Iron Maiden Killers tour Newcastle City Hall 1981
Iron Maiden were riding the crest of a wave in 1981. They released their second album Killers, and set out on a world tour which started off in the UK and took them across Europe , to Japan and the USA. I saw them when they played at Newcastle City Hall on 7th March 1981. Support came from Trust, a French heavy metal band. By now Maiden were establishing themselves as a rock band in their own right, with an identity of their own outside of the NWOBHM movement. And a pretty impressive rock band they were too. Most of the tracks on the new album already featured in Maiden’s live set, and were already well know to the fans. Themes of horror and darkness ran through it all: Poe’s Murders in the Rue Morgue, the Phantom of the Opera, The Ides of March. 
Some heavy symbolic stuff which was right up my street, along with mascot Eddie who featured in all their graphics, on album covers, tour programmes, their backdrop, and in person at the end of their set. Great stuff. By the end of the tour Paul Di’Anno was suffering from the pressure and the use of drugs and alcohol and was dismissed by the band. His replacement was Bruce Dickenson, aka Bruce Bruce from Samson. I’d see Bruce with Samson, and rated him OK, but not in the same league as Paul Di’Anno or Maiden. How wrong I was. Bruce rose to the challenge and more. I’ll write about that tomorrow. Setlist: The Ides of March; Wrathchild; Purgatory; Sanctuary; Remember Tomorrow; Another Life; Genghis Khan; Killers; Innocent Exile; Murders in the Rue Morgue; Twilight Zone; Phantom of the Opera; Iron Maiden; Running Free; Transylvania; Drifter; Prowler
Posts Tagged ‘rock’
6 Jun
Iron Maiden live 1980
Iron Maiden live 1980
Iron Maiden exploded out of the NWOBHM scene in 1980. I first saw them supporting Judas Priest earlier in the year. It was obvious from the start that two bands were way out in front of the pack of NWOBHM bands: Def Leppard and Iron Maiden. And the Maiden were the rockier of the two, and seemed to blend heavy metal with elements of punk. I saw them at least four times during 1980: at the City Hall with Priest, at Sunderland Locarno with support from Praying Mantis and NWOBHM DJ Neal Kay, at the Reading Festival, and later in the year headlining the City Hall themselves, with support from A II Z. 
Looking back this was a pretty meteoric rise for the band, from support act at the start of 1980, through their own club tour, to second on the bill at Reading, to a major concert tour of the UK by the end of the year. Wow! The line-up of Iron Maiden at the time was Paul Di’Anno on vocals; Dave Murray on guitar; Dennis Stratton on guitar; Steve Harris on bass guitar; and Clive Burr on drums. And of course I musn’t forget their mascot Eddie, who was there from the start, and features on the cover of the tour programme. They had released their first album, and the set drew from that lp and their second, yet to be released, classic “Killers”. Highlights for me at the time were “Running Free”, “Sanctuary” and “Iron Maiden”. The dark image of the band also appealed to me; I always was a sucker for horror movies! 
In the tour programme, Geoff Barton questions whether the NWOBHM was a “trend” or a “fad”, and “will it last?” and concludes that “we should make it last”. Well we sure did make it last, with both Maiden and Leppard continuing on to greater and greater success. I saw Iron Maiden every year and every tour for the next few years. I’ll reflect on those great tours over the next few days. Setlist from the tour would have been drawn from: The Ides of March (Intro); Sanctuary; Prowler; Wrathchild; Remember Tomorrow; Charlotte the Harlot; Killers; Another Life; Transylvania; Strange World; Innocent Exile; Phantom of the Opera; Iron Maiden; Running Free; Drifter; I’ve Got the Fire
5 Jun
The Sadista Sisters: Punk before punk at the Newcastle Festival 1976
The Sadista Sisters: Punk before punk at the Newcastle Festival 1976
Looking back through the programme for the 1976 Newcastle Festival, the gig that brings back the most vivid memories is the Sadista Sisters, who played a residency at the Centre Hotel. The Sisters were a right-on out-there feminist theatre cum rock cum punk act, with elements of cabaret and performance art, who had been a massive hits at the Edinburgh Festival the previous year. The Sadista sisters were Theresa D’Abreu,
Judith Alderson,
Linda Marlowe, and
Jacky Taylor. They wore outrageous costumes which blended gender, and their songs/performances were crazy and quite unsettling. And the programme says that their performance was sponsored by Pernod, and we all got a free glass! I also saw the Sadista Sisters perform at the Reading Festival that year, and in the same year they released their only album. They folded a few years later, having build up a cult following. They seem largely forgotten now, but at the time their performance was powerful and challenging stuff. Looking through the programme, I also attended Eric Burdon, supported by the Steve Brown Band, at the City Hall. There are a few gigs listed that, in hindsight, I wish I had gone to, including Diana Dors in cabaret, and in conversation at the Centre Hotel, and Larry Adler in concert. Now there are two gigs that I wish I had gone to!
