Turned up to see The Buzzcocks on 'A different Kind Of Tension' tour and took in an eery performance by Joy Division. Sat high at the back of the now demolished concert venue I was behind a crew of smartly dressed Manchester lads wearing flannel pegs and knot knitted jumpers and buttoned down grey shirts [Peter Hook like]. The southern Buzzcocks audience were mostly still at school and looking like the weekend punks they probably were. Things were already different and a taste of how the 80s would unfold. Joy Division made a racket. Their live set was uncompromising jagged shards of sound. Some of the songs were familiar from Peel sessions and the appearance on Something Else [BBC2]—'She's Lost Control'. Sumner removed his guitar to assume synth duties for what would become Decades on Closer and then the set came to an abrupt halt as Ian Curtis collapsed and had to be helped off stage. As the Buzzcocks started their evening Pete Shelley asked the audience to make sure the ambulance could make a clear path as the singer of Joy Division was being taken to hospital. From my perspective The Buzzcocks made a good fist of it but it was Joy Division who burned into the consciousness that wet November evening near the sea.

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Tight solid performance just post London Calling release billed as the 16 Tons. The Stateside was a venue in an underground bowling alley formed in early 60s concrete on Redfern Road in the Village Bowl complex. Sonically hard on the ears, very loud with a hard floor and sweat condensation forming on the low ceiling and walls—a perfect setting. The south coast crowd of aging prog converts, teenage punks, the odd mod [hurling phlegm and racist abuse at the support act Mickey Dread] and assorted musos. Mr Dread appeared solo toasting over a sound system soundtrack based on African Anthem and the imminent World War 3 Long Players. Many non-plussed non reggae heads in the audience but appreciated by those in the know. The venue went dark and on came assorted roadies and then moving lit cigarettes in the dark as Jones [band's right], Headon, Strummer [centre] and Simenon [left] burst into the opening number, Clash City Rockers. Hard guitar rock'n'roll, Loud, raucus and on track with the first album in terms of rawness, the band held it together for well over an hour with a short encore and then they were gone. Strummer led the band playing hard rhythm guitar stabs across Jones abrasive lead and moody death stares—'offering out' the schoolboys on the left in the audience... "wanna fight mate?". All the great first three album songs got an airing along with a couple of average tracks that in this setting became stellar. The Clash. The only band to follow... Stateside Bob

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I was at this gig, 17 years old, and, as I recall, they did around the same number of encores i.e. 17. The energy was phenomenal. It was the Ramones with a Molotov cocktail. They were in your face, but not for the sake of it, they weren't simply being 'naughty' or confrontational teenagers. They were saying something and their anger was born of frustrations with the social conditions caused by the Troubles.
What a band, what an album. 'Wasted life', just one of many gems.
There's a lot of guitar pop, not simply punk and poppy punk, in there. Surprised no one has covered 'Barbed Wire Love' or 'Breakout'. 'Alternative Ulster' is also a wonderful song, seminal - though of its time; so it couldn't really be re-worked today.
Great band, great gig, an honour to have been there.
Guy Mortensen

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Unbelievably I have just found out the support band was none other than the great The Cardiacs!? So I misrembered the gig, but undoubtedly the unusual time changes and what not certainly made an impression on the young me.

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Gang Of Four are back on a short UK tour - well worth seeing!

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I attended this do (with hair) some 50 odd years ago with Paul and Rob et al..is there anyone out there who was also there?...and with any photos please?...all part of drafting my life story..KR..Steve

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Great gig, I can highly recommend The Ramonas, they do an excellent spread of Ramones tunes and a section their own Ramonesque songs without ever falling into the bland "tribute band" territory.

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Setlist available here https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/bruce-springsteen/2023/autodromo-nazionale-di-monza-monza-italy-2ba4f46e.html

First up I’ll say that Bruce and the band were fantastic as ever but…this is the first time I’ve ever left a Springsteen show early due to the chaos of getting to and out of the venue.

Half a dozen shuttle buses to ferry thousands of people to and from a venue from the train station was not nearly enough…one point of access for tens of thousands of people to the arena was an accident waiting to happen…people were still pouring into the arena an hour after the show started…it felt kinda scary at times

We stayed for 90 minutes and left to head back to Milan as we could see getting out of there was going to take hours, as was proved by some friends of ours taking 3 hours (longer than Bruce’s set!) to complete a journey that took us just about an hour.

