Donovan in concert 1983 and 1990
I have been a big fan of Donovan since the 60s. I loved all of those hits, particularly the late 60s tracks: Hurdy Gurdy Man, Googoobarabajagal, Atlantis, Mellow Yellow and There is a Mountain were all favourites. But I didn’t get to see him until 1983, when he played at the City Hall. As far as I recall, he didn’t play the North East at all during the 70s. I did have a ticket to see him as support for Yes at Glasgow Apollo in 1977, but passed the gig up to see The Tubes who played Newcastle that night as part of their first UK tour. The 1983 gig was reasonably well attended, and Donovan was backed by a band for the show. The set was a mixture of old tracks and tracks from his recent albums, and there were quite a few songs that I didn’t recognise. Donovan was back in Newcastle 7 years later, when he played a concert at the Playhouse Theatre, which is a small venue up by the University. This concert was not very well attended; Donovan was almost forgotten by many people at this point. He had been passed by in the aftermath of punk and new wave, but his time was to come again. 
This gig was much more a greatest hits set than the 1983 concert. Donovan appeared alone, with acoustic guitar, sitting on a stool, delivering all of those great songs, and telling us stories of his life in the 60s. Just wonderful. Donovan released a live in concert album in 1990, and the track listing gives an idea of the likely setlist from the 1990 concert at the Playhouse Theatre. The tracklist is: Jennifer Juniper; Catch the Wind; Hurdy Gurdy Man; Sunshine Superman; Sadness; Universal Soldier; Cosmic Wheels; Atlantis; Wear Your Love Like Heaven; To Susan On the West Coast Waiting; Colours; Young Girl Blues; Young But Growing; Stealing; Sailing Homeward; Love Will Find a Way; Laléna. It was another 14 years until I saw Donovan again, at Manchester Bridgewater Hall. That gig was sold out; by that time Donovan had (re)gained the respect he deserves. I’ll blog about the Manchester gig in more detail in a day or so.
Posts Tagged ‘R&B’
26 Aug
Donovan in concert Newcastle 1983 and 1990
24 Aug
Darts Newcastle Polytechnic late 70s
Darts Newcastle Polytechnic
Programme is from March 9th 1978
A night with Darts in the late 70s was guaranteed to be fun filled. These guys were crazy and did great versions of all those rock n roll and doo wop classics. Marie and I used to quite often frequent Newcastle Poly dance on a Friday night, sometimes just turning up without knowing who was playing. Darts played there a few times during that period. Darts formed from the remnants of Rocky Sharpe and the Razors and John Dummer’s Blues Band, and built up a strong live following from relentless gigging up and down the country playing pubs, ballrooms and university student unions. This band were a whole lot of fun with great harmonies, and a very intricate and well choreographed stage show. Records such as Daddy Cool were OK as were their TV appearances, but they just didn’t come close to how good this band was live. Put Darts in front of a packed crowd of students late on a Friday night, with beer flowing, and a good time was definitely had by all. Darts line up was Rita Ray, vocals; Den Hegarty, vocals; Horatio Hornblower, sax; Griff Fender, vocals; Bob Fish, vocals; Thump Thomson, bass guitar; John Dummer, drums; George Currie, lead guitar and Hammy Howell, piano.
23 Aug
Depeche Mode Newcastle 1981 and 1982
Depeche Mode Newcastle 1981 and 1982
Its easy to forget how important Depeche Mode are. They have had an incredible 48 songs in the UK Singles Chart and have sold over 100 million albums and singles worldwide, making them the most successful electronic band in music history (Wiki). Q magazine called Depeche Mode “The most popular electronic band the world has ever known”. This a far cry from the very young looking guys I saw at Newcastle University in 1981. Singer Dave Gahan will have been less than 20 years old at the time, and looked so young then. I remember them as a cute new pop / dance band. This gig was very early on in the career, and featured the original line up before Vince Clarke went off Yazooing. 
The band had hit the chart with “just Cant Get Enough” and this was the first night of their first proper tour. A few months went by, Vince Clarke had left the band, and they were back for another tour of the UK to promote “See You”. This time they played the City Hall. The scans on this page come from the programme from that tour. 
Its hard to believe that these cute young clean cut guys went on to produce some of the much darker, minimalist synth / electronica that emerged on their later albums. So, yeah, ny experiences of Depeche Mode in concert are from some 30 years ago, and way out of date. Keeping this blog, and revisiting my old concert going activities is making me realise how much great music there is out there, and how diverse it all is. It is also reminding me that there are quite a few bands that I should try and catch up with again, and Depeche Mode is one of them. 
