As this was a precursor to my travelling I've included it here. It's not actually travelling as such but it was the first time I started getting out of my hometown to go to these gigs so I guess it's travelling on some sort of level.
Also on the bill were Inez and Charlie Foxx, The Mojos Mike Berry and the Innocents and Simon Scott and the Le Roys.
As with most of the concerts in the mid to late sixties my memory is vague so I really have no idea why I was going to concerts in another town at the age of fourteen. It was only on checking on-line dates at setlist.fm that I realised that this gig was so early. I'm guessing I must've got the money from the part time paper route job I had as a kid.
1965
March 8th 1965. Gene Vincent. Majestic Ballroom, Newport,
Monmouthshire .
Having attended the Rolling Stones concert in Cardiff the previous year and then this. Along with seeing The Pretty Things and
Cops and Robbers (also at the Majestic) around the same time was to be the start of a lifelong passion for going to rock concerts and seeing acts live that still continues to this day.
Date unknown 1965. The Pretty Things. Majestic Ballroom,
Newport, Monmouthshire .
August 2nd 1965. John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. Majestic Ballroom,
Newport, Monmouthshire .
December 12th 1965: The Beatles. Cardiff Capitol Theatre.
Having left school a few months previously and starting work I couldn't think of anything better than concerts to spend my new found wealth on even though at the time I wasn't a real Beatles fan.
I have read reports that the concert was sold out months in advance which is rubbish. That was not the way tickets were sold back then. Queue, pay and get in if you were early enough. It was as simple as that. Nothing was ever pre-booked in those days. You simply turned up with your money and stood in the queue. That was the same for all the concerts I went to right up until David Bowie in 1973. Ticketmaster and companies like that simply didn't exist in the sixties.
For the record, this was to be their last proper concert in the UK excluding the Apple rooftop performance.
1966
May 11th 1966. Bob Dylan. Cardiff Capitol Theatre.
1967
April 26th 1967: The Walker Brothers. Cardiff Capitol Theatre.
Amen Corner were one of the house bands at our local, the The Kensington Court Club and there was a big buzz when they recorded their first single Gin House for the UK TV show Top Of The Pops in Manchester on a Tuesday and it was screened at 19:00 on the Thursday. As soon as the show was over everybody who knew them rushed to The Ken as it was known to congratulate them.
July 29th 1967: Pink Floyd: Alexandra Palace, London.
This could possibly be the concert on April the 29th though unlikely as that would have been so close to the Walker Brothers gig.
My first gig outside the local vicinity of Newport/Cardiff.
I can vividly remember going to Carnaby Street the next day and picking up some clobber from the garbage cans outside the shops. It was a great way to get a new wardrobe with brand new shirts and jackets being thrown out if the shop owners thought they'd go out of fashion soon.
November 23rd 1967: Pink Floyd. Sophia Gardens, Cardiff.
November 1967: Bee Gees. Alexander's, Newport.
This was also the venue that Police played their first gig in 1977 supporting Cherry Vanilla to an audience of only about thirty.
1968
June 29th 1968: Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, Tyrannasaurus Rex & Roy Harper. Hyde Park, London.
July 7th 1968: Taste, John Mayall, Donovan, Champion Jack Dupree, Tim Rose and Duster Bennett. Woburn Music Festival.
This was a two day event starting on the 6th and for whatever reason we missed the first day that included Jimi Hendrix, Family, Roy Harper, Al Stewart, Tyrannosaurus Rex and others.
1969
May 23rd 1969: Fleetwood Mac, Jethro Tell and others. Croeso Blues Festival, Abergavenny, Wales.
This was actually in a barn where the seats were bales of hay. The stars and audience all mingled together.
June 3rd 1969: Mothers of Invention. Colston Hall, Bristol.
June 28th 1969: Led Zeppelin, Blodwyn Pig, The Edgar Broughton Band, Chicken Shack, Colosseum, John Mayall, The Nice, Taste, Ten Years After and more. Bath Festival.
