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
Posts Tagged ‘punk’
17 Jun
The Stiff Tour 1977 Middlesbrough Town Hall
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.
11 Jun
The Stranglers Newcastle Mayfair 26th Feb 1981 & Newcastle City Hall 24th Nov 1981
The Stranglers Newcastle Mayfair 26th Feb 1981 & Newcastle City Hall 24th Nov 1981
Before I start today’s post; I just remembered that I also saw The Stranglers as one of the support acts for The Who at Wembley Stadium in 1979. Now, looking back, that was some line-up: The Who, The Stranglers, AC/DC and Nils Lofgren. I must write a full account of that gig when I come to covering The Who. Today I’m reflecting on The Stranglers in 1981.
1981 was another busy year for the band, releasing two studio albums, and touring in support of each. Their popularity was, however, starting to wane a little in the UK, and their three single releases of 1981 (“Thrown Away”, “Just Like Nothing on Earth”, “Let Me Introduce You to the Family”) only made the lower regions of the chart. Indeed, I can’t remember any of those singles at all. But as a live concert attraction The Stranglers remained a big draw, attracting punks and rock fans alike to their gigs.
The Stranglers first album release of the year was “The Gospel According to The Meninblack”, a concept album which explores the conspiracy theories around alien visitations to Earth and the sinister Men in Black, who appear in many biblical stories. This was a very different sort of album from their early punkier releases, and quite a brave move. Hugh Cornwell said of the album in a recent interview (SmellsLikePop, 2011) “I was sitting around Jet Black’s house and he was obsessed with UFOs……I thought that we could do a whole album about stuff they were writing in those books [referring to UFO books]…we all started getting into it. Jet didn’t realize that anyone would be interested in this weird stuff.” “The Gospel According to The Meninblack” made No 8 in the UK album chart, and the Stranglers went out on tour to promote the album. I saw their concert at Newcastle Mayfair on 26th February 1981. Phil Coxon attended every night of the early 1981 UK tour and says of the Mayfair gig: “The venue is in the nightclub style, have a look round and decide to treat myself to a Kentucky. Go back to the venue to see Modern Eon. [Aha so thats who the support was]. There’s a bit of hostility towards them tonight, the first time I’ve witnessed any so far. Their roadie quickly makes his way to the culprits and, even though he was outnumbered, he soon shut them up. Another good night from both bands with another lively crowd. The band coming on to Waltzinblack works a treat. Even though they have totally omitted anything from Rattus or Heroes, it’s still a great set and all the crowds seem to approve.” (From lair.thestranglers.net).
But one album wasn’t enough for the men in black in 1981. In November of that year they released “La Folie”, which was yet another change in style. This time the band consciously set out to make a much more accessible, commercial pop album, and worked with producer Tony Visconti, who helped them to achieve it. “La Folie” is French for “Madness”, and the theme of each song was “The Madness of Love”. The album contained the song “Golden Brown” which was released as a single in January 1982, reaching No. 2 in the UK chart. “Golden Brown” took the bands career in a different direction, and returned them to commercial success.
The Stranglers toured again in late 1981 and early 1982 in support of “La Folie”. The tour saw them returning to the City hall for the first time in four years to play a concert on 24th November 1981, which I attended. Live the Stranglers continued to put on great concerts, although I must admit I wasn’t familiar with the new songs, and missed some of the early classics like “London Lady”, “Grip” and “Hanging Around”.
Setlist from Newcastle City Hall 24th November 1981: Non Stop; Threatened; Just Like Nothing on Earth; Second Coming; The Man They Love to Hate; MeninBlack; Who Wants the World?; Baroque Bordello; Golden Brown; Tramp;Thrown Away; Tank; I Feel Like a Wog; Let Me Introduce You to the Family; Nuclear Device (The Wizard of Aus); Genetix. Encore: Bring on the Nubiles; Duchess; The Raven
10 Jun
The Stranglers Sunderland Mayfair 17 July 1980
The Stranglers Sunderland Mayfair 17 July 1980
The Stranglers were persona non grata in Newcastle after a riotous gig at the City Hall in 1977. It was almost three years before they appeared in the North East again, this time at Sunderland Mayfair (aka The Mecca or, previously, the Locarno). A lot had changed in the intervening years. By 1980 The Stranglers had released four albums, the latest being “The Raven”, and had 10 singles in the UK singles charts, including top twenty hits with “Something Better Change”, “No More Heroes”, “5 Minutes”, “Nice ‘n’ Sleazy”, and “Duchess”. Disaster also struck for the band in 1980 when Cornwell was arrested and convicted for drug use and sent to prison for three months in Pentonville.
