Black Sabbath Newcastle City Hall March 1977
The 1977 Black Sabbath tour was to promote their new album Technical Ecstasy. This album took them further away from the darkness and simplicity of their earlier work, incorporated more keyboards and some more straight forward rock n roll. There are no real Sabbath classics on the album, however their concert set consisted of many of the old favourites. As a result this was still a great Sabbath gig. Support came from Nutz. 
However if some ways Sabbath were slowly becoming a more straight rock band, and had lost a little of the darkness and rawness that I saw a few years earlier. Don’t get me wrong these gigs were still great, but things were clearly not 100% in the Sabbath camp as Ozzy left for a brief period around this time, and was to leave for a much longer period soon. A typical set list from this period was: Symptom of the Universe; Snowblind; All Moving Parts (Stand Still); War Pigs; Gypsy; Black Sabbath; Dirty Women; Rock & Roll Doctor; Electric Funeral; Iron Man; Embryo / Children of the Grave; Paranoid; N.I.B.
Posts Tagged ‘R&B’
19 Apr
Black Sabbath Newcastle City Hall October 1975
Black Sabbath Newcastle City Hall October 1975
Its easy to underestimate, or even forget, the influence of Black Sabbath and how important they are in the history of rock. Seeing Sabbath in the 70s was something special. There’s was a brand of rock which was truly dark, heavy and compelling. They are without doubt in my mind THE pioneers of heavy metal. On one level their imagery, lyrics and stance are simple, and yet on another level what they did at the time was innovative and pretty revolutionary. I certainly approached a Sabbath concert with a lot more excitement than I do most concerts these days. Maybe that was something about my age and the times we were living in, but much of it was also about the energy, vision and purity of the Sabbath music, brand and image. 
Black Sabbath were back in Newcastle at the City Hall in 1975, promoting the Sabotage album, and I was there ot see them with a group of mates. All of the Black Sabbath shows I attended in those days were great. I was much more a Tony Iommi man than an Ozzy fan and would carefully study his playing to see if I could pick up any tips. New favourites coming into the set in 1975 were Hole in the Sky and Symptom of the Universe, and old favourites such as Paranoid, Iron Man, Children of the Grave and Black Sabbath remained from earlier albums. Support on this our came from Brum band Bandy Legs who were to morph into Quartz when the New Wave of British Heavy Metal dawned a few years later. Typical set list from 1975: Hole in the Sky; Snowblind; Symptom of the Universe; War Pigs; Megalomania; Supernaut; Iron Man; Rock & Roll Doctor; Black Sabbath; Spiral Architect; Embryo / Children of the Grave; Paranoid; Killing Yourself to Live; Sabbra Cadabra
18 Apr
Ian Anderson plays Thick as a Brick Newcastle April 17th 2012
Ian Anderson Plays Thick as a Brick Newcastle City April 17th 2012
Went along with Will and Norm to see Ian Anderson and his merry band play Thick As A Brick 1 and 2. Thick As A Brick 1 is, of course, the original Jethro Tull album which was released in 1972, and Thick As A Brick 2 is a new album which has just been released by Ian. I was late getting away from work, so I had arranged to meet my friends through at the City Hall. I managed to arrive just 10 minutes after the 7.30 start time, so only missed a very small part of the show. The show was in two parts, with the first set being the old album. There was a short interval, followed by the new album played in its entirity. 
Ian has assembled an excellent band and the show is very theatrical with one guy playing the part of Gerald Bostock, and singing quite a lot of the vocals. The additional singer is a good move, giving Ian a break from singing at times. The show was supported by video and the use of props, and came over very well indeed. The situation around Ian Anderson and Jethro Tull is somewhat confusing to say the least. While it appears the Jethro Tull have not formally split, Ian Anderson is doing more and more things as solo projects, and Martin Barre has also started his own band, New Day, which will also feature Tull songs in their set. It also seems strange that Ian has chosen to revisit Thick as a Brick at this point, and that he is treating it as a solo project, when Martin Barre has been so intrinsic to the Tull sound for so long. 
Not with standing this, we all agreed that this was the best time that we have see Ian Anderson or Jethro Tull for some time. We also ran into a few old friends, which was nice.