Led Zeppelin turned down the opportunity to play at Woodstock to play this gig. This was also the first time I met their singer Robert Plant as he rode through the audience on a motor bike.
June 7th 1969: Blind Faith, Edgar Broughton, Donovan, Richie Havens and Third Ear Band. Hyde Park, London.
July 5th 1969: The Rolling Stones, King Crimson, Family, Roy Harper and more. Hyde Park, London.
August 4th 1969: The Who. Bath Pavillion.
My brother had just bought a car so we used the concert as an excuse to take the wheels for a spin.
August 30th 1969: The Who, King Crimson, The Moody Blues, The Pretty Things, Joe Cocker, The Edgar Broughton Band and others. Isle of Wight Festival.
August 31st 1969: Bob Dylan, The Band, Richie Havens and others. Isle of Wight Festival.
The ultimate! Until we got moved on from where we were sitting in the VIP/press area directly behind John and Yoko. We still managed to stay in the press area though.
September 20th 1969: Edgar Broughton, Al Stewart, Soft Machine and Quintessence. Hyde Park, London.
December 2nd 1969: Delaney & Bonnie. Colston Hall, Bristol.
This was truly wonderful as we had access all areas. This is another episode of my life covered in Tangents. And by the wonders of modern technology, here's the concert to listen to.
December 6th 1969: Pink Floyd, East of Eden, Pentangle and others. Afan Lido, Port Talbot, Wales.
December 12th 1969: Yes. The In-Place. Newport, Monmouthshire.
This venue was later to be renamed The Stowaway and is where The Sex Pistols played in 1976 and 1977.
1970
January 8th 1970: Led Zeppelin. Colston Hall, Bristol.
February 5th 1970: Pink Floyd. Sophia Gardens, Cardiff.
April 12th 1970: Screaming Lord Sutch. The Country Club, Hampstead.
This was a small gig with lots of famous people attending. As there was no dressing room as such everybody mingled together. Keith Moon (The Who), Noel Redding (ex Jimi Hendrix Experience) and Ritchie Blackmore (Deep Purple) amongst others were there to join him on stage. The concert was eventually released officially in 2005 and most can be found to listen to on this YouTube link.
May 22nd 1970. Black Sabbath. The Institute of Blackwood, Monmouthshire.
With necks full of speed we walked the 11 miles back to Newport after the concert not getting back until around seven in the morning. Though I can't remember now, we must have had a quick breakfast before going straight to The Hollywood Festival. Tiredness didn't come into the equasion back then. Simply drop a few more amphetamines and we were fit for another eight hours when (just as the come down was kicking in) we'd replace the speed with acid (LSD). And that's how those weekends away continued.
May 23rd 1970: Jose Feliciano, Mungo Jerry, Ginger Baker's Air Force, Mungo Jerry, Screaming Lord Sutch, Tony Joe White and others. Hollywood Festival Newcastle Under Lyme.
This was the concert that broke Mungo Jerry and on the strength of their success were given another spot on the next days bill.
May 24th 1970. Black Sabbath, Colosseum, Grateful Dead, Mungo Jerry, Traffic, Hollywood Festival Newcastle Under Lyme.
June 27th 1970: Pink Floyd, Hawkwind, Colosseum, Steppenwolf, It's A Beautiful Day and others. Bath Festival.
June 28th 1970: Led Zeppelin, John Mayall, Santana, Johnny Winter, Frank Zappa, Canned Heat, Donovan, Hawkwind, Hot Tuna and others. Bath Festival.
June 29th 1970: The Byrds, Country Joe, Dr John, Jefferson Airplane and others. Bath Festival.
July 24th 1970: The Pretty Things, Stray and others. Phun City Festival, Worthing, Surrey.
Free were also supposed to play on the opening night but refused unless they got paid up front which didn't happen as the festival was a financial disaster.
