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This has to be
one of my most anticipated gigs for some years, now after last years
Motley Crue reunion tour it would have to take something special to top
that, and when the announcement that the mighty Nuge was to play a serious
of gigs after the Monsters of Rock show, I was ecstatic to say the least.
So when it was announced that he would play Newcastle, I was about to be
carried away with excitement.
This would be the first time Ted has played
in Newcastle for nearly 26 years. The last time he played here was in 1980
on the Scream Dream tour and he played the hallowed ground of Newcastle
Mayfair. Alas the Mayfair is now long gone but its spirit lives on the
memories of not just the staff at The Mayfair Mall, but in the many
of the hardened rock fans of Newcastle and surrounding areas.
Like me, many of tonight’s crowd still have that memory of the Mayfair gig
firmly in their minds, and tonight we wanted to relive those glory years of
rock once more. Who would have thought that tonight we'd get see one of
rocks larger than life characters
do what he does best, because tonight was going to be “all about the
attitude”.
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Opening up the proceedings tonight
were the Birmingham based band and new saviours of rock in this
country Rattlesnake Remedy.
Having caught these guys earlier this
year supporting Love Hate I was really looking forward to seeing them
again.
The band opened up their impressive
set with ‘Black Sheep Fiddle’, a song that had an immediate impact on myself,
while the majority of the crowd seemed a little perplexed by the band.
However, the band started to win them over when they went into ‘Reach
For The Line’, which was more of a hard edged song, which went down
well with the partisan crowd who had seemed to have only one thing on
their mind. |
The band sounded great to me and when
they went into ‘Killing Time’, their bluesy rock crossover song, the crowd
were definitely starting to melt to these guys. The blues influence
continues with the aptly named ‘Hangover Blues’, another stunning song.
As the set was coming to a close the band left the best to last with the
magnificent ‘Magic Man’. The set was closed with the band going into
high octane mode with their new single ‘Drag You Down’, a song that
rounded off another sterling set by the band. Rattlesnake Remedy are
a band I would most definitely recommend checking out if they are playing
a gig in a venue near you.
Now for the
highlight of the night, not only did I witness a support act who rocked to
the core and who were on fire from the off, but after some 26 years, I got
to see the mighty Ted Nugent on stage once again.
The lights went down
and the crowd went ballistic as Ted Nugent, Barry Sparks and Mick Brown
hit the stage.
The band went
straight into the classic Nugent back catalogue with ‘Stormtroopin’ and
instantly the past 26 years were swept away. With Ted sounding
better than ever and at 57 years old you gotta give it to this guy as he
shows he still has all the attitude.
The classics just
kept on coming as the band rampaged into his next hit ‘Wango Tango’.
I would just like to say that whoever was doing the sound for tonight’s
show did a fantastic job, in fact this was probably the best sound I have
ever heard at any gig in this particular venue, and I've been to more than
a few.
Ted has never been
lost for words and tonight was no exception, as he asked for the crowd to
show their appreciation for him and his band, and to show what makes
Britain so great. The crowd did so by giving Ted a big thumbs up and
cheering so loud they nearly brought the roof off.
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The set continued with Ted saluting all
the UK cowboys in the crowd as he went into ‘Snakeskin Cowboys’ off the
his 1975 ‘Ted Nugent’ album a song that may be some 31 years old but still
sounded great tonight as did all of the songs on the set.
“Do you think you can handle uncle Ted?”
asked Nugent as they went into one of my favourite Nugent classic’s ‘Free
For All’ another song that sounded great.
Ted then asked for a few moments of
silence as he raised his guitar to the air and praised Les Paul, the man
was on fire tonight as he went into ‘Wang Tang Sweet Poontang’ he was just
sweeping away the years with each song sounding just as good if not better
than they did all those years ago. |
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It was time for a
something a little more recent as the band went into ‘Klstrphnky’ off the
Craveman album. The set continued with another song off Craveman,
the excellent ‘Rawdogs & Warhogs’. I swear if you cut Ted in half he
would be Stars and Stripes through the middle. As he dedicated the
song to all the forces and was proud to say that wherever there were ass
holes in the world, Great Britain always supported the US and dealt with
ass holes by simply just killing them, a sentiment that went down well
with the majority of the crowd.
The Nuge did a little dedication to Detroit’s
Motown and reminisced back to when he was just a little black guy in Motor
City!!! ... before continuing the set with ‘Soul Man’, but done Gonzo
style.
Then it was time for
another classic bit of Nugent as bassist Barry Sparks stepped forth to
show his prowess on vocals with ‘Hey Baby’. Then we were privileged
to something new from Ted and his boys, firstly with the fantastic ‘Still
Raising Hell’, a song Ted said was a little Country and Western song,
before joking that he was perhaps not being quite gay enough to sing
Country and Western. The song actually optimised Ted’s life.
But then it was time for the mischievous soundings of ‘Girl Scout
Cookies’, which apparently is “a song about humping your neighbour”.
Barry Sparks
returned to vocal duties for ‘Need You Bad’, a song that showed at 57
years old Nugent can turn out the licks like never before.
Then it was time for some more classic Nugent, with
a storming version of ‘Dog Eat Dog’ off the classic ‘Free-For-All’ album.
But the classics didn’t end there as the set continued with ‘Motor City
Madhouse', which was intertwined with ‘Baby Please Don’t Go’.
Ted then proceeded
to proclaiming to the audience that “the tail sticking out off my
behind isn't just a tail, I will be shitting out a coyote later tonight”.
With that he and the band launched into what has to be his most
infamous song ‘Cat Scratch Fever’, a song that got the biggest cheer of
the night. As soon as the first few chords were played of the song,
the entire venue starting singing along enthusiastically.
The band left the
stage to rapturous applause with the crowd baying for Nugent and the boys.
They didn’t disappoint and soon returned to the stage with Nugent in a
Native American headdress and went straight into the stirring rendition of
‘Stranglehold’.
However, I have to say it was that last song that
really gave me the goose bumps, my all time favourite Nugent song the
excellent ‘Great White Buffalo’. By this time I was totally riding
high on the exaltedness of Nugent, the man who was now God in my eyes, and
I'm sure most of the crowd would agree with me.
As the song came to
an end Nugent got out his Stars & Stripes bow and arrow and shot an arrow
into his guitar. As these were the only stage props Nugent used
throughout the whole performance, this shows the rest of the rock world
that if you have the songs, that’s all you need too put on a great rock
show. Plus of coarse it helps if you have "the attitude" as
well.
As gigs go this is
without a doubt my favourite of all time and will be hard to beat.
Let's hope that this will not be Nugent’s swansong when it comes to UK
tours and fingers crossed he will hopefully be humbling are shores again
in the not to distant future. |
