Elkie Brooks aged 69 at The Sage Gateshead

On Sunday February 8^th 2014 1 saw Elkie Brooks in concert for the third occasion with one of the previous Ist October 1985 for £8 at the city hall with programme marking her album Screen Gems. I saw her aroind 1980 following the success of Pearl where I have the original gramophone long play record. My memory of the cocnvert nearly thirty years ago was that the amplifier was switch in as loud as possible taking the enjoyment edge. The concert in Hall one of the Sage on a damp Sunday evening cost £27.50 for a seat in the second side box on the east side but with seat 8 on the back row against the front railing giving an uninterrupted view with four lasses making up the rest of row having travelled by train and enjoyed themselves throughout with drinks and dancing although most of the audience was more of my age and hers. I was lucky to get the seat only having booked late.

Elkie born Elaine bookbinder has been married twice with her long term husband and two sons employed in the continuing business which is some going for a 69 year old. The soft lighting helping to cover the wrinkles but she had a figure and an energy for someone in their twenties. There was no padding with long instrumentals in the two one hour sets which covered all the audience favourites and demonstrated that she has lost nothing of her power. The two versions of Pearl’s a singer were performed backed to back, and he signature numbers of Lilac wine, Sunshine after the Rain and Fool if you think its over received prolonged applause.

I am listening now to my tapes which includes the Best and Pearl 3, Round Midnight and From My heart which includes Cry me a river, Don‘t Explain If you leave me now ANS Nights of White Satin.,

　

Barlows Children in need Rocks at Apollo plus 30 pod disco around the London Eye

It is Saturday16^th November 2013 and just before I get back to digesting the first season of that exceptional Danish political series Borgen which dares to challenge conventional political leadership and management, albeit in a small European country of 5 million people I must catch up on some recent music popular music experience having spent two hours before midnight with Children Rock, the latest Garry Barlow extravaganza, this time for Children in need, playing at the famous Hammersmith Apollo and which I knew at a distance as the Hammersmith Odeon in the 1960’s having commenced life as a Gaumont Theatre in 1932, and remains to day one of the great former picture houses with a capacity of thousands, reminding of the Davis Theatre Croydon from my childhood and as a young man.

The Apollo has changed hands several times during the past decade, recently closing for a major refurbishment and reopening only this September so unless I am mistaken this was it first major event and a new guise and being Gary reminding of the concert he created to celebrate the Queens something of 50^th year at the Gates of Buckingham Palace, he produce an extraordinary array of stars to perform on the night suggesting those looking in paid the modest £5 plus call line fees for the experience( if they wished).

The highlight for me although she was not top of the bill was Agnetha Folksgog, yes one of the two female members of ABBA, not seen anywhere before alive general audience since the band broke up in the early 1980’s although she did attempt a career away from the group during the rest of the decade. There was also media speculation about the group getting together one more time to mark the fortieth anniversary of Waterloo.

Top of the Bill in fact was another little known name except for those who appreciated the music of the Electric Light orchestra, Jeff Lynn, who has continued to play music with another member of the original band of some forty years, Jeff subsequently turned record producer for the likes of Ringo Starr, George Harrison, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan Randy Newman and Roy Orbison, whose music as his life, remains timeless, poignant and tragic. Both Jeff and Agnatha are in their 60’s. The other oldie who is finding new fans among the younger rock and pop generation is Tom Jones while the other great treat of the night was when Garry and Robbie joined Barry Manilow for Its Magic .Barry the oldest of them all is now in his 70’s but he sounded and looked as he has for the past forty years, amazing.

The Apollo now comes under the umbrella of Eventim a monster entertainment conglomerate who manages events and establishments across the UK in some thirty tons and cities

Before this I had dipped into Children in Need with Terry where JLS and One Direction played contests while a host of International and national stars primarily from BBC shows, centring on East Enders and Albert Square helped to raise tens of millions as part of an extraordinary nationwide efforts which saw Asda raising £700000 alone. The extent to which children of all ages now dress up of this event now surpasses those on Halloween which is a mighty good thing, For me however, as with the Rock Children concert it is the heart rendering stories of courage and survival although sometimes not which brings hone the true nature of the British people, just as a few days earlier they raised millions to help the devastated people of the Philippines

This was rot have been a longer piece covering several forms of cultural events commencing with another music event, an event which still puzzles me as someone had the bright idea of trying to revive Disco club land by inviting those involved in existing clubs or from past venues such as the Hacienda in Manchester to put on a two hour play session from the capsules, must not all them Pods on the London Eye. Each capsule was large enough to have a full deck of disco playing gear at one end , a narrow central stage which I assumed covered the electrical connections and around a dozen participants, some dancing, some just looking on and some taking photos and generally looking misplaced in what is after all were often dingy venue’s hostess Anne Mac, described several as grimy and where young people danced to hypnotic rhythms largely fuelled on drink (which was mentioned, and was also in evidence and drugs.

The event was indeed a cultural one viewable on the Channel Four Website and sponsored by Red Bull. There was a brave attempt to create a party atmosphere but this mostly failed. All thirty capsules were live with Anne Mac hosting which of the capsules one of the thirty produces viewing their screen decided to push the master producer to tell Annie they were showing. She looked a mixture off bemused and fed up with the chaos as views complained they wanted to hear and seeing everything which was naturally impossible in a situation where the maximum viewing time for each pods was four minutes. A crazy absurd idea which could be described as contemporary performance art. I wondered who else was tuned in

I do possess a three CD set of Hard House, another of Garage, a third of Club Ibiza and a fourth of Ayia Napa and there was a time when I would stay up with Peter Waterman and a young bird whose name I cannot now remember doing the club scene into the early hours. I am listening to the first club Ibiza sound as ten am approach which just about matches the feel of the show on Thursday evening. To have been truly creative the show should have started around 10 pm and gone on until six or 8 am and with a multi screen option which I believe was intended but did not work out as all one had on the multiscreen was the club and DJ info. The holiday season over I forget to check if Sky were showing any of the club nights from the island although the scene has now moved to former central European coastal resort and other distant places where unlimited drinking, drugs and 24 hour partying is promoted to earn the tourist dollars.