July 25th 1970: MC5, Kevin Ayers, The Pink Fairies, Edgar Broughton and others. Phun City Festival, Worthing, Surrey.
MC5 were the reason we went as we were huge fans. Also at this festival was a local kid helping to set up the stage and the likes who as payment was given a short spot on stage. His name was Leo Sayer.
This festival is covered extensively in my novel Tangents.
July 26th 1970: Michael Chapman, Pete Brown, Mungo Jerry, Quiver, Sonia (later to be the lead singer with Curved Air) and others. Phun City Festival, Worthing, Surrey.
1971
April 1st 1971: Rory Gallagher. The Corn Exchange, Devizes.
May 18th 1971: King Crimson . Bristol Colstol Hall.
May 24th 1971: T Rex. Colston Hall, Bristol.
May 29th 1971: Pink Fairies. Paget Rooms, Penarth, Wales.
June 11th 1971: Van Der Graaf Generator. St Woolos Cathederal Hall, Newport, Monmouthshire.
June 14th 1971: Curved Air. Bristol Colston Hall.
June 16th 1971: Rory Gallagher. Barry Memorial Hall.
July 17th 1971: Rory Gallagher. Barry Memorial Hall.
1972
January 1972: Mountain. The Rainbow, Finsbury Park, London.
This could possibly have been November 1971 as the band played several gigs at the Rainbow around this time.
January 8th 1972: Barclay James Harvest, Paget Rooms, Penarth, Wales.
March 5th 1972: Jethro Tull. Colston Hall, Bristol.
May 4th 1972: Status Quo. Kensington Court Club, Newport Monmouthshire.
One of the guys I went with started a riot at this gig. The guy next to him was playing an air guitar so my mate said "'ere mate. That looks like a good one. Can I have a go on it"? At that the air guitarist responded with "are you taking the piss" and a fight started and the concert was temporarily stopped.
May 26th 1972: Rory Gallagher, Alexis Korner and others. Great Western Festival, Bardney.
May 27th 1972: Rory Gallagher (again), Faces, Roxy Music, Nazareth, Wishbone Ash, Strawbs, and others. Great Western Festival, Bardney.
This was one of several concerts I saw Rory Gallagher at though I can't place the others. Same goes for The Groundhogs. Saw them loads but damned if I can remember where.
May 27th 1972: The Faces, Wishbone Ash, Roxy Music (first ever gig), Nazareth and others. Great Western Festival, Bardney.
May 28th 1972: The Beach Boys, Monty Python, Slade, Status Quo, Genesis, Spencer Davis, Incredible String band and others. Great Western Festival, Bardney.
May 29th 1972: Humble Pie, Joe Cocker, Atomic Rooster, Edgar Winter, Don McLean, Sha Na Na, Status Quo, Sutherland Brothers, Vinegar Joe, and others. Great Western Festival, Bardney.
I seem to recall that we may have headed for home due to the bad weather after the Sunday 28th offerings. The Festival started on the Friday (26th) with amongst others Rory Gallagher but I don't think we arrived until the Saturday. On saying that though, it seems inconceivable that we would travel so far for a four day festival and yet stay for only two. The drugs have a lot to answer for when it comes to memory loss.
July 27th 1972: Roxy Music. Kensington Court Club, Newport, Monmouthshire.
October 12th 1972: Budgie. Kensington Court Club, Newport, Monmouthshire.
October 21st 1972: New York Dolls. The Troubadour, London.
I was playing as support act to a band called Albert and in the intermission a group of long hairs who'd just arrived from the USA asked if they could borrow the bands equipment to play a few songs. That was the first time the New York Dolls played in Europe. Eric Clapton and Pete Townshend were in propping up the bar and I mentioned it to Eric on a subsequent meeting but he couldn't remember it.
November 17th 1972: Idle Race. Kensington Court Club, Newport, Monmouthshire.
December 6th 1972: Groundhogs. Memorial Hall, Barry, Glamorgan, South Wales.
