The Alarm – Declaration Tour – 1984

January 27th 1984 – Leicester University

I’m only a couple of years into gigs, but I’m starting to move away from purely pop and electronic music and into rock. I’m listening to U2 and David Bowie and revisiting music from the late 70s, such as Alice Cooper, The Who, Black Sabbath and got a bit of prog rock being shown to me by my friend Darren in Yes, Steve Hackett and Pink Floyd. I’m not getting the prog rock just yet (I’ll never really get Pink Floyd) but there’s something I like in it generally, particularly Yes.

So, along bounded The Alarm with a brash sound of The Clash, mixed in with a bit of glam. Spikey haircuts, the boys from Wales were full of energy and emotion. No ticket found for this gig, but the write ups are in the scrap book.

The Declaration album was their calling card and 68 Guns was their anthemic entrance onto the radio. There had been a couple of singles before that, but 68 Guns started it for me. I’ll see them a few times over the years and enjoy listening to Mike sing….all their songs allow for audience participation too, which cemented my love of live music as a way out of the humdrum of ordinary life.

This was a powerful gig in so many way, from the opening salvos of Declaration, on to Marching On and through tunes that just bashed out rock anthems one after another.

Wisely, there is a quiet lull for the middle of the concert until Howling Wind signals a return to full on bluster! Brilliant rock and roll from these boys.

The Alarm songs are highly charged and emotional, some around war and standing together as one. Later in their career it will be about deprivation and quite sombre and yet always their is an undercurrent of hope, motivation and never giving in to anything….sentiments I hold dear and can be very emotional relating their songs to real life past and present.

Declaration was the start for me and holds strong as an album to this day. I will be very loyal to the Alarm as time moves on.

Support bands were, Kissing Bandits and a German band, Geschlecht Akt.

Set List

• Declaration
• Marching On
• For Freedom
• Reason 41
• Shout to the Devil
• The Deceiver
• Tell Me
• Third Light
• Across the Border
• Where Were You Hiding When the Storm Broke
• One Step Closer to Home
• Unbreak the Promise
• Howling Wind
• Sixty Eight Guns
• Blaze of Glory
• The Stand (Prophecy)
• Lie of the Land
• A Legal Matter
• Unsafe Building
• We Are the Light
• The Chant Has Just Begun
• Better Scream
• Marching On