Swing Jazz and Blues at the Customs House and the history of the Moody Blues

Having complete the shopping and leaving the car with lights on while unpacking and went to the toilet, thus flattening the battery I had to walk briskly to reach the Customs House in time for the commencement of the swing jazz septet, piano, drums, base, trumpet, and two alternating with clarinets and saxes plus the singer Cecile all the way from the USA as the horn player who has lived in in New Orleans for past 23 years, The singer only had one number in the first hour set but returned for the start of the second half with a group of three songs and then returned for several more at the end, with some Billy Holiday covers for which she had an excellent voice reproducing some phrases but with a deeper sound at times as well as some classy top notes to reveal and considerable vocal range.

Cecille Mcordin Salavant aged 23 from Miami is unknown this side of the Atlantic as she appears to be to most of jazz loving USA fans but not for long on after this performance and has already merited a significant piece of writing about her in the New York Times by Tony Cenicola which I reproduce in full

“The jazz singer Cécile McLorin Salvant, who recently turned 23 and is still mostly unknown to jazz audiences, though not for much longer, sometimes puts on a face when she is approaching or leaving a stage. It looks like a mixture of wariness, amusement and alarm: uh-oh, and hm! and what?

“Her intonation is impeccable, her diction is impeccable,” the pianist Aaron Diehl said of the 23-year-old singer Cécile McLorin Salvant.

Onstage she moves within a small perimeter and talks evenly, mostly in facts, to the audience. She has short hair and white, thick-framed glasses; she smiles easily, but doesn’t have the typical mannerisms of many younger jazz singers — conciliatory, or flirty, or mystical. Ms. Salvant is as serious as a library, and never corny.

She radiates authority and delivers a set with almost a dramatic arc. (This also describes, partly, what she did to win the Thelonious Monk Competition in Washington in 2010; one consequence of that performance was that she was taken on by the manager Ed Arrendell, whose only other client is Wynton Marsalis.) In front of a trio led by the pianist Aaron Diehl she sings clearly, with her full pitch range, from a pronounced low end to full and distinct high notes, used sparingly — like the one I heard a few weeks ago at Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola on the last word of “What a Little Moonlight Can Do,” the spire in a magnificent set. Her voice clamps into each song, performing careful variations on pitch, stretching words but generally not scatting; her face conveys meaning, representing sorrow or serenity like a silent-movie actor.

She also presents a lot of jazz history, and other things, within an hour and a quarter. Her recent sets have included Bert Williams’s “Nobody,” from 1906; the early-20th-century traditional work song “John Henry”; the standards “I Didn’t Know What Time It Was” and “Autumn in New York”; her setting of the poem “Le Front Caché Sur Tes Genoux,” written in the 1930s by the Haitian poet Ida Faubert; and, via her own poem-song “Woman Child,” a sense of Abbey Lincoln in her straightforward, imperious middle period.

“Woman Child,” a parable about innocence and experience, is the title song of her album, to be released early next year. It’s the first original song she didn’t throw away. She wrote it a year and a half ago while studying jazz in France. “Abbey is the reason I tried to write anything.” Ms. Salvant said in a recent telephone interview. “I was adamant about not writing. It was a defense mechanism.” What changed her mind? “The simplicity of her writing, and the impact of it,” she said. “The text is clear. It’s not hermetic.”

Ms. Salvant grew up in Miami, which is still, for now, her home base. Her father, a doctor, is Haitian; her mother, founder and president of a small bilingual French-English school in Miami, is mixed-race French-Guadeloupean. Their daughter grew up taking classical voice and piano lessons. After high school she moved to Aix-en-Provence, France, to study political science and law, and started classical voice classes there at the Conservatoire Darius Milhaud. Then she visited a jazz class taught by the saxophonist and clarinetist Jean-François Bonnel.

“I asked her to sing me a song, and she sang ‘Misty,’ and I thought, ‘There she is!’ ” Mr. Bonnel wrote last week in an enthusiastic e-mail. He immediately put before her a list of the singers she should absorb before she went any further (Ms. Lincoln, Sarah Vaughan, Betty Carter, Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, Ethel Waters, Babs Gonzales).

Oh, she’d heard a little jazz. She’d memorized Sarah Vaughan’s final record, “Brazilian Romance”; her mother played it around the house. But basically she was coming fresh to his canon. “I didn’t know any of it,” she remembered. “I didn’t like Billie Holiday. She freaked me out. She kind of depressed me.” (She had heard only the late, tragic Holiday.) Four months later, sounding eerily self-possessed, she sang her first gig in Aix with Mr. Bonnel’s group.

All those earlier singers — as well as one of her own favorites, Valaida Snow, the singer and trumpeter who briefly became an international star in the 1930s — can at times rise to the surface in her voice, and one measure of her growth will be how well she can suppress her skill at mimicry. That’s normal for a young jazz musician. But there’s something different about Ms. Salvant: a sense that she’s coming from an outside track, with some outside interests. (The best music she saw last year, she told me, was George Benjamin’s contemporary opera “Written on Skin,” performed in Aix with the composer conducting.) Both the business and audience of American jazz in general are new to her. She’s not hedging; she hasn’t been conditioned to.

There could be some lesson in here, about the blessing of blooming late or not coming to New York until you’re ready. Or maybe it’s really a story of a young person who had an extraordinary period of growth in a short time, still considers herself a student, takes an interest in old things, and doesn’t quite know what her plans are, beyond moving to New York and filling her obligations. (She will play in the Lincoln Center’s American Songbook series in the Allen Room on Feb. 2, near her album’s release date; her schedule of club and festival bookings for the rest of the year is just now falling into place.)

Ms. Salvant has been working with Mr. Diehl since last spring, after signing with Mack Avenue records, one of jazz’s bigger independent labels. Mr. Diehl is attracted to tight, balanced form and an early-’60s group sound; John Lewis of the Modern Jazz Quartet is one of his heroes. She’d worked out a few arrangements before they met, but in a very short time they’ve wrapped their music tight: there seems to be a reason for every solo. “

I thought I had purchased her CD Cecile from Amazon and which includes numbers performed on the night but this proved a download which I had to cancel although this did not proved difficult. I cannot still find the CD, The first album called Woman Child based on the track did not appeal

On the night she was Matthias Seuffert a master of all the reed instruments who performed the role of the Benny Goodman role at The Sage Gateshead, He is a great admirer of Artie Shaw where the two sets included some of show

I was also impressed by Trumpeter Duke Heitger is another young instrumentalist at the peak of his powers who has made New Orleans his home, but divides his time with New York and Europe. One of his heroes is Bunny Berigan amongst his favourite players whose work was also featured

The rest of the group comprised François Bonnel (from France (clarinet & saxes), UK’s Spats Langham guitar & vocal), Henry Lemaire from France on bass, and Richard Pite (UK, drums), and under the direction of BBC Jazz Heritage Award-winning pianist, arranger and bandleader Keith Nichols. The 440 seat theatre, larger than stage 2 at the Sage was full apart from the first couple of rows which are below the state.

