John Mayall...

celebrated his 80th birthday last year with a new album, aptly called A Special Life, which includes a three-year stint of National Service with the Royal Engineers, as an office clerk in the south of England and Korea.

His first band, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers went on to include ex-Yardbird guitarist Eric Clapton, as well as a succession of future stars who would go on to form their own groups: Peter Green, John McVie and Mick Fleetwood; Rolling Stone Mike Taylor and Andy Fraser who formed Free. In 2005, Mayall (pictured below) was awarded an OBE, and in spring of 2007 he released his 56th album, In The Palace of The King, a tribute to Mayall’s longtime hero, Freddie King. Now regarded as British blues’ most influential artist, Mayall is on his 80th Anniversary Tour and will be joined by King King, a revolutionary blues band.

  • November 11: Sage Gateshead – Hall One, Box Office: 0191-443-4661 for more info sagegateshead.com

The Who...

visit Tyneside on their Hits 50 UK tour which promises an amazing journey through the entire career of band classics like Pinball Wizard, My Generation, Substitute, I Can’t Explain, Quadrophenia and Tommy. The Who’s Who of The Who is a long list of musicians which includes the original and one of the most celebrated drummers of all time, the late Keith Moon, who died in 1978. Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend are still strutting their stuff and collecting new fans (Wholigans) at every gig. Daltrey looks at it as “the beginning of the long goodbye”, but Townshend adds: “We’re trying to stay young. Not wearing socks. Growing a great big woodcutter’s beard. We are what we are, and extremely good at it, but we’re lucky to be alive and still touring.”

  • December 9, Newcastle MetroRadio Arena.
  • Box Ofice: 0844-493-6666 or metroradioarena.co.uk