So next time they come to the UK, I intend to put that right and see what these guys are up to these days. I bet its quite different, and has developed somewhat, from these two early gigs. I bet they don’t play “Just Can’t Get Enough” or “See You” these days. PS. I’ve just visited the Depeche Mode forum and see that there is talk of a visit to the UK next June. I also checked out recent setlists, and no they don’t play “Just Can’t Get Enough” or “See You”.
22 Aug
Devo Newcastle City Hall 1978 and 1980
Devo Newcastle City Hall 1978 and 1980
Question: Are we not men? Answer: We are DEVO.
There were some pretty crazy messages coming out of planet DEVO in the late 70s. The messages even got through to the north east of England and drew us all to Newcastle City Hall to observe these strange beings that were DEVO, listen to the songs that they chose to share with us, and do our mad DEVO dances. The DEVO guys were very different to UK punk rock, and to anything else that we earthlings had seen come out of American new wave. So along we went (twice in my case!) to be DEVOed and to stare in awe at these crazy guys who wore red pointy hats, weird yellow suits and sang quirky punk songs with strange lyrics and obscure messages, many of which also had quite catchy hooks. Mongoloid and Jocko Homo were quite good fun, and their version of Satisfaction was ok, if a little strange. 
As the programme says: “The band eveolved from a long line of brain-eating apes, some of which settled in N.E. Ohio around Akron where members of Devo eventually appeared years after the A-Bomb ended World War II. By the process of natural selection they met and shared the habits of making electronic noise, watching TV and watching everybody esle. They called that they saw around them De-evolution and called their music Devo. It made the sound of things falling apart.” Support for the 1978 Newcastle gig came from The Members whose Sound of the Suburbs was pretty neat. They were fronted by singer Nicky Tesco who was a cool guy and good fun on stage. 
The Members had been brought in at short notice to replace Doll by Doll (featuring Jackie Leven) who had been dropped from the tour because they were “not sufficiently DEVO”. Apparently Doll by Doll turned up for this gig, only to find out that they were not playing and were understandably not too pleased. Anyway, my two interactions with the DEVO aliens were both good clean fun, even if it was all a little crazy. But then, these were crazy times. I also had the good fortune to be present when the DEVO space craft landed in a field at Knebworth and they performed on a bill with Genesis, Tom Petty and Jefferson Starship. But thats a story for another days blogging. Perhaps the DEVO guys, who are still playing in the States, will yet take over the world and I will wake up tomorrow and find that I am living on planet DEVO. Perhaps I already am? Are we not men? We are DEVO? “If the spud fits; wear it : DEVO”
20 Aug
Joe Cocker and many others Great Western Festival Lincoln 1972
Joe Cocker and many others Great Western Express Festival Lincoln May Bank holiday weekend 1972
I was 15 at the time and so excited about going to a real pop festival. My dad drove me and a couple of mates down on the Friday night, after we’d been to the local Mecca ballroom. We arrived in the early hours of Saturday morning, having missed the Friday night bands, and slept in a big crash tent for a few hours. We soon ran into a group of other lads who had also come down from Sunderland, and between us we built a cabin out of bails of hay and planks of wood which were lying around in the fields. I swear there were around 20 of us sleeping in there. We were quite close to the stage, and I pretty much stayed in that cabin all weekend. We could also stand on the roof and watch the bands. There was a massive (and very empty) press enclosure which divided the crowd from the stage, so no-one could get that close, which was bad planning. The weather was wet, with rain for most of the weekend. But I didn’t care; this was a real pop festival, and I was determined to enjoy every minute. The line-up for the remaining three days of the event was really strong. I’ll try and recall as much as I can.
Saturday. Nazareth opened the day around noon. I remember them playing Morning Dew, and thinking that they were ok. They were followed by Locomotive GT, Roxy Music who were playing their first major gig and Heads, Hands and Feet, featuring the great Albert Lee, who I remember playing “Warming up the band”. The first band I have strong memories of was Wishbone Ash. They hd just released “Argus” and their set consisted of all the classic Ash songs: Time Was, Blowin’ Free, Jailbait, The King Will Come, Phoenix etc. They were just wonderful at that time. Helen Reddy did not perform, and was replaced by Rory Gallagher, who had stayed on from the Friday to play again, as I understand his Friday set was cut short because of the weather. The Strawbs featured the classic Cousins/Hudson/Ford line-up at the time. This was before any of the hits. Pretty sure they played “The Hangman and the Papist” and “The Man who called himself Jesus”. Stone The Crows were next up. This was their first performance after Les Harvey’s death, and Steve Howe from Yes stood in on guitar. Maggie Bell’s performance was highly emotional and the crowd gave her the strongest reception of the day, sensing how real the blues was to her that night, coming only a few weeks after she had lost her boyfriend. Rod Stewart and The Faces closed Saturday night. I remember Rod wearing a silver lame jacket and that they were pretty ramshackle, but good.
