It all began on the 5th of September 1972. The occasion was that of Yes playing the first of two dates in Glasgow at the city’s Kelvin Hall on their Close To The Edge world tour. More than 50 years later, I have now been to more than 1100 live music events. I know this much to be true because as a “lockdown project” I decided to try and list every single gig and festival that I had ever been to. This task was made much easier by the fact that in another rather worrying example of my obsessive behaviour, I had kept nearly all of my tickets from the first three or so decades of this personal travelogue of concert going.
The final figure is undoubtedly higher than this as there are many shows that sadly I just cannot recall, most notably those from a wanton summer spent in London in 1978 whilst living in a squat in Whitechapel. And it would have been even higher still if, three Tom Waits’ concerts in the 1980s aside, I had actually gone to any other gigs during that particular decade.
There are many regrets in terms of gigs I wish I had seen, and could have realistically seen (as opposed to, say, catching Elvis, The Beatles, or Hendrix in concert), but for reasons that are mostly inexplicable, I didn’t. Amongst that number I would include, first and foremost, Joy Division, as well as Pink Floyd, Captain Beefheart, Ian Dury, Jean Carne, Johnny Cash, Nina Simone, and Townes Van Zandt.
But I have been blessed to have had the opportunity to catch Led Zeppelin at the peak of their considerable powers on a Saturday night at Earls Court in London in May 1975; an incredible bill that included Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, Joni Mitchell, and The Band the previous summer at the old Wembley Stadium; Television and Blondie on their first ever tour of this country in 1977; the Ramones, a few days before Christmas of the same year at the sadly long-since-gone and what is still surely the best live music venue ever, the Glasgow Apollo; Leonard Cohen, twice within a few months in 2013; plus Big Star, Little Feat in 1976, Elliott Smith, R.E.M., The Who, twice with their original line-up, Dolly Parton, Gene Clark, Susana Baca, Shirley Bassey, Bobby Womack, Andy Williams, Sonic Youth, Lou Reed (three times), and James Brown (also three times), amongst many, many more great artists besides.
Here, though, are what I would consider to be the twenty most memorable live music experiences I have had over the last half century. As with all of these things, it is a list that is fluid and liable to change at any time, dependent upon mood and memory, but that said the top five have consistently remained that way for the past 10 years or so.
1. Neil Young with Booker T and the MGs – Finsbury Park, London, England, 11/07/1993
I had already seen Neil Young twice in concert by this time. Initially with CSNY, when his songs and individual performance had eclipsed those of his three musical cohorts, and then in Glasgow in 1976 when he played a 9-song solo acoustic set before Crazy Horse – his most venerable, trusted and surely best band – joined him for a barnstorming electric show. I’ve seen him several times since, including an incredible appearance, again with Crazy Horse, at the Phoenix Festival in 1996, but this one in the North London drizzle knocks them all into a cocked gig hat.
Here, the irascible Canadian musician had hooked up with Booker T and the MGs, the American instrumental R&B/funk outfit who were the house band for revered soul music label, Stax Records. On paper it was a highly unlikely combination, but on this evidence alone one that clearly worked.
From the opening chords of the old Buffalo Springfield tune, ‘Mr Soul’ to the dying strains of a riotous, second and final encore of ‘Rockin’ In The Free World’ – during which second on this festival’s bill, Pearl Jam, joined Young et al on stage – this entire show moved the live musical event onto a higher experiential plane. It was transcendental, no more so than on ‘Like A Hurricane’ when Neil Young and Steve Cropper traded licks that still make the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end when thinking about it nearly 30 years later.
2. The Jam – Newcastle City Hall, England, 04/12/1979
The Jam had just released their fourth studio album, Setting Sons and their creative and commercial star was firmly on the rise. That night they brought all of that breathless momentum to the City Hall. From where we were sat on the very front row, the energy was palpable; it crackled and it fizzed and I could not believe that three people could create such a huge, complete sound, one that just seemed to roll from the stage in wave after sonic wave.
The set proper culminated with a triple fusillade of ‘Strange Town’, ‘The Elton Rifles’, and ‘Down in the Tube Station at Midnight’, surely three of the greatest singles ever cut to wax. The Jam disappeared two encores later with another incredible three-song blast, this time featuring ‘Billy Hunt’, the title track from their third album, All Mod Cons, and, finally, a cover of The Kinks’ classic, ‘David Watts’. Three years later, almost to the day, The Jam played their last ever concert.
