...at Bedford Corn Exchange.
Although I was born in Derby, I spent most of my childhood and then adolescence in a town called Bletchley, about 50 miles north of London, in the very north of
the county of Buckinghamshire.
With the
advent of the railways and then the establishment of the brickworks in the
19th century, Bletchley had grown from a village into a small town, and
it expanded even further after the Second World War, when it eventually became a designated London overspill area, with businesses relocating there into new premises,
and lots of houses needing to be built for the workers.
So
it was to Bletchley that we went to live in the mid 1950s - a nondescript
place, with a cinema, a dance hall, a swimming pool, a small shopping
centre and, very quickly, swathes of new housing estates which sprawled
haphazardly over what used to be farmland. The whole Bletchley area and lots of other nearby towns and villages would eventually be absorbed into the new city of Milton Keynes - population currently about 270 000.
Bletchley town centre c1965
Ask
anyone what they know about Bletchley and you might get a few people citing the
top secret WWII cypher centre in Bletchley Park. This was where the German Enigma
code was cracked - a success which was pivotal in the struggle for the eventual Allied
victory. You might also get someone telling you that it’s the home of
the world famous Marshall Amplification factory - an interesting story in itself, but one for
another day, perhaps.
As a
teenager, recently bitten by the music and guitar bug, there was a burgeoning local
music scene to explore, but if you wanted to see more “famous” bands, you had to
travel a little further afield, in spite of the local dance hall occasionally putting
on some well known acts - including the Stones in 1964. I was 14 when I first started going to gigs but I’d never have been allowed to go to a local one at the hall.
Fortunately,
a local coach (bus) company began to put on trips to venues in other towns. They
advertised in the local paper and listed forthcoming gigs, quoting a
price which included coach fare and gig ticket.
For
some reason, it was OK with my parents for me to go to a gig out of town on the
coach. I guess they thought as it was “organised”, it was safe. Looking back, I'm amazed that they let a 14 year old kid go to see a band in a town about 20 miles away.
But they did!
But they did!
Anyway,
on September 10th 1966, I found myself on a coach with some of my
school friends on the way to my first big gig - The Who at Bedford Corn
Exchange!
Bedford Corn Exchange
Corn Exchanges
were built in many large towns in the 19th century as places in which
to buy and sell grain of all sorts. The one at Bedford was quite large,
having also been planned to serve the town as a concert hall and community centre. I’d
actually played there myself when I was younger - about 8 - as part of a recorder
ensemble at a schools music festival.
To
put this Who gig into context, they’d only made one album, “My
Generation” up to then and “I’m a Boy” was at number one in the Melody
Maker chart (but only number two in the nationals). So, this was
pretty much a “small” gig, but with the band charting regularly and poised to tip over into the
big time. Indeed, they'd soon cut their UK tour short and head off to the States.
Promo film for "I'm a Boy"
The gig itself? A bit of a blur, to be frank - this was 56 years ago, after all. However, a few memories remain…
First
of all, the crush of the crowd - my first experience of anything like
that. Then there was the volume - twin Marshall stacks (about to be made in my home town a year later!) at full
chat. I’d never heard anything so loud.
The Who at the Pier Pavilion, Felixstowe, Suffolk - just two days before I saw them!
Of
course, being a budding guitarist, my attention was mostly trained on
Pete Townsend and there was also the expectation of a guitar being smashed, of course. Towards the
end of the gig, a roadie appeared on stage, took Townshend’s
Rickenbacker off him and handed him another. Townshend flipped it over and you
could see that the back was broken and held together with Meccano strips.
He stuck his finger through one of the gaps in the wood and was rewarded with a high
pitched farting noise which was absolutely deafening.
Meccano - very similar to the US Erector construction toy
Whatever he was
doing didn’t seem to matter much one way or the other, as the band almost immediately crashed into “My Generation”.
Inevitably, and to the crowd's delight, the Rick got smashed and I doubt a spare “sacrificial”
guitar for the next gig could have been salvaged very easily from what
was left.
Did they play well? I honestly can't remember and would it really have mattered if they hadn't? It was all about just being there,,,the music, the crowd, the volume and the sheer spectacle of it all!
So, that was
it. My first big gig. A great one to start with, and the first of many, but the few memories which are
left of the Who at Bedford Corn Exchange are amongst the most precious.
As for the Who, I lost interest in them as an album band with "Tommy", although I liked many of their subsequent singles. And Pete Townshend? If ever there's someone who should have taken Zappa's advice to "Shut up 'n' play yer guitar", it's Pete.
Of course, there's going to be a question in the comments below - but it's a very obvious and very easy one!
If you hadn't already guessed, the question du jour is - what was the first gig you went to that featured a well-known act? Feel free to interpret that as widely as possible!