This tour was to promote “The Raven”. I remember the Sunderland show as a good gig, but also being a little disappointed that many of the early songs had been dropped in favour of more recent tunes. A young Baz Warne was apparently in the audience that night. He would, of course, join the band some 20 years later. The programme from the show folds out to make a large poster of the band.
Based on setlists from that period the concert is likely to have gone something like this: Shah Shah A Go Go, Ice, Four Horsemen, Toiler On The Sea, Duchess, Thrown Away, Hanging Around, Hallow To Our Men, Waiting For The Meninblack, Down In The Sewer, Who Wants The World, Princess Of The Street, Just Like Nothing on Earth, Tank, Nuclear Device, Genetix, Baroque Bordello, The Raven
“Duch of the terrace never grew up
I hope she never will
Says she’s an heiress sits in her terrace
Says she’s got time to kill
Time to kill
And the Rodneys are queuing up
God forbid
And they all want to win the cup
God forbid” (Duchess, The Stranglers, 1979)
9 Jun
The Stranglers Newcastle City Hall 12th October 1977
The Stranglers Newcastle City Hall 12th October 1977
I have already written about the first couple of times I saw the Stranglers in concert which was at gigs in early 1977 at Newcastle Poly and the City Hall. Well it wasn’t long before they were again, once more headlining at Newcastle City Hall. I think that support on this occasion came from local punk heroes Penetration (or maybe that was the City Hall gig earlier in the year); it is all, I am afraid, a bit of a blur…. I saw the Stranglers quite a few times over the next 7 or 8 years and I’ll blog a little about those gigs over the next few days. The Stranglers live was always guaranteed to be wild, with the crowd going absolutely mental, goaded on by Hugh Cornwell and Jean-Jacques Burnel. By late ![_DSC3097 [LR]](https://myvintagerock.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/dsc3097-lr.jpg?w=159&h=241)
1977 the Stranglers had just released their second album “No More Heroes” and were massively successful with punks and rock fans. These were one band which seemed to be able to bridge the two camps, and thus drew massive crowds to their concerts. They were in the UK singles charts 4 times in 1977, first with “Grip”/”London Lady”, which was a minor hit early in the year reaching No 44, then with “Peaches”/”Go Buddy Go”, which made No 8, “Something Better Change”/”Straighten Out” which reached No 9, and their final hit of 1977 “No More Heroes” which got to No 8.
The October 1977 concert was a pretty wild gig with some trouble as I recall, Hugh and Jean-Jacques arguing with the bouncers (I think Jean-Jacques may have tried to kick one of them at one point), and Hugh encouraging the crowd to push their way past the bouncers and climb up on stage. By the end of the gig the stage was completely full of pogoing fans surrounding the band. All of this resulted in the Stranglers not being welcome in the City Hall for some time. Indeed the next few Stranglers tours missed out the North East completely, and it was 1980 before they returned to the region for a gig at Sunderland Mayfair, which I will write about tomorrow. I believe one of the band (either Jet Black or Jean-Jacques Burnel, depending upon which report you read) was arrested after the 1977 Newcastle gig. But then the band were used to ![_DSC3130b [CROP][LR]](https://myvintagerock.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/dsc3130b-croplr.jpg?w=220&h=297)
controversy at the time, not least because of their very non-PC songs and lyrics and their attitude towards the press. I would always buy a copy of “Strangled” magazine at each gig, as these were often on sale in place of a programme. This was a regular fanzine type mag; one of my early copies is pictured here. Based on setlists at the time the Stranglers set will have been something like this: No More Heroes; Ugly; Bring on the Nubiles; Dead Ringer; Sometimes; Dagenham Dave; Goodbye Toulouse; Hanging Around; Five Minutes; Bitching; Burning Up Time; I Feel Like a Wog; Straighten Out; Something Better Change. Encore: London Lady; Peaches; (Get A) Grip (On Yourself); Go Buddy Go
Updated 13th of June 2020. Pictures of Hugh Cornwall of the Stranglers and Pauline and Rob of Penetration added. Many thanks to Mark for providing the pictures of the gig!
