RONETTES RIOT - DUNDEE - 1964

In 1960, there was a riot in the Caird Hall during a Gene Vincent / Eddie Cochran gig that lead to rock 'n' roll concerts being banned for a couple of years.
That gig has now become quite well documented as a consequence.
This gig here, however, seems to have been completely forgotten about.
It took place on 24th January 1964, again at the Caird Hall, this time the headline act was an all female group, The Ronettes, from USA.
With the Vincent / Cochran gig, you could understand that there would be rockers & teds in the crowd, which may explain the aggro.
A crowd fighting on stage when a girl group is performing?
That is a bit embarrassing!
The Ronettes still managed to sparkle through the riot, so well done them for ignoring the numbskulls.

LONG FELT WANT - 1966

These guys here messing about with a steamroller, were a beat group who got together at Dundee University in 1966.
Long Felt Want was the band name and the line-up consisted of -
George Robertson (lead guitar)
Nick Cronin (vocals)
Mick Gate-Eastley (rhythm guitar)
Drew Jones (bass)
Rob Syers (drums)
It didn't take long for them to get gigs as they supported The Kinks at The Palais in April 1966, then a couple of days later they were on home turf playing at a University charity ball.

Thanks to Martin Dudley

AWB ON OGWT - 1973

Here's some behind the scene shots of the day Average White Band made their debut on the Old Grey Whistle Test in 1973.
The top one is the episode board with the countdown timer and the info stating that it's AWB's 1st take.
The middle photo is the band in full flow in the studio.
The third image is the control room where programme producer, Mike Appleton, is keeping an eye on the monitors etc.
AWB performed 2 tracks and shared the show with other acts, but a few years later, AWB got the show all to themselves when OGWT broadcast them live in concert.
Talking about behind the scenes, when AWB were recording their debut on OGWT, Dundee drummer Robbie, said he'd had enough and he wasn't doing the show.
The reason was that they were told they had to mime the tracks, which meant the drum-kit had to have plastic cymbals fitted and foam pads placed on the drums.
They did manage to tape the show after a couple of takes and everyone was pleased, except Robbie that is, who had to be led away pretty pissed off!

SCROTUM POLES IN MUSIC PRESS - 1980

A few bits and pieces featuring The Scrotum Poles in the national music press during 1980.
Well the top item is from the local press actually. This was The Scrotum Poles debut gig at Dundee College of Education on 1st May 1980. The Strutz were the main act and the other band on the night was called Just The Job who crop up in the 2nd item, the same gig but published in the national music press.
3rd item is another gig in town, this time it's for 3rd June 80 and at the Unemployed Club, which I think may have been the drop-in centre in Perth Road, not sure about that though.
4th item is their gig at Dundee University on 4th Oct 80.
5th item is a fun piece which sees The Scrotum Poles on a list of bands who have amusing names!
Lastly, the final item is an ad published in Dec 80, and is for the band's EP release "Revelation", which includes the address from where to purchase it.
Getting hold of an original copy nowadays will cost you much much more than £1.25..!!
Click on the items to enlarge.

FACES - CAIRD HALL - 1972

 

Here's a couple of items about a gig Rod Stewart and the Faces played in Dundee on 7th December 1972.
The top cutting is the announcement of the tour with Dundee getting a mention, and the other 2 were published after the Dundee gig.
The reason the show grabbed the attention of the national music press was because the Caird Hall was the first venue that started off this particular tour and so generated a lot of media interest.
Dundee didn't disappoint either, with a large enthusiastic turnout that helped create a great buzz on the night.
In fact, the crowd got a bit carried away because by the end of the show, the audience who rushed to the front stage area, ended up destroying the first 3 rows of seats!
Anyway, after a bit of a dodgy start with sound problems, it didn't take too long for the Faces to get going in full flow and keep the good vibes going for the rest of the night.
The music was a mix of raunchy r&b album tracks and melodic pop hits, with the likes of "Maggie May", "Stay With Me" and "Angel" being the more familiar chart singles that got the crowd singing along.
And being Rod Stewart of course, there was a lot of clowning about on stage which ended up with him kicking footballs into the audience!
You can get a good sense of how the concert went by reading the gig review above - give it a click to bring up the large version.
Incidentally, Scottish rock singer, Maggie Bell was also present at the gig, she being one of the VIP's who attended.
The support act was a band called Stumble.
I was 14 years old in 1972, and although I had 2 Rod Stewart albums in my collection, my going to gigs had still not begun yet, so unfortunately, it's not a show I was at.
I do, however, have a recording of the gig, and so below you can have a listen to their well known hit  "Stay With Me" - featuring a bit of vocal interaction with the Dundee crowd!

