Date: 29th October, 1982
Venue: City Hall, Newcastle
Setlist:
Support:
Review: Neil Jeffries, Kerrang!
This being their first tour since signing with MCA, Diamond Head weren’t particularly worried that the gig wasn’t a sell out. Theirs isn’t the only show on the road that won’t be breaking box office records. I hazard a guess that when word leaks out from the stalls to the streets, the next tour will be a great deal more anticipated.
‘Am I Evil’, with it’s ‘Mars Intro’, was the (obvious) opener, it brash riffing cutting through the smoke and providing a marked contrast to the second number, ‘In The Heat Of The Night’, which scored with a more subtle and smouldering approach. Both come from their recently issued official debut album, which represents the best of DH material over the last three years, so not surprisingly every single track from it featured in the set.
‘Call Me’ works superbly well live, benefiting hugely from the extra ‘oomph’ provided by Duncan Scotts new double bass kit, but it was the lengthier slow blues based ‘Don’t You Ever Leave Me’ that produced the most magic moments of the evening – a stunning showcase for the talents of singer Saun Harris and guitarist Brian Tatler.
Diamond Head are already looking forward to their next album and treated us to two tracks from it (it would have been three but a show of hands indicated the throng wanted an oldie!) ‘To The Devil His Due’ is already familiar to most as it’s been in the set several months but the second, ‘Making Music’, was aired for the first time. Someone went well over the top with the smoke but it couldn’t obscure the strength of the song… a very heavy riff and a memorable chorus.
The archives were then raided for an amazing encore medley of ‘Shoot Out The Lights’, ‘Dead Reckoning’, @It’s Electric’, and ‘Helpless’. But there was no way the crowd would let them go so they returned with ‘Play It Loud’, white light scorching the stage as they eased into the ‘Did You Like The Show’ ending. Though the Geordies were strangely subdued the answer was an emphatic ‘Yes’!.
Neil Jefferies
Kerrang Magazine, November, 1982.