There was a lot more that was wrong with the whole event but let’s leave it by saying Bruce Springsteen & the E Street band are still one of the greatest live experiences you’ll ever have.

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Evening Standard review :read:

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Evening Standard review :read:

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Camden New Journal review :read:

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(This is from my 1975 diary):
We arrived at the Corn Exchange and joined the queue, which moved a bit at first but then stopped for quite a while before moving again. We paid our £1.20 to get in which was pretty reasonable. We went and stood by the stage (NB this was a standing-only venue at the time) right at the front and could see Ray Shulman behind the equipment and when he noticed us standing there he feigned a 'surprised' look - open jaw and hands held-up - so he must have recognised us from the Hemel Hempstead gig. We then went and sat down on the floor, as most of the audience was doing by that time in front of a handful of idiots who seemed to have been drinking more than they could take and were beginning to get noisy, and consequently they spoiled Michael Moore's set, which irritated us as he was good as usual. One of my friends was especially annoyed by their manner. After the interval, Gentle Giant came on and opened with "Cogs In Cogs" again, which was superb. During "Funny Ways" Kerry Minnear stepped forward to play his vibes solo, wearing an open fronted silk shirt, and behind us one of the idiots there shouted out "Oooh TITTIES!" When the number had ended, Derek Shulman came up to the front microphone and said that it was apparent that some people had come to the gig just to get drunk and make a nuisance of themselves; most of the audience at the gig seemed to agree and a ripple of applause went round the room, then Gaz (my buddy) turned round to the source of the noise and shouted at them "Yeah why don't you f*ck off you silly c*nts!" It was undoubtedly Derek's announcement that did the trick as the disruptive element quietened down (probably feeling embarrassed at being called out for their behaviour), and the rest of the performance was undisturbed and very well received. When I got back home after the gig I listed to the whole of "Three Friends" LP and I really rate GG as a very special band.

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Don't recall Josh Ritter playing at all (sorry Josh) but then apart from The Boss (obviously) I was just as excited to see Damien Dempsey (DAMO ! DAMO !), Irelands greatest living songwriter. Couldn't wait for Glen Hansard to finish, it had been a long time since I'd seen a set that dull.

Bruce was, of course, his usual incredible self. 3+ plus hours and the greatest little Jersey bar band behind him, how could he fail. Mid-set he played "Born In The USA" (the album) in its entireity.

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Chaotic scenes! :shocked:

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Independent review :read:

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Even after an unbelievable timespan of 47 (whaaaaat?!) years, I can still SO vividly remember that fantastic, hot summer evening of live entertainment by two of the best funk groups around at that time; the incredible 'Fatback Band' and their 'warm up' group of the night, the talented, multi-national fledgling band, 'Heatwave'.

Even through the mists of time, I still believe that that hot September night in a memorable summer still ranks as probably the finest gig that I've ever attended in my now-64 years on the planet! Heatwave's Johnnie Wilder Junior was absolutely electric with his superb voice and gymnastic performance, treating the audience to an incredible show of summersaults whilst beating out the vocals......it really was an amazing treat of a gig. Added to that there was also Johnnie's brother Keith Wilder on vocals, a truly international spread of international musicians on their instruments, plus the INCREDIBLE Mr Rod Temperton on keyboards. He would come to the very heights of fame in the years to come, being responsible for not only penning a host of Heatwave tracks but also songs for Michael Jackson and George Benson amongst others.

As you can probably tell, my main reason for being at the gig that night was because Heatwave were performing, however, I should also add that superband The Fatback Band were truly in their element too, running through a super-fast catalogue of their tracks, many of which we can still hear - 'Do The Bus Stop' for instance - turning up in the backing of some adverts currently on British TV!

In size, the now-defunct Californian Ballroom in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, UK, was really quite small, but boy did they have some of the very BIGGEST bands in the world perform there back in the day! To quote The Four Seasons; OH, WHAT A NIGHT!!

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Peter Gabriel always puts on a show and this festival was not different, so good I missed my train back up north and had to use Euston Station as a bed 1* not recommended.


