After I got back from my hospital appointment this morning, I was annoyed to find that our router had seemingly given out. It meant I couldn’t do any of my planned activities for the afternoon. I did catch up with a lot of reading though! Geth called BT to try and fix the problem, and it was ascertained that the router is working (to an extent) but not transmitting a wi-fi signal. As a result, we now have ethernet cables trailing everywhere and the internet connection constantly cutting in and out, like it’s the ’90s or something. I may have been driven mad by the time they send us a new router.
Geth and I are going to an outdoor gig tomorrow, so hopefully I will have a less frustrating day.
OOTD: too wet and grey for an outdoor picture, but I’m really pleased with my new Rio vest top! Vest top Redbubble (2019), leggings Primark (2018).
Today’s earworm playlist:
Martin Garrix, Macklemore and Patrick Stump – Summer Days Sigala and Becky Hill – Wish You Well Duran Duran – Pressure Off Manic Street Preachers – A Design For Life Ylvis – The Fox Gunship – The Mountain
It’s been a while since I went to a gig by myself. Geth wasn’t interested in going to see Rod Stewart, so I just bought the one ticket. I still had a great time, though – concerts for me are about enjoying the music rather than socialising!
The venue had advised showing up promptly for doors at six o’clock, and I can understand why – when Geth and I went to the Culture Club gig we arrived a bit later and it took ages to get through the queues. This has been an understandable feature of big arena gigs in the UK since the Manchester Arena attack a couple of years ago, as everyone has to be scanned and bag-searched and metal-detected before they go into the venue. However, because I showed up bang on six o’clock, the queue was still small and soI was in my seat by ten past six, even with my brief stop at the merch stall to buy a set of badges! It was another hour and twenty minutes before the support act were due to come on, so I settled in with my 3DS to pass the time.
The support act for this tour were Johnny Mac & The Faithful, who had co-written a song on Rod’s latest album, Blood Red Roses. I hadn’t heard of them prior to the gig, but they were the epitome of what I would describe as a ‘BBC Scotland’ band – a Celtic rock act from Glasgow, whom I wouldn’t be surprised to see on the BBC’s Hogmanay coverage at some point. They started off with a couple of original songs before launching into a series of traditional Celtic standards such as Galway Girl and The Irish Rover – I hadn’t expected this type of music at a classic pop/rock gig, but it was very high-energy and enjoyable. They then moved onto a couple of Rod Stewart covers in order to get the audience pumped, before moving onto Howling At The Moon (which my Duranie brain misheard as Howling Like The Wolf) and finishing with a track called Johnny Rod, in which the aim was apparently to crowbar as many Rod Stewart titles into the lyrics as possible.
I’ve been to a lot of gigs but I have never seen such a good effort made by a support band at ‘being a support band’ – it was all about getting the audience excited for the main event! They were obviously very grateful for the support slot, and they put me in the mood to start listening to some more folky stuff again.
Johnny Mac & The Faithful setlist:
Little Wild Heart Took A Train Galway Girl Pay Me My Money Down The Irish Rover Ooh La La Handbags And Gladrags Howling At The Moon Johnny Rod
After they’d finished, we didn’t have long to wait for the main event. A series of impressive visuals on the big screen heralded the entrance of Rod and his band, who immediately launched into the music – it was a couple of tracks before Rod greeted the audience and introduced the band. Although the current tour is in support of the Blood Red Roses album, the show was really a greatest hits set, which is to be expected from artists who have been going for decades. I certainly wasn’t complaining!
The early part of the set included solo hits like Young Turks and Faces classics such as Stay With Me, as well as a rendition of Rod’s ’90s duet with Tina Turner, It Takes Two. Tina’s half of the duet was ably covered by the lead backing singer, one of six women in Rod’s current touring band, the ‘White Swans’. When the six of them had arrived on stage at the beginning, dancing in matching outfits, I’d assumed they would just be doing dance routines, but it turned out that three were backing singers and the other three were multi-instrumentalists, playing violins, mandolins, drums, and many other things. They were really good, as were the rest of the band, and I wish I could find out a bit more information about the performers online.
