Category Archives: tours

2022 ➤ Rock god Frampton comes home to make his final farewells

Posted on 4 Nov 2022 | Leave a comment

On the road for the finale, 2022: Steve Mackey, Rob Arthur, Frampton, Dan Wojciechowski and Adam Lester

❚ SIXTIES ACE FACE and prolific British guitarist and composer Peter Frampton arrives this weekend in the UK for Finale, the Farewell Tour which includes the Royal Albert Hall on Tuesday, postponed from 2020 by the Covid lockdown. A degenerative muscle disorder means that, at the age of 72, he will be seated on stage during his final European performances. “Standing,” he told GuitarWorld.com, “would be dangerous for me now, because I get so carried away when I’m playing that I’m liable to fall over.”

Having gone to high school in Bromley with David Bowie where they fronted rival bands, Frampton became the lead singer and guitarist in The Herd, his good looks being celebrated on the cover of the trendy Rave! magazine as The Face of ’68. He then formed Humble Pie with Mod “little” Stevie Marriott from the Small Faces. Major international success came as a solo artist in 1976 with the block-busting live album, Frampton Comes Alive!, from which came the self-penned arena rock singles Show Me The Way, Baby I Love Your Way and Do You Feel Like We Do. The album stayed for 55 weeks in the Billboard top 40 as the top-selling album of that year.

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Stardom: 1968, Rave! magazine cover as The Face of ’68… and 1976, Frampton Comes Alive! to sell 17 million copies

Platinum albums and a Grammy award have proved his talent as a survivor, working with Jerry Lee Lewis, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Bill Wyman, David Bowie, BB King and many more legends. Rolling Stone named him its Artist of the Year, claiming that Frampton “was loved by teenage girls, and their older brothers” and in its 2012 poll of all-time favourite live albums, FCA! was voted No 3. In 1979, Frampton received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In 2021 he released the instrumental album Frampton Forgets the Words, the second since announcing his retirement. The Finale tour embarked on its American-Canadian dates before lockdown – “The most moving tour I’ve ever done,” Frampton told Guitar World. “It’s very emotional for me saying goodbye to anybody, let alone ten thousand people a night.” Now he’s braced for Stoke, Glasgow and London: “My band and I have been chomping at the bit to play and can’t wait to keep our promise to play for you again.”

➢ Search for last-minute tickets

JUST LISTEN TO THAT GIBSON!

➢ Previously at Shapersofthe80s:
2011, How Bowie changed my life at Bromley Tech

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Posted in 1970s, Concert, Glasgow, live music, London, North America, rock music, Rolling Stone, swinging 60s, tours

Tagged Do You Feel Like We Do, Face of 68, Finale Farewell Tour, Frampton Comes Alive!, Humble Pie, Peter Frampton, Royal Albert Hall, Steve Marriott, The Herd

1982 ➤ When fans first screamed for Spandau and two climbed up to their window

Posted on 8 May 2022 | Leave a comment

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8 May, 1982: Now identified! A teenage fan shins the drainpipe at the Liverpool Empire giving access to Spandau Ballet’s dressing room on their first nationwide tour with the Diamond album. Snapped by © Shapersofthe80s

40
YEARS
ON

■ THE YEAR WAS 1982. Spandau’s seventh single Instinction had put them on Top of the Pops during Easter week and sales were rocketing. The night of May 8, towards the end of Spandau’s first nationwide tour, with stand-up comedian Peter Capaldi in support, has become known as The Return of the Scream. The moment the house lights dimmed, a mighty roar lifted the roof off the Empire, the city’s legendary music venue. It didn’t stop for 75 minutes. The band hadn’t heard anything so intense and were visibly shaken when they came offstage. Guitarist Gary Kemp said in disbelief: “I had to stop playing. I couldn’t hear my own monitor.”
➢ Click through to read all about 8 May 1982 – the return of The Scream to British pop

