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Pink Floyd did not play. The Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation played instead.
A friend and I met Zoot Money and Andy Somers. In 1967 a friend and I worked at a school near the Winter Gardens. Zoot Money and Andy Somers came back to the school kitchen with us, where we attempted to make them a cup of tea in the urn! I have their autographs, and the autographs of other groups such as Manfred Mann, the Spencer Davis group and Nick Mason from Pink Floyd.
My very first ever gig! Magical.
In photo 4 of 4, the big guy lying down at the front is Phil Smith, and from Phil’s haircut and the clothes I would say it was probably 1978 or possibly 1979. Tony H
As I remember, Deep Purple split their set into two parts. After their first set, Taste played a full set, then Deep Purple returned.
Deep Purple were as loud as I have ever heard a band. They also had a strobe light show, so the house lights were dimmed to allow this. That was rare at that time.
This was my first gig at MWG, and to the best of my memory I can confirm this was a full house, but Fleetwood Mac did not turn up. Mick Fleetwood and John McVie went on stage to say that the others were delayed or missing, so all went home with no show. This was not unheard of at that time. I hope somebody else can confirm this.
I am the ‘Charlie’ mentioned in Phil’s diary entry, I am glad he wrote this down as I have little recollection (apart from hitting the kerb on the way home!)
Good luck with your efforts on this. No personal memorabilia to contribute myself, but was a big regular supporter of the Winter Gardens gigs in the earlier years.
The record shop remembered by David Roberts, which was opposite the Great Malvern Hotel (formerly the Beauchamp Hotel) , was called Counterpoint.
I was there at the Adam Faith event and went backstage after and met him briefly with 2 of my friends. One of the great memories of my early teens.
The one thing I remember about this gig is that when John Mayall finished his set, everyone shouted for an encore – but by Ten Years After, not Mayall!
I was playing trumpet with The Derek Bruce Showband on this performance. I remember it very well.
I think The Derek Bruce Showband were the resident band at the time and played every Saturday night and at private functions. I remember many hunt balls which were very raucous affairs. We had to compete for sound against the ‘hunting horns’!!
Billy J Kramer and The Dakotas had just had hits with ‘Bad To Me‘ and ‘Do You Want To Know A Secret‘. The girls were going crazy at the front, and screaming their heads off.
I remember Mr Briggs as being the ballroom manager at the time.
My husband and I got engaged at this gig.
That’s right, Robert. Iain McNay knew Malvern-based producer John Acock, who had worked with Steve Hackett of Genesis. Iain suggested to Mike that he could produce Cherry Red’s first single, Bad Hearts, by The Tights (1978). I believe John went on to produce at least one more release by Cherry Red.
I understand that Cherry Red had a record (or two) produced by my pal John (Bonny) Acock who was from Malvern but worked with many famous bands at the time in London Studios. His younger brother Pete (Bimbo) Acock was, I believe, in The Tom Robinson Band that played The Gardens. He certainly toured with the band (and also Val Doonican Band and Barbara Dickson) about that time.
Sharon’s recollection of Ozzy being “smashed” and underperforming strikes a chord with me also. He was due to appear ahead of Whitesnake on the Sunday at the 1980 Reading Festival but pulled out at the last minute leaving Slade to fill in, who had not gigged for years but brought the house down. I think it was one of Ozzy’s more ‘tired and emotional’ phases.
From Gavin King, musician with Isengard: “I borrowed my old man’s top hat for this gig, against his better judgement. I knew I’d be in great trouble if it got damaged. Going on first my diary records this as the best gig we ever played. Trapeze were great guys, Uriah Heep obnoxious gits. After the gig, going up Church Streedt, a supposed mate was wearing said top hat when we walked past a gang of skinheads. Obviously the top hat got nicked. Mindful of my father’s wrath I jumped into them, attempting to retrieve it. I slipped, fell on the floor and proceeded to get a good kicking. Said ‘mate’ ran for it and I may well have died had it not been for ‘know wot I mean’ Janet. 5 ft of pure superhero, she dived in and, handbag flaying every shaven head, she saved me and the hat. God bless you Janet. RIP.
I believe The Tambla Modes were in the final. My brother was their ‘manager’. Barbara Price, sister of the band’s lead guitarist, was his girlfriend. They had a row, he got sacked, and I got his ticket
I loved the Cossacks
Managed to get backstage and get my “Fog on the Tyne” music book signed by Alan and Jacka. Alan wrote “Love to the slightly mad girl”. I made the mistake of lending the book to a school chum and never saw it again 🙁
This was my T.Rex Disco Party. I booked the Malvern Winter Gardens for my “T.Rex Disco Party” because I wanted to prove to my friends in Malvern, Ledbury, Worcester, Kidderminster etc, that I was not the only ‘Bolan Fan’ alive. I successfully proved to them there were at least 250 fellow fans who travelled from Japan, Germany, other countries as well as all corners of the UK 🙂
The bouncers which were required as part of the booking spent a lot of the time clearing people off the stage because everyone knew that Marc Bolan, along with his fellow formation member Steve Peregrin Took had played on the stage ten years earlier in 1968 as ‘Tyrannosaurus Rex’. Regretably I was too young for that gig and didn’t know about such matters, being only nine-years-old in 1968!
I primarily went to this gig to ask the former ‘John’s Children’ members about the brief stint Marc Bolan did as part of John’s Children. I arrived very early and was able to take photos back stage and from the stage. The band asked if I knew how many tickets had been sold. My reply was “Around 50”, to gasps of shock and the reply “But we played to 2,000 last night!”. I don’t know if that was true. All I could say was “Hawkwind are playing next week, so everyone’s saving their money for them!” That was not the reply they wanted, but then such of lot of ‘us’ were hippy-types who looked on the Punk and New Wave bands with the sort of snobbery our own bands received ten years earlier when they were ‘out there’.
I was kind to the band in the side-of-stage photo because it failed to show that behind the thin line of audience at the stage, the rest of the concert room was completely uncontaminated by people apart from the odd one of two going to or from the Pump Room Bar.
Only around five or six weeks after this Radio Stars gig occurred, I booked the Malvern Winter Gardens for my “T.Rex Disco Party”. I wanted to prove to my friends in Malvern, Ledbury, Worcester, Kidderminster etc, that I was not the only ‘Bolan Fan’ alive. I successfully proved to them there were at least 250 fellow fans who traveled from Japan, Germany and other countries, as well as all corners of the UK 🙂
The bouncers which were required as part of the booking spent a lot of the time clearing people off the stage, because everyone knew that Marc Bolan, along with his fellow formation member Steve Peregrin Took, had played on the stage ten years earlier in 1968 as ‘Tyrannosaurus Rex’. Regrettably I was too young for that gig and didn’t know about such matters, being only nine-years-old in 1968!
I was there too. Great Gig. Great Days. We were lucky to grow up in an area of such outstanding natural beauty AND have a fabulous venue on our doorstep too.
Still have my ticket signed by Lemmy, Nik and Simon.