Sunday. The Natural Acoustic Band started the day, followed by Focus who warmed the crowd up with Sylvia, and Brewers Droop who were a raunchy boogie band who popped up at a few festivals in those days. Spencer Davis played with his new band, which was heavy on steel guitar and country oriented, followed by The Incredible String Band. Lindisfarne were the first band to get the crowd going and were a big hit of the weekend. We were all on the roof of our cabin, singing along to Fog on the Tyne. Average White Band were followed by The Persuasions who were an a cappella soul band, and were impressive. The next big hit of the day were Slade, who just tore the place apart. They started this performance with a lot to prove to a “Hippy” crowd, who viewed slade as a pop act. By the end of the performance everyone was singing along and converted. They were just great. Monty Python’s Flying Circus, with the entire cast, did all their great sketches: Dead Parrot, Lumberjack Song, Argument; great fun. The Beach Boys closed the evening and were wonderful singing all the hits. Great end to a great day.
Monday. The morning featured some folk acts, who had been moved to the main stage because the folk tent had been damaged by the weather. I remember Jonathan Kelly performing and singing “Ballad of Cursed Anna” which is a favourite of mine to this day. Jackson Heights, featuring Lee Jackson from the Nice started the main part of the day off, followed by Atomic Rooster, Vincent Crane collapsing (as he normally did) during Gershatzer. Vinegar Joe with Elkie Brooks and Robert Palmer were next up, followed by the Sutherland Brothers. The next two bands were both up and coming at the time: Genesis and Status Quo. They were both festival favourites, Peter Gabriel with his shaved forehead, telling those great stories to introduce beautiful songs such as Musical Box, and Quo were still trying to establish themselves as a proper rock band and shake off the pop image, which they were doing very well with tracks such as Someones Learning and Is It Really Me? Don McLean sang American Pie and the rain stopped for him. Humble Pie were something else. Steve Marriott was at the top of his game and was fully into his “My skin is white but my soul is black” routine. I Don’t Need No Doctor!! Just great. Sha Na Na, still featuring in all our minds from the Woodstock movie, had us all singing along. Joe Cocker closed the festival. He came on very late as I recall. There was a long wait and he took to the stage in the early hours of the morning. I remember him singing The Letter and Cry Me a River. He was good, but I was tired and cold by that time. All my mates had gone to sleep.
Other memories of the weekend. A large black and white screen above the stage, which worked some of the time. They showed movies on it throughout the night. I watched Marlon Brando in The Wild One, which was banned in the UK (!) at the time. Lots of chants of Wally. People openly selling dope with price lists on their tents. Hari Krishna’s giving out free food. A straw fight during (I think) Lindisfarne’s set. Everyone around me had also been to the Bickershaw festival a couple of weeks before, and were taking about how great The Grateful Dead and Captain Beefheart were. I was dead jealous.
I caught the train back on Tuesday. My mates variously hitched and scored lifts. I arrived home tired, unwashed, and determined to go to as many festivals as I could in the future, which I sort of stuck to for the remainder of the 70s.
