/vocalist Andy Scott, the sole surviving original member at the heart of the band and the golden thread linking Sweet’s proud past to the present, is still fiercely protective of that legacy today as ever. Understandably he knows better than anyone that the long tours can’t carry on indefinitely, with the band now looking to ‘wind down’ some of their live commitments.” The latter statement is surprising news to me. I’ve never imagined that Andy would wish to wind down at all. This means that every chance to see the band is precious.
Sweet had 15 top-40 hits in the 70s, including their classic 1973 UK No.1 “Blockbuster”. Andy current bandmates are Paul Manzi (lead vocals), Bruce Bisland (drums, vocals), Lee Small (bass guitar, vocals) and Tom Cory (guitar, keyboards). Sweet always blended pop with heavy rock and this line-up is no different. Andy has assembled a class band which is as heavy as ever. I mentioned a surprise earlier on in my entry. The surprise was that the set included, at around the halfway point, a medley of the very early hits “Co – Co”, “Funny Funny” and “Poppa Joe”. I don’t think I have seen them play these songs before. Andy stood back and let his bandmates play these songs.
The rest of the set was as always. Opening with the classic glam metal hit “Action”, moving into newer tracks interspersed with “Hellraiser”, my favourite “The Six Teens”, “Teenage Rampage”, “Wig Wam Bam”, “Little Willy”, “Love is Like Oxygen” and closing with “Fox on the Run”. The Fire Station was packed and everyone was singing and dancing along. Jan and Elaine accompanied me and they both thought Sweet were great.
The encores were “Blockbuster” (I used to always sing the line “you better watch out if you have long black hair” with my friends at Sunderland Mecca because I had exactly that, long black hair, at the time). Another excellent performance by a classic pop rock band. I was back in the 70s and it was wonderful to be there again. Thanks to Jan for the photos and to Joanne for helping me create this post.
Setlist: Action; New York Groove; Empire State Of Mind; Hell Raiser; Burn on the Flame; The Six Teens; Don’t Bring Me Water; Changes; Co-Co / Funny Funny / Poppa Joe; Everything; Circus; Set Me Free; Teenage Rampage; Wig-Wam Bam; Little Willy; Love Is Like Oxygen; Fox on the Run. Encores: Blockbuster; The Ballroom Blitz.
“
His music is I suppose (and how would I know at my age?) Indie Rock. He has catchy pop songs, a full backing band who gave him a rocky edge and a rapidly growing Sunderland following. He is also very ambitious. “Thank you for having me at the Fire Station for two nights, how about next time I come to Sunderland Empire and we try and sell that out? And how about the Stadium of Light? No I could not sell that out yet but maybe in the future?” Tom says to the audience. He clearly has these venues in his sight. And why not? Newcastle has Sam Fender, Middlesbrough has James Arthur and maybe the time is right for this guy to be the Sunderland equivalent. You get the feeling the crowd is willing this to happen.
From the Fire Station site: “Fresh off the back of a wave of support for his latest single “Little Bits”, which found airtime on BBC Radio 1, Radio X, and Absolute Radio, as well as on air support on Sunday Brunch, MTV Gonzo, and MOTD X, Sunderland’s Tom A. Smith has now returned to announce the details behind his latest collection ‘EP3’, alongside the euphoric new single “Weirdo”.
‘EP3’ will follow an incredible whirlwind of live performances throughout the last year, including being selected by Elton John to join him at his British Summer Time show at Hyde Park, appearances at Glastonbury, Barn On The Farm, F1 British Grand Prix at Silverstone, and opening Leeds Festival to more than 6000 music fans. He was also announced as Apple Music’s Up Next artist for September and Amazon Music’s Breakthrough Artist of the month. Having already played a ton of gigs throughout the last two years, including supporting Courteeners, Miles Kane, Martha Hill, Vistas, Blondes, The Pale White, Eliza and The Bear, Gang of Youths, whenyoung, Cat Empire, and Sunset Sons, as well as shows at The Great Escape, Stockton Calling, Sound City and Neighbourhood Weekender, Tom A. Smith looks set to continue his busy live schedule throughout 2023 as well.”
