Friday 15 February 2013

Rock 'n' Roll

Just before my fourteenth birthday in 1972 a marvellous thing happened. My first proper concert. Sharing the excitement with my best friend Brian, and no parental involvement!

Marc Bolan was my musical hero at the time, I loved the glam rock stuff although I'd first picked up a guitar after listening to early Elvis albums and playing along to them. 

To be honest, the music of Bolan and T.Rex wasn't that dissimilar to early rock and roll. A lot of it was based on twelve bar blues with references by Bolan in some of the songs to old blues musicians and songs. Of course Bolan's lyrics were a little more fanciful and mostly nonsensical to be honest.

The concert was at Belle Vue in Manchester; a zoo, fairground and concert venue, now long gone. 
We were quite near the front with the obligatory headband and glitter. Everybody was standing on their seats and screaming throughout the whole set apart from the acoustic set where it all calmed down a little.

The programme above is faded as I've just taken it down to scan from the wall where it's been on show for a number of years. It's actually complete with photos, lyrics and poems ...

After the gig we went into a photo booth and had some pictures taken with my new white 'silk' T.Rex scarf (yes, I have that too). I have got the photos but just can't find that photo album at the moment. I know you'll be waiting in eager anticipation to see them!

We also recorded a disc in a recording booth, these were really so cool. You went in, sang your song, and a few minutes later a disc would pop out that you could play on your deck when getting home. Technology at its best! We screamed our way through 'Metal Guru', the new single at the time, and I still have that disc somewhere too ...

The T.Rex album 'Electric Warrior' was the first full priced album I ever bought. My dad thought spending £2.10 on it was reckless ... It was played constantly on our old radiogram, and still sounds great today.

I also had a passion for David Bowie's music, according to my last.fm stats he's at the top of my play list followed closely by Frank Zappa, Bob Dylan and Jethro Tull ...

In the 70's I went through all the musical styles: prog rock, punk, dance, new wave. What a fantastic and eclectic decade of music and fashions, and to be honest I still listen to all of them ...