Bob Dylan Newcastle Telewest Arena 19 Sep 2000
I took David to this gig, for his fist taste of Dylan in concert. This was one of the better times that I have seen Dylan, and David was impressed enough to come and see him with me on several more occasions in the years that followed. We had bought tickets quite late and, as a result, we ended up with seats which were quite far back. Still our view of the stage was still ok. The arena was full this time, after a far from sold out gig at the same venue in 1998. Dylan and his band were on great form and the set featured a lot of his better known songs. There was a mix of electric and acoustic versions, and the encore contained a surprising seven songs. He finished with a lovely acoustic version of Blowin’ in the Wind. 
This was the start of me trying to see Dylan every time he came to the North of England or Scotland over the coming years, often accompanied by David or Laura. Setlist: Duncan and Brady; The Times They Are A-Changin’; It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding); Delia; Tangled Up in Blue; Searching for a Soldier’s Grave; Country Pie; Standing in the Doorway; Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again; Tell Me That It Isn’t True; The Wicked Messenger; Rainy Day Women #12 & 35. Encore: Things Have Changed; Like a Rolling Stone; Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right; Man of Peace; Forever Young; Highway 61 Revisited; Blowin’ in the Wind.
Posts Tagged ‘prog rock’
17 Oct
Bob Dylan Newcastle Telewest Arena 19 Sep 2000
18 Sep
Glencoe: an under-rated early 70s band
Glencoe: an under-rated early 70s band
Blogging on the Deep Purple gigs that I attended in the early 70s, has made me think a little about Glencoe, who supported Deep Purple on their 1972 UK tour. I remember Glencoe well and saw them a few times. They featured Norman Watt Roy on bass and John Turnbull ( from Newcastle ) on guitar, who had been in Bell and Arc. Both of them went on to be part of Ian Dury and the Blockheads. Norman is now bass player for Wilko Johnson. One particular gig comes to mind. I went along to see Stray and Glencoe at the Mayfair, with a friend who was heavily into Stray. It was a midnight to 4am gig; it may have been Easter Sunday or something like that. We got the last train through to Newcastle and arrived at the Mayfair. The queue was massive, and I remember being worried that we might not get in, and would be left stranded in Newcastle all night. We did get in and the place was packed to the walls. Glencoe played, and then they announced over the PA that Stray weren’t coming and would be replaced by a local band. My memory is hazy here. I have vague memories of both Lucas Tyson and Brass Alley playing. I think Lucas Tyson may have been on first, before Glencoe, and then Brass Alley replaced Stray (or was it the John Miles Set? Who nows….). We were also told over the PA that in compensation we could come along and see Edgar Broughton free of charge the following Friday. We didn’t think that was very fair, as we had come especially to see Stray, so we went along and spoke to a bouncer. I said I wanted to see the manager to ask for our money back. The bouncers weren’t the most understanding of guys in those days. He slapped me across the face, and told me to b***** off or he would throw us out. We decided it would be wiser to accept his advice. We stayed in the Mayfair until the gig finished at 4am. We then went to Bowers all night cafe which was opposite the station, had a cup of coffee and stayed there until the first train back to Sunderland, which was around 6am. Happy Days….Glencoe were a good band, who were a mix of funk and rock. Norman Watt Roy was the stand out as bass player, and John Turnbull was also great on guitar. I had their album at one point, and still have a single of theirs, called Friends of Mine. I also remember a song called Airport, which was a highlight of their live set at the time.
16 Sep
Deep Purple Newcastle Arena 2007
Deep Purple Newcastle Arena 2007
Support from Styx and Thin Lizzy
A group of us went to this gig, attracted as much by the strong support acts on offer, as by the prospect of seeing Deep Purple. My friends are all big Styx fans, and couldn’t miss the opportunity of seeing them. The gig started early at around 7pm, to allow each vabd to perform a reasonable length set. First up was Thin Lizzy, this line-up fronted by John Sykes and Scott Gorham. 
They delivered a set of Lizzy classics, proving that there is life for the band without front man Phil Lynott. In fact, I was surprised just how good they were, and it was great to hear classics such as The Boys Are Back In Town, and Jailbreak again. Styx were next up, also missing front man Dennis DeYoung. Styx gave headliners Purple a run for their money, and delivered a set of classics which went down well with the assembled crowd. Although Purple’s latest album was Rapture of the Deep, this show also featured the band playing their classic album Machine Head in full. A good evening in the company of friends, and three classic rock bands. Setlist: Fireball; Things I Never Said; Into the Fire; Strange Kind of Woman; Rapture of the Deep; The Well-Dressed Guitar; Highway Star; Maybe I’m a Leo; Pictures of Home; Never Before; When a Blind Man Cries; Smoke on the Water; Lazy; Space Truckin’. Encore: Hush; Black Night.