I enjoyed a coffee in a cup which I had to request during the interval but the walk back in the damp atmosphere was not great fun!

　

　

Last night when I had better things to do I watched a recorded programme on the formation and long performance history of the Mood Blues at least two and have hours in length and may have been longer. The core of the Moody Blues came from Birmingham in the 1950’s as El Riot and the rebels in Mexican outfits breaking up as Michael Pinder joined the Army and served in Germany as a clerk. He played hymns for a Sunday military service using a provided organ and was rewarded with the musical instruments to form a group. However he quickly go himself discharged as unfit when he came across the rock and roll of Elvis and Bill Haley, returning to England joining up with his Ray Thomas the only one of the core originals who had stayed in music with John Lodge deciding he wanted to finish further education. The two recruited Dennie Laine guitarist and vocalist, drummer Grahame Edge and basis Clint Warwick to form the first Mood Blues in 194. There are differences of memory over who thought of the name and why, but none had any idea that a core group of three would still be going on tour in the USA in 2013 and where they have a huge following.

It was their second single Go Now which attracted national attention, a number which is still played on the airways to this day., their only pop charts number 1 and which reached number 10 in the USA. The Group was reformed in 1966 with Laine leaving and John Lodge finishing his college study joining together with someone who was to have a major influence, Justin Hayward recommended by Eric Burdon of the Animals with whom they had toured and formed a long term friendship. The establishment of lifelong friendship with other musicians and those in the record industry management and production side has been a features throughout their extraordinary careers and also my Mary Wilde.

It was at this point in their career that although I favoured Go Now the group took a direct with which I was not a great fan introducing strings, first as sounds using the Mellotron which Pinder has mastered having worked in the factory which made the first attempt at an electronic form of sound although in fact the instrument which looks a keyboard, originally with a rhythm side and melodic side was in fact a glorified tape machine.

It was in 1967 that Decca records chief Hugh Mendl suggested they create an album with fusion of orchestral work, Dvorak’s New World Symphony, In fact they decided to continue with the orchestral fusion concept but using their own material creating what has become their best known album Days of Future Passed and their other historic still played classic Nights of White Satin which I am listening to again the full 7 minute version on Deezer radio on demand. Credit for the album has also to go to Peter Knight who not just arranged the material but was also a key individual and to produce Tony Clark who they came to regard as their sixth member.

In the programme the group explain that the poetic nature of their lyrics and performing within the broad concept of the psychedelic sound they were hailed by one enthusiast in the USA as prophets and the experience is said to have led in later years to the creation of the number I’m just a singer in a rock and roll band. They had great success over the next seven years.

One interesting aside was their reaction to the experience of touring with the Beatles at the height of the public mania they realised the restrictions on having a private life and decided to take steps to avoid success not putting their photos on their records for example and limiting interviews.

For two years in the mid 1970’s they decided on a break from each performing separate material but through the record label they had established with eh help of Decca in order to control the quality of the releases in what had become world wide interest. They came back together in 1977 but Pinder had remarried and moved to a ranch in the USA and this restricted some concert performing, he left the group in 1980. A loss which the remaining three felt deeply was the retirement on health ground Ray Thomas but amazing they found a professional flute player who could also rock. Recruiting Norda Mullen who had grown up with her elder sister playing the music of the group. The programme included comment from Petrol Toll the one flutist who achieved International success in the world of rockfish music. only other, Edge, Hayward and Locke have supplanted their core group with other musicians for both live performances and recordings and have remained in demand throughout the world especially in America` This proved a fascinating programme which held my attention as had the Pink Floydd, Another Brick in Wall, still also touring and selling records, and yet another group who I failed to follow and yet mirror a great chunk of my previous experience.

　

BBC Radio 1 Hackney and Isle of Wight Festivals 2012

I have had no cause in my life to visit the London Borough of Hackney or its famous Hackney Marshes, and Leyton Orient Football club is only one of two London club Charlton Athletic at the Valley, the other, which I have not visited. The ones that I have are Crystal Palace, the Old Millwall Den Stadium, the former Wimbledon stadium, Queens Park Rangers, Tottenham Hotspurs, and the former Arsenal Stadium together with Chelsea and Fulham, although it is a decade since visiting any of them. I visited the Old Wembley for three Cup Finals, two or three Internationals, two Rock concerts, including the first Live Aid and once for a weekend competition. I have visited the new Wembley for the Diana concert and will be visiting this August for an Olympic Football match.

I mention the London Borough of Hackney (where one its Members of Parliament is Diane Abbott a regular sofa sitting on the late night Political Programme This Week), because the latest of The BBC Radio 1 free but ticketed rock and pop concerts was held there this past weekend in direct competition to the Isle of Wight Festival covered by the Sky Arts Channel and Sky 3D over three evenings at the same time.

Because of the availability of 3D and the advertised appearance of Bruce Springsteen on the Sunday evening I opted to watch the Isle of Wight event and have only caught up with the BBC event since then. The reason why I have been able to do this is that unlike the Sky Channels the BBC not only provided red button coverage of the music in addition to the main magazine style live coverage with videos and some live performances, but now has hours of full performance on line, at least for the remaining part of the subsequent seven days.

I have been an admirer of the BBC event in the past which in my view ranks along with their coverage of Glastonbury where the concert and the BBC coverage has attracted world wide fame and standing, I must confess that it is rare for me  to listen to BBC radio 1 these days or to view the various pop and rock Music channels on Sky and with the departure of Top of the Pops I  only keep in touch with what is happening  in the music and pop scene now and again with the Festivals  from the comfort of my armchair.

I would like to have been a Festival goer and have been tempted when younger but now the idea of sleeping under canvass or standing for hours; often in the inclement British weather has less appeal. The scale of music festivals is extraordinary and if I was to start going then it those which provide traditional jazz and swing music, usually in a hotel where one can sit and enjoy, would top of my list. I did have one glorious weekend in my youth when I went to the Cy Laurie Club on the Saturday night followed by the all nighter at the Skiffle Club  where those appearing including Lonnie Donegan, and then after a wash, made my way to the Thames embankment for a day long River Boat Shuffle to Margate and back  where the hit was Sandy Brown playing an extended version of the When the Saints go Marching In which continued for at least twenty minutes if not longer as the boat had difficulties tying up on return and which blew the minds of Sonny McGhee and Howard Terry the American Blues singers who had also made the trip. I then went to what was Humph’s club at 100 Oxford Street which is still in existence to this day as the 100.