Yes says Jan: that’s me shinning up
the drainpipe in 1982

■ A 30 YEAR-OLD MYSTERY HAS BEEN SOLVED. At the climax to Spandau Ballet’s first national tour in 1982 fan mania broke out on a level comparable to the 1960s. When their single Instinction crashed into the UK charts with freshly injected energy from producer Trevor Horn, three extra tour dates were added in May. After the show in Liverpool, the creative birthplace of British pop music, a crowd of about 500 fans mobbed the stage door at the fabled Empire theatre. A shadow had only to fall across the band’s dressing room window for screams to erupt in the street. Two girls then decided to shin the drainpipe and beat the window with their handbags until they were let in…

➢ Click through for more about the girls who entered Spandau’s dressing room via the window

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Inside the Liverpool Empire, May 8, 1982: fans shocked security staff with the roar that greeted Spandau Ballet. Photograph by © Shapersofthe80s

➢ 1982, How Spandau put Peter Capaldi on the road
to play the new Doctor Who

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Posted in anniversary, Blitz Kids, Concert, History, New Romantics, Pop music, Swinging 80s, Tipping points, tours, Youth culture

Tagged Diamond Tour, Empire theatre, fans, Gary Kemp, Instinction, Janet Gargan, Liverpool, New Romantics, Peter Capaldi, Spandau Ballet, Swinging 80s, True, UK tour, US tour

➤ Singer Tony Hadley wins royal gong for his services to charity

Posted on 31 Dec 2019 | Leave a comment

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Tony Hadley MBE, still on-stage at 59 and proud of his work ethic

◼ THE POP SINGER TONY HADLEY, who came to fame fronting Spandau Ballet in the 1980s, has been appointed an MBE (Member of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2020 New Year honours list. The annual awards recognise the outstanding achievements of individuals across the UK population and two other pop stars named included activist Sir Elton John who was made a Companion of Honour (CH) for services over five decades to music and to charity. The singer and actress Olivia Newton-John was raised from OBE to DBE (Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) for services to charity, to cancer research and to entertainment.

Big Tone, aka Anthony Patrick Hadley, was honoured for charitable services to Shooting Star Chase Children’s Hospice Care, which provides palliative care to families with children who are not expected to reach the age of 19 because of illness, genetic conditions or incurable disease.

Trust executive vice-president Karen Sugarman tweeted this week: “I cannot be more thrilled or proud that at last @TheTonyHadley has been recognised in the Queen’s #NewYearHonours for his charitable work. We were privileged to nominate him @SSChospices for his work as Vice-President. Congratulations Tony on your MBE from us all.”

In 2017 Hadley tweeted that, due to circumstances beyond his control, he was no longer a member of Spandau Ballet. Having met during their teens at Dame Alice Owen’s grammar school in North London, the band first split in 1990 and worked together during two year-long reunions in 2009 and 2014. At the age of 59, he is the first among them to be honoured with an award from the sovereign.

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Tony Hadley in 2014: developing a lager called Gold with the Great Yorkshire Brewery

Tony’s father, Patrick Hadley, worked as an electrical engineer for the Daily Mail, and his mother, Josephine, worked for the local health authority. He is proud of his work ethic, which he says was instilled into him from a young age by his parents. In 2011 he said in an interview with The Daily Telegraph: “Since leaving school I’ve never been unemployed or claimed benefits. My Spandau days didn’t make me rich, or as well-off as people might think. What I was earning went towards buying a lovely family home in Muswell Hill and bringing up my three children. In fact, 2008 was my best-ever earning year. At that point we were doing in excess of 220 shows a year.”

Of the 1999 dispute with Spandau’s Gary Kemp, which resulted in Hadley, John Keeble and Steven Norman suing for royalties, he said: “Spending 23 days in the High Court was a strain and an expensive way to learn about the law. It cost me hundreds of thousands.”

Later, in 2006 Hadley became a co-owner of the Red Rat Craft Brewery which produced Hadley’s Blonde. The business closed in 2013, after which he became associated with The Great Yorkshire Brewery, which issued a lager called Gold and a pale ale called Moonstone IPA. This association has since ended.

These days Tony is a regular live performer with his own line-up, the TH Band who in 2018 gave a superlative performance at the London Palladium. Shapersofthe80s reported: “His evident pleasure on-stage paid tribute to the songs written for his rich baritone voice and which fit him like favourite gloves. We heard familiar Spandau classics fizzing with new energy and melodic detail – numbers such as Chant No 1 and Only When You Leave moved along at a pace. Equally impressive was the other half of his set-list which showcased his own consummate solo album Talking to the Moon and other covers.”