14 Sep
Deep Purple Newcastle Arena 2004 Bananas Tour
Deep Purple Newcastle Arena 2004 Bananas Tour
Support from Peter Frampton and Thunder
It was almost 20 years until I saw Deep Purple again. I went along with my mate Will to this gig, which was at Newcastle Arena. The show used part of the Arena, with the rest sectioned off. This allows the band to perform to a larger audience than can be accommodated in a concert hall, such as Newcastle City Hall, but loses much in terms of atmosphere. Support came from rock band Thunder and Peter Frampton. I hadn’t seen Frampton since the Frampton Comes Alive tour, and I’d forgotten just how good he is. He has some great songs and is a pretty neat guitarist to boot. He played, of course, Show Me The Way, and a few other classics from his 70s heyday. 
By 2004 Blackmore had left Purple again, and Jon Lord had just retired. Steve Morse was well established on guitar, and local hero Don Airey had recently joined on keyboards. Long-timers Gillan, Glover and Paice were there from the old days. The band had recently released the Bananas album. The set was a mix of old favourites, and quite a few recent tracks which were unfamiliar to me. I’d almost forgotten just how great Purple are, and was well impressed. It was great to see them play old favourites like Speed King, and particularly Hush. Steve Morse is an impressive guitarist and fits in well, and his solo on Contact Lost was a stan-out. Setlist: Silver Tongue; Woman from Tokyo; I Got Your Number; Strange Kind of Woman; Bananas; Demon’s Eye; Knocking at Your Back Door; Contact Lost; The Well-Dressed Guitar; Perfect Strangers; Space Truckin’; Highway Star; Smoke on the Water. Encore: Speed King; Hush.
13 Sep
Deep Purple Knebworth 1985
Twelve years after I last saw them, the classic Deep Purple line-up was back and playing at Knewborth. I went with my mate Dave on a trip bus from the town. The line-up for the day was very strong with The Scorpions, Meat Loaf, UFO, Mountain, Blackfoot, Mama’s Boys, and Alaska (can’t remember who they were) but unfortunately the weather was lousy. It rained and rained all day and then it rained more. Dave and I spent much of the day sheltering under a tree. At one point we found our way into an indoor bar which must have been for guests because it was empty (!) and we kept warm and dry in there. The Scorpions went down best of all the support acts, and there was a never ending two hour wait between the end of their set and Purple taking to the stage at around 10pm. 
I can’t remember much about the other bands, but Purple were good despite the rain. As expected they started with Highway Star and played all of the classics, along with quite a few songs from the new album Perfect Strangers. To cap it all our bus got stuck in the mud in the carpark and some of us had to push it out. We didn’t get out of the carpark until early morning and arrived back home at dawn. The things I’ve done for rock n roll…Setlist: Highway Star; Nobody’s Home; Strange Kind of Woman; A Gypsy’s Kiss; Perfect Strangers; Under the Gun; Lazy; Knocking at Your Back Door; Difficult to Cure; Space Truckin’. Encore: Speed King; Black Night; Smoke on the Water. Other memories are of some guys setting fire to the portaloos to keep warm, no screens and an awful view of the stage from the back, pretty cool lasers for Purple, and a massive firework display after Purple’s set. Happy Days.
12 Sep
Deep Purple Newcastle Odeon 1974
Deep Purple Newcastle Odeon 1974
Support from Elf
So Deep Purple returned to the North East with a new line-up. Ian Gillan and Roger Glover had departed and in came local lad David Coverdale, who hailed from Saltburn, on vocals and Glenn Hughes, from Trapeze, on bass and vocals. The gig had sold out pretty quickly, which was some achievement given the changes in the band and the fact that they had graduated from the City Hall to the larger capacity Odeon. I went along with a group of mates, with some trepidation; I just couldn’t imagine how the new guys were going to fit it, and live up to the huge reputation that was Deep Purple. Support came from Elf, who featured Ronnie James Dio on vocals, and delivered an impressive set. Purple had released the new album Burn, and one of mates had bought it. We’d all listened to it and agreed that it was pretty good. The Deep Purple we all experienced that night was easily on par with its predecessor. They exploded onto the stage with “Burn”; Coverdale was on fire, Blackmore was his old self, Jon was attacking his organ, Hughes added a more soulful dimension to the vocals, and Ian Paice provided the solid back beat. I have a theory that bands can find great strength at times of change. I’ve seen it happen a couple of other times: when Genesis came back without Gabriel is another example. Deep Purple came back stronger than ever, and the strength of the songs on Burn helped. Mistreated, Might just take your life, and Burn itself are all very powerful songs. Setlists from the time show the set as being: Burn; Might Just Take Your Life; Lay Down, Stay Down; Mistreated; Smoke on the Water; You Fool No One; The Mule; Space Truckin’. Encore: Going Down; Highway Star. 