5 Jun
The Skids Durham University 9th October 1980
The Skids Durham University 9th October 1980
I saw the Skids for my fourth, and last, time at a gig at Durham University Dunelm Ballroom on 9th October 1980. The fold out poster-programme shows the band as Scottish gents in their cricket gear; punks no more. They had just released their third album “The Absolute Game” and the line-up was now Richard Jobson on vocals, Stuart Adamson on guitars/vocals, Russell Webb on bass, and Mike Baillie on drums. The album saw The Skid move to a softer, poppier sound. “Bubblegum’s back and it sounds wonderful. In contemporary terms the Skids are to The Clash and the post-modernists what Sweet were to Slade and Bowie: opportunistic enthusiasts with a starry-eye on the charts and an ear for crazy combinations….At its best, The Absolute Game comes close to being great pop music” (Chris Bohn reviewing “The Absolute Game”, NME, 20th September 1980). Things were not good in the Skids camp; internal disagreements had led to further changes in personnel. 
Soon after the 1980 tour Adamson and Baillie left the band, and it imploded. To be honest I remember little of the Durham gig, that probably means it didn’t have the power, passion or craziness of the previous times I saw the Skids. I’ll remember those nights at the Rock Garden and the City Hall, when these guys were at the top of their game, and one of the best punk / new wave bands around. “Towards the fag end of 1978, some time after cool critics had officially nailed down the coffin lid on punk, the Skids came along and cocked up the post mortem by crafting some of the finest music ever to come out of the great rock ‘n’ roll rejuventation….The sound they developed over three excellent albums was a majestic and highly individual blend of Big Chant pop and joyous punk energy built on Stuart Adamson’s sparklingly innovative guitar-play and embellished by Jobson’s challenging and only occasionally impenetratable lyrics. They had power, glory and unashamed feeling and made it all as singalongable as a video tape of Rogers and Hammerstein highlights.” (Garry Bushell, reviewing the Skids accomplishments in Sounds, 3rd July 1982)
4 Jun
The Skids Middlesbrough Rock Garden and Newcastle City Hall 1979
The Skids Middlesbrough Rock Garden and Newcastle City Hall 1979
The Skids were an amazing live act, much better in my view, than the late Stuart Adamson’s later and much more successful band, Big Country. The Skids had all the uplifting guitar anthems of Adamson, with some tinges of Scottish folk, coupled with the power of punk and the charismatic front man and vocalist Richard Jobson. The rest of the line-up of the original Skids was William Simpson on bass and Thomas Kellichan on drums. I first saw them on 24th March 1979 at a crazy, wild gig at Middlesbrough Rock Garden.
The Skids were high in the charts at the time with the anthemic “Into the Valley” and were incredibly popular, much too popular for the tiny Rock Garden. I figured I needed to buy tickets for this gig, something I didn’t usually do, so drove down to Middlesbrough and got a couple for me and my mate Dave. We drove down for the gig, stopping off for a drink in a pub near Billingham, where we ran into some mates. The conversation went something like this: Me: “Funny seeing you down here. Where you going?” Friends: “We were going to see the Skids at the Rock Garden in Middlesbrough, but its sold out and we were turned away, so we are on our way back home”. Me: “Yes we are going, but we have tickets”. Friends: ” I doubt you will get in, even with tickets. It is rammed packed and they physically can’t get any more people in there. There are fights at the door and the police have arrived and are turning everyone away”. Me: “Wow. Lets drink up and get down there”. Which we did. Our mates were correct. There was pandemonium at the door, and the bouncers first reaction was to say “No chance, not even with tickets”. However after a bit of persuasion they allowed us to push our way in. We could hardly get into the venue, it was completely crammed so that no-one could move. 
They kept the doors at the front, and the fire doors at the back, open to let some air in; it was so hot in there. The open doors were also useful so that the bouncers could throw people out, when fights broke out, and there were lots of those. This was one of those nights where I feared for my life; it was so full, so edgy, pretty dangerous. I think the support was local Borough punk band No Way. Anyway, the Skids came on and the place went totally wild, crazy, punks pogoing, beer everywhere, glasses being thrown about, fights down front. A room full of punks singing along to “Into the Valley” and “The Saints are Coming”. Incredible. I wish I could have bottled nights like that. From then on, we were Skids fans and saw them a couple of more times in the brief career.