ReplyDeleteMy parents dragged me to my first concert, in March 1967, to see Glen Campbell (one of my mom's favorites) with the Four Freshmen. I turned 12 a few months later and on Aug 3, 1967, my friend Steve & I attended our first show without parental supervision (although my dad waited in the car in the parking lot). A triple bill headlined by Herman's Hermits, with The Who, and the Blues Magoos as support. I knew all three bands: I had picture sleeve 45's of Pipe Dream and Happy Jack, and my sister had Herman's Greatest Hits lp. My memories of the night are hazy -- The Magoos had their neon-light suits, while the Hermits had nothing but a few hit songs. The Who was loud & alive, Pete wore his Union Jack jacket, clouds of smoke rose to the high ceiling from a smashed amplifier during My Generation. Wow, this is great. After my mom died 5 years ago, I was contacted by my old friend Steve, who I probably hadn't spoken to since the late 60's. One of his first questions was "Do you remember that concert we went to?"
ReplyDeleteFirst gig 1978, I'm 15, I have 3rd row centre seats to Whitesnake touring their just released first album. Me and my mate wait in anticipation for the support group, who were unknown to us at the time. Magnum came on stage and the singer had silver trousers on, but I remember the sound of the bass guitar being so powerful, I thought they were really great.
ReplyDeleteAt the interval most of the audience went to the bar, we just waited for Whitesnake. When they arrived on stage I was surprised that Jon Lord of Deep Purple was in the band, he had joined a few weeks earlier, they were superb. My only complaint was that after a Deep Purple song was played all the hairies and bikers ran to the front, but it was all very exciting. At future gigs at this lovely theatre I was waiting to run to the front myself.
My only Who gig was on the Face Dances tour March 1981, at a small venue for The Who at Poole Arts Centre. In those pre internet days you had to go to the venue to get a ticket or send a stamped addressed envelope with a cheque or postal order to cover the cost. The tickets went on sale on a freezing Sunday morning in November 1980, I decided to get in the queue early, but there were hundreds of people there already, two hours later I had my tickets. Oh, by the way the booking fee had not been invented yet, because a few retired ladies are much more efficient and cheaper than a computer!
ReplyDeleteThe gig is a bit of a blur, but I remember when Won’t Get Fooled Again was played these super bright and very hot lights came on.
When The Who played Sunday night headline spot at Glastonbury Festival in 2007 I was wet and exhausted after five days there, and decided to go home a few hours before they came on stage. It had been raining all day, and I thought I might catch some of their set on TV when I got home. Thirty minutes later tent in car, slippery muddy exit, on my way home, and arrived home to see their set on the BBC (and it was still raining there). That was my last time at Glasto.
The first major concert I saw was The Rolling Stones at Carnegie Hall, in 1964. I was seventeen and still in high school. My companions for the show were my friends Denise "The Grease" and Simone. My parents were concerned about me going into Manhattan, so I lied, and told them that Simone’s older brother who was twenty-three was also going. The show started at 2:30 in the afternoon, and local radio DJ “Murray the K” hosted the show. There were three for four opening acts, the only one I remember was Patti LaBelle and the Blue Belles. The show was basically teenage girls screaming at the Stones.
ReplyDeleteIt was also the first time I got high because Denise "The Grease" stole three Dexamyl pills from her mother. Dexamyl was a mix of amphetamine and barbiturate, so the barbiturate was meant to counter the 'jittery' effects of the amphetamine, and the amphetamine was meant to counter the sleep-inducing effect of the barbiturate, so basically a “Speedball”. We also smoked a lot of cigarettes. The next day, my voice was hoarse from cigarettes and screaming.
Was Denise called "The Grease" because it rhymed? Or is there another reason? Inquiring minds need to know!
DeleteDenise was a "Greaser", which was slang for tough Italian-American kids, when I was a teenager in Brooklyn.
DeleteBloody Hell, I can't match these bids...
ReplyDeleteFirst gig I saw was Ultravox(!!) at Liverpool Empire 1981. I dreamed of being a drummer so kept my eye on Warren Cann, the ex-pat Canuck who held down that role, but was generally overwhelmed at the in-person Sturm und Drang from a group (late late Prog smuggled in via New Romanticism?) I was obsessed with then. The Dead Kennedys were rumoured to be playing elsewhere in town that night (Eric's?) and had reportedly urged people to go and attack the Ultravox fans IIRC. That was the sort of tribalism back then. Seems quaint in retrospect.
To those of you who saw the Who in their pomp...you jammy jammy bastards.