My friend John sent me his own recollections of the gig: “For years I though this was the City Hall; I had a great seat near the front. They played Burn and Mistreated from the new album which were great plus I think Might Just Take your life, You Fool No One and Lay Down Stay Down. Burn was the starting track, Mistreated was the highlight for me and think they played Highway Star, Space Trucking and presumably Smoke on the Water.Support was Elf with Rockin Ronnie. Remember Glenn Hughes had really long hair – had seen him once before in Trapeze.”
It was all of 11 years until I saw Deep Purple again. I didn’t see the Tommy Bolin line-up; they toured the UK but didn’t play the North East, although a show at Middlesbrough Town Hall (which would have been a home-coming show for David Coverdale) was rumoured but, to my knowledge, never happened.
11 Sep
Deep Purple Newcastle City Hall 1973
Deep Purple Newcastle City Hall 1973
Support from Nazareth
This was the last time that I saw the classic Deep Purple Mark II line-up in the 70s. By this point tensions in the band were growing and relations between Gillan and Blackmore were not good. Both Gillan and Glover were to leave the band before the year was out. This tour came just as the Who Do We Think We Are album was released. This is not their strongest album but it does feature the great hit single: Woman from Tokyo. Published setlists from the time show the set as being: Highway Star; Smoke on the Water; Strange Kind of Woman; Mary Long; Lazy; The Mule; Space Truckin’; and Black Night. My friend John recalls them also playing Woman from Tokyo; Smooth Dancer and Never Before from Machine Head. My main recollection from the gig was how different Gillan looked. He had grown a beard and was wearing a smart jacket and slacks; a very different image to that of previous tours. Reports of shows from that period suggest that you could sense the tensions within the band and the growing distance between the members, but I can’t say I noticed anything amiss. I was sitting upstairs with a group of friends, and enjoyed the gig, although not quite as much as previous tours. Nazareth were a great support act. A few months later the unthinkable had happened and Gillan and Glover had both departed. I thought that was the end of Deep Purple, which was far from what transpired, more of which tomorrow.
10 Sep
Deep Purple Newcastle City Hall 1972
Deep Purple Newcastle City Hall 1972
Support from Glencoe
Deep Purple were back at the City Hall in 1972 and this was the band at its peak. This was the Mark II version of the band, which most people regard as the ultimate and classic line-up of Deep Purple. In 1972 Purple had world-wide success with the release of their album Machine Head, and in the same year they recorded the superb live album Made In Japan. They started with Highway Star, which is just the perfect set opener; it kicks off with a great riff, its fast and up-tempo, and there’s a wonderful solo from Blackmore. They played all their best known songs, including the now classic Smoke on the Water which was then new to the set. Other songs which featured in the set at that time were Child in Time; The Mule; Strange Kind of Woman; Lazy; and Space Truckin’. All great. It didn’t get any better than this at the time. 
The encores will probably have been one or two of Black Night; Speed King and possibly Lucille; I can’t be certain. Its difficult to put into words just how great Deep Purple were at that time; they were easily on a par with Zeppelin and Sabbath. Jon Lord’s swirling organ and the unbelievable vocal range that Gillan had in those days gave them something unique, which set them apart from any other band. And Blackmore was amazing, so confident, so flashy in his guitar technique. For this gig I was lucky enough to be sitting in the third row, right in front of Ritchie, and I just couldn’t keep my eyes off him. And Purple were so LOUD; my ears were ringing for days after. My hearing isn’t so good these days, and I reckon the main culprits are Deep Purple, the Who and Motorhead! I remember support act Glencoe well and saw them a few times around that time. They featured Norman Watt Roy on bass and John Turnbull on guitar, who I’d seen in Bell and Arc. Both of them went on to be part of Ian Dury and the Blockheads, and Norman is now bass player for Wilko Johnson. They were a good band, who deserved more recognition. Tomorrow I’ll bring together my memories of the 1973 Deep Purple tour, which was the last time I saw the classic line up in the 70s. Things were not great in the Purple camp, and sadly the band was about to disintegrate.