I did plan to go to the Whitely Bay Jazz Festival which for several years was the only one to concentrate on traditional jazz and swing from the 20’s through to 50’s and sixties, only to find that it had been held the weekend before and which incidentally takes place at a hotel in greater Newcastle and not the Bay or even North Tyneside, and now occurs in October and is already sold out. In the past there were whole jazz and swing bands from across Europe who also played sets at the Mouth of Tyne Festival on a stage next to the Rock of Gibraltar Pub at Tynemouth.  This year there is jazz by the Rock but only from the UK on the second weekend of July. The Whitely Bay event will feature about 30 musicians who specialise in playing trad jazz and swing from the 20’s and 30’s. I met someone at Tynemouth who is a regular for the Glasgow event which covers a week beginning to day where the cost of attending all the pay events comes to over £300 plus hotel accommodation. The problem with the Glasgow events as with many other is that in order to attract an audience there is a wide range off jazz usually provided and which if good is good but can also prove unenjoyable or boring. Looking at some of the annual events available the one which did attract me was Scarborough where one of the sons of Take Five Dave Brubeck is performing with his quartet in September.

For the general music lover there are hundreds of festivals events each year with over 30 in the classical music and choral with the Proms the most well known over eight weeks with Aldeburgh, Chichester, Edinburgh, Glynebourne, and the York Early Music Festival the most well known. Bestival is the most prominent for Dance and Electronic Music along with the entire genre Glastonbury among also among 30 others.  Cambridge and Edinburgh are known for their Folk music festivals among forty others. The Party in the Park and T4 on the Beach headline concerts devoted to contemporary popular music with the Isle of White, Knebworth and T in the Park for Rock and the list of all forms music has well over 100 from the well known to the most obscure e.g. Sheep Music and The Midge Death Free Festival. Not on one list was the   important annual Leeds and Reading Festival which takes places in both cities/towns over the same weekend.

The Radio 1 event has now had three transformations with the biggest this past weekend when it changed from to the Hackney Weekend to celebrate the Olympics 2012 Cultural Programme which has now been published in a 100 page plus brochure of free and other events to be included over the coming months, The former Big Weekend Festival has increased the number of stages from four to six and doubled the number of free tickets made available. Because the concert is not residential it originally assumed that the majority of those attending would be local but this did not take into account its growing popularity so that the queue to get ticket policy resulted in an estimated half the tickets allocated on a two per applicant basis going to those from outside the immediate area. Now there is a ballot with 95% going to the area where the weekend is held. In order to combat the free tickets being offered on E Bay a passport photo has to go with application to so that there is a ticket and  applicant match up on the day. So far the weekend has been held in Manchester and Cardiff 2003, Londonderry 2004, Birmingham, 2004, Sunderland 2005, Dundee 2006, Preston 2007, Maidstone 2008, Swindon 2009, Bangor 2010 and Carlisle 2011.

The artists appearing tend to be very current rather than from the past fifty years and therefore the weekend as does Radio 1 generally appeals to the youth of today and provides an important platform for new music and new singers. The post popular return appearing on other stages to the main one before moving to the point of being the headline events. Last year as well as this, for example Plan B and Professor Green, Jessie J, Dizzee Rascal. the Rizzie Kicks, Vaccines, Tinie Tempain appeared again and unlike other festivals notably the Isle of Wight, Artists, however big they have become are prepared for their full performances to be available on the Red button at the time and online for the next week over 75 in total. This is also a feature of BBC Glastonbury.

In 2011 the headliners were Lady Gaga the Black Eyed Peas and the Foo Fighters. 2010 Florence and the Machine, Dizzee Rascal, Justin Bieber and Scouting for Girls, Cheryl Cole and Alicia Keys, Rihanna and Pixie Lott, In 2009 Snow Patrol, Kasabian. Dizzee Rascal, Lily Allen, Scouting for Girls, Maximo Park, Gossip, Enter Shakiri and Lady Hawke. In 2008 there was Madonna, Usher, Fatboy Slim, Editors, Duffy, and Scouting for Girls, The Kooks, the Raconteurs and the Wombats.

2007 saw the Scissor Sisters, Razorlight, Kasabian, the Frantellis, Natasha Bedingfield, Kaiser Chiefs, Rihanna, Bloc Party, Dizzy Rascal and Gossip. In 2006 it was Paolo Nutrini, Corinne Bailey Rae, Razorlight, Snow Patrol, Pink, The Feeling, Feeder, The Editors, Keane and Franz Ferdinand. 2005 the Foo Fighters, Kasabian, Natalie Imbruglia, Chemical Brothers KT Tunstall, Basement Jaxx, Kaiser Chiefs, The Black Eyes Peas, Maximo Park and Jamiroquai.

I mention only those I knew in advance with some only from having watched them at Glastonbury or other festivals before on the TV. This past weekend the star turn divided between three young women, the first Rihanna who brought along her full troupe ensemble of singers and dancers and whose hour set performance is available in full for the next few days. She wore an extraordinary sexy outfit and had command of everyone’s attention throughout. The second was local girl made good through the X Factor, Leona Lewis and who I have seen live as part of the X Factor Tour which caused my membership of My Space when I saw that she had a site. She opened her half hour set 25 minute set with Tell the World I am coming home. She included her Chart Single success Bleeding Love and another of her successes accompanied by a local choir. She was evidently thrilled at the opportunity to sing in the town where she was raised. It is debateable if the third female would describe herself as young anymore and it was the BBC who brought Florence and the Machine to UK attention back in 2008. Florence another local girl from South London came home for the concert from her two year round the world tour! She provided a 40 minute set with her tour group on the Sunday after originally being advertised for the Saturday. You Got The Love was one of her chart topers performed before she has said finding somewhere in East London to get drunk.

Two of the previous participants joined forces to provide another memorable hour long concert available on line Plan B with Professor Green both I would describe under the broad church of white rappers and for once what they had to say could be understood and was appreciated.  I listened to the set twice.