4 Jun
Rock Against Racism Punk gig Newcastle Guildhall 1977
Rock Against Racism Punk gig Newcastle Guildhall 1977
This Rock Against Racism gig featured The Big G (aka Harry Hack and the Big G), Punishment of Luxury, The Press Studs and Speed. I remember The Big G and Punilux well. Both bands gigged regularly around the north east in the late 1970s, and they have both also recently reformed. I am afraid I don’t recall the Press Studs. The excellent bored teenagers site lists them as: “A very short lived Punk 5-Piece from Newcastle-Upon-Tyne who played fairly regularly at “Gatsby’s”. Speed were one of the first Punk bands to form in the North East, and were around in the early days along with Penetration. They were all very young at the time and used to gatecrash other peoples gigs, jump on stage and play! I am sure I saw this happen at a gig at Newcastle Poly one night. Rock Against Racism was a new concept in 1977, which organised quite a few gigs in the north east, including this one at the Guildhall, which I attended, largely to see Punishment of Luxury who were very impressive at the time.
![_DSC3285 [LR]](https://myvintagerock.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/dsc3285-lr.jpg?w=218&h=218)
Harry Hack and the Big G at the Guildhall
The Big G were: Rob Dixon: Harry Hack. Peter Howard: Walter Hack. Mick Emerson: Red Helmet. Anth Martin: EH Flash. Jane Wade: Kid Mutant. Norman Emerson: Mean Average.
In July 1977, the band were billed third at the Guildhall on Newcastle’s Quayside, supporting County Durham’s Penetration and punk pioneers The Adverts. Sixth on the bill were the little-known band Warsaw, formed the previous year in Salford, Manchester. “They were rubbish,” Peter remembers, but later Warsaw renamed themselves Joy Division and won world-wide fame. (Newcastle Evening Chronicle).
Vocalist Johnny Fusion of Speed moved to London and went on to form Band of Holy Joy“Formed from the ashes of an unrecorded ’77 punk band, Speed, Band Of Holy Joy’s
![_DSC3164 [CROP][LR]](https://myvintagerock.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/dsc3164-croplr.jpg?w=265&h=265)
Speed at the Guildhall
Many thanks to Mark for the pictures of The Big G and Speed.
3 Jun
Steven Severin The Cabinet of Dr Caligari Tyneside Cinema 2 June 2013
Steven Severin The Cabinet of Dr Caligari Tyneside Cinema 2 June 2013
On the face of it this seemed a strange sort of event. Certainly not the usual sort of gig I would normally go along to. From the Tyneside Cinema website: “Acclaimed solo artist and founder member of the legendary Siouxsie and the Banshees, Steven Severin returns to give audiences the rare opportunity to hear his electronic score for The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Capturing the surreal and enigmatic nature of the original work, Steven Severin’s score provides a synthesised, highly atmospheric soundscape for one of the most important films in the history of cinema.” 
This was my second visit to the Tyneside Cinema this week, and Marie came along with me on this occasion. I have been a fan of the Banshees since the early days; I always thought there was so much more to their music than simple punk. There was a dark, discordant energy to the sound they made which also matched their image; and I would guess some of that was down to Severin as well as Siouxsie. I haven’t seen Siouxsie perform for some years now, and sadly I can’t make her performances in London this month. Anyway, I had been looking forward to this chance to see a Banshee perform in my locality. I am also a fan of horror movies, so coupling a classic film of the genre with a Banshee seemed pretty good for me. In fact, I’ve never seen the Cabinet of Caligari right through, so I was looking forward to the whole experience. The performance started shortly after the advertised time of 6pm, with the lights going down in the small cinema before Severin took his place at an Apple Mac on a table by the side of the stage. The film was shown right through in all its black and white and sepia glory, as Steven delivered his electronic score, which was as haunting and dark as the surreal and disturbing images which enfolded on the screen. The film lasts around 70 minutes, and at the end Severin left the theatre as the lights went up, and the audience applauded. He did, however, hang around to sign copies of CDs which were on sale in the foyer. A different sort of “gig”, which was a nice change, and which Marie and I both enjoyed.