18 Aug
Nick Cave The Sage Gateshead 2005
Nick Cave Sage Gateshead 2005
Tickets for this gig sold quickly; Nick Cave has a very committed hard core following. This is the only time I’ve seen him in concert. I have vague memories of The Birthday Party supporting Bauhaus at Newcastle University in the early 80s, but can’t be certain I attended that gig. David and I went to the Sage gig, David being more familiar with Cave’s material than I was. This was a solo concert, with Nick on piano, and Bad Seeds Warren Ellis (violin), Martyn Casey (bass) and Jim Sclavunos (drums). It was one of the first gigs I attended at the Sage Gateshead, which had only been open for a couple of months. Nick’s songs are dark and intense, and the set drew songs from throughout his career, and a selection from the Abattoir Blues/The Lyre of Orpheus album, which had been released around that time. Nick is a pretty cool guy (great moustache) and had some interesting banter with the crowd between songs. An excellent gig by a unique guy. Laura is pretty jealous and has Nick Cave high on her lists of concert must-sees. I bought her a signed copy of his book “The Death of Bunny Munro” which takes pride of place in her flat, and I have promised to take her to see him next time he comes to the North of England. Setlist: West Country Girl; Abattoir Blues; Red Right Hand; Hallelujah; Cannibals Hymn; God Is In the House; The Ship Song; Babe You Turn Me On; Christina The Astonishing; Henry Lee; The Mercy Seat; Hiding All Away; Messiah Ward; Rock Of Gibralter; Jack The Ripper. Encore 1: The Lyre Of Orpheus; Lucy; Stagger Lee. Encore 2: The Singer
17 Aug
Crosby & Nash in Gateshead; and Crosby, Stills & Nash in Manchester 2005
Crosby & Nash in Gateshead; and Crosby, Stills & Nash in Manchester 2005
If you had asked me 10 years ago, I would have said that we wouldn’t see Crosby, Stills and Nash back in the UK. It seemed so long since they toured over here. I had my memories of the great CSNY gig at Wembley Stadium in 1974, and figured that would be the one and only time I saw that great band, or CSN, live in concert. However, I would have been wrong. The past 7 years has seen a few visits to the UK by Crosby and Nash, and CSN. The first news of this was that Crosby and Nash were to tour Europe in early 2005. The first concert to be announced was set for the Royal Festival Hall London in February 2005. I bought tickets straight away for Marie and I to go to that show; however within a week or so, a gig was added at The Sage Gateshead, a venue which is local to us. So I bought tickets for the Sage gig and sold our tickets for London (ebay comes in handy a lot these days). We had good seats for the Sage concert, and ran into lots of old friends there. The show started with Military Madness, and took us through all of those great songs, with those exquisite harmonies; as beautiful as ever. A month or so later, further UK dates were announced, this time with Stephen Stills as part of the line up. I couldn’t resist a chance to see CSN so bought tickets for the Manchester Arena concert. David came along with me and we both enjoyed it. These were two great gigs; these guys are responsible for some of the best music of the last 40 years. I’ve loved them since I heard Marrakesh Express on the radio in the late 60s. 
The set list for Crosby and Nash gig was something like this: Military Madness; Marrakesh Express; Long Time Gone; Lay Me Down; In My Dreams; Broken Bird; Pre-Road Downs; Page 43; Jesus of Rio; They Want It All; Orleans / Cathedral; Déjà Vu; Live On (The Wall); Guinnevere; Milky Way Tonight; Puppeteer; Just a Song Before I Go; Delta; Don’t Dig Here; Wasted on the Way; To the Last Whale…A. Critical Mass B. Wind on the Water; Wooden Ships; Our House; Almost Cut My Hair. Encore: Teach Your Children.
The setlist for the CSNY gig was something like this: Part 1: Carry On; Marrakesh Express; Acadienne; Long Time Gone; Jesus of Rio; They Want It All; Guinnevere; Ole Man Trouble; Military Madness; In My Dreams; Feed the People; Déjà Vu. Part 2: Southern Cross; Helplessly Hoping; Lay Me Down; Milky Way Tonight; Spanish Suite; Don’t Dig Here; Love the One You’re With; Almost Cut My Hair; Chicago; Wooden Ships; Woodstock; Teach Your Children
16 Aug
Alice Cooper Newcastle Arena 2005
Alice Cooper Newcastle Arena 2005
Dirty Diamonds tour
Support from Twisted Sister
It was 17 years until I saw Alice Cooper again, some 7 years ago at Newcastle Arena. Support came from mad glam rockers Twisted Sister, led by crazy maniac Dee Snider. I’d seen Twisted Sister in the early 80s at Newcastle Mayfair; they are always good for a laugh, and play some nifty metal. This gig used around a third of the arena, which allows for a (slightly) larger crowd than the City Hall, but also guarantees a much more stale and cold atmosphere. Alice’s set included all the favourites and a few tracks from his new album ‘Dirty Diamonds’. The usual stage theatrics featured large, with our hero pulling the usual tricks out of the bag, wriggling his way out of a straitjacket, losing his head at the guillotine and then emerging alive again from a coffin. The show now features his beautiful daughter Cailco Cooper, who kills her dad as part of the fun. Setlist: Department of Youth; No More Mr. Nice Guy; Dirty Diamonds; Billion Dollar Babies; Be My Lover; Lost in America; I Never Cry; Woman of Mass Distraction; I’m Eighteen; Between High School & Old School; Sunset Babies (All Got Rabies); Is It My Body; Go to Hell; Black Widow; Gimme; Feed My Frankenstein; Welcome to My Nightmare; The Awakening; Steven; Only Women Bleed; Ballad of Dwight Fry; Killer; I Love the Dead; School’s Out. Encore: Poison; Wish I Were Born in Beverly Hills; Under My Wheels
15 Aug
Alice Cooper Newcastle 1986 and 1988
Alice Cooper Newcastle 1986 and 1988
It was around ten years till I saw Alice Cooper again. He visited the UK in 1982, but for some reason I didn’t make a show on that tour. However he was back again in 1986, and paid his fist visit to Newcastle. After experiencing the splendour of the “Welcome to my Nightmare” tour, I was looking forward to this gig. Support came from Alien Sex Fiend, a deathrock band formed at the Batcave club in London. Alice was promoting the Constrictor lp, which was his 16th(!) album, and the tour was named “The Nightmare Returns”. 
