More from 1976

1976 was certainly a busy year, gig wise as well as being my A-level year where obviously I worked long and hard on revision!

Not only did I go to my first festival (Reading) but also took in gigs at Newcastle City Hall and a trip down to Hammersmith Odeon in London.

The year started off with those good old boogie boys Status Quo who I'd seen a few years earlier in 1973.

One of the highlights was seeing SAHB again, things had certainly developed for the bands stage show. It had moved on from the polystyrene 'brick' wall of earlier years to a multi level 'tenement block'. Delilah and Boston Tea Party and a terrific OGWT appearence had brought a newer audience to SAHB who were a bit shocked to see Alex dressed as Adolph Hitler during the track Framed - political correctness was never part of SAHB! Great show tho'.

A-Levels drew to a close and it was time to look for a place at Uni or for me, art college. Not exactly met with much enthusiasm from parents and friends, I mean what would you do as a 'job' if you went to art college, art colleges were full of long haired drug takers, well they were if you believed the Daily Mirror! Any ways my first choice was Canterbury Art College so portfolio was prepared and train ticket purchased and off I went along with a school friend, John Simpson who also was heading to Canterbury.

Now John was a big Genesis fan and up to this point I'd not paid them much attention. However on the way back he mentioned they were playing Hammersmith Odeon and did I fancy heading there before we went back, so we both lugged our portfolios across London and bought 2 tickets on the day, for the princely sum of £2.00! Portfolios were kindly left in the Box Office (it was a very different time back then). The gig was one of the first with Phil Collins fronting, the yellow jump suit was probably a mistake Phil, but the gig was a memorable one as both old and new Genesis were played and I now own a bootleg of that very gig!

Come August, I was off to Reading Festival and taking in a whole host of new sounds.

One of the highlights of Reading was Manfred Manns Earthbands set, where they played through a unexpected torrential downpour, 1976 being the hottest summer for absolutely ages and only just eclipsed by this July in 2013!

I'd now decided to do a Foundation year in Art at Newcastle College on Bath Lane in the city, another building now long gone where I met some good friends who I still see and meet up. We took in Barclay James Harvest, Octoberon tour. One of the dullest gigs I've been to, not helped by the support band, Racing Cars,  having a 'hit' single titled 'They Shoot Horses Don't They'. The year ended with heading off to see Wishbone Ash, with Gordon Smith and Gary Wright who were both on Foundation year with me.

Gordon and I have recently met up again in the last couple of years and we've taken in a few gigs, one of them being the 2012 Stanley Music Festival where strangely enough Martin Turners Wishbone Ash headlined... Blowin' Free once more!