This was one of several concerts I saw The Groundhogs at though I can't place the others.
November 17th 1972: Stealers Wheel. Kensington Court Club, Newport, Monmouthshire.
1973
January 13th 1973. Slade. Weston Pavillion.
A particularly memorable gig as I also played on the bill.
May 28th 1973. Loudon Wainwright lll. Queen Elizabeth Hall.
June 18th 1973. David Bowie. Bristol Colston Hall.
July 15th 1973: Canned Heat, The Kinks, Lindisfarne, Sly and the Family Stone, Joe Cocker, The Edgar Winter Group, Atomic Rooster and others. The Great Western Festival, Bardney, England.
1974
September 14th 1974: Travel to London for a concert at Wembley Stadium starring Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, The Band, Joni Mitchel and others. Joni joined CSN&Y for Suite Judy Blue Eyes.
1975
January 31st 1975: Leonard Cohen, Toronto Massey hall.
June 21st 1975: Elton John, The Beach Boys, The Eagles and others. Wembley Stadium
September 1975: Following Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin's singer) having a car accident on the Mediterranean island of Rhodes he was flown to the UK and subsequently airlifted from London to
Jersey for tax purposes. The rest of the band followed a few days later. Initially they stayed at the house owned by a school friend of Robert's called Jim Dudley. As Jim was a drinking partner of mine it was inevitable that I'd get to meet the band members which I did several times.
December 9th 1975: Led Zeppelin's bassist and drummer join resident pianist Norman Hale on stage at Behan's Night Club ending with "maybe we'll bring the rest of the band next week". Norman was a former session pianist who knew John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page from working together in the past.
Around this time fellow Atlantic recording band Bad Company were also in Jersey as tax exiles being between tours and keeping company with Led Zeppelin though Bad Company didn't follow suit by playing whilst there.
December 16th 1975: True to their word, Led Zeppelin joined Norman Hale again on stage at Behan's Night Club to perform just over an hour of mostly rock'n'roll classics. The set started with Robert Plant sitting on a stool with his crutches by his side but after a few numbers there was a roar of approval from the audience as he cast them aside to sing standing.
December 17th 1975: Business as usual at Behan's with the British pop band Love Affair topping the bill. I didn't go.
1976
With a few exceptions nothing ever happened in Jersey. I was to be deprived of live music for the best part of the next thirty-five years.
1977
December 22nd 1977: I return to Newport for my annual visit to friends and family.
December 23rd 1977: I see the Sex Pistols at The Stowaway club.
1978
June 1978: Bob Dylan. Earls Court, London.
I went to two of the six shows he did there. Don't know the dates but one night I was sat a few rows back from TV interviewer Michael Parkinson who arrived with comedian Billy Connolly.
1980
July 18th or 19th 1980: Elvis Costello. Fort Regent, Jersey, Channel Islands, UK
One of the rare occasions when Jersey hosted a decent headlining act. Dave Edmunds and Rockpile were the support act.
1981
June 1981: Bob Dylan. Earls Court, London.
Again, I went to two of the six shows.
1982
Date unknown 1982: Meat Loaf, Fort Regent, Jersey.
Around about this time I saw Adam Ant there too. That was just for the hell of it though.
1984
July 7th 1984: Bob Dylan. Wembley Stadium, London.
Big buzz at the end when Carlos Santana (support), Van Morrison and Chryssie Hynde of the Pretenders joined him on stage. Chrissie playing harmonica!
1985
August 1985: Two week holiday in Ibiza and meet members of Queen.
Not sure of the date but it was just after Live Aid. I was staying in Santa Eulalia and got talking to a guy who it turned out was Joe Strummer, from the Clash. This in turn led to me meeting and spending a night out with Bob Geldof, Queen's Freddy Mercury and Roger Taylor, Jason Bonham (son of the late Led Zeppelin drummer) and actually being with the Queen members when they got up on stage to do an impromptu set of rock'n'roll songs in a pub. READ MORE.