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Tony Hadley and his band: making magic at the London Palladium, October 2018

➢ 2020, Hadley’s busy New Year kicks off with February
dates in the Far East and Australia

➢ Previously at Shapers of the 80s:
2018, Hadley v Spandau – Whose superb band is paying
tribute to the other?

➢ Previously at Shapers of the 80s:
2017, Tony Hadley pulls the plug on Spandau Ballet

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Posted in charity, interviews, Pop music, Reviews, tours

Tagged 2020 New Year Honours, Elton John, Great Yorkshire Brewery, Karen Sugarman, Olivia Newton-John, Shooting Star Chase Children’s Hospice Care, Spandau Ballet, Tony Hadley

➤ After his Spandau ordeal, singer Ross shakes off the blues

Posted on 20 Aug 2019 | Leave a comment

◼ EX-SPANDAU BALLET VOCALIST Ross William Wild seems to be finally feeling the warmth of the summer sun after weeks of black despair. Without being told his position, it became evident that he had been dumped by the band who recruited him to replace Tony Hadley a year ago. Provoked first by Spandau’s silence and then by an insulting media interview from songwriter Gary Kemp, Ross found a new band and in May announced he was quitting Spandau. Bass player Martin Kemp was next to insult him in a rambling TV interview that made no mention of Ross’s position.

On 28 May Ross told Shapers of the 80s: “I’d put my whole life on hold and was sick of waiting around for them to make up their minds. I told the boys I was quitting and then never heard back from them.”

Suddenly this month Ross has revealed how this tough emotional saga was taking its toll on him. He wrote on Facebook:

“This year has not been an easy one. Last year I was on top of the world and then this year the medical powers that be stuck me on everybody’s favourite mental tourniquet, antidepressants. After quitting Spandau I never even had the time to tell anybody before others were told to get on TV and do some damage control, which made me look like a dick and in turn f***ed me up mentally.

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Mercutio at Dingwalls: Ross centre-stage in his second live gig with the metal band

“But things are looking up. Great concert in the West End coming up, couple of international gigs, a green energy company that’s really taking off (more news to come on that soon). And best of all, I’m going on tour with my band Mercutio. We’re really just starting out and I can’t wait to see what our future holds, but mainly, I’m going to enjoy the ride and be present, and get off these goddamn pills.”

His “metal with melody” band Mercutio has played a couple of riff-driven London gigs and released a video for their first single pointedly titled Where the Pain Lives, directed by contemporary dance choreographer Eleesha Drennan. Ross says: “The song is an epiphany. A realisation that some of our best ideas and most creative thinking come from our darkest and most painful places. Where the Pain Lives is an acceptance of this fact.”

Mercutio comprises Fabio Staffieri on guitar, Emanuele Nazzaro on bass and Francesco Lucidi on drums. Their stated aim is to bring mainstream rock music back to the forefront of people’s musical consciousness with a bang. From 28 October they will be supporting Inglorious (“a young Deep Purple”) on four UK dates, and another in Milan.

Ross’s West End event next week stars Jodie Steele (Heathers, Wicked, Rock of Ages) as Daisy Buchanan and Ross as Jay Gatsby, among a cast of eight in three concert performances of a musical take on Scott Fitzgerald’s Jazz Age novel The Great Gatsby.

➢ Gatsby the Musical plays in concert at Crazy Coqs in London W1, 27-29 August. Box office 020 7734 4888 and online

➢ Mercutio support Inglorious at Oxford, Cardiff, Exeter, Brighton, 28 Oct-1 Nov, then 5 Nov in Milan

➢ On 18 Oct Mercutio play at 93 Feet East, Brick Lane E1 6QL

❏ 30 AUGUST UPDATE VERDICT: As Jay Gatsby, Ross William Wild’s own big numbers were superb, especially The Moon That Never Rose, also Escape the Heat and Broken Wings Broken Dreams with Jodie Steele as Daisy Buchanan confronting her fabled carelessness. Musically Gatsby the Musical proved very promising with Edward Court providing a sensitive accompaniment on piano. The show boasted spirited Jazz Age tunes by Joe Evans, though often touchingly melancholy in keeping with the elusive storyline by Linnie Reedman, plus engaging lyrics, as with I Bet He Killed a Man. Sadly staging concert performances always puts an unnatural strain on the actors so let’s hope the serious shortcomings of the tiny and cramped Crazy Coqs (with a super-loud wall clock ticking throughout quieter scenes!) won’t inhibit this show’s development.

