My old school biology folder circa 1974.
You'd be forgiven for thinking I wasn't very interested in biology.
The numbers in square brackets were my marks out of 10 for the gig.
* Means I actually remember the gig.
*(Aged 5) 13 Dec 1961 Russ Conway - Cyprus army base
"I was five when in December '61 dad took me to see a Russ Conway concert at the army base. In between songs I told dad he was smoking too much, and Conway looked round at us and agreed, much to the amusement of the audience. I doubt I'd have remembered the concert otherwise."
*1964? Barron Knights (Bertram Mill's Circus) Near Bromley?
In 1964 my parents took me to the circus (Bertram Mills maybe?) where the Barron Knights were on the bill. Not only were they the first band I ever saw, but they played parodies of Beatles tunes, along with take-offs of other hits of the day. Much more fun than the jugglers and flying trapeze artists, in the opinion of this eight year old.
*(Aged 12) 25th April 1969 Pentangle Fairfield Halls, Croydon
It wasn't until 1969 that I got to see my next live music, my mum agreeing to me and my next door neighbour Stephen seeing Pentangle (featuring John Renbourne, Bert Jansch and Jacqui McShee) at the nearby Fairfield Halls, Croydon. I was 12, and mum was good enough to drop us off, and pick us up afterwards, in her dad's Ford Anglia.
*31st May 1970 Traffic [8] & If [4] Fairfield Halls, Croydon
Again, with Stephen Coombes. If were a bit jazz rocky (did they release any albums? I guess they must have? ED: They did. Loads!) and Traffic were good, but not all that memorable as a live act.
*Jan 10th 1971 Uriah Heep [3] & Groundhogs [2] New Theatre, Bromley.
Stephen and I sat in the circle. There were lots of Orange amps and speakers on the stage, which looked pretty cool. Don't remember the Groundhogs at all, but remember Uriah Heep being so loud that I had ringing in my ears for weeks after. Possibly not ideal when you're fourteen, but I wasn't too bothered at the time. There was lots of greatcoats on display in the audience. It was embarrassing having short hair at that time, in those circles.
*28 March '72 Rory Gallagher [9] & Byzantium Oxford Town Hall - The PA caught fire during Gallagher's set. He was very good, I guess.
? Jo Berg Hawk University of Kent, Canterbury Darwin College (Free) No memory of this at all.
*4 April 1972 Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come & Ange Oxford Town Hall £1
Decent live act, with the syringe props etc. Ange's roadie kept saying "un, un" into the stage mics, and the audience starting grunting back, not knowing he was French. Or perhaps pretending not to know. Arthur Brown was ok, but the set only really caught fire when he played...Fire.
*21 or 22 July 1972 Joe Cocker [7] & Patto [6] Rainbow, Finsbury Park £1
Mainly remember having to walk most of the way to my mate's dad's flat in Chelsea after the show because we missed the last tube. Joe Cocker's set was pretty good though, I think.
*14 Oct 1972 Argent [4] & Flash [6] UKC Rutherford College 80p - I remember this one because I literally fell asleep during the fairly awful Argent set. I *think* Flash were better? Peter Bank's band. Argent were really one-hit-wonders. Hold Your Head Up.
It started at 11pm which was pretty scary when you were supposed to be in bed at school, expulsion being the punishment for not being where you were supposed to be. It was even more scary because two of the people I was with were tripping. Marked as only 2/10 (I was a bit to young to appreciate the MC5 maybe), but I still remember their opening number as if was yesterday, visually at least. The stage went black, then a strobe light came on and they careered around the stage while they played their thrashy opening number.
It certainly woke the hippies up. MC5 were ahead of their time. I wish I could see that one again.
1972/3 Trees [6], Martin Carthy [3], Sheila MacDonald [5] UKC Keynes College 20p
Trees had a track on Fill Your Head With Rock. I think Martin Carthy was the strongest performer, as he was the only one I vaguely remember. He sometimes stuck a finger in an ear while he was singing.
1972/3 Rare Bird [5] & Snake Eye [5] St Thomas's Hall, Canterbury 20p
Zero memory of this.
*22 April 1972? Juicy Lucy & Al Stewart UKC Darwin College (Free) -Couldn't get in so watched from outside through a gap in the curtains. Not vg view lol. Can remember Al Stewart's voice, and he sang A Small Fruit Song which was on Fill Your Head With Rock. Juicy Lucy were know for their hit Who Do You Love? They sounded quite good from outside.
