Lindisfarne
Christmas Concert
Newcastle City Hall
Newcastle upon Tyne UK
23rd December 1976
Metro Radio Broadcast
Artwork Included
Quality B+
Time:99 Mins.


Lineage TradeCDR>HD>Dime

Checked SBE's with Trader's Little Helper

Newer version,it sounds like a one less generation than the previous
uploads,slightly louder and clearer. Still the same source,first track has
a bit wow and flutter,but nothing too drastic. Also a full show,the previous
versions had a fade out mid song,this one has a full ending.
Also the cut in Wake Up Little Sister isn't as noticeable

In 1976 the Newcastle festival was in full flow.
The band were asked to reform as part of the musical concerts.
Barry Mackay and Dave Wood (promoters) decided rightly that the band should do their own shows
at the end of the year,as a one off show,that quickly sold out,
so a second night was added,then a matinee show.
Tickets were impossible to get hold of,even for three performances.
It doesn't get any better than this,for atmosphere you can't beat the
City Hall for a gig,better still when its a local band reforming and a sell out.
I can remember walking past the City Hall at the time and a huge banner was above the front doors saying.... Lindisfarne Occupation.
I caught a show the following year and it is one of my top 5 gigs.
What are you waiting for? Pull a cracker,put on your party hat and sing along.
Worth it alone for Winter Song


Alan Hull (vocals/guitar/piano)
Ray Jackson (mandolin/harmonica)
Simon Cowe (guitar, mandolin, banjo)
Rod Clements (bass guitar/violin)
Ray Laidlaw (drums)

Disc One
1 Intro
2 No Time To Lose
3 Alright On The Night
4 Turn A Deaf Ear
5 Uncle Sam
6 Down
7 Road To Kingdom Come
8 Scotch Mist
9 Winter Song
10 January Song

Disc Two
1 Lady Eleanor
2 Court In The Act
3 Wake Up Little Sister (slight Cut)
4 Train in G Major
5 Alan In The River With Flowers
6 Together Forever
7 Meet Me On The Corner
8 We Can Swing Together
9 Jackhammer Blues
10 Fog On The Tyne
11 Thanks
12 Clear White Light
13 White Christmas


From The Evening Chronicle 1976
But, three years later, there was a comeback and the folk rockers announced two dates at the City Hall on December 22 and 23, 1976.
Due to phenomenal ticket demand, a third show at the earlier time of 6pm, was added for the 23rd.
The music press reported how the first date would be recorded by a BBC film crew.
The band rehearsed for the shows at a disused cinema, the Pavilion, on Westgate Road, Newcastle.
The Journal reported: "More than 7,000 tickets have been sold, many to people outside the region - and fans are even flying in from Germany and France."
The 1976 concerts were a triumph. Each one a huge, joyous, swaying Christmas singalong, with the whiff of Brown Ale heavy in the City Hall air.
The Journal noted: "The audience wore paper hats and there was a party atmosphere as the five Geordies musicians walked on stage."
Kicking off with No Time To Lose, the band revisited the finest moments from their early 1970s back catalogue,
including Lady Eleanor, Meet Me On The Corner, Fog On The Tyne, with a double encore of their classic Clear White Light,
and the old chestnut White Christmas closing the show.
Years later, Lindisfarne’s original drummer Ray Laidlaw recalled: “What I remember most is the incredible reception we received when we walked on to the City Hall stage.
“Originally, we were worried nobody would turn up, but in the event we had nothing to worry about.
That 1976 Christmas reunion sparked the band back into life for the next 20 years - and beyond.”
Indeed two years later, Lindisfarne would enjoy one of their biggest successes with the top 10 smash hit, Run For Home.
As for the Christmas concerts, the band were back the following year with five shows. There were five more concerts in 1978, and a whopping seven a year later.
The band’s festive City Hall shows were now an annual festive celebration, as a much a part of a Tyneside Christmas as Fenwick’s yearly window display - or the Civic Centre tree.
In 1986, ten years after the comeback, the Chronicle reported on the December 19 show: “The magic of Lindisfarne like the magic of Christmas never goes away.
By the end, there was hardly a dry eye in the house.”
By 2004, the group had disbanded, but since 2013 a revamped version of Lindisfarne, fronted by Jacka and two years later
Rod Clements, has been treading the boards.


From The Evening Chronicle and The Journal websites.


A review by Payaso DeMierda

Immediately I begged my parents to get me a ticket for Christmas; amazingly, as they generally spent my youth discouraging me from enjoying myself,
they assented and so cousin John and I found ourselves in the balcony on December 22nd, ready for an event that gave me the profound and unflinching love of live music I have still.
While John had already seen Thin Lizzy on the Johnny the Fox tour a couple of months earlier, this was my first proper gig; although I had seen the Clancy Brothers with my parents aged about 4.
I have no proper recollection of that one, but Lindisfarne blew me away; the unfamiliar No Time to Lose and the minor diamond Scotch Mist were superb, as were all the favourites,
especially We Can Swing together. Having only heard the album version, knowing the words by heart, I had not been aware of Jacka’s harmonica party piece; the singing and cheering and stamping of feet to Blaydon Races was fantastic,
but to hear the relentless booing of the Z-Cars theme was even better. Not only does We Can Swing Together concern Police oppression, but the Mackems used to run out to Z-Cars and the audience would have known that.
Lindisfarne are a Newcastle band; end of story. However, that night, it was the truly anthemic Clear White Light that seemed to unite the whole room that really grabbed me by the throat; other than at football,
I’d never felt such a shared, passionate belief in something. Even now, from 46 years distant, I well up with tears at the thought of it.


The Seasons greetings to you all.


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