17 Apr
Black Sabbath Newcastle Odeon December 1973
The second time I saw Black Sabbath was at Newcastle Odeon in December 1973. This was the Sabbath Bloody Sabbath tour and Newcastle was the first night of the tour. Newcastle Odeon is a bigger venue than the City Hall. I went along with a friend and we obviously bought tickets late as our seats were at the back of the (very large circle). I can remember looking down on some quite small dots, and the sound not being so great. Sabbath put on a great show that night, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as my first Sabbath experience, largely because of where we were sitting. 
I remember being quite excited at seeing the band this time, and my mate and I dressed specially for the gig, bit of us all in black. I also bought a large black cross to wear around my neck for this special occasion! Typical set list from the tour: Tomorrow’s Dream; Sweet Leaf; Killing Yourself to Live; Snowblind; War Pigs; A National Acrobat; Cornucopia; Sabbra Cadabra; Supernaut; Iron Man; Black Sabbath; Embryo / Children of the Grave; Paranoid; Megalomania. Many thanks to John for the poster scan.
16 Apr
Black Sabbath Newcastle City Hall February 1972
Black Sabbath Newcastle City Hall 5th February 1972
Support Act: Glen Cornick’s Wild Turkey
I remember the first time I saw Black Sabbath very well. Sabbath had just released Master of Reality and were touring to support their new album. I was sitting quite close to the back of the City Hall and remember being totally knocked out by the volume, and Geezer Butler’s bass in particular. It was almost as if the bass notes were hitting me in the chest. Ozzy was wearing a top hat and was just amazing. The band were still at a relatively early stage in their career and looked very young, Ozzy in particular. Their sound was raw, dark and very very heavy and loud. And they were just great. 
A typical set list from this period was: N.I.B.; War Pigs; Sweet Leaf; Black Sabbath; Iron Man; Embryo; Children of the Grave; Wicked World; Paranoid; Fairies Wear Boots. I remember War Pigs and Ozzy giving us all peace signs with both hands above his head. I also recall Sweet Leaf (I think they may have started with it) and I Am Iron Man booming out of the speakers. They finished with Paranoid and Fairies Wear Boots was the encore. My friend John was also at the gig, sitting down the front with a couple of school friends. 
I was to see Black Sabbath several more times over the next ten years, but my memories of this concert are the strongest. As I recall, the band were yet to become really popular, and I don’t think the City Hall was sold out that night. I’m pretty sure I just went along and paid at the door on the night. Support came from Wild Turkey, featuring Glenn Cornick who had recently left Jethro Tull. I recall Glenn displaying some pretty frantic bass playing with his long hair waving about. He was wearing a tassled waistcoat and his trademark headband. Many thanks to John for the scan of the flyer and the Wild Turkey album.
14 Apr
The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band Sunderland Empire 1969. Supported by Roy Harper and Yes
The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, Roy Harper, Yes, Mad Dog
Sunderland Empire Theatre March 8th 1969
(Semi) memories of my first gig
The first concert I ever attended was the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band at Sunderland Empire in March 1969. I was 12 years old at the time and had been getting into pop and rock music for a year or two. I’d started to buy the New Musical Express and was beginning to collect records. I managed to persuade my parents to let me attend the concert on the basis that there were two shows at 6pm and 9pm, and that if I went to the earlier show, I could safely get the bus home. None of my friends at the time were interested so I bought myself a ticket, reserving myself a seat in the front row of the stalls. First gigs are important in my view. They can shape musical taste and set allegiances for life. For me this gig set me on an unavoidable path to becoming obsessed with seeing bands, with rock music in general, and gave me a life long interest in Yes and Roy Harper, who both formed part of the supporting bill. I can still remember aspects of this gig some 43 years later as I write this. I sat fascinated at the performers on stage, and entranced by the loud music. In fact the volume was something that did it for me. The bands (I probably called them groups at the time) seemed very, very loud to me; I was almost frightened that my hearing would be damaged (in fact, it is starting to go slightly now, but it has taken a long time, and I can’t be sure that it is a result of going to rock concerts, but I suspect it is). And the power, passion and energy of the performers also struck me. First up was a band called Mad Dog. I’m not sure what