I also had a good listen and look at Ed Sherran, the young man who was given a spot at the Diamond Jubilee Concert and who has entered into the spirit of the Festival type performance by getting mass audience participation in his 45 minute set. He had the type of voice, Leona Lewis is another, that should be listened to rather than become part of a collective singalong, jump up and down and hand gesturing which tends to be the most sophisticated participation today’s concerts goes are capable, unlike the intricate and watchable traditional jazz dancing of two people who danced together on a regular basis.

As Mick Jagger explained in the Black and White Film on the day the Stones gave their extraordinary free concert in Hyde Park in 1969 and the Hells Angels provided security, if you want to listen to music you buy the record and put on the Hi Fi. Whereas in the past people went to concerts to be entertained in a passive way, the Stones Concert, as the Isle of Wight and Glastonbury signalled you went to participate. Originally people also went to get drunk, take drugs, exposure flesh and participate in casual sex. I  am not pretending these aspects are not part of festivals as they are part of most social events involving young people today, but the emphasis today is being part of the event, singing along as well hand gesturing and jumping up and down.


I also watched something of all the 20 artists and their bands who appeared on the Introduction Stage noting that some attracted only what appeared to be fifty to a hundred people but the one which I thought the best and seemed to have drawn the largest crowd was the Skints with a West Indian beat and female lead singer who was very very good and also played several musical instruments. They have been worth listening to again and as consequence of doing this I heard they are having a headline tour later in the year.

I also enjoyed the UD Vocal Collective, a local choir of some 20 voices who were in a good grove. (Kershon Bailey, Stevie Neale, Savages, Joe Black, Arthur Beatrice (I liked the voice of Beatrice?) Driving Lolita (was anything but) Lala K.... Kickers, Sehzar, Lecke Brugge, My Panda Shall Fly, Random Impulse, Issac Dayguach, Paigey Cakey, and Lil Sims In Search of are some of the names from my scribbled notes to see if they make it. I thought most would remain playing to family and friends and local support in pubs and clubs around heir neighbourhood although the musicianship was often a good to high standard, but they just did not have that factor which is likely to get them a chart toping success or International fame and Festival headlining. I hope for their sakes, given the effort that had obviously gone in I am proved wrong.

The weekend was held on the former Hackney Marshes which is part of the Lee Valley Park with adjacent land forming part of the New Olympic Park with the view of sculpture work visible as the skyscrapers of the City and Canary Wharf. As at the Isle of White in addition to the  stages including the Circus Tent style all weather stage there were Fair ground attraction including the 37 metre swing arm thrill ride all lit up witch I noted at Brighton for £5 for 11 revolutions  to the  one minute. There was also the usual range of food outlets, merchandising toilets, lost property and lost people provision with security and all round event enclosure. It appeared an all round positive atmosphere with plenty of too for everyone, all 50000 invited for each of the two days

This all contrasted with my disappointment at the Arts Channel and 3D Channel presentation of the Isle of Wight three day festival. It was first held over three years in the last sixties. It commenced in 1968 as a small affair, comparative speaking with 10000 participants, Jefferson Airplane, Arthur Brown. Tyrannosaurus Rex, Pretty Things and the Move.

The event explored in every sense in 1969 because of his appearance of Bob Dylan after recovering from his motor accident. 300000 of the hippy generation descended on the Island over the summer and some are said to have never returned home. Dylan was supported by Ritchie Havens (seen Live at the sage Newcastle, Joe Cocker, the Who, The Moody Blues, The Nice, Pretty Things, Pentangle, Julie Felix, Free Marsha Hunt and the White Trash and the Bonze Dog Doo Dah Band

Given that the Island population was then well under 150000 it is not difficult to imagine the effect on a local population where the aristocratic sport of Yachting with the Royal Cowes Week is most notable event other than being the former holiday home of Queen Victoria, a holiday resort, and then retirement centre for  the middle class and where I had two summer holidays with the aunties in the late 1940s, early fifties at Bembridge and Sandown followed by two three visits over the past five years as well as a single day in the eights or was  it the nineties?   I also became interested in the allegations of historical child abuse on the island, with Masonic, political and other worrying allegations which were brought to my personal attention in the 1990’s.

However it was the appearance of Jimi Hendrix, only a short while before his death which brought and estimated 600000 people to the island, brought down the barriers and led to action being taken top repeat events. In fact the event itself was peaces as confirmed in the testimony of Hampshire’s Chief Constable to the Inquiry committee which was set up afterwards. I still have a tattered poster of the line up somewhere. On the Wednesday Kris Kristofferson had a hard time because of the acoustic limitations something which Paul McCartney experienced at the end of the original Live Aid Concert. There was also Procul Harum, Mungo Jerry, Lighthouse, Chicago and the Family on the Friday, John Sebastian, Joni Mitchell, Light house, Miles Davis, Emmersen Lake and Palmer, Ten Years After, The Doors, The Who, Melanie, Sly and the Family Stone provided a sensational Saturday. Joan, Byez, Leonard Cohen, Hawkwind, Ritchie Havens, Pentangle, The Moody Blues, Jethro Tull and Kristofferson, The Moody Blues, Ralph McTell, Free and Donovan all built up to the performance of Hendrix.  Although the numbers and anarchistic nature of the event resulted in its closure the following year the first Glastonbury event was organised as a direct consequence and which over the past forty years one or more millions of people have participated and enjoyed.

Three decades were to pass before The Isle of Wight welcomed a rock festival again in 2002 with Robert Plant and the Charlatons appearing to an audience of 8000 to 10000 although the capacity had been set at 22000 suggesting fears on the part of potential participants about what had occurred before. There is also the additional expense of the high cost ferry travel and the extent of camping and other facilities but I suspect the main problem was limited level of performances and stages. There were similar limitations in 2003 with only Bryan Adams and Paul Weller commanding attention.

The situation became more positive in 2004 with an audience of 32000, and with David Bowie, The Who and Sterophonics headlining together with Manic Street Preachers, the Charlatans and Snow Patrol. It is of interest the bands who played and have continued to perform notable Feeder who returned this year and Roxy Music’s Bryan ferry although he appears to have stopped travelling the circuit. Others on the 50000 attended show over three days included REM, Snow Patrol, Ray Davis of the Kinks, Snow Patrol, Travis and Faithless.

The larger gathering trend continued the following year to 55000 with the Proclaimers, the Foo Fighters and Primal Scream; also back this year, with the Editors and Susanne Vega Coldplay, Maximo Park, the Kooks and Whiter Shade of Pale Procul Harum.