➢ Previously at Shapers of the 80s: New vocalist Ross rocks Spandau by announcing his new band Mercutio

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Posted in Concert, grunge, live music, London, Reviews, rock music, tours, videos

Tagged Crazy Coqs, Edward Court, Eleesha Drennan, Gatsby The Musical, Inglorious, Jodie Steele, Joe Evans, Linnie Reedman, London, MercutioOfficial, Pop-Helden-Festival, Ross William Wild, Spandau Ballet, Steve Norman, Where the Pain Lives

➤ Truly a once in a lifetime evening of pure joy with David Byrne

Posted on 1 Nov 2018 | Leave a comment

◼ Q MAGAZINE’S REVIEW SAID: “This unprecedented mindmeld of modern dance, avant-garde theatre, art installation, soul revue and carnival parade makes the conventional rock show seem as old-fashioned as music hall. Most artists don’t get to reinvent the pop concert once in a lifetime. Byrne has done it twice.” Here’s a brief taste of David Byrne’s sensational American Utopia world tour which during 2018 has played 13 dates in the UK (London, Brighton, Nottingham and Manchester this week) and moves on through Europe to Australia. These innovative concerts have won unprecedented rave reviews from critics on national newspapers and music press: “mind-blowingly meticulous and awe-inspiring”, “arguably the most acclaimed live shows of the year”, “the best live show of all time”. All true IMHO. Byrne’s 22 numbers were drawn from this year’s critically acclaimed album American Utopia, as well as classics from his solo career and the 1970s with the mould-breaking Talking Heads. All were choreographed to create a continuous visual and musical river of rhythm.

We’re happy to borrow the video above, shot by Cazza Gee close-up to the stage at London’s Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith (20.6.18) to convey the joyous free-form energy of the staging by Byrne and his 11-strong band.

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American Utopia: David Byrne with his nimble barefooted 11-strong band, heavily biased towards percussion. Photo by Andrew Whitton

➢ Former Blitz Kid and singer Andy Polaris reviews Byrne’s show in full at his own website, but here are his highlights. . .

“ The glowing five-star international reviews for David Byrne’s ‘American Utopia’ tour 2018 meant there was genuine and palpable anticipation surging through the 4,000-strong audience packed into the Brighton Centre this week.

The set opened with a vast empty stage, only a small table and chair with a grey-haired casually suited Byrne seated and singing to a plastic brain which he held aloft. He looked like the coolest science teacher explaining its merits, albeit barefoot and to a much more appreciative adult-education class. He was joined onstage by similarly attired backing vocalists Chris Giarmo and Tendayi Kuumba who we quickly realised, along with the rest of the 11-piece band, were agile in their dual role as musicians and dancers. It was the realisation that with Annie-B Parson’s sophisticated and at times elaborate choreography (especially for the backing vocalists) this was far from standard fare. I then remembered the work Byrne did with dancer Twyla Tharp in the 1980s, and realised this show has become a logical next step in the imaginative presentation of his eclectic catalogue. . .

The standouts were many but the surreal when released ‘Once In A Lifetime’ crackled with almost evangelical zeal as Byrne flung himself around on-stage… Against giant dancing shadows like a Busby Berkeley musical number, ‘Blind’ was given brassy punch and brought energetic solos from its talented percussionist pool… The opening guitar chords of ‘Burning Down the House’ did exactly what it said on the label… ‘Everybody’s Coming To My House’ exuded an inclusive party feel which Byrne explained was also matched by his band’s origins from all around the world. Personally I loved ‘Born Under Punches’ and ‘The Great Curve’ because ‘Remain in Light’ is one of my favourite albums. . . ”/ Continued at apolarisview