2 Jun
Iron Curtain 30 June 1979 Spectro Arts Workshop Newcastle
Iron Curtain 30 June 1979 Spectro Arts Workshop Newcastle
“Iron Curtain, a new band formed by Gary Chaplain, who left Penetration early last year, present an evening of unusual events, including a reading from Tony Jackson, and their own debut performance.” Spectro Arts Workshop was an arts centre in Bells Court, off Pilgrim Street, Newcastle. This was guitarist Gary Chaplin’s first gig after leaving local punk heroes Penetration. His band was called Iron Curtain, and their music was quite poppy punk as I recall. This was the only time Marie and I visited the Spectro Arts Workshop; I remember it took us some time to find the venue. The evening also included a poetry reading by local poet Tony Jackson. I found the following entry on a message forum: “Tony Jackson (1945 – 1997). Tony was closely involved in the Newcastle poetry “scene” of the 1960s – a close friend of Tom and Connie Pickard at that time, active at the Morden Tower, and in the running of the Morden Tower Bookroom and Ultima Thule Bookshop. Adrian Mitchell’s poem “Tony Jackson Is A Walking Jungle” comes from this period… From the ’70s he worked extensively with the People Show, increasingly devising his own routines (in chains) as his movement became restricted by MS. He refused to give way to his illness as long as possible, with the courage so many MS sufferers show – worked for various MS groups, but refused to get typecast as such. His work over the years appeared from a number of presses including Writers’ Forum, Galloping Dog and Pig Press.”
1 Jun
Penetration Newcastle City Hall December 1978 and October 1979
Penetration Newcastle City Hall December 1978 and October 1979
Penetration played two memorable headlining concerts at Newcastle City Hall in December 1978 and October 1979. The 1978 concert was to promote their glorious first album “Moving Targets”. Support came from Punishment of Luxury and Neon. Punishment of Luxury were building their own following at the time, and were quite unique in their approach. Although their music undoubtedly grew out of punk, their spiky staccato art-rock had much more depth to it, and their performance were very theatrical (they had been members of a local theatre group), with use of masks and dance, lead by front men Brian Bond on vocals and Neville Luxury on guitar. Punilux (as they were known) had released the single “Puppet Life” in Summer 1978. Penetration were achieving national success at the time of this show, with Pauline and the guys often popping up in Sounds and NME. This concert was both a coming home and a celebration of their success, demonstrating that they were now of sufficient standing to headline the great hall where so many big acts had played, and where they had supported The Stranglers and The Buzzcocks only a year or so before. The set consisted of all the old favourites and tracks from the first album, including such great songs as: Life’s a Gamble, their cover of the Buzzcocks Nostalgia, Lovers of Outrage, and Movement. 
Penetration returned to the City Hall almost a year later. I can’t fully recall who the support act was; my memory tells me it may have been local band The Angelic Upstarts. This time Penetration were promoting their follow up album, ‘Coming Up For Air’. This was part of a full UK tour which visited all of the major venues on the circuit. But things were not right within the Penetration camp, and on stage that night Pauline announced to our shock, “This is the last gig that this line up is ever going to do here… I think everything’s got to change after a while”. I was sitting a few rows from the front, but remember not quite catching what Pauline had said, and not wanting to believe that we were witnessing the end of Penetration. They played the rest of the set with a level of passion and emotion like never before, to a hall full of fans who were simply stunned by her announcement. Penetration went on to complete the tour, including another local gig at Dunelm House, Durham which I attended, and their final gig at The Nashville in London. And there you had it. The end of a very under-rated band who were much more than simple punk. Pauline returned to the City Hall a few years later as Pauline Murray and the Invisible Girls, and in recent years Penetration have reformed. But for a couple of years Penetration were out at the front of the local and national music scene, and gave us some great gigs to remember. Setlist from a gig on the last tour: Shout Above The Noise, Life’s A Gamble, She Is The Slave, Life Line, What’s Going On, Movement, Lovers Of Outrage, Party’s Over, Too Many Friends, Killed In The Rush, New Recruit, On Reflection, Nostalgia, Come Into The Open, Danger Signs, Free Money, Don’t Dictate. The following songs were recorded live at Newcastle City Hall in Dec 78 and Oct 79 and appear on the official bootleg: Come Into The Open; Movement; Lovers Of Outrage; She Is The Slave; Too Many Friends; Killed In The Rush
31 May
Made of Stone Film Premier live relay Newcastle Tyne Theatre 30 May 2013
Made of Stone Film Premier live relay Newcastle Tyneside Cinema 30 May 2013
Laura and I went to the Tyneside Cinema last night to see the Stone Roses documentary, Heart of Stone. The screening was relayed live from the premier which took place at the Victoria Warehouse Manchester. The film was simultaneously broadcast to 200 UK cinemas, and goes on general release nationwide on 5 June. The show started off with interviews of fans arriving on the red carpet, including members of the cast of This is England (which was also directed by Shane Meadows), and Mick Jones of The Clash. Then Shane, Ian Brown, John Squire, and Mani (Reni had a cold!), were introduced to the Manchester crowd (and us!) and the film was shown. Meadow’s documentary features footage from across the band’s career and their comeback shows of last year. It tracked the reunion from its announcement at a press conference in London, through some great video of the rehearsals, the secret warm-up show at Warrington Parr Hall, gigs in Europe and finished with footage from the tremendous Heaton Park gigs (Laura and I were at the Sunday gig). This was interspersed with flashbacks to the Roses in their early days. I enjoyed the movie, the live footage from Warrington (now that must have been a gig to be at!) and Heaton Park being the best bits. Personally I would have preferred a little less of the former (there was quite a bit about the excitement of fans getting their tickets for Warrington) and more of the latter. This was more a celebration of the band and the reunion from a fan perspective (Meadows is a massive Roses fan) with little analysis of the band and the relationship between the members. The incident in Amsterdam where Reni refused to come back on stage for an encore (Ian to the crowd: “the drummers gone home” and “the drummers a c**t”) was shown, but we were told little about what really happened, indeed the film crew left the tour at that point, so as not to intrude, and picked things p again at Heaton Park. The documentary captures excellent versionz of Fools Gold at Heaton Park and of She’s a Waterfall during rehearsals. After the film there was a Q&A with Shane Meadows. This simultaneous broadcast is an interesting concept and worked quite well last night. The Tyneside Cinema was pretty full, and the crowd clearly enjoyed the movie, applauding it at the end.