The Thompson Twins were also exceptional, just surpassing The Undertones, though there Teenage Kicks raised the roof

great memory from a long time ago, but finding this site brought it back, thank you :)

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This was a great gig, and my diary entry, written later that night, reads thus:
"As soon as we were let into the venue someone in the crowd started a Genesis chant ('Give me a G, give me an E..', etc) which grew in volume as more people joined in. As we all took our seats Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells was played over the PA system, and after a while we noticed dry ice starting to come out from under the stage curtain, then the house lights dimmed, blue lights came on around the stage, the curtain lifted and the band were here, the whole scene looking like the sleeve of Genesis Live LP except that now Peter was wearing his bat-wing head piece. The visual effect was stunning and the only motion was Peter's head moving slowly from side to side, before they went into 'Watcher Of The Skies'. Then the band played 'Dancing With The Moonlit Knight', 'I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)' - their latest single - and 'Firth Of Fifth'. Phil stepped out from his drums and was accompanied by Mike Rutherford and sung 'More Fool Me', which was perfect. The next songs were 'The Battle Of Epping Forest', and 'Cinema Show', and after those Peter announced that they would play (quote) 'some antiquated numbers', which were 'Harold The Barrel' and 'The Musical Box' - his performance as the aged Henry was faultless. Then lastly came 'Supper's Ready', which climaxed with a magnesium flare and a bang and Peter's ascension on wires in his reflective suit. Unbelievable! The band left the stage and the audience gave them a 5-minute standing ovation but they did not come back, sadly, despite one guy who had been shouting 'The Knife!' between songs and was still doing so as we filed out of the building! It was an amazing evening."

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the concert was brilliant: it's over fifty years now, but there's an image - much more than a mind's eye camera shot - that's forever etched in my most-valued memories:

central hall, purpose-designed concert venue for full orchestras, well-designed for the audience, mostly too, steeply inclined so everyone has clear sight-lines down to the stage; but this does mean you have to step carefully on the way down to the bar at the interval...

the lights had gone down after the end of one number, and the dim shapes of the figures of the band leaving the stage in the dark, and roadies moving instruments or mikes to their accustomed resting places for the musicians to pick up again after the interval, had all gone, so everything on stage'd stopped moving, and people in the audience were standing up, some starting to move down the steps of the aisles before the house lights are brought up, to get to the bar that's underneath the concert hall level before the queues start, a little buzz of conversations beginning...

- and the notes of a very simple repeating figure start from just one line on one guitar being played on the darkened stage...

- and - most - people slowly hush...

- and the guitar figure continues - and it's simple, but beautiful - and i don't think many people realise what it is, they're just mostly enchanted -

- and stood there, those as'd got up, or even onto the stairs - frozen, spellbound -

- and steve winwood's voice comes in, again, very, very simply:

- ''i'm looking for a girl who has no face: she has no name, or number...''

- and steve winwood's holding the entire audience spellbound, with yr hmbl srppnt. amongst them all, to the very last word, and the very last note of the guitar figure of single notes that he's been repeating, one after another without fail, or error, or change in rhythm or timing, or emphasis...

- and for maybe a clear minute - an entire clear minute - there isn't a sound. even from the bar.

- total silence.

- and then, initially very, very quietly, you can hear people begin to breathe again.

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I’d had the tickets for this for almost a year, a gig I was really, really looking forward to. Overall…it was hugely disappointing.

The band sounded lifeless and flat, absolutely no swing in what they were doing, almost like they were going through the motions or being held back from cutting loose by something, a very dull performance.

I’m also not much of a fan of fretw@anking, extended guitar solo’s etc. leave me utterly cold. But…I know Isbell is a very talented guitarist and I love his style of playing. Why therefore did I have to watch sideman Sadler Vaden take what seemed like endless, pointless guitar solo’s that added absolutely nothing to the songs ?

Then there was the sound. On the whole the mix was good but the drums were treated in a way that they sounded like a drum machine rather than real drums. Isbell as I’ve said is an incredibly talented guitarist, particularly to my ears on the acoustic guitar, but the mix on his acoustics was shrill and tinny and verging on painful to listen to.

Please bear in mind I’m a huge Jason Isbell fan, I have been since his days in the Drive-By Truckers, so for me to walk out of a gig of his after an hour when I’ve not had the opportunity to see him for 5 years is a big deal to me. It just felt like we were all wasting our time being somewhere none of us wanted to be. A real shame.

