SHIRLEY BASSEY'S DUNDEE DATA



"A magnificent audience. A magnificent hall & magnificent acoustics.

My first time here. I hope it will not be the last"

This is what Shirley Bassey wrote in the Caird Hall visitors book on 19th May 1972.

Then on the next page we have...

"Here I am again as promised" - yes Shirley returned the following year and signed the book once more on 20th November 1973.

Shirley Bassey also has a creative connection with Dundee, when back in the 80's, Associates singer, Billy MacKenzie composed a song for her.

The recording was called "The Rhythm Divine".

This was a classy slow moody groove with a polished production and was made in Switzerland by Yello.

WHITEHALL THEATRE AD - 1970

Let's find out what was going on at the Whitehall Theatre in April 1970...
First up was "The Lex McLean Show". Lex, you may recall, was a Scottish comedian/actor, full of Glasgow patter, who cropped up on the telly quite a lot around this period. Looks like he had a sizeable team with him for the Dundee performance.
Next was a musical called "Viennese Nights" featuring Marion Studholme.
A crime drama followed it, one entitled "Meet Mr Callaghan". This starred Neil McCallum who was in the TV series "Vendetta". Was he the brother of U.N.C.L.E. agent, David?
Final week had a local production running, "The Student Prince", an operetta presented by the NCR.
This ad appeared in the Courier on Saturday, 11th April 1970.

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 YOUNG IDEA ADVERT - 1972

There was an obscure wee TV programme back in 1972 called "The Young Idea".
It was all about youngsters from around the UK who had unusual hobbies or interests.
Strangely, it was broadcast around 2:30 in the middle of the afternoon, so most kids would still be at school and not see it!
Anyway, the show came to town in July 1972 and based themselves at the Royal Hotel.
Not sure if they actually did the filming from here (like the Antiques Roadshow) or if they were just scouting around for material to be included in future episodes.
It would have been far too early to have a collection of records by The Jam, but maybe some kid had a collection of Dundee jam jars!
If anyone can remember any Dundonian who made it to the TV programme itself, feel free to pass on the details in the comments.
Let's find out what those unusual hobbies were!

WINGS - CAIRD HALL - 1975

Paul McCartney & Wings played at the Caird Hall on 23 September 1975, the concert having sold out in advance.

There was a camera crew following Wings around on this tour with the Scottish shows caught on film and inserted into the documentary they were making. I have seen the footage that was taken but didn't manage to identify the Caird Hall, so not sure if the Caird Hall sequence is tucked away somewhere in the vaults!

The ad at the top is from a 1975 NME and has the tour dates.

The item underneath the ad is the Caird Hall autograph book which Paul & Linda signed when they were in town that day.

A nice touch of humour by both, with Dundee and the Queen being referred to.