Jon Anderson Newcastle City Hall 
Support from Clare Hamill (thanks Doug)
Jon had just left Yes for a solo career. He had been replaced in Yes by Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes of Buggles, which is a story for another day’s blog. I remember this show well. Marie came along with me and we had tickets near the front, sitting right in front of Jon. Jon’ s solo material was very impressive and his voice as strong and beautiful as ever. He focussed on material from his solo album which had just been released and also threw in a few Yes favourites. 
Jon Anderson has a unique voice which works best on the jazz tinged ballads that early Yes produced. He always seems very at ease on stage. I guess there were ego clashes between him and Chris Squire, who are both clearly very strong personalities, but this never showed on stage. Yes were one of the first bands that I ever saw, in the late 60s, and I’ve always had a soft spot for them. I do hope that Jon rejoins the rest of the Yes guys some day. Although Yes are still great, it will never be quite the same for me without Jon centre stage, preferably wearing a cheesecloth smock top and singing And You And I or Your Is No Disgrace.
Posts Tagged ‘R&B’
29 Mar
Jon Anderson Newcastle City Hall 1980
28 Mar
Anti-Nowhere League Chron-Gen Chelsea Newcastle Mayfair 1982
Anti Nowhere League Newcastle Mayfair
Newcastle Mayfair was an important part of my youth. Along with Sunderland Locarno and Middlesbrough Rock garden, they were all great venues, and featured some classic bands throughout the 70s. Every time I pass The Gate in Newcastle, which now stands where the Mayfair once did, I think fondly of great Friday nights spent there. This ticket is for the Anti Nowhere League, but my memories are of Alex Harvey, The Groundhogs, Chicken Shack, Stray, Ian Hunter, Steppenwolf, The Clash, David Bowie, Family, Curved Air, UFO, Cockney Rebel, and many many more. And of stories of legendary gigs that I sadly didn’t attend there: Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, Eric Clapton. Time for my tardis again. I would love to go back in time and be standing on the balcony of the Mayfair, listening to Zeppelin’s Rock n Roll, waiting for the band to come on stage. Great memories, some of which are sadly fading as I get older. Turning to the band in question, the Anti-Nowhere League we (and still are) fronted by Animal and came along at the tail end of punk. They seemed quite outrageous in their day; their album at the time was We are the League if I remember correctly. Think I also saw them supporting the Damned. Support came from Chron-Gen and Gene October and Chelsea whose well know song was Right To Work, and always put on a good show. The Anti-Nowhere League still play to this day and were in the region recently playing at the Three Tuns in Gateshead.
27 Mar
West, Bruce and Laing Newcastle City Hall 1973
West, Bruce and Laing Newcastle City Hall 1973
Now that WAS a rock band. Take Mountain guitar genius Leslie West, Cream super bassist Jack Bruce and powerhouse (also from Mountain) drummer Corky Laing, and you were certain to produce a great band. I’d seen Mountain the year before and had been blown away by Leslie West’s unique guitar style which moved effortlessly from very very heavy to gentle and beautiful. Mountain were very obviously influenced by Cream who I had sadly never seen (this was to be remedied many years later at their Albert Hall reunion), so I along with many others looked forward to see this power trio. My mate John and I went along to the gig, which proved to be just as good as I imagined, the set drawn from the West, Bruce and Laing album, and the Cream and Mountain back catalogue. John was a major Mountain fan, was very excited about the show and remembers it as one of the many highlights from that period in that venue.I can still picture Leslie, a giant of a man, with a Les Paul Jnr. slung low around his knees, wringing out the riffs. Great days. I was ecstatic when they closed with Sunshine of Your Love. It will be great to see Jack Bruce on Saturday. Hope he plays Theme from an Imaginary Western which Mountain also used to play (note afterwrds; Yes he did play it). 
Makes me think about Leslie who hasn’t been so well lately. Hope you’re OK big man; you also gave us some great nights in the Tyne Theatre where Jack will be on Saturday. I also looked up support Jimmy Stevens. I can’t pretend to remember his set from that gig almost 40 years ago, but he is an interesting guy, who toured with the Bee Gees, and Emerson, Lake and Palmer and was managed by Robert Stigwood at the time. He still plays in his home town on Liverpool. John remembers West, Bruce and Laing playing Why Dontcha, Pleasure, Love is with the blues, Third Degree, The Doctor, the bass solo Powerhouse Sod, Sunshine of Your Love, Politician, and possibly Mississippi Queen and Theme form an Imaginary Western. He recalls somebody, Leslie or Jack, wearing Red Platform sole boots and going out to buy some the following week! Thanks to John for the poster scan.
25 Mar
Jack Bruce Newcastle Tyne Theatre & Opera House 2001
Jack Bruce Newcastle Tyne Theatre 2001
Jack Bruce is touring at the moment and calls into Newcastle next Saturday. I’m looking forward to the gig, and will spend a few days this week reflecting on previous Jack Bruce concerts which I have attended. Jack was last in Newcastle over 10 years ago, in 2001, when he played at the same venue. I went along to that gig with my mate Will. Jack Bruce was touring with his band The Cuicoland Expresss to promote his new album Shadows in the Air. 