Because it was a long set, there were quite a few ‘transition songs’ that went on while Rod went offstage for a costume change. One of these was a cover of Mark Knopfler’s Local Hero, which, as I mentioned in my most recent Music Video Monday post, is a revered local anthem in Tyneside, and Rod (famously a football fanatic) introduced it by making reference to Newcastle United. I assumed that they must have chosen a locally important song for each stop on the tour, but apparently they also played Local Hero in Paris a few days previously, so it must just be part of the regular set for some reason. Another of these songs was a cover of Donna Summer’s She Works Hard For The Money, performed by the backing singers. I’ve had it my head for four days as a result!
After a series of slower songs, some of which were tracks from the latest album and some a lot older (a notable standout was a cover of Ewan MacColl’s Dirty Old Town, which Rod first recorded and released fifty years ago this year), the show finished with four mostly-more-upbeat tracks that are arguably Rod’s biggest hits – Baby Jane, Sailing, Da Ya Think I’m Sexy?, and Maggie May. The third of these was a lovely kitschy moment that involved pink neon leopardskin visuals onstage and hundreds of giant balloons falling from the ceiling. The final song, Maggie May, was technically an encore, but it was a bit confusing – the curtain only went down for a few brief seconds before rising again between the last two songs, and Rod never said anything along the lines of ‘thank you and goodnight’, and the lights didn’t go up for a good several minutes after the band went offstage for the last time…so there was a lot of clamouring from the audience for an encore that never came. I don’t think anyone could have complained about the set though.
Rod Stewart setlist:
Having A Party Young Turks Some Guys Have All The Luck Tonight’s The Night (Gonna Be Alright) Stay With Me Forever Young Rhythm Of My Heart The Killing Of Georgie It Takes Two Tonight I’m Yours (Don’t Hurt Me) I’d Rather Go Blind Rollin’ And Tumblin’ Local Hero Grace Reason To Believe Dirty Old Town I Don’t Want To Talk About It Have I Told You Lately She Works Hard For The Money Baby Jane Sailing Da Ya Think I’m Sexy? Maggie May
A great hit-laden set and a great night out! I’m always really grateful that legendary artists like Rod are still out touring (rather than retiring like normal people!), as it means we can all continue to enjoy them.
The Rod Stewart gig last night was a lot of fun. I’ll post a review later in the week!
Another night out tonight (this is not like me at all!) as it’s the end-of-term ukulele concert, and so I’ll be performing with the beginners’ group. I really enjoyed it last term, as you get to see all the more advanced groups playing.
In the meantime I’m just having a quiet day getting on with my writing.
OOTD: nice to be a bit more dressed up! Dress Polo Ralph Lauren (2018), shoes Carvela (2018).
Today’s earworm playlist:
Aerds – Deadline Donna Summer – She Works Hard For The Money Duran Duran – New Moon On Monday Rod Stewart – Da Ya Think I’m Sexy? Duran Duran – Winter Marches On
In contrast to yesterday, I was awake super early this morning. This was for the best, as I had to trek into town to collect a gig ticket from the box office at the Newcastle Arena due to it not showing up in the post. Looking forward to going out to the gig tonight! I’m on my own as it’s Rod Stewart and Geth’s not a fan. I’ll do a review later in the week.
Just getting on with a few admin and writing tasks this afternoon before I head out.
OOTD: it’s too cold and wet for an outdoor photo today! Top LK Bennett (2018), jeans Levi (2018), shoes Vivienne Westwood Anglomania for Melissa (2018).
Today’s earworm playlist:
Martin Garrix, Macklemore and Patrick Stump – Summer Days Duran Duran – Too Late Marlene The Cure – The Walk Heaven 17 – Let Me Go Elton John – I’m Still Standing The Carpenters – Top Of The World Duran Duran – Come Undone Rod Stewart – Da Ya Think I’m Sexy? Ramz – Barking Duran Duran – Pressure Off Trevor Something – All Night
Spandau Ballet are having a bit of a quiet period at the moment. Following Tony Hadley’s departure, they did do some gigs with Ross William Wild as frontman, but it’s just been announced that he’s leaving the band, so…not sure when we’ll next get a Spandau tour, or who’ll be singing (Shapers of the ’80s have a rather bleak take on things here). However, it does mean that the individual members currently have free time to pursue their own projects – and in Martin Kemp’s case, that means touring up and down the UK with a hits-laden ‘Back to the ’80s’ DJ set! I am all about this kind of thing, so I bought tickets to the Newcastle event as soon as they went on sale.
