TICKET SCAN TO GO HERE

Capacity: 2,135

Concert starts: 8pm

Address of venue: Northumberland Rd, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8SF. MAP

Website: https://academymusicgroup.com/o2cityhallnewcastle/

COMMENTS

Due to the critical success of the four initial shows in May 2018, held in tiny venues in London's Camden and Putney, Nick Mason's Saucerful Of Secrets announced a full European tour for September that year. The expanded shows for the full tour were even more highly acclaimed, and it came as no surprise when further dates for 2019 were announced. The insatiable demand for more dates, in more locations, has resulted in the band carrying on from where they left off, with shows for 2021 taking the music to new fans, as well as those who have already experienced the show, eager for more!

Nick Mason's Saucerful Of Secrets brings together some familiar names, all great musicians: joining Nick are Gary Kemp and Lee Harris on guitars, Guy Pratt on bass, and Dom Beken on keyboards. Kemp is best known for his work with Spandau Ballet, Harris as having played guitar with The Blockheads (Ian Dury's band), Pratt needs no introduction, and Beken is principally known for his work with The Orb, and Transit Kings (with Pratt). The band will be playing early Pink Floyd songs.

This is a unique opportunity to experience Pink Floyd's celebrated and significant early body of work played live including songs from albums 'The Piper At The Gates of Dawn' and 'A Saucerful Of Secrets'.

The regular sale of tickets starts on MONDAY JULY 20th at 12pm (UK time), via Ticketmaster, Seetickets, and the venues themselves.

UPDATE, 2nd February 2021: Due to the COVID-19/Coronavirus pandemic, this concert, along with the others on the 2020/2021 tour, has been re-scheduled; tickets remain valid for the new date (shown in the title of this page) so there should be no need to contact the venue for clarification or to change the ticket. 

WARNING - SPOILERS AHEAD!

Do not read on if you don't want surprises to be spoilt, regarding what the band played!

And so to Newcastle, and a very enthusiastic audience. There was a slight issue with a couple of the audience members persistently using their phone lights while filming, annoying the band - Nick has made a point in many of the gigs so far this year to ask that people DON'T use flash or video lights during the show.

The band now travel further north, to play at The Usher Hall in Edinburgh, a venue which Nick has performed in with his "other band" in the past!

CONCERT REVIEW and PICTURE by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Danny Vacek

I just got back home to USA following ten days visit to UK, last week.

Saw Nick Mason's Saucers twice, in Newcastle on the 3rd, and in Manchester on the 6th of May. My wife and I spent most of our trip relaxing and sightseeing in York, which is located about midway between the two venues. And we also took in a museum and an art gallery in Manchester, before leaving.

We both enjoyed the show on Friday in Manchester a little more than the Tuesday night show in Newcastle. There was just more energy. The house was full. I think Guy Pratt said that his son, who studies at the University of Manchester, was in the audience. (And also maybe it's because our seats, which were in almost the last row, nicely situated very near to the bar, so we always had full glasses.)

On both nights ours were possibly the worst seats left, back when all the shows got cancelled. Twice rescheduled. It was a very long time waiting.

The back row seats at the Apollo in Manchester were absolutely the best!

And the "partial view" spot that we had on the balcony of the City Hall, in Newcastle, turned out to be the greatest seats also! I was able to snap super photos from up there. Oddly, though perhaps due to being a Tuesday weeknight, the venue was half-full, so we had lots of elbow room. The balcony was nearly empty and so we could move around, and choose unbroken seats. Of course, the spectacular view meant we saw everything, including the evening's blemishes. Still perfect. I'd never hoped to be able to watch Nick and the rest playing, from so close. My "partial view" was anything but that.

I can hardly wait for the North American piece of the Saucers tour! (Please, Japan next?)

Superb picture, Danny - love the different perspective on the band!

CONCERT REVIEW by BD CONTRIBUTOR, Ian McKenzie

This concert was supposed to take place at the Gateshead Sage back in 2020. As I'd never been to the Sage, but had heard many good reports about the venue, I was really looking forward to this particular concert. Hence, I was disappointed when the gig was cancelled due to the Covid pandemic.

A replacement gig was announced over the other side of the River Tyne at Newcastle City Hall. Despite managing to get tickets for the Royal Albert Hall concert, I was particularly keen to also see this concert at NCH, as I have some great memories of watching many bands, there, including Dire Straits, Yes and Wishbone Ash, between 1978 - 1983. I moved away from the North East of England in 1990 though I did manage to see a few concerts in Leeds, Sheffield and Manchester after then. Another very good reason to go to the NCH concert was to be able to attend with my good mate, Andrew, who I've been to several concerts with over the years, including Pink Floyd in Manchester, London and the Knebworth 90 concert (I think my review of that one is probably still on this BD site somewhere). Anyway, the NCH concert was particularly significant to me for all of the above reasons and because I'd seen the NMSOS RAH concert a few weeks earlier and it was superb. Hence, it was no great surprise that the NCH concert was also excellent. The sound was less overpowering than at the RAH, the audience seemed a bit more involved, apart from the tosser who Guy was having a go at for not turning the stupid light off on his phone, despite the audience being told to do so earlier by Nick.

The highlights for me were Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun and the brilliant Echoes. I'm also pleased to see that, despite the inclusion of Echoes, Atom Heart Mother is still on the setlist. I would have liked to have seen a few new songs played in place of some of those on the NMSOS Roundhouse release, e.g. Cymbaline, Stay and Ibiza Bar, instead of Interstellar Overdrive and Vegetable Man. However, just like with the David Gilmour c2006 concerts, the performance of Echoes was worth the ticket price alone and, as my mate Andrew remarked, it was a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

Just for good measure, I've recently moved back up north and hope to see many concerts there in the future, including at Newcastle City Hall and Gateshead Sage too, though a concert at St James' Park would be the ultimate venue for me, but for sentimental reasons that have nothing to do with music. Sam Fender would probably be my artist of choice for that particular location, after Pink Floyd of course!

YOUR HELP NEEDED! We want to cover Nick's concerts the best we can, to share the experience with everyone, especially those who won't be able to attend the shows. We'd love to see ANY pictures, tickets scans, reviews, newspaper reports, and anything else you come across for this show - we look forward to hearing from you!