The next time was, according to my ticket, at a concert on 12 June 1979 at Newcastle City Hall. However, the Skids gigography lists no such gig, but does list a Skids gig at the City Hall on 29 October 1979. And my programme also lists the gig as being on 29 October 1979. Another mystery for my fading memory. Was the gig perhaps rescheduled? Did they play in both June and October? And if so, where is my ticket for the October gig? Who knows. I have stopped thinking too much about such puzzles; it drives me crazy if I do. My ticket shows local art-rock band Punishment of Luxury as support along with a band called The Edge. I don’t know who The Edge were, but looking at the Skids gig list they supported them a lot of times. By the time of this gig Alistair Moore was on keyboards and Rusty Egan (ex-Rich Kids) had joined on drums. What I do remember was another packed wild, uplifting gig.
I saw the Skids once more and will blog on that gig tomorrow.
Update. Thanks to Mitch for solving my puzzle. The Skids did indeed play Newcastle in June and October 1979. I must have been at both gigs. Mitch has provided the set lists below:
The Skids set list at Newcastle June 1979: The Saints Are Coming, Six Times, Out Of Town, Scale, Scared To Dance, Charles, Melancholy Soldiers, Integral Plot, All The Young Dudes, Of One Skin, Sweet Suburbia, Masquerade, Night And Day, Into The Valley. Encores: Reasons, Masquerade, TV Stars, Of One Skin, Into The Valley.
October 1979 set: Animation, Out Of Town, Melancholy Soldiers, Working For The Yankee Dollar, Dulce Et Decorum Est, Masquerade, The Olympian, Pros And Cons, Scared To Dance, The Saints Are Coming, Thanatos, Home Of The Saved, Charade, Into The Valley. Encores: Charles, Of One Skin, All The Young Dudes, Masquerade.
And how could I forget TV Stars which was the B side of Into the Valley and one of the highlights of their shows at the time, and often the start of great singalongs in the Rock Garden.
“Ena Sharples
David Hunter
Meg Mortimer
Stanley Ogden
ALBERT TATLOCK
ALBERT TATLOCK” (TV Stars, The Skids, 1979)
23 May
Courtney Love Newcastle Riverside 22nd May 2014
Courtney Love Newcastle Riverside 22nd May 2014
I wasn’t sure what to expect of Courtney Love. I’d read quite a bit about her, but can’t pretend to be familiar with her music at all. I went along mostly out of curiosity and because her wild rocker chick image and attitude reminds of the days of punk. I guess I was expecting something like a cross between Chrissie Hynde, Patti Smith, Joan Jett and Stevie Nicks. I know that all of those ladies were big influences on Courtney and her music. Add the attitude and values of the Slits and the Sex Pistols and a Rickenbacker guitar that looks like it is has come straight out of the hands of Roger McGuinn. Now if any of those guys come through in Courtney’s performance it ain’t gonna be half bad.
This was my first visit to the new Riverside, although I did go along to the original Riverside venue back in the day. Actually she was just great. It was like I was back in the late 70s at a punk gig. Local guy Ginger Wildheart was on guitar, Courtney was smoking Irish nights ecigs: “great ecigs”. She brings a guy up to sit on stage; he has been following the tour and has been right down front every night. Courtney: “When it comes to being a c**t I own the trademark”. Opened with “Wedding Day”. Covers included Fleetwood Mac’s “Gold Dust Woman” and “I’m not an addict” 90s hit by K’s choice (can’t say I remember it)..Courtney: “I love a good drugs song”…”I don’t do f***ed up I’m almost 50…I’m slightly inebriated”. Great stuff. The lady has some attitude. Rolling Stone once called her the “most controversial woman in the history of rock”.
Note the tour flyer doesn’t list the Newcastle date, which was added to the tour as a late addition.
19 May
The Reading Rock Festival 25 – 27th August 1978
The Reading Rock Festival 25 – 27th August 1978
This was the year punk finally arrived. The festival was now officially known as the Reading Rock Festival, having dropped “jazz” from the title and the line-up, and weekend tickets cost all of £8.95. Our old friend John Peel was compere, as always, and a van load of us descended on the riverside site, having driven part of the way down on Thursday, gone for a drink in Wetherby and slept on Wetherby racecourse (the crazy things you do when you are young 🙂 ) Highlights of the weekend for me were Penetration (I was a big fan at the time), Sham 69, The Jam, Status Quo (most of our group were heavily into them) and Patti Smith.