It was in 2007 that the festival reached the heights with The Rolling Stones, Kasabian, Amy Winehouse, and Snow Patrol. The Feeling, Echo and the Bunnymen, Ash, Donovan, Keane as special guest, Paulo Nutrini, James Morrison, The Fratellis, and Melanie C. There were 60000 paying customers.

In 2008 the numbers were down but measures had been taken to reduce queue and offer those who wishes guaranteed tickets for the following three years. In terms of performances it can be said the line up failed to up to the previous year With the Sex Pistols, NERD not everyone’s cup of tea but there was the Police, the Kaiser Chiefs. KT Tunstall. Scouting for Girl who is headlining a free concert in South Shields in mid July, Amy McDonald and Kate Nash, The Hossiers and the Wombats.

In 2009 I enjoyed the Ting Tings also seen at with Basement Jaxx at Glastonbury and Palo Nutrini who did a New Year Eve Show with Jools Holland one year.  Headliners were Neil Young, Sterophonics The Prodigy, Razorlight and the Pixies also Maximo Park and Simple Minds, The Human League, Bannerama, Alesha Dixon, Beverely Knight and Pixie Lott. Judy Collins who I have seen at the Sage and should have been headliners was way down on the menu, Ultravox, Will Young, McFly, Eddie Reader, Ladyhawke and the complete Stone Roses.

In  2010 Florence and Machine and Jay Z, headliners also at Hackney, topped the bill on the first night, Blondie and Crowded House on the Saturday, Paul McCartney, The Editor, Pink, Spandau ballet and Susanne Vega, Suzi Quatro, Shakespeares Sister, Noah and the Whale and Oribital. Last year it was the time of Kings Of Leon, Light my Fire, Kaiser Chiefs and a band whose  records I have Big Country, the Foo Fighters and Pulp, Kasabian, Pixie Lott and Plan B, Alexandra Burke and Imelda May seen in 3 D. Tom Jones also in 3D and the Vaccines and the Manic Street Preachers.

Which bring me to this year and the great disappointment because of the absence of red button or online sets of the mainliners Bruce Springsteen whose only number of note shown was Wrecking Ball and Pearl Jam. There was little more of Tom Petty and Elbow, Noel Gallaghers (Oasis) High Flying Birds. I have just discovered that it is possible to  view  the full three evenings broadcasts  on the Sky Player over the  coming month however this still excludes the full sets compared to the BBC Hackney and able for  the limited period of one week.  My complaint is therefore at the management of the event in terms of broadcasting rights and the decision to hold both events at the same time which is worthwhile looking into.

An event such as the Isle of White Festival commands big bucks. The event costs £160 per adult with an addition £30 camping fee unless the camper van is hired for £100.  A 500000 crown will bring in £10 million on top of which here is the income from broadcast rights and concessions for food, drink and everything else. Obviously the costs of buying the attendance of the artists, creating the site, stage crews, security staff and the ticketing administration from the organiser’s viewpoint are also considerable and a risk but we are talking big bucks profit.

I need to com-plete the politics writing given the way the events have unfolded over this week and last so I will close this piece but take the time to go over the recordings in the hope of uncovering talent which I have not appreciated to date.

Janice Joplin and the Big Brother Holding Company

The opportunity is taken to mention an interesting and at times moving Sky Arts Channel programme on Big Brother and the Holding Company who provided a platform for Janice Joplin to begin her career. The band established themselves as the House band at the Avalon in San Francisco. They recruited Janice on the recommendation of one member and for a short period of time she was an integral part of the band participating in the making of their first album on which she features.

Before the record was released they were invited to perform at the Monterey Free Pop Festival in June 1967. The artists had to agree to be filmed and the organisers hoped to make money from a film of the production. The band less Janice refused to sign up for the film for free so when it came to be made there are only close up shots of her and not of the Band Members. This brought her instant international success with insiders referring her to the successor to legendary blue singer Bessie Smith. This aroused great interest in their forthcoming album. The problem was that while Janice understood the need for professionalism and commenced to be supported by background professional the others found it difficult to adjust. They would require scores of takes to get one number right while Janice would record her numbers in a couple of takes both capable of being used. There was also a problem that the band had not yet worked out its identity.

The original title of the album was to be Sex, Dope and Cheap Thrills which for commercial reasons was changed to Cheap Thrills. The album became the biggest seller of 1969 earning more than £1 million and eventually had over one million sales. She played her last live concert with the band in December 1868 forming her own group as a solo artist, the Kosmic Blues Band.

The band continued without Janice for 3 years and then apart from one concert performance they came together again in 1987 with almost all the original members except for one who disagreed with the policy of recruiting a female singer to replace the role of Janice. The band continues to perform and make records to this day but does not use one female singer with a least a dozen having been involved to date.

The programme included interviews about their time with Janice and contained archive interviews and sessions. I have an original tape of Janice singing which I must cover one day. One could ask if it would have been if the career of Janice had not been so short lived and she along with Billie Holiday became two of the great jazz/blues and her case female icons of my generation with sadly the latest brilliant and troubled singer dying last least year- Amy Winehouse I put her work higher than Janice because she was such a great song creator as well as singer and she could have gone on to rival Billie Holiday had she lived.

Take That Progress Tour 2011

On Tuesday May 31^st, I participated in the 4^th Take That concert at Sunderland’s Stadium of Light of their 2011 European Tour. I cannot describe myself as a fan of either the original or later Take That male singing group or of Robbie Williams the Solo singer who also participated in this concert by the group after an absence of 15 years. However when the invitation arrived there was no hesitation on my part other than to immediately accept and the event became the centre piece of the bank holiday half term week which included several meals out, some good swimming sessions and the first of the 20 20 cricket matches this season at the Emirates Durham International.

