Donovan in concert Manchester Bridgewater Hall 2004
In 2004, UK concerts by Donovan were few and far between. It had been 14 years since I’d last seen him in concert, so when he announced a couple of shows, one in Manchester and one in London, I decided it was time to see the troubadour child of the 60s again. Marie and I decide to make a weekend of it, and booked a room in a hotel opposite to the venue. We arrived early, and from our hotel room window a could see a small crowd waiting outside the stage door of the Bridgewater Hall. I guessed they were waiting for Donovan’s arrival, and went down and joined them. I waited around 30 minutes or so, and sure enough a black people carrier arrived and Donovan stepped out of the back of it. He took the time to talk to everyone and sign piece of memorabilia. Donovan seemed to know some of them; the guy beside was carrying a book which was signed by him on several pages. Donovan signed my flyer, and shook my hand. He looked well, and seemed genuinely pleased to meet everyone. 
The Bridgewater Hall is a lovely, purpose-built concert venue in the centre of Manchester. The gig was almost sold out, and we were treated to a set which drew from all periods of Donovan’s career, and especially from the 60s. Donovan clearly still believes in the ideals of those magic days, and reminisced about encounters with the Beatles and the Maharishi in India, and Buffy Sainte-Marie, as an introduction to her song “Universal Soldier”. He was promoting his latest album: Beat Club. He also sang Colours, Mellow Yellow, Catch The Wind and Hurdy Gurdy Man sitting, for part of the concert, cross-legged on an eastern rug. I bought a book of Donovan’s poetry, “She”. A wonderful evening in the company of a child of the 60s, whose songs have the power to take us all back there. The set included the following, although not in this order (and I have missed some I am sure): Sunshine Superman; GooGooBarabajagal; Season of the Witch; Lalena; Josie; Universal Soldier; Catch the Wind; Colours; Happiness Runs; Jennifer Juniper; There Is a Mountain; Hurdy Gurdy Man; Mellow Yellow; Atlantis
Posts Tagged ‘rock’
28 Aug
Donovan in concert Manchester Bridgewater Hall 2004
27 Aug
Stanley Music Festival Martin Turner’s Wishbone Ash
Stanley Music Festival Martin Turner’s Wishbone Ash
Up until a few years ago, Stanley hosted a very successful annual blues festival, that hosted acts such as Chicken Shack. Funding issues have meant that the festival has not run for a few years. However, this year local organisers have put together a music festival which ran today, on bank holiday Sunday. The headliners were Martin Turner’s Wishbone Ash, with support from several local acts. And all for £3! I arrived late in the afternoon and caught the majority of DeeExpus’ set. DeeExpus are a North East prog rock band, and are pretty good too. Their music is classic 70s prog, with flashes of Yes and Wishbone Ash. A local busker took to the stage during the changeover, and sang a few blues songs. However, he left in the huff, as his guitar mike wasn’t working, and he told us that he “had been sabotaged”. There was a little wait before Martin Turner took to the stage, and it started to rain quite heavily. The event was also running late, and quite a number of the crowd left before the headliner started. The rain had stopped by the time Martin Turner’s Wishbone Ash opened with “The King will come”. 
There has been quite a lot of discussion on their respective message boards as to the merits of the two versions of Wishbone Ash. Having seen both acts several times over the past few years, I would say that both bands always deliver and are good value for money. Martin’s band quite clearly set out to deliver versions of the old songs which are as true as possible to the originals, and they do a pretty good job of it. Fraid I was getting cold and wet (and didn’t have my coat on) so I didn’t stay for the whole set, but what I did see was a good mix of old classics, and some lesser known songs, all played well with Martin on good form. Songs I saw were: “Warrior”, followed by “Throw Down the Sword”, “Lady Jay” which I can’t claim to know well and sounded great, “Rock n’ Roll Widow”: a favourite that I haven’t heard for a long time, and “Ballad of the Beacon” which I can’t remember at all. To my shame I left during “Phoenix” (sorry Martin). It’s good that Stanley has a festival again; hope it returns next year.
26 Aug
Donovan in concert Newcastle 1983 and 1990
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.
25 Aug
Doctors of Madness 1976
Doctors of Madness
February 27th 1976 Newcastle Mayfair (with Bop Deluxe)
The Doctors of Madness were a weird band. Hyped up as the next big thing, and fronted by super-ego Kid Strange, they played some pretty strong proto-punk music which drew heavily from The Velvet Underground and Bowie. Although misunderstood and much maligned at the time, they are now recognised as being influential in the birth of punk rock, and sowed the seeds for The Pistols, and a lot of what was to follow. I first saw them supporting Be Bop Deluxe at Newcastle Mayfair in 1976, and still have a programme from the gig which includes a silver flexi (see scans). The flexi Tracks are: Waiting; Afterglow; Billy Watch Out; Noises of the Evening. My recollection of the band are of Kid Strange being exactly that: strange on stage, but also compelling and charismatic. I also remember Urban Blitz as a manic violinist. 