Fanny, I saw Ultravox in 1981 or 82, they were really good. As you say, prog smuggled in via New Romanticism. I think prog lurked around in the post punk movement too, Magazine being one of my favorites. Also a great prog band called Twelfth Night started out with a few New Romantic sounding tunes. In 1983 Marillion made prog fashionable(?) again for a few years, and are still going today but without Fish singing.
DeleteI saw Ultravox in 82 also, making that act my first two gigs. It's been a while since I heard Magazine (someone taped most of their catalogue for me - that dates it) but recall being rather taken with it. I know Twelfth Night a little bit through an old mate but am more familiar with ex-singer Geoff Mann (RIP). I like Fish-era Marillion, but not the later stuff if 'Anorakophobia' is representative.
DeleteObviously I came much later on the scene for attending live concerts and I can't really recall the very first gig I attended, but it probably must have been some Dutch band AND rock 'n roll related as I went with my uncle who was a hardcore 50's R&R addict... The Who I have never seen... I grew up in Loosdrecht, a countryside village, not appreciated in my youth, but in hindsight... Much, much, later I realized that lots of jazz artist performed there in small venues!
ReplyDeleteTHE WHO - Early Demos & Alternates 1965-1970
ReplyDeleteThis is a Who "boot" of home demos, 'My Generation' outtakes, 'A Quick One' outtakes and 'Who Sell Out' demos and outtakes. All with very nice sound quality.
https://mega.nz/file/9TMQEAhQ#9rLWu1HCWIReD_HVr5BKDfw_EkuoL4BTX7fs5HJQV8I
Thanks Babs, always like to hear demos of well known songs.
DeleteYou couldn't have posted anything better, Babs. It frames what I'm going to post very nicely and puts it into context..
DeleteMy first ever gig was Pink Floyd at Newcastle Odeon November 1974. I tell this to the kids of today and its like "Wow man you saw Floyd back then I bet it was AWESOME". In truth I was totally underwhelmed, the gig was so well choreographed that I might as well have been sat there playing DSOTM on my record player. It has become a good touchstone for me to realise what I like about any live performance, whether a musc giig or theatre, it is the thrill of the unexpected where anything can happen, and sadly that element wasn't there.
ReplyDeleteThe visuals were good though, they had this big circular screen behind them with a back-lit projector throwing images up to match the songs, most memorably politicians of the day like Ted Heath and Harold Wilson. They also had speakers at the front, back and middle of the cinema. I was sat to the right of the middle row very close to the speaker and was deafened by the coins falling down at the beginning of money.They also played Echoes and some new ones yet to be released, Shine On You Crazy Diamond, You Gotta Be Crazy and Raving and Drooling. The latter two were retitled and became Animals.
I saw the Who at Charlton football club in 1976 and that was "AWESOME" as the kids would say. It was in the Guinness book of records as the loudest gig ever, it had rained all day and then bang on cue the sun came out when the Who came on. Roger Daltrey slipped and slid full length right across the wet stage. Pete Townsend introduced the gig as "The Who on Ice" They also had the first laser show playing above our heads and turned the stadium lights on to show us all singing along to "Listening to you I hear the music...". It was an unforgettable gig, aided by it being jam packed as there were thousands of fake tickets sold so there were repotedly 80 000 in the stadium instead of the maximum 50,000. It really felt like a special event, unlike the Floyd gig.
Exactly my experience with the Floyd live, too, though i saw them 3 years later on the Animals tour. Strangely uninvolving, and even the spectacle was not especially spectacular to me. Point of information; Led Zeppelin used lasers at Earls Court in May 1975. The gig was great, but the lasers were underwhelming. Now Metallica know how to use lasers...
DeleteI have to say, I'm really enjoying all these descriptions of first gigs. Keep 'em coming!!! Please!!!
ReplyDeleteAs you say Steve, Tommy is an album I can't get into either, all their earlier stuff is great. I bought Tommy in the 80's, it's too disjointed for me, in fact probably my favorite Who albums are compilations and Who's Next.
DeleteAt some time in the past, I downloaded a huge batch of files called "The Who Chronology 1964-67" which was an attempt to hoover up obscure material that was from that period.
ReplyDeleteLots of live stuff (of varying quality!), demos and other interesting stuff.
There are also videos in it.
Here's everything from the 1966 files. It's almost 1GB, but well worth having.
https://workupload.com/file/3AAcPjzGdP6
Thanks, Steve!
DeleteLittle Richard & Sam Cooke, Walthamstow Granada 1962
ReplyDeleteKISS at the LA Forum in 1977 when I was in 7th grade. First time smoking pot as well. Shortly after that my friends and I started listening to the burgeoning LA Punk bands like X, Black Flag, Circle Jerks, etc and while I saw many many bands perform over the years I didn't attend another arena rock concert until around 2018 (free tickets to Elton John).
ReplyDelete