The set was bookended by warmup and afterparty sets from the resident Wylam Brewery DJ, Tommy, so there were already some good ’80s tunes going when Geth and I walked into the venue. The main set didn’t start until ninety minutes after doors, so I had plenty of time to settle in and drink lots of Fentimans Rose Lemonade.
Martin Kemp, getting the party started.
Once the set did get going, it was pretty much a non-stop singalong and a great night out! The music tended towards ‘cheesy ’80s’ rather than ‘synthy ’80s’, but I knew every word (unlike some of the people there who were clearly a bit older than me and should have been able to remember the music properly – sort it out and learn the second half of the When Will I Be Famous chorus!) and I had a hoarse voice and sore feet by the end of the night.
As was predicted and welcome, Martin finished with Spandau Ballet’s Gold. Well, not quite, as we then got a bonus track: the Proclaimers’ I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles). I love the Proclaimers and consider I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) to be the unofficial Scottish national anthem (it’s a far better choice than the problematic Flower Of Scotland and the dirge-like Scotland The Brave). However, I can’t stand it being sung by a roomful of drunk people because EVERYBODY gets it wrong – there is no ‘da da la da’ chant after the first chorus, it just goes straight into the second verse, but everybody starts singing the ‘da da la da’ bit anyway and it DRIVES ME UP THE WALL. When it was played on Sunday night, even Martin got it wrong! You’d think that if he finishes with that song every time he does a DJ set, he’d get it right!
Anyway, apart from people not having done their ’80s singalong homework, it was the best night out I’d had all year. I’d been worried that my singing-along-and-dancing days were over after I quit drinking (I actually covered this subject in one of the poems I performed last Wednesday, as it’s really been playing on my mind), as I was always so self-conscious about it without a drink in me. However, I really felt able to let go on Sunday, so I’m feeling a bit more positive about future nights out now. The power of ’80s pop!
Martin Kemp is playing Wylam Brewery again on the 31st of October, so I think that might be my Hallowe’en night out sorted for this year!
After a week of being back and forth between Newcastle and Edinburgh, I drove us home today. It’s nice to be back.
This evening we went out to the Martin Kemp DJ set at Wylam Brewery, which was the best night out I’ve had in ages! I’ll do a proper review in the next few days.
A nice quiet day tomorrow to get caught up with everything!
OOTD: still love the colour of this blouse. Blouse C&D (vintage 1980s, bought at vintage fair 2017), jeans Vivid (2018).
Today’s earworm playlist:
The Midnight – Days Of Thunder Fleetwood Mac – Dreams Buddy Holly – Raining In My Heart Idina Menzel – Let It Go Arcadia – Say The Word Elton John – I’m Still Standing Wilson Pickett – Mustang Sally Duran Duran – Planet Earth
I’d been looking forward to this one for a long time.
I first became aware that Tears For Fears were doing a tour when they appeared on the Strictly results show during the 2017 series. To my disappointment, I couldn’t get tickets at the time (see my longwinded story about that here), but when the tour was postponed from 2018 to 2019, my ticket hunt had a happier outcome.
A major bonus was that Alison Moyet was supporting. I’ve loved her stuff since I was a kid, ’cause Mum and Dad had her Singles compilation and used to play it in the car all the time. As such, I made sure that Geth and I were at the venue promptly, ’cause I knew it would take a while to get in (security at big arenas has been understandably beefed up ever since the Manchester attack, so it takes longer to get into gigs these days).
(There was a bit of unintentional comedy thanks to Geth’s utter astonishment that this huge concert arena had ‘suddenly appeared’ in the middle of Leeds! He spent a lot of time in Leeds when living in York between 2000 and 2004, but the First Direct Arena was only opened in 2013.)
After grabbing a Tears For Fears badge pack from the merch stand (I love badges and have collected loads – I need to do something with them at some point) – we found our seats and settled in for the show!
Alison Moyet. Gig photography only semi-blurry for this one ’cause we had quite good seats!
Alison Moyet’s set had been advertised as an electronic set, but overall it was probably a fifty-fifty mix of Yazoo classics and her more modern blues-type tracks. I would have liked to hear more of her post-Yazoo ’80s electro stuff, but I really did enjoy the modern songs even though I wasn’t familiar with them, so I can’t complain.
