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Newcastle City Hall, 12 February 1980
Tuesday 12 February 1980 is a day I shall remember for the rest of my
life. Fellow ‘Trowerman’ and college pal Robert from Jersey suggested it would be a rather splendid adventure to catch our hero on the last night of his UK ‘Victims of the Fury’ tour. We’d seen the band in
great form a few days earlier at Hammersmith but we were clearly up for the long 293-mile trek up to Newcastle.
I remember we set out from our halls of residence on Kingston Hill at a very early hour with Rob
at the wheel of his sporty white Mini Cooper, bound for glory.
It took us the best part of the day to get there but we managed to arrive at the City Hall in time to catch not only the Box Office still open
but also a glimpse of Robin, Jimmy and Bill doing their sound check. It must have been about 5.30pm. It was soon time for ‘Showtime’ proper.
I will always remember the walk-on. The lights went out,
‘Caravan to Midnight’ came on over the PA, the band walked on stage and quickly broke into the first number, ‘Lady Love’.
The good people of Toon town just went absolutely mental, so delighted they
were to see the band. What a great start! So it continued. For some reason, this audience were much more appreciative and vocal than their southern counterparts.
It was a great show featuring once again the
‘Victims’ lightshow visuals with their distinctive neon barbed wire icon, as featured on the album cover. I remember at the end of the show we waited to catch another glimpse of the band.
So, with a
throng of people, we waited outside the stage show. The roadies were loading up their trailer in order to hotfoot it back to the Capital in time for the television recording at the University of London’s Malet
Street concert hall, the next day.
Robin, Jimmy and Bill came out, signed a few autographs and were then whisked away in their blue Granada estate. We hit the
road too with the A1 pretty much to ourselves. I can’t remember what time to got back to Surrey. Suffice to say, the twelve-hour round trip had been well worth it!
Set List: Lady Love; The Ring; Day Of The
Eagle; Bridge Of Sighs; Jack And Jill; Too Rolling Stoned; The Shout/Hannah; Daydream; Victims Of The Fury; Only Time; Madhouse; Little Bit Of Sympathy. (Encores) Messin The Blues; Rock Me Baby
Alan Howard
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