Setlist here

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A review by Dianne Foreman in a local fanzine the following month:
'The Doctors got onstage fairly late which was a disadvantage as many people had to get buses home, etc., but there were about three rows of us standing in front of the stage and quite a few onlookers scattered about. The band came on to cheers and opened with "Doctors Of Madness" letting everyone know what they were in for. Then came "Into The Strange" which came over really well and brought cheers from the audience, as did most of their material. The new songs from the forthcoming LP were met with a little caution but everyone seemed to like them. I would say that the most popular songs of the night were "Brothers" / "Suicide City", "Waiting", "Cool" / "Waiting For The Man" and their encore and recent single "Bulletin" (this is judging from the cheers, participation etc.)
The Doctors themselves were in great form; Kid Strange made some magnificent poses and expressions while keeping the vocals and guitar coming strong. Stoner moved across the stage sometimes like a cat, sometimes like he was in pain but always keeping the bass going. The drums had a real bashing (at one point a cymbal fell over) from the ever-energetic Peter Di Lemma, and Urban Blitz kept the music coming from his violin and guitar, though he did appear to have a short rest during part of the set. The standard of all the songs was incredible, and if the new songs didn't go down as well as usual it was because the audience was stunned by the quality.'

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Out of hundreds of Live gigs I've been to over the last half century..Gulp! THIS one was up there with the VERY best. The two support acts were fantastic..but U2 were something else (In fact, I would go as far as saying the boys were out of this world..it was THAT good). We had the best seats in the house!! (first row of the new directors' seats that had been used for the very first time)..Celtic Park was in the middle of a new stadium build at the time.

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I remember this concert so well, but to my shame, I have no recollection of Richard and Linda Thomson - could I have been in the bar??? I was so pleased to get seats only two or three rows from the front. Gerry was his usual uncommunicative self - "Hallo Aberdeen" and "Good night Aberdeen" but the concert was great. I remember the concert because it coincided with the start of my hearing loss - seats at the front turned out to be a mixed blessing. Gerry had a large and very loud brass section. I recall the 12 minute version of Baker Street - with the sax solo repeated three or four times. When I emerged on to Aberdeen's Union Street I thought someone had pressed th mute button - the traffic was strangely quiet! I had ringing in my ears for a couple of days and my hearing never really recovered. A warning for today's concert goers! Ach well, it was worth it.

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Review in Swedish

PÅ LISEBERG
1 september 1966, Stjärnscenen
1 september 1966, Pop In
Detta var Dusty Springfields första Sverigebesök. Kvällens första framträdande gjorde hon på Stjärnscenen kl. 20. En drygt 35 minuter lång konsert som följdes upp med en minst lika lång spelning på Pop In senare under kvällen. Hon kompades av The Echoes, som för kvällen var förstärkt med två trumpetare ur Lisebergs Promenadorkester.

Dusty släppte sin första soloskiva två år innan Lisebergsbesöket och hade under de åren blivit mycket populär. I en läsaromröstning arrangerad av den brittiska poptidningen New Musical Express korades hon 1965 till ”världens bästa sångerska”.

LÅTLISTA
(Konserten på Stjärnscenen)

Dancing in the streets
24 Hours from Tulca
Whishin’ and hopin’
You don’t have to say you love me
Shake
Little by little
In the middle of nowhere
These Boots are made for walking
La Bamba
PRESS
"Nu är det dessutom bevisat – mycket hörbart; Dusty Springfield låter precis lika bra i verkligheten som på skiva! (...) Tack Dusty! (Tack Liseberg!)" – Hans Sidén på Göteborgs-Posten.

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Snippet taken from Roslyn Owens article, who reviewed the show for The West Australian a leading news source in Perth and WA.


Perth Capital Theatre 4th April 1964.

When the phenomenon of the beat sound, located most significantly in Liverpool, started to take off in Australia in mid-1963, Harry M. Miller set about booking his own ‘Liverpool Sound’ show to tour the capital cities, including Perth. ‘The World’s Top Record Sensations on the Wild “Liverpool Sound” Show,’ as they were advertised, played three sets in Perth at a converted cinema, the Capitol Theatre, on Saturday 4th April 1964, two months before the Beatles came to Australia. Headlining the show were Gerry and the Pacemakers. Dusty Springfield opened after her backing group, the Echoes, had played a warm-up set. Also on the bill were Gene Pitney and Brian Poole and the Tremeloes. Dusty Springfield was a blue-eyed soul singer who came from London and had previously been in a vocal trio called the Springfields. Brian Poole and the Tremeloes came from Dagenham in Essex. Gene Pitney was American. Miller, it seems, called the show the ‘Liverpool Sound’ to capitalise on the presence of Gerry and the Pacemakers.

