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Portfolio > Event Coverage 1 > 1980's Pop Music Revival, South Shields, UK                                     Click on an image below to reveal enlarged version

80's Pop Music Revival
(Featuring Altered Images, China Crisis & Midge Ure)

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Organized by South Tyneside Council, the 80's Pop Music Revival rolled into South Shields, Tyne & Wear, on a beautiful summers day in July 2006. The venue was Bents Park, a stones throw away from the north sea, on the north-east coast of England. 

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The park was packed out and the scene was set for a great afternoon of 80;s music. I managed to get myself an Access All Areas pass for the event, after contacting management at midgeure.com. As a big fan of Midge, particularly during his days with Ultravox, I was looking forward to seeing him perform, as well as seeing China Crisis and Altered Images for the first time. I was allowed to shoot front of house for the first 3 songs each artist performed, which was great, plus the fact that I could shoot from the rear of stage during the remainder of each set. It was a brilliant and unforgettable afteroon, with the highlight of meeting the artists backstage before they went on. A house band performed with all the artists, which you see in the gallery above. Altered Images was Claire Grogan, who enjoyed a string of hits in the early part of the 1980's, all of which were played to a welcoming audience. Her voice was as good as was back in her heyday and her rapport with the audience was clear to see. 

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China Crisis were next to take the stage. I managed to have a brief chat with them before they went on. The banter was something else and almost surreal when Eddie Lundon of the band said to Gary (Daly), the singer "Where have those two scallywags disappeared to", referring to their teenage sons, who had suddenly ran off into the park. Gary promptly replied "Fuck knows mate...they're probably on the rob again" LOL
And what a great set they delivered, including... Black Man Ray, African & White, Wishful Thinking and King In A Catholic Style, to name just a few. Brilliant from start to finish.

A 15 minute interval separated China Crisis from the headline act, Midge Ure. Once again it was fun and games backstage before he went on. He chatted with the house band for a couple of minutes, then proceeded to scrape dirt from behind his fingernails with the aid of a guitar plectrum. I was standing there thinking ...Wow, here's my idol picking shit from behind his nail, for all to see. You realize quickly that these people are just like ourselves, ha, and not the god like figures we once saw them as. Just normal down to earth people, which definitely helped me with those backstage nerves, haha. One of the house band said to Midge "Well, we've got fantastic weather for it today" to which he promptly replied "Oh aye, definitely...it was fucking pissing down when we left Glasgow this morning" LOL.

Midge played a fantastic set and his guitar playing was on point. The crowd lapped it up and wanted more, but the40 minute set packed in many of the well known songs that he made his name with, including, Vienna, Dancing With Tears In My Eyes, One Small Day, If I Was and Fade To Grey, which he c0-wrote with Visage. What a privilege it was to spend an afternoon in my own back yard with 3 brilliant acts. One which I'll never forget...
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