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3 Points / Joined 8 Aug 2018

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S?tackri9
9th Aug 2018		Live Music
Wishbone Ash @ Alexandra Palace		One of the bigger shows I went to see in the 70s - the Ally Pally was running a season of rock shows that week, and we chose this one because our favourites, Wishbone Ash, were headlining. The show started at about 2 p.m. but we got there early on a gloriously hot and sunny day. We'd read in the music papers that the Palace had been draped inside with huge parachute silks to try to improve the supposedly dreadful acoustics of the interior. After a while lounging on the sward, waiting for the doors to open, we heard the unmistakeable sound of WA drifting out of the doors - they were sound-checking and routining "Everybody Needs To Have A Friend" from their most recent album "Wishbone 4". We wandered in and listened for a couple of minutes, feeling incredibly privileged to have this backstage glimpse of the band, until asked to leave by the band's staff - all very courteous and polite. We could still hear them through the massive stage doors once they were closed. At about noon the doors were opened and DJ "Whispering" Bob Harris warmed up the audience with his favoured album tracks. I don't remember much about Fumble or Bedlam, but I did recognise McGuinness Flint because of their ex-Manfred Mann members and their hit "When I'm Dead and Gone". I was intrigued by the way the guitarist formed his barre chords using a C shape rather than the standard E chord pattern - I made a mental note to try that out when I next played my guitar at home... Climax Blues Band featured Haycock on eye-catching stainless steel coloured guitar - lots of slide and intense soloing, but nothing very original. Vinegar Joe featured Robert Palmer in his vest on guitar, and Elkie Brooks boasting about her joint smoking and promising (threatening?) to take off her red dress if we were a good audience. All rock star posturing, rather tiresome. By now I just wanted the Ash to come on - time was ticking, and the Greater London Council was completely intolerant of loud rock music within its boundaries after 11 p.m. They played a terrific show, featuring all the key songs from the four albums made by their original Powell/Turner/Turner/Upton lineup.
Andy Powell looked terrific in a white suit with red carnation - we loved it when our favourite musicians dressed sharp, too! Ted Turner wore one of his fabulous trademark shirts, and powered along on his lap-steel on the "Wishbone 4" numbers. Highlight for me was "Everybody Needs To Have A Friend" - a lovely melody, beautifully sung by Martin Turner, with Andy Powell playing out of his skin on his Flying V, quickly flicking to new pickup selections for each section of the song and ringing every ounce of emotion out of it. He showed utter mastery of the craft of playing an electric guitar that night - as jaw-dropping as a wonderful George Best goal...

S?tackri9
9th Aug 2018		Live Music
Status Quo @ New Theatre		I took my twin sister to see Quo at this New Theatre show in October 73. We'd been enjoying listening to "Hello" since its release, and had known about the band since their early days with songs like "Pictures Of Matchstick Men". By now they'd established their trade mark twelve bar boogie sound with its insistent chugging beat - great for headbanging! So I got prime seats in the stalls, close to the stage - big mistake! They bounced onstage and Rick Parfitt banged out a single chord to test he was plugged in - and set off an earthquake of volume that had my sister reeling... After just a couple of bars of "Caroline" we had retreated right to the emergency exit doors at the back of the theatre, happy to get some relief from the din. Slowly we got used to it and crept back down the aisle to regain our vacated seats. By the end we were both happily bopping at the front of the stage with everyone else, but it had not been an entirely entertaining evening, just because we couldn't cope with the unbelievable volume - indoors, remember... The band was unbelievably athletic, running across the stage, obviously pumped with adrenalin and who knows what else? It was non-stop! They played most of the "Hello" album and their big showstoppers. Great entertainers, real crowd pleasers - but OMG, that noise...

S?tackri9
9th Aug 2018		Live Music
Wishbone Ash @ Oxford Polytechnic		My first trip to see a real band, not just schoolkids mucking about - Wishbone Ash, Oxford Polytechnic, February 1972. I think the ticket cost 10/6 (52 1/2 pence). Up Headington Hill on a red double decker with my mates, hair newly combed down the middle like the Beatles in their White Album photos. I already had their first two albums, "Wishbone Ash" and "Pilgrimage", and to me they were guitar heroes whose twin lead sound was wonderfully musical and original. We sat down on the main hall wooden floor and listened to the DJ warming up the show through the PA - I remember Pink Floyd's "One Of These Days" featuring. Then Glencoe (support band) started up to lukewarm applause - an hour of electric piano noodling and aimless tunes that left us cold. We wanted the real stuff! Finally the house lights dimmed and those wonderful stacks of Orange amplifiers glowed their red lights into the darkness. We glimpsed the band walk on, unannounced - Andy Powell on the left with his Flying V, Martin Turner centre stage with his bass and Ted Turner on the right, sitting on a stool with an acoustic guitar strapped round his neck, Steve Upton on his drum riser behind. We weren't to know it, but the band was about to preview new songs from their still to be recorded new album, the legendary "Argus" that really broke them as a major act. Ted began to play wistful arpeggios on the acoustic, while Andy did something I didn't understand - his right hand brushed across the strings on his Flying V, but no sound came out of the PA at first. Perhaps his guitar lead was disconnected? Moments later, a wonderful washed chord flowed out of the speakers to enhance the sound of Ted's acoustic and Martin's singing - he was controlling the volume pot of his guitar with his little finger, creating an ethereal, almost Hawaiian sound. I later saw several other guitarists using this difficult skill, notably Roy Buchanan and Jan Akkerman of Focus. So this was the intro to "Time Was" - when the time came for the band to kick in to the main verse at full throttle, a roadie moved smartly onstage from the wings with Ted's Fender Stratocaster, Ted slipped off the acoustic and promptly hooked the Fender round his neck while Steve Upton filled the couple of bars gap with steady pounding. Slick! And also they were very loud - my ears were ringing after just a couple of minutes. Terrific! The band featured most of "Argus" that night, I think - I remember "Warrior/Throw Down The Sword" as an obvious standout tune for the future.
The rest was a set of favourites from the first two albums, not least the already legendary "Phoenix". Back home to Bicester, getting ready for A-levels, my rock virginity deliriously lost!

S?tackri9
8th Aug 2018		Live Music
Stackridge @ Oxford Polytechnic		Saw Stackridge perform at Christmas party '73 at Oxford Polytechnic in my first term at university, aged 19. I had enjoyed "Stackridge" and "Friendliness" and was delighted to hear they'd be playing so close to my neck of the woods. They were supported by, among others, one of the Bonzo Dog Doodah Band members with a set of electronic dummies that did crazy dances, during which one of the heads came off (all part of the act, I'm sure!) The band was clearly in transition - from memory, the line-up was something like Andy Cresswell Davies on drums (not Billy), James Warren on electro-acoustic six string, Mike Evans on vioin and I think the ex-Audience woodwind player was in the background. I don't remember Crun or Mutter being in the lineup, but I wasn't completely familiar with the band members at that time. They may have already released "Man In The Bowler Hat" by then, because I remember them playing "God Speed The Plough" pretty well, using keyboards for the orchestral parts. Mike Evans did a very funny "Laughing Policeman" spot - part of the very English humour that made the band popular throughout its career. They finished with an terrific jig which got everyone dancing - perhaps "Let There Be Lids" - then Jim apologised that they'd have to stop because they didn't know any more songs! After encoring "Lids" they finished for the night. Really good Christmas fun!



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