*8 May 1973 Captain Beefheart [10] (+ Nick Pickett) Kent University, (Gymnasium) £1
This was one of my favourite ever gigs, and I remember it extremely well. Zoot Horn Rollo on guitar, straw hat 'n' all. And my chemistry teacher who was sitting in front of me was with a girl who wasn't his wife. Which meant I didn't get grounded or expelled. Beefheart can be a bit impenetrable (see Trout Mask Replica), but this was almost like a greatest hits set, and arguably all the better for it. Brilliant!
Setlist: Bass Solo, Suction Prints, Mirror Man, Low Yo Yo Stuff, Crazy Little Thing, I'm Gonna Booglarize You Baby, Electricity, Peon, King Bee/Sugar Mama, Click Clack, Abba Zaba, Nowadays A Woman's Gotta, Big Eyed Beans From Venus, Golden Birdies).
*1973 Nazareth + Robin Trower Band Leas Cliff Hall, Folkestone
Not much of a crowd, don't remember Robin Trower, but Nazareth went down ok. How we got there I have no idea. On the bus?
*14 Oct '73 John Martyn + Low Go Dancer (?) (+ John Peel who played all of the Tubular Bells album) Shaw Theatre, Euston
Stood next to John Martyn in the bar before the gig. He was with his mum and was being sweet. Great gig where he played a lot of the songs on Solid Air. Excellent!
*9 June 1973? Leo Sayer + Tempest UKC Elliot - Sayer played on a mini stage to the side of the audience, and when hardly anyone turned to face him he got really pissed off. Tempest were more my thing back then probably, although I only remember the drum solo. Which was very long. They may have been a bit disappointing, if I'm honest.
Suntreader UKC Elliot SCR Free
No memory of this.
*3 Feb 1973 Stealers Wheel Student Bar at Keynes or (Rutherford?) College, Kent University - Only went out that night because my school friend Mark Titcombe wanted to try Snakebite (Guinness and cider). We were enjoying a quiet evening when Stealer's Wheel set up in the bar and played for free. They were about to have the big hit (Stuck in the Middle with You) and were extremely good. Sadly they were also about to split up. There was hardly anyone there when they started by the set, but there was a bit of a crowd by the end. Really enjoyed this one.
4 Feb 1973 Ayup St Thomas's Hall (Backdoor) - free
No, don't remember this.
*10 Feb 1973? Claire Hamill + Albion Country Band UKC Elliot College 50p (got in free apparently) - I remember the Albion Country Band doing a Four Tops dance routine during one of the songs, which livened things up a bit. They were very good if you were a folk fan.
18 Feb 1973 Ian A Anderson (Kensfolk) - free
*24 Feb 1973 Stomu Yamashta Roundhouse 50p
Colourful and theatrical. Music was ok, but not really my thing.
*12 May 1974 Hatfield & The North & Robert Wyatt Gulbenkian Theatre, Canterbury [augmented for second set by Alan Gowen, Steve Miller, Lol Coxhill, Lyn Dobson, Jimmy Hastings, Jeremy Baines, The Northettes & Chris Cutler] - Excellent if you like that sort of thing, which I did. I *think* they played most of the songs from their first album. Quite a historic gig I suspect. Really enjoyed this one, and still have a soft spot for Hatfield & The North.
Squirrel [7] UKC Keynes College
No memory of this at all.
Lee Riders [5] Goring & Streatley Golf Club? Don't remember this! Southern US rockers, they had formed at Woodstock in 1970, but only a deal with If's management helped them land a record deal. They recorded an album in London and played a few gigs here and there, including a support slot on some of the Ziggy Stardust tour. But Goring & Streatley Golf Club? Maybe it was a local warm up gig or something.
30th Oct 1973 Caravan [8] + Gordon Giltrap [8] - Marlowe Theatre 50p - Can't believe I don't really remember this at all. I loved Caravan at the time. Perhaps I wrote the name in the book before the gig, but was unable to attend or something.
*3 Nov 1973 Santana [7] Empire Pool Wembley £1
Pretty good gig, but we were too far from the stage to really enjoy it. Would have been better in a smaller venue, or if I'd been down the front.
3 Dec 1973 Sunrise [3] UKC Elliot Dining room 85p
No memory of this.
5 Dec 1973 Isaac Allorry? Gillory?
Ditto
20 Dec 73 Jericho + Dr Marigold' Prescription UKC Rutherford 9p
Nope.