 

CAIRD HALL PACKAGE TOURS - 1960'S

 

Back in the 60's, when well known music acts played live, the main attraction would often be accompanied by a bundle of other acts as part of the show, as opposed to just having one supporting act which is how most standard tours turned out from the 70's onwards.
Even when famous names such as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones visited back then, many other acts shared the stage with them on the night, which sometimes included a compere too.
These were known as "Package Tours".
So for example - November 1963, Gerry & The Pacemakers were top of the bill at the Caird Hall, and along with them on the package tour were, Cilla Black, Kathy Kirby, Tommy Quickly, Malcolm Clarke & The Cresters, Tommy Dene & The Tremors, and Mark Peters & The Silhouettes.
In March 1964, singer Joe Brown was the headline act, and with him were, The Crystals, Johnny Kidd & The Pirates, Heinz & The Saints, Daryl Quist, Mike Preston, Manfred Mann, and Kevin Kirk.
March 1965 had Del Shannon as the main act, accompanied by Wayne Fontana & The Mindbenders, Herman's Hermits, Just Four Men, The Dollies, Jerry Stevens, The Soul Savages, and Dodie West.
1966 saw The Walker Brothers hit town as the headline act, and on the show they also had The Troggs, Clodagh Rodgers, The Quotations, Dave Dee Dozy Beaky Mick & Tich, and, The Quotations.
So you can see, music acts did their live thing a bit differently back then when touring the UK.
Seems good value for money obviously, but increasing costs was probably the reason the large package tour concept then fizzled out!

THE FALL IN DUNDEE - 1984

The Fall were in Dundee twice in 1984.
Their visit in March was for a gig at Teazers (the night club at the Royal Hotel in Union Street).
Local music journalist, Bob Flynn was there to cover the show for Melody Maker, resulting in this excellent review above.
The Fall were, and are still considered to this day, one of the best bands ever to hit the alternative/indie scene back in the 70's, and their no compromise attitude to the music industry since has been just as inspiring as their creative output.
They then came back a few months later in October to play another gig, this time at Fat Sams. The gig was originally supposed to be at The Fountain, but they switched it to Fatties.
I have an original recording of the Fat Sams gig, and a wee reminder that local band, AAGA were the support.
You can click onto the Teazers review to read the enlarged version.

THE BEATLES IN DUNDEE - 1964

 

The above sequence of photos captured the buzz in town when The Beatles were here on 20th October 1964.
The first 4 images show the crowd waiting on the Fab 4 to arrive at the back of Caird Hall in Shore Terrace.
Then the car shows up with the band, and gets mobbed - you can see Paul McCartney managing to barge through the fans with a little help from his police friends!
The remaining photos were taken at the Caird Hall, of course, when The Beatles finally made it on stage.
Although it was probably just another straight forward gig for the band (the guys having toured extensively by then), the locals still seemed to be excited to see them play live.

LITTLE CHEF - CLAYPOTTS - 1970'S

The Little Chef opened on the Arbroath Road near Claypotts in 1974.
I recall popping in there a few times in the 70's, usually after a bit of fun in Dawson Park or on the way back from Broughty Ferry.
My choice was nearly always their pancakes with maple syrup. Very nice!
In March 1977, this Little Chef was visited by a couple of rock bands, namely, Graham Parker & The Rumour and Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes.
They were on tour at the time and had played in Glasgow the previous day, so when passing through Dundee on their way to the next gig in Aberdeen, the Little Chef was chosen for a stop-off for the bands to have some grub!

THE JYNX WIN BAND CONTEST - 1970

Back in summer 1970, there was a Pop Festival took place up in Fraserburgh.
Actually, it was a "battle of bands" contest, rather than a festival concert.
It was open to any group from the North East area and it attracted 13 bands.
Most were from up north but Dundee band The Jynx answered the call.
Heats ran for 5 nights until it was whittled down to 4 finalists - in which The Jynx won, and the £100 cheque was on it's way back down to Dundee!
The Jynx line-up was: Eddie Quinn, Dave Paterson, Fred Houston & Bob Carson.
The band were a rock outfit, in a Deep Purple kinda style, and seemed to play more often out of town than locally, but they did gig at places like Dundee University, the Palais and Camperdown Park.
The article above was published in July 1970.