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

SWEET 'N' TENDER MOTION - 1960'S

Here's a rare photo of Dundee band - Sweet 'n' Tender Motion.
The group formed sometime around the late 60's, with Henry Simson their manager.
As regards the line-up of Sweet 'N' Tender Motion, I can list 4 - these being...
Danny Mitchell on drums.
John Manby on bass.
Ritchie Duncan on guitar.
Ian Mann on vocals.
On the photo though, you can see there's 5 in the group, so if anyone out there can do a "from left to right" style definitive line-up of the guys, feel free to pass on the info in the comments, along with any other details you can recall.
The JM advert is dated November 1969 when Sweet 'n' Tender Motion were sharing the evening with the Set.
Then in 1971, after a change of line-up, they were transformed into Forever Amber, along with a couple of guys from Rite Tyme.

Thanks to Craig & Danny.

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!

STREET LEVEL ON STAGE - 1980

Dundee band, Street Level, played plenty of gigs on their home turf of course, but here's a snapshot that captured the band in action when they were playing in Crieff High School.
This was their second performance in Crieff in a month.
They were so popular first time out, they were asked backed, and when they did, it was reported as being a "triumphant return"!
Not an exaggeration - at the end of the performances, the locals mobbed the band, wanting autographs & photos, and the gigs made headline news too!
These 2 gigs took place in October & November 1980.

DEAD AUGUST - 1970'S

Dundee band, Dead August, were on the go during the mid/late 70's period.
The only name I have at the moment is the band's main man, Colin Ryan.
If anyone can supply the full line-up, feel free to drop the details into the comments.
A bit of background info meantime...
Dead August had a pretty torturous time at the start of their career.
Their debut gig was in 1975 at a city centre hotel - however, the Bay City Rollers were in town at the time, and their fans were so unruly running amok, it forced Dead August into ending their set midway through the performance.
Next up was an open air concert in Carnoustie - but it flooded and was cancelled.
At an another gig, a big fight broke out in the crowd, which resulted in the band having to pay the hall owner for the damage caused.
Later at another gig, an amplifier blew during the show!
All that maybe would have put a few musicians off continuing, but Dead August kept on going, and by the time they had this Aberdeen gig (ad dated June 1979) they were presented as being "an exciting band from Dundee".
So sometimes you need lots of determination, and not just talent, to help get an act on the road.

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.

PALAIS INTERIOR - 1970

A snap of inside the Palais, captured in 1970.
Taken from the stage, it looks over towards the balcony, bar and entrance area.
This was a private function, which is why they were all in evening-wear, rather than the fashion of the day.
The band in shot was the Emerald Showband, who later morphed into Wichita, the Palais resident band during the 1972-74 period.

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.