“There’s an age-old rule about working for 10,000 hours before you truly master something. Now, we can’t verify if that’s true or not, but prodigal songwriter Tom A. Smith must surely have clocked up 10,000 hours before he was even in his teens.” – CLASH
The crowd was a mixture of (mainly) young people, and a smattering of older fans and (I assume) members of his family. I bought his tour T-shirt which was sold to me by a couple of lovely friendly ladies who could be family members? Jan and I both really enjoyed it and we are now official Tom A Smith fans. Thanks to Jan for the photos and to Chris for helping me with the entry. This guy seems to be on an up and coming trajectory. And all credit to him.
After a pleasant journey on the train to London and a lovely glass of red along with a bacon butty, I arrived at my hotel with my friendly assistants Jan and Elaine. This was followed by a short stay in the hotel, we were up and out again on our way to the O2 by taxi across London. We arrived at the O2 and took advantage of my O2 priority to spend a little time in the O2 blue room.
Time for a couple of drinks and then pizza and chips for me, and hamburger and chips for Jan and Elaine, and we were off to our seats on the wheelchair platform of the O2 with a perfect view of the proceedings. We were all looking forward to seeing 
This truly was a celebration of Madonna’s music and career with multiple costume changes and some fantastic stage settings including Madonna coming down from the ceiling in a cage. There was also a heavy element of what you might call sensationalism and potentially shocking material involving Madonna gyrating with male, female and gender fluid dancers and at one point, dressed as a nun during “Like a Virgin” with images of Jesus on the cross behind her.
This all added to a fantastic performance by a veteran artist. It is many years since I have seen Madonna in concert: once in London’s Earls Court arena with my late wife Marie, once in Manchester Arena with my son, David and more recently (if you can call 2025 recently) for a short set during Live 8 in London’s Hyde Park. All of these performances were tremendous. Madonna is 1 of a small group of ultimate show people who always deliver sensational, challenging performances. When you go to a Madonna concert you know that you will be treated to a party atmosphere and lots of fun! And this concert was no exception.
Bob the Drag Queen opened the concert as a master/mistress of ceremony dressed as Marie Antoinette (resembling Madonna’s “Vogue” 1990 MTV Video Music Awards performance). Throughout the show, dancers appear wearing recreations of a myriad of outfits originally wore by Madonna, representing many of her reinventions. Bob the Drag Queen returned at the end to close the show alongside Madonna herself. Two of Madonna’s six children also joined her on stage, including one who played magnificent piano and another who sang with her, representing her as a mother and celebrating her family.
From Wikipedia: “The Celebration Tour is a two-hour-plus set with multiple-costume-change and more than 30 songs. The show was separated into five different sections: Uptown, Downtown, Midtown, East and West “grids”. According to tour creative director Lewis James, the stage and show also serves as an archive of her life, celebrating her fans, and is a “continuation of her legacy” more than just a biography.”
After the show we had a good discussion about how fantastic this performance was and how career spanning it had been. We also discussed some of the sensationalism which we agreed to differ on! It is fair to say that we all had our own individual views on this aspect of the concert. Nonetheless we all greatly enjoyed it and thought it was absolutely wonderful and well worth the trip to London.
It seemed no time at all before I was back in my hotel, off to sleep, back up again and we were on the train on our way home. A sausage baguette was lovely this time and before I knew it I was back in my own house ready for a rest and further shows in a few days which I will report on soon.
Setlist: Act I: It’s a Celebration; Nothing Really Matters; Everybody; Into the Groove; Causing a Commotion; Burning Up; Open Your Heart; Holiday.
Act IV: Ballroom; Vogue; Human Nature; Crazy for You.
It has taken me a few days to recover and reflect upon my 4th experience with Madonna. This was stunning, sensational in many ways, challenging and thought-provoking, resulting in much discussion with Jan and Elaine for days to come after the concert. Many thanks to Elaine for taking the photos, Jan for accompanying me, and Chris for manipulating the site as usual.
These Boyz Make Big Noize! 
Then a concert at Newcastle City Hall around 1974 when they were at the height of their fame, lots of Noddy Holder top hats and screaming girls, followed by a Whatever Happened to Slade concert at the City Hall where shock horror Dave Hill appeared with a bald head and massive earrings. Next an appearance at Middlesbrough Rock Garden, filled with skinhead fans who went crazy and the band were somewhat down on their luck, followed by an iconic appearance at the Reading Festival where they replaced Ozzy Osbourne at short notice and once again triumphed with the rock crowd, resulting in them becoming heavy rock heroes for several years.