3. Tom Waits – Le Grand Rex, Paris, France, 25/07/2008
This was the fourth time I had seen Tom Waits. All three previous shows were at the Edinburgh Playhouse in ’81, ’85, and ‘87 respectively. All were brilliant, but this one just edges it, partly due to it taking place in Le Grand Rex, a beautiful Parisian Art Deco building which dates from 1932 and boasts exquisite balconies, loges, red velvet seats, and a midnight blue vaulted ceiling with twinkling stars, all of which transport you to a different time and place. But mostly down to Tom Waits’ sheer magnetism as a performer and his wholly unique qualities and idiosyncratic talent as an artist.
Standing on a vast circular dais shaped like the top of a wooden barrel, kicking up clouds of dust as he stomped away in time to his songs, and surrounded by an array of battered instruments and megaphones, Tom Waits was part carny hawker, part vaudevillian performer. His music comes from another world, one that is populated by a cast of strange characters and rotates on an axis of intense, surreal adventure. To be part of that world, even if it was only for a couple of hours, felt like a great honour and privilege.
Afterwards, we retired to a local café to reflect upon what had just happened and such was the complete daze I was still in I didn’t even care about getting completely ripped off for the price of a couple of drinks.
I even managed to sneak a small camera into the venue and hastily took this video of a heartbreaking ‘Tom Traubert’s Blues’.
4. Prince – Sheffield Arena, England, 17/03/1995
The concert began with a furiously fast-forwarded montage of Prince’s greatest hits – ‘When Doves Cry’, ‘Purple Rain’, and ‘Kiss’ amongst them – projected onto a huge screen suspended above the stage. The video culminated in the death of the Minneapolis musician. Thankfully, he was still with us, albeit no longer with the Prince name or identity. He was now The Artist With No Name, a squiggle, a man with the word ‘Slave’ scrawled across his cheek – reflecting his dispute with his record label, Warners, and perception of their control over his music – and a wilful refusal to perform any of his hits on this, The Ultimate Live Experience tour.
The stage was designed to resemble a human’s endorphin gland (see the inside of the tour programme above) and featured flying devils, an elevated bed, and a 50’s open-topped Yank automobile. Visually it was spectacular. Prince’s music was equally astonishing, despite the fact that the majority of the songs he played were drawn from his yet-to-be released album, The Gold Experience. We got two hours of super sexy funk and soul with the Purple One in complete control as he rocketed back and forth across the stage like some prototype for a new James Brown, Michael Jackson, and Little Richard hybrid whilst playing probably the most remarkable guitar heard this side of Jimi Hendrix.
5. Spiritualized – York Barbican Centre, England, 03/03/2002 and Butlin’s, Minehead, England, 10/05/2009
I have seen Spiritualized many times over the past 25 years, be it as J Spaceman, Acoustic Mainlines or just plain old Spiritualized. All have been great, but these two shows stand out for me.
The first was a last minute decision on a Sunday night and the band were on fire. Not literally, of course, but they brought a blinding candescent light and white-hot heat to what is an otherwise sterile and soulless venue.
The second was not a gig, as such, but the morning sound check for that evening’s show. The occasion was the All Tomorrow’s Parties (ATP) Festival and Spiritualized were headlining the final night of the event. Jason Pierce had got the full band together that morning in the otherwise empty Skyline Pavilion save for the sound crew and a few Butlin’s staff. My pal Chris and I happened upon the sound check purely by chance and sat as unobtrusively as possible at the back of the venue, up near the slot machines, plastic palm trees, and Burger King outlet. We had what felt like our very own private performance as Spiritualized went through a complete sound check that stretched to well beyond an hour. It felt like some extremely guilty pleasure.
I even took some video footage very discreetly.
6. Dexys – Whitley Bay Playhouse, 07/05/2012
I had seen Dexy’s Midnight Runners nine years before at Leeds Grand Theatre when a clearly disgruntled Kevin Rowland had got himself into a most unseemly spat with some drunken idiot in the audience. By the time that this show in Whitley Bay came round, though, they had officially shortened their name to Dexys and Rowland had re-recruited original band member Pete Williams, to work alongside erstwhile Style Council man, Mick Talbot, Neil Hubbard, and violinist Lucy Morgan. To this nucleus of the band he brought back another original member Big Jim Patterson on trombone and added a new female vocalist, Madeleine Hyland.
