Event:
The Monsters of Rock 2003 Venue:
Telewest Arena, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK Date:
23 May 2003
Gary Moore
Like I’ve already said, we’d already decided that we would only listen to
the first couple of songs when this guy came on before heading off to the
bar. We though it would be all guitar solo’s and
‘experimental’ wibbly bits. To be honest after all those guitar solo’s
from Y&T we were sick to the back teeth of hearing them so when poor Gary
Moore came on we were already gagging to be elsewhere.
By this time a whole hour had passed since Y&T had hit the stage and the
venue was almost completely full by now. Gary came on and instead of
standing slap bang in the centre of the stage which is what you’d expect
him to do; he stood across to the left hand side. His backing band had as
much visual positioning on the stage as he did. Perhaps this was a true
reflection of this man’s own character. Throughout the set he came across
as a really genuine and nice person who was pretty chilled out and not at
all egotistical.
What surprised both me and my companion was that the songs he played
weren’t all guitar solo’s and boring wibbly bits. No, not at all. In fact
we stayed the whole set through, enjoyed it more than we had Y&T and
agreed we’d both go to see Gary again if he ever toured this neck of the
woods again.
We were delighted with what we saw and heard and were extremely surprised
at just how many songs he played that we knew. Not only that but we could
remember all the words too! A sign of a true classic if ever there was
one.
Hits like ‘Wishing Well’, ‘Don’t believe Me’, ‘Out in the Fields’ (ohhh, I
love that song!), and the mighty ‘Parisian Walkways’ flooded across the
room as we sat there mesmerized. Gary did a full hours set before coming
back on to do ‘Parisian Walkways’. Well it wouldn’t have been the same if
he’d left that one out would it?
The crowd were going absolutely mental when the set finally finished. They
were cheering and jumping up and down waving anything and everything they
could lay their hands on. More than one bloke thrust their girlfriend up
in the air as if to say … play another one Gary and she’s all yours mate.
The mood of the songs changed with every song. Some were pure rock guitar
led classics, others quite bluesy and moody. One was quite funky in fact
and reminded me a bit of Living Colour only better. It was a great set and
we’ve come away with masses of respect for this artist. He deserves all
the praise that’s been heaped on him over the years and then some.
Setlist included:
1. Rock N’ Roll
2. Wishing Well
3. Rectify
4. Stand Up
5. Just can’t let you Go
6. Don’t believe Me
7. Out in the Fields
8. Parisian Walkways