My absolute highlight was obviously Only You. It’s one of my favourite songs of all time, to the extent that I walked down the aisle to it in 2012. Getting to see Alison Moyet perform it live was a really, really special thing for me.
Alison Moyet setlist:
I Germinate Nobody’s Diary Do You Ever Wonder Beautiful Gun All Cried Out The Rarest Birds The Sharpest Corner Situation Only You Love Resurrection Don’t Go
An interval and some more drinks later, it was time for the main event!
Tears For Fears. It was so awesome to see these two live!
Tears For Fears were doing a shameless greatest hits set – signalled from the start when they came onstage to Lorde’s cover of Everybody Wants To Rule The World and then launched into the original version – and they have a lot of hits, so there were very few tracks I didn’t recognise. It was all enjoyable singalong numbers from start to finish, which was exactly what I wanted to hear.
It’s hard to choose a highlight, but I’m going to go with Mad World, which has been a favourite of mine for decades now (it was on the first ’80s nostalgia playlist I created back in the ’90s, and I remember in 2003 trying to convince my brother that the original was better than the Michael Andrews version). Again, it was such a nice moment to hear it live at long last.
Unusually, there was only one track played as part of the encore – but it was Shout, and it went on for ages, so it was a suitably epic finale!
Tears For Fears setlist:
Everybody Wants To Rule The World Secret World Sowing The Seeds Of Love Pale Shelter Break It Down Again Everybody Loves A Happy Ending Change Mad World Memories Fade Suffer The Children Woman In Chains Advice For The Young At Heart Badman’s Song Head Over Heels Shout
Overall a great gig to start the year’s live music, and it will take some beating. A bonus was that Geth was really impressed by the First Direct Arena, so he’s now very happy to join me in my endless ’80s musical indulgence when bands play in Leeds. We’ll be back there for A-ha in November!
I don’t really feel that I gave this gig the amount of preemptory excitement that I should have done, given that it was sort of sandwiched between the Culture Club gig of a week and a half ago and the Electric Dreams festival that’s coming up this weekend, and also due to the fact that I’ve been ridiculously, ridiculously busy recently.
As such, I didn’t even realise who the support act was going to be (Midge Ure with his band Electronica!) until I happened to see it mentioned on Twitter the morning of the gig. That was the best kind of surprise, and I spent the rest of the day bouncing off the walls with excitement – apart from anything else, it’s a fairly major scalp for my Band Aid baby bucket list, given that it’s the guy who wrote the song!
Much to the crowd’s delight, Electronica played all the Ultravox and Midge Ure solo classics, along with a much-appreciated couple of songs written for other people! Geth and I were a bit surprised that the crowd were on their feet right from the off (Newcastle City Hall is a seated venue), but I could absolutely understand it, because it was such a danceable and entertaining set. Dude can still belt out Vienna like nobody’s business.
(Also, dude retweeted my excitable gibberish. Yes, he retweets all his mentions, but that was cool.)
Most days I’m always decrying the general awfulness of the 21st century, but getting retweeted by your favourite pop stars is awesome. I’ll give it that.
Midge Ure & Electronica setlist:
Yellow Pearl If I Was Love’s Great Adventure Death In The Afternoon Fade To Grey Reap The Wild Wind Vienna All Stood Still Hymn (The Power And The Glory) Dancing With Tears In My Eyes
There was a good long break in between Electronica and the Human League, meaning that Geth was able to go and get us another drink. Highly useful!
The Human League are one of those bands that I’ve loved forever, because they’ve just been part of the furniture of my life. I don’t remember where I was when I first heard songs like Don’t You Want Me or Love Action (I Believe In Love), because they’ve always just been there. It was so amazing to see and hear all those songs live – it’s really just the singers (Phil Oakey, Susan Sulley, and Joanne Catherall) who remain from the classic lineup, but frankly, that’s whom you’re there to see. I have to give a shout out to the stage decor as well – it was all made up of pretty neon boxes, and it looked incredible.
This was the unblurriest picture I could manage. I guess I just got lucky for Culture Club.