This preference in Perth for the lighter, poppier end of the beat sound spectrum is more clearly demonstrated in the reception of the other group of the ‘Liverpool Sound’ tour, Brian Poole and the Tremeloes. Roslyn Owen, who reviewed the show for The West Australian, commented that ‘Jerry [sic] Marsden, backed by his Pacemakers, had tremendous attack, a wide grin and a loud presentation.’ However, Owen preferred Brian Poole and the Tremeloes: ‘Why Gerry and the pacemakers [sic] topped the bill is a mystery. The group was outshone by Brian Poole and the Tremeloes and the professional polish and charm of Miss Dusty Springfield

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I was really looking forward to this gig, mainly because of Caravan, whose material I knew quite well by this time, but also as a mate of mine bought 'Turn Of The Cards' by Renaissance the previous year and had played it a lot whenever we went round to hang out. I think I'm right in saying that during the tour, the bands had taken it in turns to headline, but I'm not sure.
The following is taken from my diary of the time:
"We arrived at the Corn Exchange and had to join a huge queue of people waiting to get in; not as bad as it had been two years ago when we saw Focus there though, and we eventually got in. By the time we'd been to the bar to get some drinks Renaissance were starting their set, so we hurriedly found a place to sit down. (Note: The Corn Exchange is a seatless venue but for this gig the audience had decided to sit on the floor - they obviously knew it was going to be a long night.) The band sounded great from the off; Annie Haslam not only looked incredible but had a beautiful yet powerful voice, and at one point bassist Jon Camp played a great solo accompanied by his own echo. After a fantastic set that lasted nearly two hours and included 'Mother Russia', the band left the stage to deafening applause and cheering.
Before Caravan came on there was a BTM Records promo slide film shown on a screen at the back of the stage, with pictures and musical excerpts of other artists on the label, including Curved Air, Climax Blues Band, Trace and Wishbone Ash alongside Caravan and Renaissance of course.
At around 10:30 Caravan appeared and opened with 'Memory Lain, Hugh'. Each member of the band played extremely well, including the somewhat egotistical (it says here) viola player - Geoff Richardson - who also contributed guitar and flute at times. They featured some tracks from 'For Girls Who Grow Plump In The Night' and some new ones from their forthcoming LP to be called 'Toys In The Attic' which apparently is an American expression meaning madness, according to Geoff. (Note again: by the time the album came out it had been re-named 'Cunning Stunts' instead, probably due to Aerosmith having made an album called 'Toys In The Attic', and beat them to it.) Their last number was the one I'd been waiting for and which I'd occasionally dared to shout out for - the lengthy 'For Richard', which was superb. After that they went off but soon came back and encored with a really lively piece appropriately entitled 'Hoedown', again from 'For Girls Who Grow Plump In The Night'. The night's concert ended at around 12:25, a total of over four hours of live music and it had been thoroughly enjoyable and real value for money."

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Support band were probably called TNT and didn't come on until 10. My diary describes them as "crap" and "doing Quo stuff". Rich Kids didn't come on until midnight so audience was getting a bit "lively", thanks to the long wait. A friend of mine got chucked out but managed to sneak back in. RK were great.

Note: I found another site which says that this gig was on the 26th, but it was definitely Friday the 24th.

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A bit of a disappointment for various reasons, this one. I noted at the time that The Permanents were "worse than dire, impossible to describe" and The Slits were "just bad". Unfortunately, the Buzzcocks' set was ruined by a fight after just a few numbers. This was pretty rare for Lancaster Uni gigs, but punk/New Wave acts did tend to attract yobs, especially from Blackpool. Buzzcocks were obliged to play the rest of the gig with the house lights up which rather killed the atmosphere.

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I've added a (less than complementary) review of the gig from the local students' newspaper, SCAN. Yes, that was a good idea, send a self confessed fan of Camel, Caravan and Barclay James Harvest to review a Jam gig. However, to be fair, it wasn't The Jam at their finest. I was already a massive fan, but was quite disappointed. The vocals were barely audible and every number was indeed taken at the same breakneck speed. Weller's line in crowd interaction was almost non-existent, exemplified by the entire introduction to Bricks and Mortar, "this is about the Houses of Parliament". Huh? What? Probably the longest sentence he uttered throughout the set too. New Hearts were fair, but the vocals were inaudible. Local band China Street were so bad we walked out.

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I noted at the time that Clover were "trash" and I walked out. GP & The Rumour were excellent, sticking faithfully to the arrangements on record, but with tons more energy.

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