And finally some concerts again at the City Hall and Sunderland Polytechnic. Happy days. Throughout these years they were always a fantastic live act, very loud and much more of a rock band than you would expect. You had to see them to believe it. They were literally one of the best live acts I ever had the pleasure of witnessing.
The concert was opened with support act 
After a short interval during which I purchased a lovely red Slade Alive T-shirt which features the logo from the album of the same name which I bought when it was released in 1972 and played it again and again. It contains the live stage show of Slade in 1971/72 which included a lot of covers like opening song Ten Years After’s “I Hear You Calling”, the Loving Spoonful’s “Darling Be Home Soon” and the closer for which they turned the volume up to 11 Steppenwolf’s “Born to Be Wild”. Magic. If you haven’t yet heard the album I fully recommend it to you.
The current line – up of Slade is quite different to the last time I saw them. As well as the concerts I have mentioned above, I have also seen the new line – up of Slade a few times, including a show for the fan club at London’s KOKO nightclub. Each time they have been great but tonight was a revelation. This time the frontline consists of Dave Hill centrestage, standing aloft on a speaker cabinet, flanked on either side by bass guitarist/violinist to his left and keyboard player to his right.
All three of them sing together and along with Dave’s guitar cranked right up to as LOUD as possible they recreate the sound of the original band. They were absolutely deafening and delivered many of the hits from throughout the band’s career. They finished of course with “Merry Christmas Everybody” complete with Santa hats. Fantastic. Elaine, Jan and I all really enjoyed it. This was the best time I have seen them for many years. Of course it is not the original line – up, but Dave Hill and the boys do a great job.
One Step Beyond! The nutty boys returned with a triumphant performance at Newcastle Arena. The arena was absolutely crammed, fully sold out and everyone was in the early Christmas spirit and ready to party with 
First up were support 
But the warmup was not finished. Between bands an excellent DJ appeared spinning some cool sounds including the original “Tainted Love” by Gloria Jones, a big northern soul favourite from a lady who went on to become Marc Bolan’s girlfriend and was driving the car during the tragic accident which led to the star’s untimely passing; Desmond Decker’s classic “the Israelites” and closing with David Bowie’s “Rebel Rebel”. The crowd were singing along and dancing to every tune. Well done Mr DJ.
Next up Madness. I swear that at least half of the crowd were wearing Fez hats as featured in their song “night Boat to Cairo”. From the word go, everyone was dancing around going completely nuts! I have never seen the floor of the arena so crammed. The set was a mixture of hits and songs from their new album Cest La Vie, which focuses on petty crime as was illustrated by the fantastic visuals on the screens above and behind the band. The visuals, actually, were amazing adding much to the experience.
We were treated to all the hits: “Our House”, “Embarrassment”, “The Prince”, “One Step Beyond”, “My Girl” and many, many more. One particular song brought back embarrassing memories. The song in question is “It Must Be Love” which was, of course, written by the great Labi Siffre. Many years ago I was out with Marie, my late wife who was at the time my girlfriend. It was a Friday night and there was no particularly exciting band appearing at Sunderland Mecca or Newcastle Mayfair so we decided to, on the off chance, drive through to Newcastle Polytechnic to see who was appearing at that venue.
When we arrived I asked at the door “Who is on tonight?” Labi Siffre they replied. “Oh no I said I have just seen him at Sunderland Empire (supporting Linda Lewis I believe) and he is so boring!” Well I turned round and facing me was none other than Labi Siffre himself. It was one of those moments when you hope the ground will open up and swallow you. I didn’t know what to say so just paid my money and we went in to the concert, which was actually very good and he was not boring at all! Looking back he was an excellent singer/songwriter and I still feel awful about my comment that evening.
People were dancing up and down the wheelchair ramp in front of us. The encores completed with the aforementioned “Night Boat to Cairo”. Elaine, Jackie and I all agreed that it was a tremendous performance by a band of consummate professionals. Magic.
Many thanks to Jackie for the images, Elaine for joining in the fun and Chris for assisting me in completing this entry.
Update 26 March 2024. Just bought myself a copy of Ian Broudie’s book which is entitled “Tomorrow’s Here Today”. A nice signed copy courtesy of Waterstones. I thought I would add it to this blog entry (see images).
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