My highlight was, rather predictably, Don’t You Want Me – it’s not every day you get to see a UK Christmas number one (1981, in case you weren’t aware) performed live by the original artist (and throwing Midge Ure into the mix, that means I actually saw two artists in one show who had written Christmas number ones! How appropriately seasonal!). However, there was also an amazing moment when they finished the encore with Together In Electric Dreams, the classic hit that Phil Oakey did with Giorgio Moroder. It’s one of Geth’s favourite songs, and he never thought he’d get to see it live, so he’s now making noises about the show being a contender for gig of the year (and given how much he loved Peter Hook & The Light and Promenade Cinema at Infest, that’s saying something).
The Human League setlist:
The Sound Of The Crowd Mirror Man Heart Like A Wheel The Things That Dreams Are Made Of Night People Seconds The Lebanon One Man In My Heart Louise Human Open Your Heart Who Do You Love Love Action (I Believe In Love) All I Ever Wanted Tell Me When (Keep Feeling) Fascination Don’t You Want Me Being Boiled Together In Electric Dreams
I was really looking forward to this gig. Not even the fact that Geth and I, at some point in the past, got it into our heads that it’d be a clever idea to sign up for a half marathon the day afterwards could spoil my excitement!
Culture Club – and for once, my gig photo is only semi-blurry!
First of all, the support acts for this tour were cracking. Geth was more excited about the support bands than the main act!
Tom Bailey, formerly the lead singer of the Thompson Twins, was first on. He played a mixture of Thompson Twins classics and stuff off his new album. I really quite enjoyed the new stuff and will be checking out the album, but it was definitely the classics that went down a lot better with the audience. My highlight was Doctor, Doctor, which has long been a favourite of mine due to its gorgeous synth line and its frequent use in Doctor Who montages.
Tom Bailey setlist:
(We Are Detectives – the band came onstage to this tune) Love On Your Side Science Fiction You Take Me Up Lies Lay Your Hands On Me Doctor, Doctor Hold Me Now
Next up was Belinda Carlisle, who was brilliant and still rocks the stage like she did thirty years ago! Her voice is still gorgeous too. My highlight from this set was Heaven Is A Place On Earth, because it’s been a favourite ’80s song of mine for such a long time, and I couldn’t believe I was actually getting to hear it live – but there were so many great hits!
Belinda Carlisle setlist:
Live Your Life Be Free We Want The Same Thing In Too Deep I Get Weak Circle In The Sand Summer Rain Leave A Light On Heaven Is A Place On Earth
Culture Club are one of those bands where you’re never entirely sure how long a reunion is going to last, because there have historically been tensions among the members. Indeed, the full original band was not a hundred percent present, because drummer Jon Moss left the tour partway through the US leg and is not performing on the UK leg. I’m sure he has his reasons, but I was super disappointed not to see him, not least because it means I’ve now got to track him down separately for my new Band Aid baby bucket list project!
It was a fantastic gig though. So many hits that I’ve heard all my life and never dreamt I would actually see performed live by Culture Club. So many nods to classic artists beloved by me and clearly also by Boy George – the wee Wham! tribute during Church Of The Poison Mind, and the glam rock section during the encore with T.Rex and Bowie covers. Victims, my favourite Culture Club song, which I’d been praying they’d play since I bought the tickets. The wonderful finish of Karma Chameleon, with moments from my life flashing before my eyes: the hilarious Lothian Buses number 26 bus that never fails to crack me up; the crappy old Audiogalaxy download that I had of the song for years that had a slight jump during the first repetition of ‘you’re my lover, not my rival’; the time that my old schoolfriend Laura wrote the lyrics down wrong in my homework diary in high school and I had to correct them:
Homework diary, 7th October 2000. It’s actually ‘lovin’ would be easy’, but I was closer than she was.
I got super emotional during Karma Chameleon, in short. I’ve had the Now ’80s channel on all day today, and every time it’s come on, I’ve just been staring at the TV all like ‘I actually saw that performed live by Culture Club at the weekend’.
Wonderful concert. Probably my favourite of the year so far.
Culture Club setlist:
God And Love It’s A Miracle Let Somebody Love You Time (Clock Of The Heart) Everything I Own The Truth Is A Runaway Train Do You Really Want To Hurt Me? Victims Different Man Miss Me Blind Church Of The Poison Mind/I’m Your Man Life Let’s Dance Get It On Karma Chameleon
