The Jim Jones Revue, Newcastle 02 2, 30 Mar 11

The Jim Jones Revue played an intimate set to promote their latest single "Dishonest John" at Newcastles' O2 2 last night - attended by the better half as I was on night shift, saving lives....

And very good they were too...

Stiff Little Fingers, Newcastle O2, 19 Mar 11

53 and still f''ing ANGRY

It was a raucous evening at Newcastles' O2 Academy last night, as punk legends stiff little fingers smashed their way through a great set of old and not so old songs. It was the first time I'd seen SLF since 1993 ~ and Jake was slightly more portly than last.

The aging crowd were certainly up for it and was possibly the most moshed mosh pit I've been in for a long while. Cracking stuff!

The set started with "go for it" played as the introduction track - and the crowd went mental! While newer songs were well received, it was the early material that created most moshing... and tonight there was a lot of the aforementioned mosh ~ nobody's hero, wasted life, tin soldiers, fly the flag, and suspect device...

The encores brought in "johnny was" , a cover of "I fought the law" and to complete the show - "alternative ulster". Pure Class.



Elbow, Newcastle Arena, 16 Mar 11

Elbow managed to pull off a theatre-like arena show last night in Newcastle, with their traditional audience participation included. Guy Garvey and co certainly know how to engage their audience, with ample time between songs for story telling and wit. Support was from Villagers.

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Piano - with a hidden cocktail bar...

Starlings - 1st song of the encore

The Levellers & The Wonderstuff, Newcastle O2, 13 Mar 11

A very decent nostalgic double bill at Newcastles' O2 on Sunday night ~ taking me back to the early nineties!

The show opened with the wonderstuff, kicking out "red berry joy town" for starters and a great selection of their material to keep the crowd very happy indeed. It's not often that a "support" act can get a crowd going, but Miles Hunt is a pro!

The Levellers followed - I'd last seen them at the Mayfair way back in 1993 and that gig made the local press as their was an accident on the stairs...

Tonight was an anniverary show - 20 years since the release of "levelling the land"! - So the set was the whole album, a few b-sides and classics for the encore... It was a wild crowd tonight!

A little more portly than 1993...

Audience appreciation...

Can you tell what it is yet?

Depeche Mode, Chicago Lollapalooza, 07 Aug 09

August 2009 saw us head out to Chicago for the Lollapalooza festival in Grant Park ~ an easy option festival-wise as we could stay in a plush hotel instead of a grotty tent! Depeche Mode head-lined on the first night,on a day that had turned wet and cold during the afternoon. By the time DM arrived on stage the rain had stopped and spirits rose...

We managed to get a good spot in front of the sound desk - the show was amazing, with tremendous imagery used on the LED back-ground. Dave was a real mover too...

In Chains

Wrong

Hole to Feed

Walking In My Shoes

It's No Good

A Question of Time

Precious

Fly on the Windscreen

Home

Come Back

Policy of Truth

In Your Room

I Feel You

Enjoy the Silence

Never Let Me Down Again

Stripped

Personal Jesus

As with most festivals there was the inevitable band schedule clash - I hope to make good Kings Of Leon later in 2011.

Much better photographs are here

The Deadweather, Newcastle O2, 21 Oct 09

The Deadweather put on a great show at Newcastles' O2 back in October 09. The band features Alison Mosshart (Kills), Dean Fertita (Queens of the Stone Age), Jack Lawrence (Raconteurs) and Jack White (White Stripes/Raconteurs).

An amazing performance, especially Mosshart, who not content to stand still and spent a great deal of the show navigating the monitors on the front of the stage.

Check the picture on the drum - nice!

Setlist (incomplete - encore missing)

Forever My Queen

60 Feet Tall

You Just Can't Win

Hang You From The Heavens

So Far From Your Weapon

Bone House

No Hassle Night

Jawbreaker

I Cut Like A Buffalo

Rocking Horse

No Horse

Will There Be Enough Water?

Treat Me Like Your Mother

New Pony

The Cure, Edinburgh Playhouse, 20 Nov 92

One of the original wish tour ads - several more dates were added as each venue sold out...

Back in 1992 I was still at university, so owning a car was a strict no-no. When the cure announced the UK leg of the wish tour a Newcastle date was invariably not going to happen, so as with most big-act shows, alternative methods of transport had to be sought ~ and for me Selbys Travel often came to the rescue, putting coach and ticket deals at reasonable prices to boot.

The Edinburgh show was no exception, and for £32 we got a coach ticket and stalls seat.

Cranes opened the show, with their standard five song set that culminated with the powerful "adrift".  A while after their appearance the tannoy announced that the cure had not yet arrived ~ they were apparently stuck in traffic!

So it was not until approximately 22.00 that the lights went down and the ominous sounds of the wish tour musical opener "tape" began.

The song list ended up being refined to a shorter set, a shame if it was the only wish-show that you were to see, but it was not without a few decent song-appearances. One hundred years appeared early in the list, while the kiss and primary were very well played in the single encore.

Simon Gallup was ill at this time - so bass duties were taken care of by Roberto Soave, from the 1989 support band Shellyann Orphan. Robert kept Roberto right, giving the nod during the kiss for the bass to start!

open

high

pictures of you

lullaby

just like heaven

fascination street

one hundred years

trust

charlotte sometimes

the walk

let's go to bed

friday i’m in love

fire in cairo

inbetween days

from the edge of the deep green sea

never enough

cut

end

 

the kiss

primary

boys don't cry

a strange day

a forest

 



The Kiss - possibly the worst concert pic ever, but you get the drift...



 

The show ended after mid-night - late for UK concerts, and we headed back home relieved that the show had gone ahead. The venue was pretty good, and a few years later, Radio City Music Hall in New York reminded me of the Playhouse somewhat ~ more on that in a later post ;-)!

Not the most inspiring cure ticket...

So that was that - we got back home in the very early hours, and on my way back I even got some abuse off a milkman, clearly he was not used to seeing a bedraggled, black lip-sticked, black eye-shadowed / eye-lined smith wannabe with rather alot of back-combed hair stumbling down a frosty street at 04.00...

More on the London shows soon ~

Pixies, London Brixton O2, 6 Oct 09

I saw some great shows during 2009, and an evening with Pixies was not to be missed. I'd last seen these guys 19 years ago to the day back in the early nineties, when they played a show at Preston Guildhall, Lancashire.

Blast from the past - the ticket from 6th October 1990 - Spookily the same date as the 2009 show...

Tonight's show was something more special, being a 20th anniversary concert for the fantastic Doolittle record. The set list comprised of all the period b-sides, the album in it's entirety and a second encore of pixies classics. Added to the flavour there was good support to - with The Big Pink.

Needless to say, but the crowd went mental when debaser kicked in!

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To (cash in or...) top it off for the fans, the show was officially recorded by the band - here's a picture of the copy I bought... Note that the set list is a standard list, the final encore is included but not listed.

And here's the ticket from the show...

In all, Pixies played 4 nights at Brixton - and they all sold out! Subsequent shows in the UK have tended to stick to London and Manchester - it would be great if they'd do a full UK tour...