1978 an eclectic mix!

No  Reading festival this year, heading off to Knebworth instead. I still managed to cover a pretty wide range of musical styles from The Ramones to Tangerine Dream.

The year started off with a tremendous gig from Ultravox on January 20th at Newcastle Mayfair a couple of days after my birthday, starting the set with one of my favourite tracks 'Hiroshima mon Amour'. Such a pity that John Foxx would leave, although I did get to see the Midge Ure version of Ultravox a couple of times through the 80's and Vienna is a great album, for me those first two Ultravox albums were the best!

March brought Eddie and the Hot Rods, who had Squeeze and a band called Radio Stars on the line up. Radio Stars must have impressed as I do own one of their albums, but I really cannot recall anything about the gig.

By way of a contrast at the end of March I went to see Tangerine Dream, well I say I, by this time I was 'going steady' (lol such a dated thing to say!) with a girl I'd met at Art College the previous year, Sheelagh Connelly, so gig costs had now doubled!! Tangerine Dream were awesome, probably the first gig where I'd seen a full laser light show and Tangerine Dream are comfortably in my top 10 for albums owned!

In April it was the turn of Manfred Manns Earthband once again, this time on the Watch tour, another gig now forgotten .

So along comes Summer and what would turn out to be the last time I would see Genesis for almost 30 years at Knebworth Midsummer Nights Dream Concert. The real treat was getting to see Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and opening the gig... Devo dressed in white boiler suits and orange propeller hats they were the perfect start to a great day. We also got Jefferson Starship,who due to domestic differences between Grace Slick and her long time partner, guitarist Paul Kantner, performed without her, she returned to America before the gig. It was the first time the Starship had ever played without her. However, they pulled out all the stops and received a standing ovation at the end of their set. Although I do recall an incredibly boring bass guitar solo, wonder if Spinal Tap saw it too!
Oh and Roy Harper played a short set at the last minute while we waited for Genesis to get themselves sorted!
I've got a bootleg of the Genesis set and apart from the awful Follow You Follow Me, they were actually pretty good even without Steve Hackett. However the ...And Then There were Three album was the end for me and I'd not be buying any more Genesis releases for a long long time!

Two special gigs towards the end of the year, both for very different reasons. The first was The Ramones, now I know there's alot of people out there who regard The Ramones as incredibly influential and although I'm prepared to concede that point I have to say that on that September night in Newcastle they were awful, eclipsed only by Wayne County and the Electric Chairs a year earlier at Reading '77

Luckily the year would end on one of the best gigs in a while. AC/DC at The Mayfair on the Powerage Tour, Bon Scott on vocals belting out Whole Lotta Rosie, Hell ain't a Bad Place to be and of course Problem Child and Let there be Rock all the time knocking back Snakebites in the horrible Mayfair plastic glasses - great stuff and proper Rock 'n' Roll not this Mumford and Sons crap that gets peddled for rock these days!

1977 from Prog to Punk and back again...

You'd be excused for thinking I was a massive, yes massive Genesis fan as in 1977 I managed to see them 4 times, including 3 times in 4 days... what was I thinking! In my defence this was the period when they were still playing a lot of the older material and hadn't yet went all 'poppy'.

I must have been keen because in order to ensure I got a decent ticket I ended up queuing through the night on a late autumn evening in the autumn of 1976 and very civilised it was too I clearly remember some older grandmother type coming round with hot cuppas for us young whippersnappers and no hassle from the Police either, it was indeed a different time.

Were the gigs any good I hear you ask, well yes they were featuring music from Trick of the Tail and Wind and Wuthering as well as Suppers Ready and a host of other older tracks. Steve Hackett, still on guitar as well. Add in Peter Gabriel on what I think was probably his first solo tour and you definitely get the strong Genesis vibe! Peter's support came from Nona Hendryx ex of Labelle.

Just as well I was taking in Reading Festival this year as some kind of antidote to all the proginess (is that a word? if not it should be!).

Reading was my introduction to Punk, John Peel played most of it from The Sex Pistols to Tom Robinson over the three days of the August Bank Holiday weekend. The Festival started on the Friday with : Staa Marx, Salt, U-Boat, Kingfish, 5 Hand Reel, Lone Star, Uriah Heep, Eddie and the Hot Rods and headliners Golden Earring. Sadly I can't remember anything at all about the first day apart from the weather which was dreadful!

Saturday brought, Gloria Mundi, Krazy Kats, No Dice, George Hatcher Band, Ultravox!, Little River Band, John Miles, Aerosmith, Graham Parker and the Rumour and headliners Thin Lizzy. Highlights were Ultravox! in the days when they were fronted by John Foxx, they made a big impression and I would go on to see them a few more times including a memorable night in Newcastles Mayfair, but more of that later! Thin Lizzy were superb and although by now I was caked in mud I wouldn't have missed it for the world!

Sunday was an awesome festival day, weather was still crap but the bands playing on the Sunday included a few favourites. The full line up on Sunday was Widowmaker, The Motors, Tiger, The Enid, Blue, Racing Cars, Electric Chairs, Hawkwind, The Doobies Brothers, Frankie Miller and to end The Sensational Alex Harvey Band. So the weather was continuing to be suitably wet and cold but as they say... The bands played on, well they did until Wayne County and The Electric Chairs took to the stage, maybe they did this gig to fund Waynes sex change! What I do know is that they were truly dreadful and quite possibly the worst band I've ever seen. The crowd certainly let them know how they felt! I doubt they had finished the first assault on our combined ears with a song entitled 'If you don't want to F**k me F**k off', before the first clod of mud landed on the stage, pretty soon the air was filled with flying mud as the crowd vented their combined displeasure, bravely they played on but to no avail, as watching from the sides were The Doobie Brothers roadies who pretty quickly decided they'd had enough of this mud landing on their equipment and Wayne and the Chairs were unceremoniously frogmarched offstage to loud cheers from the crowd. Hawkwind were up next and I do seem to remember their set was in sunshine as the weather finally broke. But the overall festival highlight was definitely Alex Harvey and the boys, belting through the classics, Vambo, Faith Healer and of course Delilah, I'll not forget the sight of Alex coming on to stage a huge polysyrene cross across his shoulder, dressed in a flowing white robe as he sang 'Framed' excellent stuff! It would be a few years before I went back (1980) as the line ups became more punk orientated and didn't really interest me.

After Reading it was off down to London, Earl's Court to see Genesis, once again, this time supported by Richie Havens who almost certainly played a 3 day version of Long Train Coming, of course he would later work with Steve Hackett once he'd left Genesis, so Mr havens must have impressed him!

Camel at Newcastle City Hall in the September confirmed a return to Prog!

To end the year there were couple of gigs at Newcastles Guildhall building where The Enid and Slaughter and the Dogs were seen as well as catching The Jam at the Mayfair, I do remember coming away from the Jam gig wondering what all the fuss surrounding them was about as they were dreadful that night. Oh and it was around this time I met the future Mrs Peace and these last three gigs we took in together, I don't think she was too impressed with being taken to a Slaughter and the Dogs gig, The Enid on the other hand were on top form, finishing with a rousing version of The Dambusters march!