It was seen as a return to form, if perhaps a little more heavy metal than previous outings. The show was as theatrical as ever, with Frankenstein making an appearance for the song “Teenage Frankenstein”. The set contained a selection of all the classic Alice tracks. Setlist: Welcome to My Nightmare; Billion Dollar Babies; No More Mr. Nice Guy; Be My Lover; I’m Eighteen; The World Needs Guts; Give It Up; Cold Ethyl; Only Women Bleed; Go to Hell; Ballad of Dwight Fry; Teenage Frankenstein; Sick Things; I Love the Dead; School’s Out. Encore: Elected; Under My Wheels. Seem to recall that I went to the gig with my mate Norm and that we went down to Tiffanies (it may have been another club) afterwards and saw We’ve Got A Fuzzbox and We’re Gonna Use It!! 
Alice was back in Newcastle two years later; this time for a two night stay at the City Hall. Support this time came from heavy metal act Chrome Molly, and Alice’s new album was Raise Your Fist and Yell. I found the following interesting snippet on the sickthingsuk site: “During the first night at Newcastle City Hall 8th April, 1988, Alice accidentally threw one of the dancers whips [during Go To Hell] up into the balcony and was caught, much to the delight of a female member of the audience (Steve Olley, January 2009).” The set was quite similar to Alice’s previous visit, and this time the show featured Freddie Kreuger appeared in the show!
14 Aug
Alice Cooper Liverpool Empire 1975
Alice Cooper Liverpool Empire 1975
Welcome to my Nightmare tour
Support Heavy Metal Kids
This was the first time that I saw Alice Cooper. A group of us went to the gig in a couple of cars, all of us exciting at the prospect of seeing the king of shock rock. We’ll heard the singles, seen him perform “School’s Out” on Top of the Pops and read about the outlandish stage shows in the NME and Sounds. This was our chance to see Alice in the flesh in his ghoulish horror show which featured snakes, an execution and babies being sliced up. It was Alice’s first concert in the north of England; he had previously only played in London and Glasgow. Support came from Heavy Metal Kids, with Gary Holton on top form, giving his usual super cocky cockney act. We had seats right down at the front and all thought the gig was tremendous. There had been some luke warm reviews of the “Welcome to my Nightmare” album, largely because Alice had lost all of the original band members, and was now, in effect, a solo artist, rather than Alice Cooper the band. However, we needn’t have worried, as this was Alice Cooper at his theatrical best, fronting a stage show that was at times just astounding, and, for its time, unbelievable in places. The show started with the taped voice of Vincent Price booming over the PA system, followed by wonderfully choreographed dancers, who seemed to appear out of nowhere from a giant projection screen, which was the size of the stage. Next Alice suddenly appeared singing the opening lines of the title track. 
Alice had a giant toy box, and from that jumped devils, bats, and a bunch of skeletons who delivered a nifty dance routine complete with top hats and canes. There was a massive graveyard scene with Alice creeping through the gravestones, dancing demons, giant spiders for “Black Widow” and a cyclops during “Department Of Youth”. And he played School’s Out! Just Wonderful! Setlist: Welcome To My Nightmare, Years Ago, No More Mr Nice Guy, Years Ago, Billion Dollar Babies, Years Ago, I’m Eighteen, Some Folks, Cold Ethyl, Only Women Bleed, Devil’s Food, The Black Widow, Steven, Welcome To My Nightmare (reprise), The Awakening, Escape, School’s Out, Department of Youth
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