I saw the band a few times at the Mayfair and other local gigs, and really regret not going to see them at Middlesbrough Town Hall Crypt in 1976, where they were supported by none other than the Sex Pistols in their first foray “up north”. That pairing also played Northallerton Sayers club at the same time. From the programme: “The music of the Doctors of Madness is extremely different, played with great honesty and without the “Rock Rule Book”. Members: Kid Strange: singer; guitarist and composer. He rates only Dylan and Lennon alongside himself as the most talented living songwriters. Its an accident that Kid Strange is a star. Stoner: Bass. The mercury man, slow and deliberate. He carries a haunted look and few know him well. Urban Blitz: Electric violin, baritone vialectra, guitar and mandolin. Began illustrious carreer at Kindergarten age as in the wont of such viruosi. “There is no musician I respect”. Peter di Lemma: drums. The silver surfer.” Pretty awesome stuff; eh?
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”
21 Aug
David Cassidy Once in a Lifetime tour Newcastle 2005
Once in a Lifetime Tour featuring David Cassidy; David Essex; The Osmonds and Les McKeown’s Bay City Rollers
I have come to the end of coverage of the letter C in my blogging on past concert experiences, (unless I have forgotten any, which is always possible) and will finish things with another guilty pleasure concert. This was, I think, the first “Once in a Lifetime” tour, which has now become an annual event (is there some bizarre logic there?). This show featured four legends from the seventies in concert together. I must admit, it was the presence of David Cassidy that drew Marie and I along to this gig. We’d both enjoyed seeing him at the City Hall a few years earlier, and quite fancied seeing him again. I bought tickets as soon as they went on sale and we ended up with front row seats in the first block. 
The rest of the bill was David Essex, The Osmonds (minus Donnie and Marie) and Les McKeown fronting his version of the Bay City Rollers. The gig was good fun, with the two Davids putting on the best show in my view, and getting the best crowd reactions. Its interesting that the concept continues with this year’s show featuring David Cassidy again, with support from Leo Sayer, Smokie, and Hot Chocolate, all bands that I saw and enjoyed in the 70s. Maybe I should go along again…….
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.
19 Aug
Death Cult Redcar 1983 and The Cult Newcastle 1985
Death Cult Redcar 1983 and The Cult Newcastle 1985
Ian Astbury is an interesting and impressive guy. He was born in Liverpool, lived for some time in Canada, and discovered music through The Doors, punk and Crass. I first became aware of him in Southern Death Cult, first saw him live in Death Cult, and then in the later incarnation of the band, The Cult. The last time I saw Ian was fronting The 21st Century Doors in the vast Manchester Arena, featuring original Doors members Robby Krieger and Ray Manzarek. He is now back fronting The Cult. This is a guy who is clearly living his dream. My first encounter with Ian Astbuty was in the Death Cult, at Redcar Coatham Bowl in 1983. Ian was sporting a painted face and bandanna, strutting his stuff to the goth / new wave music of this post-punk supergroup, which he had formed with Billy Duffy from Theatre of Hate. Pretty impressive stuff, but just a taste of the rock splendour that was to follow a couple of years later. Support for the Redcar gig came from Goth band Look Back in Anger. 
The next time I saw The Cult in concert, they had transformed into a fully fledged rock band, and were touring to support the “Love” album. “She sells Sanctuary” had been high in the charts for a number of weeks, and their new single “Rain” had just been released. Ian was now very much the heavy rock god. I remember being particularly impressed by Ian’s performance and by Billy Duffy’s guitar playing that night. I had a seat pretty close to the front and recall that the gig was very LOUD; my ears were ringing for some time after. 
“Love” and the follow-up “Electric” are both great albums, the former more psychedelic rock, and the latter much more hard-rock oriented. The City Hall concert was pretty electric, and the band went on to tour the USA to phenomenal success. Not certain who the support act was for the City Hall show; it may have been Balaam and the Angel. Setlist: Love; Nirvana; Big Neon Glitter; Revolution; Brother Wolf, Sister Moon; Rain; Resurrection Joe; Dreamtime; She Sells Sanctuary; Go West; Spiritwalker; Horse Nation; The Phoenix; Hollow Man; Wild Thing / Louie Louie
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