The concert featured all the big Australian performers of the time including INXS, Jimmy Barnes, Mental As Anything and the Divinyls.
After the show we go to a night club.
March 1st or 2nd 1987: Meat Loaf, Wembley Arena, London.
July 3rd 1987. David Bowie, Parc de la Courneuve, (just outside) Paris.
A very weird gig in the middle of a field. No atmosphere.
July 4th 1987. U2, Hippodrome De Longchampe, Paris.
1988
March 26th 1988: Marillion. Fort Regent, Jersey, Channel Islands, UK
One of the rare occasions when Jersey hosted a decent headlining act.
October 8th 1988: Fly to London for the second of Jean Michel-Jarre's Destination Docklands Concerts.
October 9th 1988: Attend the second of Jean Michel-Jarre's Destination Docklands Concerts.
The ticket is dated the 24th September but the concert was postponed a few times due to legal challenges against noise pollution.
1990
July 13th 1990: Fly to Paris for the next day's Jean Michel-Jarre concert.
July 13th 1990: Fly to Paris for the next day's Jean Michel-Jarre concert.
1992
December 18th 1992: Keith Richards and the Ex-Pensive Winos: Town and Country Club, London.
This was Keith Richards birthday and when given a bouquet of flowers from someone in the audience he responded "I feel like Maria Callas".
1993
June 19th 1993: INXS. Inside the battlements, St Malo, France.
1995
July 1st 1995. The Rolling Stones Voodoo Lounge Tour, Hippodrome De Longchampe, Paris
Bon Jovi were the support act.
1996
August 17/18th 1996. Paul Weller, Pulp and more. V Festival Chelmsford.
1997
August 16/17th 1997. Foo Fighters, Stereophonics,Beck, Prodigy and more. V Festival Chelmsford.
1998
August 15/16th 1998. Robbie Williams, Green Day, The Verve, Stereophonics, P J Harvey, Texas, Fun Loving Criminals and more. V Festival Chelmsford.
2003
August 27th 2003: Fly to London to see the Rolling Stones at the 2,000 capacity Astoria.
This is and will remain until the day I die the highest price I have ever paid for a concert ticket.
2004
September 10th 2004: Elton John. Victoria Stadium, Gibraltar.
Whilst on holiday in Spain I take a bus to Gibraltar for the day not realising it was a national holiday to mark the 300th Anniversary of it's independance.
As it happened almost everywhere was open and as an added bonus Elton John was being flown in to play at the evening's concert at the 9,000 capacity Victoria Stadium. I easily obtained a ticket and stayed overnight.
2005
July 1st 2005: Fly to London for the Live 8 concert in Hyde Park.
July 2nd 2005: Attend Live 8 concert in Hyde Park, London.
Having missed out on Live Aid in 1985 I made certain that didn't happen again, paying way too much for the free (ticket only) concert.
2006
July 1st 2006: Roger Waters, Hyde Park London.
July 2nd 2006: The Who, Hyde Park, London.
2009
June 27th 2009: Neil Young, Hyde Park London.
June 28th 2009: Bruce Springsteen, Hyde Park, London.
2011
May 14th 2011: Roger Waters, O2 London.
Two nights earlier he was was joined by the remaining members Dave Gilmour and Nick Mason for Comfortably Numb.
Missing concerts to be added:
Kensington Court Club: Chicken Shack, Vinegar Joe, Dr John, Long John Baldry (late 73 or early 74)
Newport Rugby Club: Love Sculpture.
Bristol Corn Exchange: Several big name gigs.
Several Edgar Broughton gigs.
Several Roy Harper gigs.
Several Rory Gallagher gigs.
Top Rank, Cardiff. Ten Years After. Date unknown.
Vanity Fayre
PJ Proby
Nashville Teens
West Park Pavillion, Jersey. Blondie.
Many thanks to
to setlist.fm for
filling in so many blanks for me.