The last stadium concert attended was in 2003 to watch for the third occasion, Bruce Springsteen and the East Street Band. It was attending the Metro Arena X factor concert in Newcastle where Leona Lewis was the winning star which led to discovering of My Space and the publication of my new writings there and the decision to stop contributing to the now defunct AOL Blogs where in addition to the writings I had published some 40000 photos of my 101 work to that date. I mention this because it is as a consequence of writing about the Take That Concert that the decision has been taken to concentrate once more on my project 101 artwork and more significantly, on the work on my life to be published posthumously. I will complete the writing of the Game of Thrones experience but alongside that work of reading the books and watching the TV series. I will publish writings of my contemporary experience but these will be no more that diaries until the major writing is finished and then substantial progress has been achieved in the artwork project

I have been to several stadium concerts with David Bowie at the former Sunderland Football ground at Roker Park, coming to mind and Elton John, Tina Turner, the Rolling Stones and the most memorable of all the July 13^th 1985 Live Aid Concert at Wembley. I therefore described myself as a seasoned rock concert goer prepared to queue early to get a good seat and to spend hours in traffic jams at end of an event. In this in instance there was a specified seat so there was no need to arrive mid afternoon and from my experience as a Sunderland Stadium of Light season ticket holder I knew where it is possible to park within a couple of minutes walk from the stadium if you arrive about two hours before event.

It was therefore possible on the Tuesday to take the Car for a midmorning swim at the Marriot and find surprisingly that the pool was again empty as lunchtime approached and then enjoy a cheese and pickle sandwich in the bar lounge with a soft drink before parking the car around 14.15 and returning home by bus. There are three bus routes from Sunderland back to Shields with the quickest and most direct the 35 which has the advantage of stopping close to the stadium and starts at the South Shields bus station. Around 5pm I walked part way down the hill to the local Wetherspoon’s for an eight oz rump steak with jacket potato, a mushroom, tomato and peas accompanied by a bottle of Beck’s, akin to Peroni all for the same price as the lunch! It was then time to walk down the rest of the hill to the bus station and a wait for ten minutes before the next 35 bus journey to the stadium.

Usually, in the roadway, immediately leading to the stadium there are programme, magazine and souvenir sellers with stewarding only within the stadium arena. On Tuesday there were dozens of stewards at the beginning of the approach roads advising everyone which part of the stadium they should head for. The car park area was fenced off for those who had ground tickets and wished to queue to gain entry into the arena and close to the stages. There were also stewards at the turnstiles helping to ensure that everyone had arrived at the appropriate entry point for their ticket which had to be inserted in an electronic check machine that opened the gateway. Other stewards inside the concourse were available to direct further if required although outside the turnstiles and inside there were large sign boards showing the locations of aisles, and seat numbering. Similarly within the stadium area the stewards were present to help rather than for security purposes. There was no security check for any baggage and no signs preventing the use of mobile phones or other recording equipment. There are some 900 videos available on You Tube of events at the stadium with one ten minuets of good quality vision and sound of the event. In addition to the music the videos provide evidence of the development in production from the days when concerts consisted of a stage, lighting and banks of huge speakers.

The seats were one row from the back of the second tier just below the Black Cat Club lounge whose window overlooks the whole length of the North Stand pitch immediately opposite the main stage. The seats were at the same height as those within the stadium outside the executive boxes which fill the whole length of the West stand above the Chairman’s and Board central seating area, the media area and the other more expensive seating in the stadium. The price of the ticket was £63 plus Vat plus booking fee.

The main stage was at the opposite end filling the full width and height of stadium. At each end there were close up screens and centre back, a larger electronic screen. Above and around the screen on what appeared to be just a covered steel frame with large coloured squares. At stadium roof level there was the lighting control gantry and above this, there was a huge spider man figure whose outstretched hands embraced the entire width of the southern end of the stadium. From the main stage area there was a large runway leading to the second stage area which was located in the final third of the arena, closer to our position than those hugging the guard rail front of stage. The runway and stage was at the head level of those standing in the arena. Major stage productions are not new with David Bowie setting the standard in the early 1980’s although it was Queen which created the international standard with its tour of the United States as they did with Bohemian Rhapsody video, a record which lasts twice that of the standard pop chart number and which everyone in the industry said would not be played but headed the charts for nine weeks, selling over one million copies 1975 1976 and is regarded by many as one of the top 100 singles of all time world wide.

The stadium was about three quarters full for the support act of the Pet Shop boys who played a set from about 19.20 to 20.00. If I am honest, and I try to be, I am more familiar with more Pet Shop songs than Take That with West End Girls, Always on my Mind, Heart and It’s a sin being known to me and to millions of others given sales of 100 million world wide and 42 Top 30 and 22 Top 10 singles in the UK charts. The duo compromises Neil Tennant now 56 born in North Shields and Chris Lowe, three years younger, from Liverpool and both with degrees, Neil’s in London which led him to become London based. He then worked for Marvel comics and then for music industry magazines and papers. He was one of the biggest donors to the Labour Party before joining the Liberal Democrats. Chris Lowe became an architect and a Trombonist before forming an association with Tenant in the early 1980’s both having an interest in the development of keyboard club dance music.

Their stage performance is traditional with Chris famous for his static playing of the keyboard without any movement or attempt to project himself to the audience. For the Take That tour performance Neil was accompanied by a backing group of four young women who wore coloured boxes on their heads for much of the act or performed healthy exercises in swim wear. The audience while appreciative of the music and singing along with the songs remained seated and there was flatness about their set as everyone waited for the main event. I say this in the context that their Glastonbury appearance last year was highly regarded. They have performed with Dusty Springfield, David Bowie, Elton John, Shirley Bassey, Liza Minnelli, Boy George, Kylie Minogue, Madonna, and more recently Girls Aloud and Lady Gaga.

The 2 hour Take That extravaganza commenced around 8.30 and was in three parts, and by this time I could not see a vacant seat and the pitch audience covered 90% of its area. The big screen showed some 54000 customers before it was dismantled along with the coloured squares revealing a five section backstage with a central section which also made way for various surprises. In the fist part Take That, the four entered and came to the foremost part of the extended stage to sing The Greatest Day and to say hullo, how appreciative they were of our presence and how much they looked forward to starting their tour in Sunderland. If I remember accurately they disappeared into the big screen and then became part of it just as Robbie Williams came out of it to commence his individual set of songs which ended with a rendering of Angels.

At the commencement of the writing I said I participated although my contribution was to stand for the performance, clap and move about on the spot in time with the beat of the music. This was one the less expressive performances from the audience who general knew the words and joined in whether they can hold a tune or not and vigorously moved body and hands with great energy. Given the cost fo tickets, the transport and accommodation for many, the programmes at £20 and T shirts and other souvenirs pro rata, it is understandable that many also drank several pints beforehand to get into the spirit of the event. In order to ensure that the voices of the performers were raised above the mass choir and the excellent backing band there was a great array of speakers slung around the rim of the roof as well as strategic positions at the stages so that the sound reverberated against the roof and against the windows of the Black Cat Club.