That band was so tight, I tell you. Tight and, yet, loose. And the on-stage chemistry between Rowland and Hyland was electric. Dexys were about to release One Day I’m Going To Soar, their first album in 27 years, and that night we got the chance to hear all of the songs from that record for the very first time, along with an incredible finale of ‘Old’, ‘Come On Eileen’, and a version of ‘This Is What She’s Like’ that just seemed to go on for absolutely ever. You did not want that incredible night to end.
7. Kraftwerk – Manchester Apollo, England, 17/03/2004
To witness four middle-aged men stood virtually motionless behind their individual laptops whilst a series of graphics and flashing images play out on the huge screens behind them may not sound particularly appealing, but let me tell you this concert achieved a pinnacle of sound and vision synthesis whereby the two sensory perceptions became one.
I have seen Kraftwerk twice since – both occasions on their stupendous 3D Tour – but great as those events undoubtedly were, nothing could compare to this. The visuals were absolutely stunning – the old steam locomotives on ‘Trans Europe Express’ were hypnotic – and the synthetic sound reverberated all around us and up through the Apollo floor. The show also featured founding member Florian Schneider who would leave the band some four years later.
8. Terry Reid – Rhythm Festival, Bedfordshire, England, 04/08/2007
The Rhythm Festival lasted for six wonderful years between 2006-11 and in that time I saw some truly legendary acts perform there – Richie Havens, Jack Bruce, Roy Harper, John Mayall, Dr. John, Wilko Johnson, and Jefferson Starship amongst them – but the absolute highlight was Terry Reid at the event’s second edition.
The man who famously turned down the gig with Led Zeppelin in 1968, before recommending Robert Plant to Jimmy Page, who looked and sounded as if he had already had a few “looseners” before his set had even begun, suddenly started to frantically beckon onto the stage what appeared to be some random stranger who was stood at the nearby bar. The guy, who had clearly had more than a couple himself, was none other than former Rolling Stones’ guitarist, Mick Taylor. He duly joined Reid and the two men joyously tore into Ray Charles’ ‘I’ve Got News For You’. At the song’s end Terry Reid beamed “that’s the way to do it” and it most certainly was. One of the single greatest moments in my entire time spent experiencing live music.
9. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – PalaLottomatica, Rome, Italy, 08/11/2017
The prospect of seeing Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in concert is always one to relish, but upon arriving at this venue on the darker edges of the Italian capital the omens did not seem to be particularly good. An austere multi-purpose sports and entertainment complex that had played host to the 1960 Olympic basketball tournament, the building looked as if it had barely changed since that time. Over the course of the next couple of hours, though, Nick Cave infused the concrete edifice with such great warmth and emotional affinity. He waded knee-deep into the 8,000 crowd before inviting a large swathe of them to join him and the Bad Seeds on stage during ‘Stagger Lee’ and managed to shrink this vast hall into the intimacy of a small club.
10. PiL – O2 Academy, Leeds, England, 16/12/2009
After an opening, feral blast of the song ‘Public Image’, John Lydon advised us that that was our lot, thanked us all for shelling out forty quid to see him, before turning on his heels and exiting stage left. He was only joking, of course, and by the time that he had reached the encore of ‘Open Up’, two and a half hours later the one-time Sex Pistol was out on his feet such was the Herculean effort he had put in. PiL was always his first love, though, and here you could see why. To finally hear ‘Careering’, ‘Poptones’, ‘Albatross’, ‘Death Disco’, and ‘Memories’ from the Metal Box album in concert and played with such ferocity and meaning was incredible to me. I had bought that record – in its original metal canister – upon its release in 1979 and 30 years later it still sounded like nothing on earth.
11. King Crimson – Glasgow Green’s Playhouse, Scotland, 01/12/1972
Before this concert began, ‘The Heavenly Music Corporation’ – an elliptical track from the forthcoming album, (No Pussyfooting) by Robert Fripp and Brian Eno – was piped through the venue’s PA, adding to an already heightened sense of anticipation. This was the first and best time that I ever saw King Crimson. The line-up that Friday night was Fripp, of course, David Cross, John Wetton, Bill Bruford, and Jamie Muir. They opened with ‘Lark’s Tongues In Aspic, Part 1’ and encored with ‘21st Century Schizoid Man’. What more could any 16 year old boy have asked for? I remember us bombing down Renfield Street to Central Station and just catching the last train back home to East Kilbride. My third ever gig and a night to remember.