9 Sep
Deep Purple live in the early 70s
Deep Purple live in the early 70s
Deep Purple were just untouchable live in the early 70s. They had all those classic rock songs: Black Night, Speed King, Strange Kind of Woman, Child in Time; and they were all top class musicians and performers. I can picture them now; Jon Lord rocking his Hammond organ back and forth while squeezing rich swirling chords out of it; Ritchie Blackmore sombre, dressed all in black: black hat with a sliver buckle, black scoop neck top, black velvet flares; Ian Gillan, long lion-like hair, screaming and screeching the vocals, Roger Glover on bass, wearing a hat and leather trousers, smile across his face, rocking back and forth in time to the music; and Ian Paice on drums, a constant in terms of rhythm, but also in terms of the band and its many incarnations. This was the classic Purple Mark II line-up. I first saw Deep Purple at Newcastle City Hall in 1971, which was the Fireball tour. They were loud and just amazing. I was seated in the 7th row, and had a great view. I was a young kid and I was just fascinated and enthralled by Blackmore, who was the ultimate guitar showman in those days, running both hands up and down the neck of his Fender Stratocaster, pulling at the amps, ringing feedback from the guitar, throwing it in the air. I too had a Strat at that time and was watching his every move; total hero worship. My mate John was there and recalls: “My first gig at the City Hall – I remember it was just fantastic. They played the now-classics from “Deep Purple In Rock”: Speed King, Child in Time, plus Black Night and my all time favorite the single Strange Kind of Woman plus a lot from Fireball. While not their best album I thought it was a great show with Fireball, No No No, Demons Eye, No One Came, the extended version of the Mule plus the rather odd Anyones Daughter. Support was Bullet featuring members of Atomic Rooster John Cann and Paul Hammond – although for years I thought it was Glencoe”. Setlists from the time also show that Highway Star was included in the set, although it was yet to appear on record, as it featured on Machine Head, which came out in 1972. I think the encore will have been Black Night, followed by Lucille and a medley of old rock n roll songs. Thanks also to John for the scan of his Fireball poster. 
John was lucky enough to see Deep Purple at Sunderland Top Rank in 1970. I wasn’t at that gig, and am so jealous of him. John’s memories of that gig: “I was 15 and it was my first gig. Free were the headliners but as the Purple van broke down on the highway and they arrived late, they played last. We arrived at about 6.30pm and queued up outside with many others; the line was from the door across the bridge before. It was billed as an Indoor Festival with five bands. I don’t remember the first band (Yellow), Principal Edwards were strange but I really enjoyed Cochise and bought their album (which features Steve Marriott on the stand out track Thats Why I sing the Blues). At this time they were still playing tracks from the Mark I line plus tracks from their new, and soon to be classic album, Deep Purple In Rock. I believe they played Speed King, Child in Time, Into the Fire (?) and the old songs I remember were a very long Wring that Neck and Mandrake Root at the end of the set. The encore was the hit single Black Night and Lucille which I thought was odd – why would a cool band play such an old song?. I had much to learn. I seem to remember the show finished at about 1.30am which I thought was very cool and then I walked home on my own because the others left early, missing the encore.”
8 Sep
Dio Newcastle City Hall 1984
Dio Newcastle City Hall 1984
Support from Queensryche
This concert in 1984 was the last time I saw Dio in a concert hall setting. I did see Ronnie and the band a few years later at the Monsters of Rock festival 1987. This gig had strong support from up and coming act Queensryche, who had just released their second album and were building up their own strong following. Dio had also just released their second album “The Last in Line”, and the set featured a collection of songs from that album, their previous album “Holy Diver” and a few Rainbow and Sabbath songs. The evil, but cute. looking guy on the programme is “Murray”, who appeared on the band’s album covers, as well as in the backdrop for the live shows. Note Murray sports the devil’s horn salute that was the trademark of Ronnie. 
Setlist: Stand Up and Shout; One Night in the City; Don’t Talk to Strangers; Mystery; Egypt (The Chains Are On); Holy Diver; Heaven and Hell; The Last in Line; Rainbow in the Dark; Man on the Silver Mountain / Starstruck; Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll. Encore: We Rock; The Mob Rules. A DVD of performances from two Dio concerts in 1983 and 1984 was released a few years ago, and gives a great write-up of Dio’s rock stature at that time: “Ronnie James Dio remained at the forefront of hard rock for over twenty years and his position as the powerful voice, driving force and front man to rock gods ‘Dio’ is the stuff of legends. The finest hard rock album to come out of 1983 (Holy Diver) and a second serving of rock genius in 1984’s ‘The Last In Line’, Dio found themselves in embarking on a sell-out world tour. Delivering concert performances of the highest calibre and putting on the kind of value-for-money show that had become something of a lost art, the Holy Diver world tour won the band adulation from fans, critics and fellow musicians alike.”
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