Friday line-up: Dennis O’Brien; The Automatics; New Hearts (who would become mods and change their name to Secret Affair); Radio Stars; Penetration; Sham 69; The Pirates; Ultravox; The Jam.
Memories: Radio Stars were always good for a laugh; “Dirty Pictures” (turn me on) was a favourite at the time; it was great to see local north east punk heroes playing up on the massive Reading stage Penetration, although they suffered from murky sound throughout their set; The Pirates rocked the place with no-nonsense rock’n’roll, “Shaking All Over” and ace guitarist the late Mick Green (a big influence on Wilko); and the John Foxx version of Ultravox! played a quite moody atmospheric electronic set. The main event was Sham 69, who were excellent with Jimmy Pursey his usual cockney “boy on the streets” self, and those anthems “What have we got?”, “Borstal Breakout” and “If the Kids are United”. The Sham Army had come across to Reading in force, all braces, No 2 cuts, and Doc Martins, and ready to take on those hippies. We were right at the front, although we soon moved to the side of the crowd when the fights started. A bunch of skins climbed on to the stage, and Pursey tried to call order, pleading with the crowd to stop fighting to no avail. He was in tears, watching bedlam and violence all around him, and not being able to do anything to stop it. But that was the nature of a Sham gig at the time. Jimmy even brought Steve Hillage on stage to show that it was ok to mix with hippies, but that just annoyed the skins more. A nasty, frightening experience, which marred an excellent performance by Sham. The Jam were great, Weller the edgy young mod, getting himself into a strop at the poor sound quality, and trashing his gear. Punk really had arrived at Reading.
The Jam set included: Mr Clean ; Away From the Numbers; Don’t Tell Them You’re Sane; Tonight at Noon; David Watts; Down in the Tube Station at Midnight; “A” Bomb in Wardour Street; News of the World
Saturday line-up: Speedometors; The Business; Jenny Darren; Next; Gruppo Sportivo; Nutz; Greg Kihn Band; Lindisfarne; Spirit; The Motors; Status Quo.
Saturday was a little more straightforward rock. Lindisfarne had recently reunited and hit the charts with “Run For Home”. The Motors were OK (Airport!). Spirit were excellent, with great Hendrix-style guitar from Randy California. Status Quo played a solid respectable set, nothing earth shattering. I know quite a few people were disappointed with them that night, but I thought they were OK. “Dirty Water’ was to become a crowd singalong favourite.
Status Quo setlist: Caroline; Roll Over Lay Down; Backwater; Rockers Rollin; Is There A Better Way; You Don’t Own Me; Hold You Back; Rockin All Over The World; Dirty Water; 4500 Times; Big Fat Mama; Don’t Waste My Time; Roadhouse Blues; Rain; Down Down; Bye Bye Johnny.
Sunday line-up: After The Fire; Chelsea; Pacific Eardrum; Bethnal; Squeeze; John Otway; The Albion Band; Paul Inder; Ian Gillan Band; Tom Robinson Band; Foreigner; Patti Smith Group.
Memories: Paul Inder is Lemmy’s son and was 11 years old (!) at the time; what a great thing to do when you are 11 🙂 ; Bethnal were a good band, who had a manic violin player; Squeeze were fun; Otway was as crazy as ever (Really Free); Tom Robinson led a mass singalong of “Glad to be Gay”; and Foreigner went down well with the crowd. But the day belonged to Patti Smith who was amazing. I was a big fan and left my mates to push my way right to the front of the crowd for Patti’s set. She had the whole crowd with her as she tore into “Gloria”, “Because the Night” and great covers of the Byrds’ “So You Want to Be (A Rock ‘N’ Roll Star)” and the Who’s “My Generation”. Stunning. I saw her again at Newcastle City Hall two days later and she was equally as electric.
Patti Smith setlist: Rock n Roll Nigger; Privilege (Set Me Free); Redondo Beach; Free Money; Ghost Dance; It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World; So You Want to Be (A Rock ‘N’ Roll Star); Ask the Angels; 25th Floor; Because the Night; Gloria, You Light Up My Life; My Generation; Godspeed
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