Historic Gigs
As I have written in the very first blog - Scattered Recollections of Early Days - there have been gigs too numerous to count over the past half a century. Some have lingered long in the memory, others lost in the mists of time. Eventually I hope to do the occasional write up of some of these. I suspect that this will be a project for winters evenings. For now I am going to populate this page with a few lists. In no particular order these are:
Festivals (including one day events) I can recall attending - there may be more!
Bands or artists I wish I'd seen
Bands or artists I've seen more than a handful of times
Festivals (including one day events) I've attended
Most memorable gigs (these are the ones I hope to do write-ups on)
Bands or artists I wish I'd seen
..... and those I wish I hadn't
Current favourites - tastes, I find do constantly change
Biggest & smallest
Current favourites - tastes, I find do constantly change
Biggest & smallest
Bands or artists I've seen more than a handful of times
The top five are:
- Fairport Convention
- The Who
- Danny & the Champions of the World
- Richard Thompson
- The Edgar Broughton Band / Edgar Broughton (solo)
Runners up:
- Bellowhead
- Neil Young
- The Epstien
- Brickwork Lizzards
- Stornoway
These will I suspect be expanded when the old memory banks kick in, but there is nothing else that currently springs to mind.
Festivals (including one day events) I can recall attending - there may be more!
- Stones in the Park 1969
- Other Hyde Park (free shows between 69 & 72)
- Isle of Wight 1970
- Cropredy (more than a dozen times between the late 70's and recent years)
- Blackbushe 1978
- Cambridge Folk Festival (several times in the late 70's early 80's)
- Finsbury Park Fleadh 2001
- Folk by the Oak (Twice I think, maybe 3 times)
- Hyde Park London Calling (Twice, both with Neil Young)
- Towersey (Twice or is it 3?)
- Truck (3 times)
- Wallingford Bunkfests (Numerous)
- Ramblin' Roots Revue 2017, 2018
Most memorable gigs (these are the ones I hope to do write-ups on)
Fairport - Watford Town Hall
Fairport - Regents Park
Neil Young - Finsbury Park
The Who - Civic Hall, Dunstable
Johnny Winter - Watford Town Hall
Edgar Broughton Band - The 100 Club
REM - Southampton Rosebowl
John Otway - The Bully
Rolling Stones - Hyde Park
House Concert - Edgar Broughton, Fyfield Wick
Fairport - Regents Park
Neil Young - Finsbury Park
The Who - Civic Hall, Dunstable
Johnny Winter - Watford Town Hall
Edgar Broughton Band - The 100 Club
REM - Southampton Rosebowl
John Otway - The Bully
Rolling Stones - Hyde Park
House Concert - Edgar Broughton, Fyfield Wick
Bands or artists I wish I'd seen
Fleetwood Mac (with Peter Green)
Led Zeppelin - although I did once see Robert Plant perform a Zepplin based set with Fairport @ Cropredy
The Small Faces (or anything with Steve Marriott in it)
The Jam
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Blind Faith - Hyde Park concert - I was there - in London, a mile away and didn't know about it till later.
CS&N or CSNY
And a few I still hope to see:
The Jayhawks
Wilco
The Felice Brothers
Led Zeppelin - although I did once see Robert Plant perform a Zepplin based set with Fairport @ Cropredy
The Small Faces (or anything with Steve Marriott in it)
The Jam
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Blind Faith - Hyde Park concert - I was there - in London, a mile away and didn't know about it till later.
CS&N or CSNY
And a few I still hope to see:
The Jayhawks
Wilco
The Felice Brothers
..... and those I wish I hadn't
Top of the list goes to probably the only gig I've ever walked out of. The venue was Watford Town Hall around 1970. Something in the back of my mind tells me it was a heavy blues band called Steamhammer although I might be wrong on that count and maybe doing them a disservice. I do remember that it was a complete and utter tuneless din however. The only thing that tells me I might be wrong with the name is that a Google search for them reveals that their guitarist was one Martin Quittenton, co-writer with Rod Stewart of the exquisite Maggie May and You Wear it Well. I'll probably never know unless someone corrects my recollection.
A gig that annoyed me I recall at the time was my only opportunity to see the Kinks (although I've since been told that I may have also seen them at Watford Town Hall). It was at either the Sundown in Edmonton or maybe the Finsbury Park Astoria - the date being around 1973 to 75. Obviously I've always rated Ray Davies as a songwriter - one of the best this country has produced, but a bit of respect for his audience would help. There must have been a support act I assume otherwise it would have been a very short evening as when the Kinks came on, they played a handful of songs and were gone. They barely made it to 30 minutes, the result being that I've never bothered trying to see them (or him) again. I treat it as his loss!!
