Concerts

I never had the opportunity to go to a concert when I was young. We lived in rural Cumbria and no good shows or artistes ever came near.

MiniMoon - that's sad. I lived in Essex so it was easy to get up to London. Sometimes a friend's older boyfriend was persuaded to drive us if I organised a ticket for him too. I worked in Woolies on Saturdays and also during the school holidays which is how I was able to buy tickets.

Manfred Man when Paul Jones was the lead singer in Portsmouth Guildhall. It was around 1966 I think.

I was terribly excited about going to see The Beatles at Portsmouth Guildhall as well but it was cancelled because Paul McCartney had 'flu'. I couldn't make the next date because my cousin was getting married.

The 1970 Isle of Wight festival. Jimi Hendrix died two weeks later.

The Moody Blues came to the students' union - lovely memory.

I was quite an avid concert go-er and saw Steeleye Span, Cliff Richard, Uriah Heap, Toyah, Sheila Easton, Marc Bolan & T Rex .... quite an eclectic mix! I was lucky living in London and often went to the Hammersmith Odeon and The Rainbow in Finsbury Park.

Saw Steeleye Span five years ago at the Cambridge Corn Exchange. They were excellent.

So many - my first was with my auntie and uncle - Lita Rosa and Ronnie Carrol.
At 16 I went to Leeds Empire every Saturday afternoon and sat in the gods for a Shillong and saw - Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran, Ray Charles, the Everly Brothers, Adam Faith, Billy Fury and many more.
I was a member of the Cliff Richard fan club in my teens and saw him numerous times.
Saw the Beatles at university and the Rolling Stones.
I used to take my DD to Take That when we lived in Holland and saw their final concert.
More recently Bob Dylan twice, Dire Straits and my favourite Neil Diamond

Shilling! - autotext!

My favourite concerts included The Who in Newcastle City Hall in 1967 or 68, while I was still at school. They smashed up their instruments.
Also enjoyed The Rolling Stones in 1982 and Bob Dylan in 1983, both outdoors at Slane.
More recently, loved the nostalgia of seeing Joan Baez in Dublin last year - this little old lady who still had a fabulous voice.

When we lived in Suffolk we used to go to the Cambridge Corn Exchange often. Saw the Pretenders, the Kinks, the Band and many more. Being fans of Music from Big Pink we told friends that we were going to see the Band and the response was "which one". A great venue but I'm getting too old to stand downstairs now.

It's all seated now, Dinahmo

The Walker Brothers at Buxton Opera House when I was 14. (1964)I was right up at the front - against the stage That doesn't happen these days! Big barriers now for security etc.

I was stood right in front of Scott - who I idolised

Still enjoy a good gig these days (now 69) Just bought tickets for The Killers. Seated these days.

Last gig (standing) was at Eden Centre, 4 years ago, seeing Elbow, Open Air. A memorable night as much as the one seeing The Walker Brothers.

It's really good to hear that you're still going to gigs. I think we lived in good times when we were young. Not too difficult to get tickets and small venues. I've only been to the very large venues twice (about 35 years ago) and found it disconcerting to have sound and vision reaching me at different times. Maybe the technology's improved.

We did go to the Stones in Hyde Park in 1969 but that was different. We saw a couple of men walking around with metallic paint on their faces - turned out to be Gilbert and George. We also saw Jefferson Airplane at Camden Hill Fields. It rained and there was only a small audience, standing under the trees. White Rabbit was a favourite of mine at that time.

Cliff Richard and the Shadows played at th he ABC cinema in Carlisle in the mid sixties, I longed to go but my mother deemed me too young. I think I was about 14 or 15.d
We didn't have a car, and there wouldn't have been a bus to get home.

I didn't have the money when I was a teenager in the 60s. We were very poor. Later I saw Dylan,Van Morrison, James Taylor, Art Garfunkle, Rufus Wainwright.
But none of these compare to Leonard Cohen whom I saw three times in Ireland. Worth the wait. I would love to have seen him at the IOW festival though.

annepl You're so lucky seeing Leonard Cohen. I watched the film of his concert at the Barbican and it's one of the best things I've seen. Not just him but his band too. Marvellous.

I saw the Beatles twice, once when they were part of a variety show, with Norman Vaughan as compère, and a juggler and a roller skating duo! Then on a solo tour, supported by Mary Wells. The second show was just a scream fest. After, they were smuggled out of the Odeon in a Black Maria, and stayed at Steelhouse Lane police station, where my father worked. He had left for home, but our next door neighbour was on nights, so he was part of the police escort, and had his photo taken with them. I also saw Mark Bolam when he was just starting out, at Birmingham University Guild. I thought he was the most beautiful man I had ever seen.

My first concert was Stackridge at the Albert Hall in Nottingham who were excellent.
Also Saxon, 10cc, Pretenders, Rainbow, Whitesnake, Dio, Metallica, Nils Lofgren, Eagles and recently Paul Carrack.

My first pop gig was at the Cambridge Corn Exchange in 1972 - Fairport Convention. We sat on the floor.

But whilst I lived in Cambridge I went to countless wonderful chamber and choral concerts in King's College Chapel and also in chapels of many of the other colleges.

We've also seen Julian Lloyd Webber at Cambridge Corn Exchange and an excellent ELO tribute band.

I didn’t go to any pop concerts when I was young, and I think ‘Hair’ was my first non classical gig! I remember the Bodach and I going to see Richard Harris in the old Kelvin Hall Arena. We’ve seen Shirley Bassey ( about 4 times!) , Jack Jones, Tom Jones,The Everly Brothers, Barbra Streisand ( 3 times), Paul McCartney, The Eurythmics, Jarvis Cocker ( twice), the Saw Doctors, the Pogues, and Rod Stewart many times ( next one on Saturday!)

Ooo yes, just remembered Genesis at Knebworth too.

I loved the tours in the late 60s. A memorable one had The Swinging Blue Jean's, Gerry and the Pacemakers and Freddie and the Dreamers on the bill. I think Billy J Kramer might also have been on it.

I tried climbing a drain pipe to get to Paul Jones after seeing Manfred Mann and a policeman pulled me down.

I saw the Walker Brothers too. And Long John Baldry's band which included Elton John and Rod Stewart.
DH and I saw Elton John a few times in his early days because 'Your Song' was our song.

We also saw 'Little Stevie Wonder' and lots of other Motown and Stax groups. The Four Tops Concert was a real stand out.

Weve seen David Bowie, Brian Ferry, David Essex, Status Quo and Meatloaf (4 times - most memorably at Warwick Castle)

Dd3 had a crush on Howard Keele having been force fed musicals from a young age. He signed autographs afterwards and spent ages talking to our 12 year old daughter. He was wonderful. Dolly Partton was fantastic as was Eric Clapton.

Latterly, we mostly go to Modern and Fusion jazz events as DH is a big fan. His stand out concert would probably the 3 Miles Davis concerts he has been to.

Sorry for rambling on - this has prompted some very happy memories!

Daddima.

I too went to see ‘Hair’ at the Shaftesbury Theatre, wonderful. I remember we were late and it was a rush to get there on time. I remember my then boyfriend (later husband) kept on telling me to hurry up and I was dying for the loo.
Dusty Springfield at the Hammersmith Palaic with my sister, happy, happy memories.