The set was a mix of songs from the new album, which were quite jazzy, with lots of latin rhythms. He played quite a few favourites from his back catalogue including Sunshine of your Love (which he rerecorded with Clapton for the album), Politician, White Roon, We’re Going Wrong, and Theme from an Imaginary Western. It was a great gig, and I expect new Saturday’s gig will be too. Jack is under-rated in my view. When people think of that great band Cream, they will think of Clapton first, but many of their best songs were written and sung by Jack. I’ve got a couple more Jack Bruce concerts to recall this week, including West, Bruce and Laing, his band with Mick Taylor and Carla Bley and the Cream reunion at the Albert Hall.
24 Mar
A Flock of Seagulls Newcastle City Hall 1982
A Flock of Seagulls Newcastle City Hall
. Fraid I am admitting to another guilty pleasure today. I quite liked “I Ran” and “Wishing (if I had a photograph of you)” when they hit the charts in the early 80s. So I went along to see these guys when they played at the City Hall. The one strong memory I have of them is of the singer Mike Score’s outrageous fringe haircut. Mike had previously been a hairdresser, which could explain a lot.
Actually, looking back, they were much better than their reputation sometimes suggests, and they heralded the way for a lot of electronic bands to follow. The band is still around, led my original member Mike minus dodgy haircut this time around, and have been playing on Here and Now tours at arenas up and down the country.
23 Mar
Alberto Y Lost Trios Paranoias
Alberto Y Lost Trios Paranoias were a comedy rock band who seemed to pop up all over the place in the 70s. The ticket stub here is from a gig at Middlesbrough Town Hall, probably in the Crypt, on a Friday. I have vague memories of seeing this band, sometimes as headline, and probably at a festival or two. With shades of the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, they were a guaranteed fun night. Although their songs were largely parodies of other more famous rock bands, they were also pretty serious musicians. Support came from another comedy act of the day; John Dowie. A fun time was had by all.
19 Mar
The Heavy Metal Kids Gigs in the 70s and 2012
The Heavy Metal Kids Gigs in the 70s and 2012
I saw The latest incarnation of The Heavy Metal Kids supporting UFO at Newcastle Academy on Saturday. It made me think about all the times I saw the band in the past during the 70s, with the late great Gary Holton on vocals. One of the first times I saw them must have been supporting Nazareth at Newcastle City Hall in 1973. I know because I’ve just been looking through a Nazareth programme, to get ready for going to see that band on Tuesday in Newcastle. The pages I’ve scanned here come from the back of the Nazareth programme. I remember wondering who the totally mad, cocky, cockney was running around the stage. Looking back their music and their act bridged the worlds of glam and punk. They dressed the part, and were full of arrogance and cheek. They also had some pretty good songs; my favourites were Its The Same from the first lp, and the single She’s No Angel; I remember them playing it on Top of the Pops. For The Cops Are Coming they would stage a scene from a Keystone Cops movie, chasing each other around the stage. 
The Kids supported lots of bands in the 70s; I saw them as support for Uriah Heep, Alice Cooper and possibly a few others. I also saw them a few times on Friday rock nights in Sunderland Locarno and Newcastle Mayfair, and at the Reading Festival. they played a lot; I must have seen them a fair few times. They were always good fun, a good laugh, and some good rock n roll, but they never quite made the step up to major headliners. A much under rated, and almost forgotten band. If you get the chance, listen to their three albums. Rolling forward to 2012, the latest Heavy Metal Kids line-up consists of original members Cosmo on guitar, Ronnie Garrity on bass, Keith Boyce on drums and new guitarist/vocalist Justin McConville. I arrived late, and missed the first few numbers of the set. They put on a pretty good show, with some nifty guitar work from Cosmo, and strong vocals from Justin. Old Kids classics Chelsea Kids, Delirious and She’s No Angel were rolled out, and pretty good versions they were too. Listening to those songs again made me realise how punky they were. Good fun, and brought back memories of Gary Holton on stage. A big character; much missed. Thanks to Sir Bawls for the set list below. The Kids setlist at Newcastle 17th March 2012 was: Hangin’ On; Blow It All Away; Hit The Right Button; Chelsea Kids; A Hundred Skeletons; Whisky; Marseilles; Rock Candy (Montrose cover); She’s No Angel; Delirious. The line-up: Justin McConville – vocals & guitar; Cosmo – lead guitar; Ronnie Garrity – bass; Keith Boyce – drums.