happened to them, and the only song I can recall was a great version of Moby Grape’s Can’t Be So Bad, which appears on one of the Rock Machine albums. Next up was Yes who were a revelation, and fascinated me with their jazzy mix of rock and pop. And they played some songs that I knew: Something’s Coming from West Side Story and The Beatles’ Eleanor Rigby. They also played No Opportunity Necessary, No Experience Needed, which is a Richie Havens song and appears on Yes’ second album, and opens with the theme from the film The Big Country. Yes had yet to release their first album, and the line up at that time was Jon Anderson, Chris Squire, Bill Bruford, Peter Banks and Tony Kaye. I was impressed by how Jon and Chris were dressed; Chris in particular was sporting a natty hat and impressive flares and boots. I recall that a compere introduced each band and chatted to the audience while the stage set up was being changed around, in the way that I imagine it worked on 60s package tours. Next up was Roy Harper who sat to the right of the stage on a high stool, directly in front of me. He had incredibly long hair (something else which impressed me) and was wearing a pair of beat up old jeans and big work boots. I think he sang Hells Angels, Nobodies Got Any Money in the Summer, and I Hate The White Man. I was surprised at the way he interacted with the audience; it was as if people knew him and were having conversations with him from the stalls. Finally the bill toppers took to the stage, accompanied by some amazing machines and props which were always an important part of the Bonzos show. The Bonzo Dog Band (they had shortened their name at this time) performed tracks from their first two albums Gorilla and The Doughnut in Granny’s Greenhouse, including such great (and fun) songs as: Cool Britannia, The Equestrian Statue, Jollity Farm, Look Out There’s a Monster Coming, Death Cab for Cutie (which I has seen them perform on TV in the Beatles Magical Mystery Tour show), Can Blue Men Sing the Whites?, Trouser Press (featuring some natty on stage trouser pressing), and of course I’m The Urban Spaceman, during which Viv Stanshall blew through a long plastic tube while swinging it around his head. And so the die was cast, I set out on my life long concert journey which has given me great joy over the years, and also caused me some trouble at times when I become obsessive and attend too many! Sadly I don’t have a ticket stub for this concert. I hadn’t got into the habit of saving them at that stage, and the tickets for shows at the Empire at the time simply listed the date, and not the artist, so didn’t seem worth keeping.
13 Apr
Jean Jacques Burnel Newcastle Mayfair 1979
Euroman cometh
Jean Jacques Burnel Newcastle Mayfair 1979
And thus a strangler was reborn as a Euroman and he did cometh to the toon of Newcastle to perform at the glorious Mayfair ballroom for a (rather sparse) crowd of punks and rockers. And those of us there, in the presence of the Euroman, did marvel at his skill and prowess as a bass player and as a musician, even if we were a little perplexed at, and surprised by, the nature of the musical tapestry which he unveiled to us. For this was an evening of euro electronica, far removed from the punkish tunings of his regular combo The Stranglers, obviously influenced by the powerful sound of Kraftwerk and other similar Euro bands. 
Yes this was a strange night, and not at all what I expected at the time. I hadn’t taken the trouble to hunt out the Euroman Cometh lp before going to this gig, and wasn’t sure what I was going to see. What I didn’t expect was a set of heavy synth and drum music. It made for a very different and more enjoyable evening than Marie and I had anticipated. Jean Jacques’ band for the tour featured John Ellis from the Vibrators, and I also recall that he drove his beloved Triumph motorbike on stage and revved it up for the intro to Triumph of the Good City, which is one of the tracks on the album. I picked up a vinyl copy of the album some years ago at a car boot sale, and was pleasantly surprised by it, all over again. It is actually a great album; do listen to it if you get the chance. The CD issue features nine bonus tracks recorded live on the 1979 tour at the Hemel Hempstead gig.
12 Apr
Boston Newcastle City Hall 1979
Boston Newcastle City Hall 1979
Boston were a massive deal in the mid to late 70s. Their debut album was an incredible success, selling 17 million copies, and More Than A Feeling seemed to be playing everywhere I went at one time. The band came to the UK in 1979 for a short tour which called at Newcastle City Hall for one night. The gig sold out immediately, and I was pleased to get tickets. I went along with a group of mates, and looked forward to the gig. Although Boston are quite middle of the road rock, they do it excellently, and their first album is a classic of the genre. 