Looking at videos the Circus tour it is evident that that they are used to spending a fortune in building sets which add to the excitement and sense of wonder and which will form my lasting visual memory of which there were three main components. When located at the end of the raised platform closest to where I was sitting the group performed with dancers in a variety of costumes and effect which included fire twice with swirling flames for Light my Fire and then towards the end surging upward flames followed a major explosion of flame the heat of which I felt from where I sat for Relight the Fire. The most spectacular event at this end of the arena was KIDZ which involved a full set of living chess pieces engaging in combat and the most colourful Shine which included a large Caterpillar on top of which a member of the group sang.

The back stage was the setting for two spectacular moments with around 25 aerial dancers performing like spider men and then forming giant size figures of the evolution of human kind as we rose from being on all fours to two legs. The other event was the Flood which as the title suggests comprises water cascading the down the width of the stage. Finally all the framework screens were removed to reveal huge projection screens again the whole width of the stage to colourful visuals reflecting the mood of a song bathing the whole stadium as lighting around the stadium matched.

This leaves the central walkway which had to be lowered twice to facilitate the use of major mechanicals. The first has become a standard at concert involving a swing arm in this instance or some physical projection which enable the artist to move above the assembly allowing them to bend down and touch hands. This was a Robbie Williams moment. This was no more than a build up for the appearance of Mr Om a giant mechanical who first appeared on the front of the main stage but was then wheeled along ground base tracks to a central point in the arena where he was transformed from a flat position to standing tall with his head again above the height of the stadium roofing when the construction remained as the Encore finale took place at the extended stage end with the singers saying this was the end and while still singing, moved at ground level either side of the walkway shaking hands with the closest admirers.

Having had seats at the back of the second level before I know that if you do not set off five minutes before the end you have to wait until everyone else departs and in this instance those on the pitch area had to be included. Everybody left in orderly fashion and there was no crush. Reaching my vehicle I had expected to find a car jam when exiting into the one system to the right which takes vehicles back along the Newcastle Road towards the Regional Capital, or over the Wear Bridge into Sunderland town centre, or in the opposite direction along the coast road to Roker, Seaburn and on to South Shields. It is possible to get to South Shields by two other streams on the same one way system, by going straight on at the first set of traffic lights and joining the coast Road at the junction between the coast and the river, or swinging left with the option of taking a road parallel to the coast road, having first passed the former site of Sunderland Football Club, Roker Park, now an estate of yuppie housing, and on until reaching Sea Lane where I lived and swinging down the hill passed my former home to the Marriot Hotel, or alternately continuing through Fulwell to joining the road for South Shields which connects with the Newcastle Road going through the Academy of Light and the village of Cleadon.

For the same size of crowd or less at football matches unless you left the ground early one became caught up in a slow moving car jam but on the evening it was possible to join in and make the way home at normal travelling speed. The only thing spoiling the occasion was to find, or not find, more accurately, the remote control for the garage with the spare left inside the house. It was not until following afternoon that I visited the stadium in the hope of checking under the seat where I remain convinced the remote fell. What happened is that the person to my right spilled the pint drink at their feet and in the rush to rescue my coat which I had placed under my seat it was turned upside down and in the noise of the stadium I failed hear the remote fall out. Alas I was not given permission to check and after sending emails and a telephone call I received the information that the stadium had been swept and surprise nothing be found. Such a small item would have been easily missed and swept up with the rest of the rubbish. Fortunately the spare is in good order but a new spare will cost around £50 as the it has to be delivered a set with the cost of the petrol and labour being significantly greater than the remote itself.

After Sunderland there are eight days in the home town of Manchester, 2 nights at Cardiff and Dublin, 3 Glasgow and 2 Birmingham followed by 8 London before visits to Milan, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Düsseldorf and Munich, Given that the crew for the set were based in Sunderland over a three week period, it is amazing that the dissembling and resembling can be accomplished with a couple of days unless there is a duplicate staging. The Sunderland crew did not pack up into their two coaches until the day of morning of the final concert. It is said that the staging cost £15 million produce but with total audience set to reach 1.75 million a total yield in excess of £100 million is likely of which £50 million could be available to be shared between band members. Take That has an interesting history formed by bringing together talented individual singers in 1989 with Gray Barlow impressing most because of his catalogue of created original work. It was four years before superstardom came their way with a number I album success of original work by Barlow, and followed by new albums in 1994 1995 with a world tour planed for 1996. Meanwhile Robbie Williams was hitting headlines for the wrong reasons of drug abuse and talk of a solo career, being seen partying with other performers such as George Michael and Oasis. He left the band breaking his contract for which a $200000 settlement was arranged and while the tour continued, the band disbanded in 1996 with all the members following separate careers. The effect upon thousands of teenage girls was dramatic with so many in tears and threatening suicide that the government established counselling helplines.

It was ten years later that the group minus Robbie came together and went on tour culminating in backing Leona Lewis in her A Million Love songs single for the X Factor final live show. As Christmas approached their comeback album Beautiful World and single topped every chart in the UK including downloads and DVD thus becoming immediately the top group of its kind in the UK. They had major tours in 2007 and 2009 and foursome. It was in 2010 that the group confirmed that Robbie Williams had rejoined and he and Barlow had created a new album Progress which when released broke all records. It is said that over 1 million tickets were sold for the tour on the first day they went on sale leading to the addition of dates. A second album branded as Extended play called Progressed will be released later this month with both albums issued as a special edition. Among the numbers performed at the concert I have already mentioned Kidz, Happy Now and there was also Underground Machine with the one of single issued songs The Flood and Love Love.

It has been quite a week with on Sunday going for the first day of the successful cricket championship game in which Durham went to win against Lancashire by an innings. On Wednesday the morning after the concert I watched a recording of the ballet Swan Lake from Covent Garden Opera House and then had a great roast beef lunch at the Britannia Toby Carvery in Cleadon Village. The weather was glorious for the fist 20 20 game on Thursday evening when alas Durham could not get their heads from the Championship into the new format, whereas their opponents had a week to prepare. However it is the behaviour of the Durham University student on which I end after mentioning the excellent behaviour of the 50000 at the concert despite tens of thousands of pints being consumed. On Thursday evening a few hundred party mood students the worse for drink confirmed popular media imaging at the Emirates International Stadium. Added to which Durham lost.