18 Mar
UFO Newcastle Academy March 17th 2012
UFO Newcastle Academy March 17th 2012
Its around five years since I last saw UFO, although it doesn’t seem it. I’ve been preparing myself for the gig, by blogging about UFO during the week, and by playing their live album Strangers in the Night and their classic Phenomenon lp, of which I have a signed copy, which I found at a car boot sale for 50p many years ago! (I have no way, of course, of knowing if the signatures are genuine; but they look pretty authentic to me). I arrived at the Academy early, just after 7pm so that I could catch support act The Heavy Metal Kids. I was intrigued to see what the new incarnation of the Kids would be like, particular without the charismatic Gary Holton. I’ll blog on them separately later this week. They were on stage when I arrived; Saturday gigs at the Academy start and finish early, as the venue turns into a night club at 11pm. 
UFO came on stage just after 8pm. By then the venue was packed, and the crowd gave the band a great Geordie reception. They started with Mother Mary; the set was a mix of old and new with all of the old favourites featured. Phil Mogg is lean and fit, and his voice is as strong as ever. Old timers Paul Raymond (keyboard and second guitar) and Andy Parker (drums) are still there alongside, and (now well established in the band) guitarist Vinnie Moore played some great solos, and easily matches up to the legend of Schenker and Tonka. Stand outs for me were Only You Can Rock Me, Love to Love, Lights Out and, of course, Doctor Doctor, which is one of my all time fave rock songs. Great night; from a band that never ceases to amaze. Setlist: something like (although I may well have the order wrong): Mother Mary; Let It Roll; Fight Night; a couple of songs from the new album; Wonderland; Only You Can Rock Me; Love to Love; Hell Driver; Venus; Too Hot To Handle; Lights Out; Rock Bottom. Encore: Doctor Doctor; Shoot Shoot.
13 Mar
Altered Images Newcastle 1981 and 1982
Bit of a guilty pleasure this. Altered Images emerged as proteges of Siouxsie and the Banshees, having supported them on tour in 1980. Think I saw that tour at Newcastle. Steve Severin from the Banshees produced their first album. By the time Marie and I saw them at Newcastle Tiffanys Happy Birthday was a massive hit, and Altered Images had transcended punkdown to become real life Top of the Pops style pop stars. The place was absolutely jam packed to the walls, the balcony was shaking, the song was in the charts that week (it reached No 2). 
They back in the North East a few months later, this time headlining and selling out the Mayfair. I could be Happy was in the charts, and a packed ballroom sang along with Clare Grogan and band. Their fame didn’t last that long, and they disbanded the following year. 
I think I have a programme upstairs somewhere, pretty sure it is a massive thing, and thus I’ve filed it away somewhere…will try to search it out, scan it in and put it up here in a few days. Note, from a few days later. I found the programme and have added to the post to the right.
10 Mar
Mick Taylor Buck Hotel Reeth 9 March 2012
Mick Taylor Buck Hotel Reeth 9 March 2012
Reeth is a lovely village situated deep in the Yorkshire dales. It took Marie and I just over an hour to drive there, down the A1M to Scotch Corner and across through Richmond. The Buck Hotel stands tall at one end of the village green. Last night there was a Sold Out sign at the door, and the small room to the side was packed with rock fans of the older variety, who had all come to see a legend play some blues. The venue is a lovely old village inn, and the concert room holds around 100 people; this was like seeing Mick Taylor play to you in a friends house. Mick and band took to the stage just before 9pm, and started with Secret Affair. It was obvious from the word go that Mick has put together one hell of a tight band, with the great Zoot Money on keyboards, Ronnie Johnson on second guitar, Michael Bailey on bass, and Jeff Allen drums. The pace was set for the evening, with some rocking, shuffling blues and Mick singing and taking the lead with lots of use of slide. Mick’s playing was at times exceptional, very reminiscent of Peter Green at his best, very fluid with great use of tone; and yet sometimes he didn’t quite make it. His vocals were pretty strong, much better than I expected. It was great to see him, and his playing was much better than I expected, and he was generally on better form than previous times I’ve seen him. Mick looked well last night, and seemed in good spirits. But this was a band show as much as Mick’s. Second guitarist Ronnie Johnson took a couple of solos and gave Mick a run for his money. Ronnie seemed familiar to me; I see he has played with Manfred Mann and Van Morrison among others, so I guess I must have seen him somewhere before. Zoot Money took the vocals for a few songs, notably It never rains but it pours, which he wrote for Jimmy Witherspoon, and Will the Circle be Unbroken, which he dedicated to those no longer with us, including the names of sadly departed friends: Tony Ashton, Robert Palmer and others. Zoot’s singing was pretty incredible and he almost stole the show with his jazzy R&B. There was a short break half way through the set, during which everyone took advantage of the fine real ales on offer. Dylan’s Blind Willie McTell moved into All Along The Watchtower, with a Hendrix style solo. The band finished with an excellent version of the Stones’ song No Expectations, which was a fitting end to a great gig. The drive around the winding Yorkshire roads was fine and we were back home by 12.30. Set included: Secret Affair; Twisted Sister; Fed Up With The Blues; It never rains but it pours (Zoot vocal); Tore Down; Will the Circle be Unrboken (Zoot vocal); Blind Willie McTell / All Along The Watchtower; No Expectations. I’ve listed the songs I recognised and have definitely missed quite a few.
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