12. The Clash / The Slits – Newcastle Polytechnic, England, 02/12/1978
Admission to this event was “students only”, in marked contravention to the The Clash’s tour policy. As such, Joe Strummer’s dander was already up by the time that the band reached the stage, bizarrely getting there by coming through the crowd. They passed right by us and my pal Dave, who was sporting a Keith Richard’s badge on his lapel, asked Mick Jones en route what he thought of the Stones’ guitarist. “He’s alright” said Jones before he, Strummer, Simonon, and Headon rushed by and quickly launched into ‘Safe European Home’ moments later.
Strummer’s ire readily translated to a truly incendiary performance from the band. Aggression and violence were everywhere as non-students tried to break into the building to see the show. There was ongoing turbulence in the crowd right throughout the gig and widespread fighting in the local streets afterwards. Earlier a drunken student had tried to put his hand up The Slits’ lead singer Ari Up’s skirt and rightly got his head kicked in for his troubles.
13. The Beach Boys – Wembley Stadium, London, 21/06/1975
Brian Wilson may well have stayed in his sand pit back in sunny California but his two brothers, Mike Love, Al Jardine, and Bruce Johnston, alongside Blondie Chaplin and Ricky Fataar, all made it across the Atlantic to play at this Midsummer Music at Wembley Stadium event. And together they won the day. The Beach Boys, second top of the bill, completely blew the headliner Elton John right off the stage, playing hit after hit and getting nearly 100,000 people up on their feet, singing and dancing along to one of the greatest back catalogues in popular music.
14. Ry Cooder – Hammersmith Odeon, London, England, 30/01/1977
Dave and I had hitched down in the dead of winter from East Kilbride and gone straight to our friend Gerry’s squat in London. Quite how we managed to navigate our way to his door in the days long before mobile phones and Google maps still puzzles us to this day. But we did make it and the three of us then crossed the capital to go to Hammersmith Odeon to see Ry Cooder, backed by the Chicken Skin Band who together had produced the classic Chicken Skin Music album a few months beforehand.
It is hard to describe just how good this show was; the interplay between Cooder’s guitar and Flaco Jiménez’s accordion, in particular, was the stuff that dreams are made of. But to get a rough idea of what it was like, bag yourself a copy of the live album Show Time.
15. AC/DC – Sheffield Arena, England, 30/11/2000
This is exactly what all rock’n’roll shows should be like. Chock full of thunderous AC/DC songs, an inflatable Rosie, lead singer Brian Johnson swinging out above the crowd astride a huge cast iron gong to the ominous tones of ‘Hell’s Bells’, guitarist Angus Young zooming up and down on an elevator whilst crashing out one great riff after another, and a 21-gun salute from a series of cannons placed on top of the amps during the valedictory ‘For Those About To Rock (We Salute You)’. Immense.
16. Nancy Sinatra – Bridgwater Hall, Manchester, England, 11/04/2005
If you sidestep the shaky start to this concert and the rather cringeworthy duet Nancy Sinatra had with the disembodied voice of her father during ‘Something Stupid’, this was a performance that gathered more and more steam the longer it went on. By the time that she had reached ‘These Boots Are Made For Walkin’’, Nancy Sinatra was moving swiftly down the aisles reaching out to her adoring fans as she did so. Count my pal Chris and I in that number as we both leaned out eagerly from our seats and gratefully shook the hand that had previously touched those of Elvis, Dean Martin, Lee Hazlewood, and various American Presidents. A five song encore that included Hazlewood’s ‘Friday’s Child’ and ‘So Long, Babe’ was an unexpected bonus.
17. Kylie Minogue – Manchester Apollo, England, 09/03/2001
Getting to this concert courtesy of having won tickets in a Big Issue In The North competition was great fortune, but once there what struck me first was the carnival atmosphere in the Apollo, something more akin to Last Night At The Proms than a pop concert. But there again, Kylie was always a bit different, a bit special. Here, she put on a high-class performance that was every bit top-end camp glamour as it was highly decorative, wonderfully expressive, mildly erotic, and all handled with suitably understated sexual innuendo and a huge knowing wink of her eye.
18. David Bowie – Town and Country Club, Leeds, England, 06/08/1997
David Bowie just emerged out of the ether. He seemed to almost float onto the stage to the strains of ‘Quicksand’. He looked as if he had fallen to earth, something or someone arriving from another planet. An ethereal, preternatural being. I am sure it was no coincidence that for days afterwards I had the song ‘Hallo Spaceboy’ still rattling around my brain. Never before, nor since for that matter, have I ever felt that I was in the presence of such greatness.