*73/74? Gary Moore Band Went with Simon Opie. I shouted 'Play something difficult!' after one particularly tortuously long and self indulgent guitar solo. Punk was on its way! [5]
None of the below were in the folder, they're just a few gigs I remember out of many:
*13 Nov 1976 John Cale (+The Boys) Oxford Poly
7 May 1976 David Bowie Wembley Empire Pool
01. Station To Station 02. Suffragette City 03. Fame 04. Word On A Wing 05. Stay
06. Waiting For The Man 07. Queen Bitch 08. Life On Mars? 09. Five Years 10. Panic In Detroit 11. Band Introduction – Changes 12. TVC15 13. Diamond Dogs
ENCORE 14. Rebel Rebel 15. The Jean Genie
Got a coach from Oxford to the gig. Sat four rows from the front. He pointed at me and the girl I was with during Changes. Didn't play Young Americans or Golden Years, my two favourites at that time.
Great gig though!
*26th March 1977 Siouxsie & The Banshees (+ The Slits) - The Roxy, Covent Garden. Was taken to the gig by my friend Mary and her boyfriend Gary, who was working as a chauffeur for a very successful model who lived on the Bishop's Avenue. He drove up to London in the model's pink Jag and then took us back to his flat where we had dinner. We then headed to the Roxy, and just missed the Slits set, unfortunately. I've written more about that night elsewhere in the blog. Almost life changing. Certainly life confirming.
*May/June 1977 Boomtown Rats Oxford Poly
Bob Geldof invite me and my friend Grant backstage after the gig and gave us some Boomtown Rats freebies. They weren't really a punk band. Quite a theatrical show somehow. It was decent, I guess.
I moved to London on 11th July 1977 and this was the first gig I went to after renting my first flat (England's Lane, Belsize Park):
*5 or 12 August '77 Squeeze The Brecknock, Camden Town
They were brilliant. Jools Holland was still on keyboards at this time.
*17 Jan '78 Electric Chairs/Adam and the Ants Dingwalls, Camden
'Audition Night', despite the fact that both were fairly well known. Preferred the Ants I suspect. Loved audition night, a quid to get in, booze half price before 7pm (I think).
*25 March '78 Johnny Thunders All Stars/Snivelling Shits - The Speakeasy, West End. The All Stars included Steve Jones and Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols.
Sid Vicious was there. Maybe with Nancy, I can't remember. Snivelling shites were quite good. I had their Can't Come single.
*30th April 1978 The Clash Anti Nazi League Rally, Victoria Park, Hackney. Went with the Clash's former soundman Mickey Foote, shortly after they sacked him for speeding up Clash City Rockers during the mastering of the single. I gave him and Mandy, a friend of my girlfriend at the time, a lift in my recently acquired Morris 1000 ex GPO van. Mickey asked me for a lift back to 'Rehearsal Rehearsals', after breaking up with Mandy in the van. He liked the van so much he offered to allow my band to rehearse at Rehearsals for free in exchange for me doing some work for him with the van. I once had to drive Dexy's midnight Runners to the studio in Chalk Farm, when they recorded their first single. I'd also do some occasional roadying or lighting/sound mixing for the Black Arabs and The Subway Sect.
To follow:
*4th or 5th May '78 Aswad 100 Club (Strummer rolled a spliff in my hand)
*Aug 1978 Dillinger The Music Machine, Camden
Went to the gig with Dread Lepke, who knew Dillinger. We ended up playing pinball with him.
*15 June 79 Madness Dublin Castle, Camden Their first proper gig. Knew Suggsy a bit at the time. This is one of those gigs that everybody claims to have attended, but I definitely did, honest!
*01/12/79 Dolly Mixtures/U2 Moonlight Club, Railway Hotel, West Hampstead
This was U2's first concert in England, and in fact their first concert outside of Ireland. We thought they were pretty old fashioned.
*31/12/79 Adam & The Ants / Black Arabs Electric Ballroom, Camden - Mayhem, because of NF skinheads. I was roadying for the Arabs
*06/01/80 Dexy's / Black Arabs Marquee
*27/28 March 80 Siouxsie & The Banshees / Subway Sect Music Machine, Camden - Did the lighting for the Sect.
*11/7/80 Members Moonlight Club, Railway Hotel, West Hampstead
*20/11/78 or 17/01/79? Local Operator/The Cure Moonlight Club, Railway Hotel, West Hampstead
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