Dennis Locorriere (him of Doctor Hook) at Cropredy about 10 years ago - I don't know what it was, but I just found him very very irritating.
That's probably enough on that subject............
A gig that annoyed me I recall at the time was my only opportunity to see the Kinks (although I've since been told that I may have also seen them at Watford Town Hall). It was at either the Sundown in Edmonton or maybe the Finsbury Park Astoria - the date being around 1973 to 75. Obviously I've always rated Ray Davies as a songwriter - one of the best this country has produced, but a bit of respect for his audience would help. There must have been a support act I assume otherwise it would have been a very short evening as when the Kinks came on, they played a handful of songs and were gone. They barely made it to 30 minutes, the result being that I've never bothered trying to see them (or him) again. I treat it as his loss!!
Dennis Locorriere (him of Doctor Hook) at Cropredy about 10 years ago - I don't know what it was, but I just found him very very irritating.
That's probably enough on that subject............
Current live favourites - tastes, I find do constantly change though
Case Hardin
The August List
Richard Thompson
Danny & the Champs/Bennett,Wilson,Poole
Biggest & smallest
At the time, the biggest event I had attended was the Stones in the Park free festival on 5 July 1969. There are various estimates reported in the press over the following days, of the number of people who were there ranging from 250,000 to 500,000. My guess would be that it was nearer to the lower figure, but even so an impressive crowd. That figure was roundly trumped over the August Bank Holiday weekend the following year when I was part of the crowd of between 500,000 and 600,000 who pitched up on Afton Down at the third and largest yet, Isle of Wight festival. This certainly matched and probably exceeded the legendary Woodstock of the previous year in the USA.
The smallest event in terms of numbers of paying customers that I can recall was to see two duos, The Black Feathers and Wednesdays Wolves in 2016 at the Friends Meeting House on St Giles in Oxford. Including the band members and the promoters there were less than 20 people in the room, so I guess that just 12 of us had paid to get in. There have also been a few occasions at festivals where I've not bothered with the big acts on the larger stages and stood and enjoyed one guy and a guitar playing to a handful of people, but I guess those don't really count. There was one such occasion however that was memorable. I think it was about 2010 and i'd been given a free pass to get into Truck by someone with connection to a performer who was on. I'd not gone along for the whole weekend but was keen to see Gary Louris & Marc Olsen performing as a duo without the rest of the Jayhawks so nipped out on the Sunday evening. Their set was in a small side tent and while the crowds were leaping about to Supergrass on the main stage I stood with around 15 others including "whispering" Bob Harris and listened to their beautiful harmonies. The band had been given a rider of bottles of beer which they duly handed out to the assembled "crowd", nearly everyone got one.
Biggest & smallest
At the time, the biggest event I had attended was the Stones in the Park free festival on 5 July 1969. There are various estimates reported in the press over the following days, of the number of people who were there ranging from 250,000 to 500,000. My guess would be that it was nearer to the lower figure, but even so an impressive crowd. That figure was roundly trumped over the August Bank Holiday weekend the following year when I was part of the crowd of between 500,000 and 600,000 who pitched up on Afton Down at the third and largest yet, Isle of Wight festival. This certainly matched and probably exceeded the legendary Woodstock of the previous year in the USA.
The smallest event in terms of numbers of paying customers that I can recall was to see two duos, The Black Feathers and Wednesdays Wolves in 2016 at the Friends Meeting House on St Giles in Oxford. Including the band members and the promoters there were less than 20 people in the room, so I guess that just 12 of us had paid to get in. There have also been a few occasions at festivals where I've not bothered with the big acts on the larger stages and stood and enjoyed one guy and a guitar playing to a handful of people, but I guess those don't really count. There was one such occasion however that was memorable. I think it was about 2010 and i'd been given a free pass to get into Truck by someone with connection to a performer who was on. I'd not gone along for the whole weekend but was keen to see Gary Louris & Marc Olsen performing as a duo without the rest of the Jayhawks so nipped out on the Sunday evening. Their set was in a small side tent and while the crowds were leaping about to Supergrass on the main stage I stood with around 15 others including "whispering" Bob Harris and listened to their beautiful harmonies. The band had been given a rider of bottles of beer which they duly handed out to the assembled "crowd", nearly everyone got one.
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