19. Bob Dylan – Manchester Apollo, England, 03/04/1995
By then I had not seen Bob Dylan in concert for nearly 20 years. I was to go on and see him another 20 times (and counting) after this show, but I believe this one still just tops the list. Dylan was a couple of years shy of the release of Time Out Of Mind and the creative resurgence this record signalled, but already you felt there was a fresh artistic spring in his step as he brought to us older songs of darkness and light with a renewed determination.
Plus he played ‘Where Teardrops Fall’ that night which I’ve never heard him do so since.
20. Isaac Hayes – Phoenix Festival, Warwickshire, England, 20/07/1997
We had bolted from a small tent having just seen Link Wray play to about 20 people and dashed across the Long Marston airfield to a much larger tent, this one packed to the gunwales, to catch Isaac Hayes. And there he was, dressed in a black leather jacket, stood with his back to us, his bald head and gold jewellery reflected in the stage lighting, looking for all the world like the coolest man on earth. And then we heard the unmistakeable introduction to the ‘Theme from Shaft’ – those shimmering hi-hat cymbals and the wah-wah guitar – with the man who had actually written the song conducting his band through it from inside a tent on a former RAF base somewhere in middle England. It was as surreal as it was sensational. And later, as if just for the hell of it and knowing damn well that he could, Hayes performed a mesmerising version of Bacharach and David’s ‘Walk On By’ that must have stretched out well over the 10 minute mark.
All photos and videos: Simon Godley
A number of other shows deserve the most honourable of mentions. Here, in no particular order, are a selection of them:
- James Chance and Les Contorsions – New Roscoe, Leeds, 2007
- Mercury Rev / The Flaming Lips – Sheffield Octagon, 1999
- Father John Misty – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds, 2015
- Solomon Burke – Manchester Academy, 2003
- Edwyn Collins – Glastonbury Festival, 2008
- Bootsy’s Rubber Band – Phoenix Festival, 1995
- Phosphorescent – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds, 2011
- Annie Ross – The Metropolitan Room, New York, 2008
- Culture – The 100 Club, London, 1978
- Willie Nelson – Liverpool Philharmonic, 2000
- Beck – Manchester Apollo, 1997
- Dan Stuart – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds, 2012
- Paul Kossoff – Glasgow Apollo, 1975
- Vic Chesnutt – The Castle, Oldham, 2005
- Van Morrison – Manchester Apollo, 1993
- Tony Bennett – Bridgwater Hall, Manchester, 2007
- Maria McKee – Manchester Academy 3, 2003
- Guy Clark – Riley Smith Hall, Tadcaster, 1998
- Primal Scream – The Ritz, Manchester, 2000
- Portishead – Bridlington Spa, 1997
- Johnny Halliday – Royal Albert Hall, London, 2012
- John Martyn – Queen Margaret Union, Glasgow, 1976
- Scritti Politti – Brudenell Social Club, 2012
- The Flaming Lips – Manchester Academy 2, 1999
- Paul McCartney – Glastonbury Festival, 2004
- Sparklehorse – The Cockpit, Leeds, 1998
- Brian Wilson – Manchester Apollo, 2002
- Promised Land Sound – Fulford Arms, York, 2017
- Emmylou Harris & Spyboy – Bridgwater Hall, Manchester, 2000
- Joan As Policewoman / Bat for Lashes – The Sage, Gateshead, 2007
- Steve Winwood – Town and Country Club, Leeds, 1997
- Steve Earle & the Dukes – Bishopstock Festival, 2000
- Patti Smith – Manchester Apollo, 1996
- Love with Arthur Lee – Manchester Academy, 2001
- Wishbone Ash / Home – Glasgow Apollo, 1973
- Roger Waters – Glastonbury Festival, 2002
- The Stone Roses – Whitley Bay Ice Rink, 1995
- McAlmont & Butler – The Cockpit, Leeds, 2002
- Josh T. Pearson – Left Bank, Leeds, 2015
- Georgie Fame – Sela Bar, Leeds, 2009
- The Damned / The Adverts – The Garden, Penzance, 1977
- John Cale Trio – Liverpool Philharmonic, 1999
- Tav Falco’s Panther Burns – Brudenell Social Club, Leeds, 2014
- Kris Kristofferson – Royal Concert Hall, Glasgow, 2007
- Natalie Merchant – The Sage, Gateshead, 2010
- Vieux Farka Touré – Howard Assembly Room, Leeds, 2016
- Iggy Pop – Newcastle Mayfair, 1979
- The Rolling Stones – Glastonbury Festival, 2013
- Ambulance Ltd – The Rocket, Leeds, 2005
- MC5 / Gallows – Liverpool Barfly, 2006