The gig was great; loud, melodic rock at its best. I still own a copy of the first Boston album, althogh can’t pretend to play it very often. Boston have never returned to the UK, to the best of me knowledge, although they continue to tour in the USA. However More Than A Feeling remains a top rock song. Support act Trickster were a short lived UK melodic rock band who also supported on an ELO tour. Boston setlist from 1979 : Rock & Roll Band; Tell Me; Peace of Mind; Feelin’ Satisfied; Don’t Look Back; More Than a Feeling; A Man I’ll Never Be; Smokin’; Foreplay / Long Time; Something About You; Party.
11 Apr
Bauhaus Newcastle City Hall 1983
Bauhaus Newcastle City Hall 1983: Burning From The Inside Tour
Any band who has a song entitled Bela Lugosi is Dead can’t be bad. Particularly when they also cover Telegram Sam and Ziggy Stardust. I love old horror movies, and read Famous Monsters of Filmland every week during the 60s, and I was also a Bolan and Bowie fan, so Bauhaus’ image interested me enough to go along and see them. This tour was for the Burning From the Inside album, which was due to come out later that year. The programme for the tour reminds me how dark and doomy the band were; lots of dark pictures with very serious posing; this was the birth of goth. 
The programme starts with a T S Elliot poem: “This is the way the world ends” which set the tone for the show. The lighting was dark, and the music a mix of punk, rock and glam, with Pete Murphy displaying great stage presence. They had just had a hit with She’s in Parties. I remember them playing that particular song, and finishing with Bela Lugosi’s Dead. The band split up shortly after the tour, however they have reformed several times since. Setlist: Burning From the Inside; In Fear of Fear; Terror Couple Kill Colonel; Spy in the Cab; Kingdom’s Coming; She’s in Parties; Antonin Artaud; King Volcano; The Passion of Lovers; Slice of Life; Hair of the Dog; In Heaven; Hollow Hills; Stigmata Martyr; Kick in the Eye; Dark Entries; Bela Lugosi’s Dead
10 Apr
Big Country in Concert 1982 to 1987
Big Country in Concert 1982 to 1986
Stuart Adamson formed Big Country after leaving the Skids, and in my view their work far surpassed his earlier band. The Skids were a fun live band, very much a product of the punk era, whereas Big Country were much more innovative and adventurous. It was clear that Stuart was the musical driving force behind the Skids, co-writing, alongside Richard Jobson, the band’s most famous songs such as Into the Valley. I first saw them in Dingwalls in Newcastle, which was a club which ran in the early 80s, out of what had been the old German Bierkeller. 
Their first single Harvest Home had just been released, and their jangling, swirling sound which married scottish traditional folk with rock, sounded so new and fresh. They were soon having big chart success with Fields of Fire and In a Big Country, and could command headlining status on a tour of major concert venues. Their 1983 tour brought them to Newcastle City Hall, and the first of a couple of great nights I spent with them in that venue. Big Country and Stuart Adamson in particular connected with the audience in a manner rarely seen. 
At times band and crowd were at one, singing together those great anthemic songs, with Stuart rocking back and forth leading us all on, as if to battle. The support on the 1983 tour was One The Juggler, who were an interesting and now forgotten band; quite theatrical if I remember correctly. I also remember seeing them at Newcastle Dingwalls. 
I next saw Big Country on their 1986 tour, again at the City Hall. By then they had released their third album The Seer, and the single Look Away was their biggest hit in the UK. Once again, it was a great night with another stirring set from the band. The last time I saw Big Country was at Roker Park, Sunderland in 1987, when they appeared as one of the support acts for David Bowie on his Glass Spider tour. It wasn’t one of Bowie’s best performances, and in contrast Big Country delivered their usual storm and went down very well with the crowd. They were obviously a lot of fans of the band there, and I’m sure that many people felt that their performance was better than Bowie’s that day. The band has recently reformed after Stuart Adamson’s tragic death, and have been once again touring the UK.
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