30 May
Penetration Peterlee Leisure Centre July 14th 1979
Penetration Peterlee Leisure Centre July 14th 1979
This gig was one event during a weekend of activities held in Peterlee, as part of the Peterlee Festival. Penetration played two shows at Easington Leisure Centre, an afternoon and an evening show. Support came from local heavy rock band White Spirit, who were up and coming at the time, and were soon to find fame as part of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal movement. White Spirit featured Janick Gers who went on to play guitar in Gillan, and then Iron Maiden, who he plays with to this day. A strange pairing of acts, who both put on a great show. I went along to the afternoon concert, which was full of young punks. Penetration played a blinding set, as usual. I found the following entry on a message board, which I thought was interesting “…. a bunch of Hebburn Punks went to this gig. We got the bus from Newcastle but it broke down on the way. We thought we would never make the gig. However, the bus company sent another bus. We commandeered the top of the bus and changed the number and location to the 999 to No Place. We thought it was pretty appropriate considering, it was pretty cool watching peoples faces as we approached bus stops. Sean Halligan”
29 May
Penetration gigs in the North East 1977 and 1978
Penetration gigs in the North East 1977
In my opinion, Penetration were the best local punk band around in North East in the late 70s. Marie and I went to lots of their gigs, seeing many of their performances from early 1977 onwards. The gigs all blur into one now, but I remember seeing great gigs at Newcastle Poly, Newcastle Guildhall, the City Hall (as support and headlining), Middlesbrough Rock Garden (lots of times; Penetration were a big favourite there), Redcar Coatham Bowl, and probably some other places (maybe Sunderland Seaburn Hall, Newcastle University?) who knows….as I say its all a blur now. What I do remember are some great songs, and Pauline Murray’s performance which was always stunning. The early Penetration (and for me the classic line-up) featured Pauline, Gary Chaplin on guitar, Robert Blamire (R) on bass, and Gary Smallman on drums. I recall listening to them played on the radio for the first time; I think it was Duty Free Technology, and thinking how great it was that local guys had made it! And I got to know all the early tracks well before any were released on vinyl. Those early gigs included Don’t Dictate, Money Talks, Firing Squad, Never, Silent Community, VIP, Duty Free Technology, and of course their excellent version of Patti Smith’s Free Money. 
We would often run into Pauline and the rest of the band at punk gigs in Newcastle and the Rock Garden. The way in which they caught early Pistols gigs, and how that influenced them to form the band is well documented. Penetration in turn were a big influence on the North East music scene and on many local bands. They built up a solid following locally and gigged all over the country, becoming quite a “name” band, to the extent that they were one of the first punk bands to play the Reading festival in 1978 (another great gig). I remember their first gig with Neale Floyd, who replaced Gary Chaplain on guitar in early 1978. Fred Purser joined shortly afterwards and brought a heavier rock style with him. I recall going out and buying their lp Moving Targets (on luminous vinyl 🙂 ) when it came out in October 1978. All great memories. The ticket here is from a later gig at Redcar Coatham Bowl on 8th December 1978. Support act on that night were Teesside punk heroes (and Rock Garden regulars) Blitzkrieg Bop. The programme has a picture from their Reading Festival performance on the front cover, so must date from late 1978 or from 1979. I’ll reflect on some specific Penetration gigs over the next few days.
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