Post by paulclarkson on Jan 16, 2006 14:15:17 GMT
It was a football match that led me to go and see ELO in 1972. I had been following the fortunes of my local team Brighton and Hove Albion throughout the winter and tonight they were in need of a draw against Rochdale to gain promotion to Division 2. I came home from school, had my tea and caught my usual bus to the football ground. Little did I know that 33,000 people were going to decide that night that they were also avid football fans which meant that by the time I got to the ground it was full. Despair setting in, I gathered my thoughts and remembered that a new band put together by Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne were playing at the Dome Theatre in Brighton.
I was a bit worried on my journey to the theatre thinking, “Can the same thing happen twice, will it be sold out”. I needn’t have worried, I paid for my ticket at the door and joined the other couple of hundred people inside. I put the football match out of my mind and started to focus on the evening ahead. There were 2 support acts, the first being a little known group called ‘FFZ’, a strange name but they were good. Following them was Colin Blunstone, he was quite well known at the time for having been in The Zombies and was enjoying recent chart success with ‘Say You Don’t Mind’. I enjoyed his performance, he had one of those high distinctive voices, very unique.
As the lights dimmed for the main part of the evening Roy Wood appeared wearing a long white wig and round sunglasses. He took one look at the audience and said, “Come on then you may as well all come down the front.” At the time the Dome held around 2,500 so the few of us that were there took him up on his request. I had paid 65p for my ticket at the back of the stalls so the people at the front stalls who had paid probably 90p were not too happy.
The Electric Light Orchestra were Roy Wood (Vocals/Various); Jeff Lynne (Vocals/Guitar); Bill Hunt (Keyboard); Hugh McDowell (Cello); Bev Bevan (Drums); Richard Tandy (Bass/Vocals); Wilf Gibson (Violin) and Andy Craig (Violin).
Out they all came with their violins and cellos, this was all new to me, I was used to seeing lots of lights and amplifiers when I went to see groups but tonight was different. There were music stands, only a few amps and not many lights. It looked a bit like my old school concerts. Looking back though, that was the whole point, Roy Wood, Jeff Lynne and Bev Bevan had had major success with The Move and were trying something different and different it definitely was as they roared into their first number ‘10538 Overture’. Wow what a start! I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I had heard the fusion of classical instruments with rock on ‘I Am The Walrus’ by The Beatles but to see it live was fantastic. Those opening guitar riffs followed by the sound of the cellos had me out of my seat and the whole place was rocking. ‘10538’ was to be their first single and we had to wait until July to hear it again when it was released.
The evening continued with songs from what was to be their first album, of course none of us in the audience knew the songs but it was a new and exciting sound. I think we were all aware that this group and sound were going to be around for a long time. The last 30 years has proved this to be right as ELO went on, albeit without Roy Wood, to enjoy major success worldwide. Their stage shows progressed to be more flamboyant than the one I witnessed that night. The encore on the night was ‘Great
Balls Of Fire’, the cello players were spinning their instruments round and jumping up and down. I thought at the time “If only my music teacher could see this, she’d have kittens!” What a great evenings entertainment, I was so glad I missed the football.
I bought the 10538 single on the day of release and it was brilliant. The b-side was a really catchy number called ‘First Movement (Jumping Biz)’. It was an instrumental track typical of the early ELO sound. I particularly liked the acoustic guitar with the cellos and Bev Bevans solid drumming was fantastic as always and very similar to how he played on the Move classic ‘California Man’.
Shortly after this gig Roy Wood left ELO to form another band called ‘Wizzard’. They played their first tour later that year and I was delighted to see that they were going to play in Brighton at the Top Rank Suite. It was in September 1972 but unfortunately, after waiting 3 hours, Roy Wood came on stage and announced that the van, which contained all their instruments, had broken down on the M1 and they couldn’t appear. I was very disappointed but managed to retrieve something from the evening when I chased Roy backstage and got his autograph. He said to me “We have a single coming out soon called ‘Ballpark Incident’ and it’ll rock ya!” It did and Wizzard went on to great success.
Paul Clarkson
Please note that all articles on this site are © to The Beat Goes On And On Fanzine and must not be used without permission.
I was a bit worried on my journey to the theatre thinking, “Can the same thing happen twice, will it be sold out”. I needn’t have worried, I paid for my ticket at the door and joined the other couple of hundred people inside. I put the football match out of my mind and started to focus on the evening ahead. There were 2 support acts, the first being a little known group called ‘FFZ’, a strange name but they were good. Following them was Colin Blunstone, he was quite well known at the time for having been in The Zombies and was enjoying recent chart success with ‘Say You Don’t Mind’. I enjoyed his performance, he had one of those high distinctive voices, very unique.
As the lights dimmed for the main part of the evening Roy Wood appeared wearing a long white wig and round sunglasses. He took one look at the audience and said, “Come on then you may as well all come down the front.” At the time the Dome held around 2,500 so the few of us that were there took him up on his request. I had paid 65p for my ticket at the back of the stalls so the people at the front stalls who had paid probably 90p were not too happy.
The Electric Light Orchestra were Roy Wood (Vocals/Various); Jeff Lynne (Vocals/Guitar); Bill Hunt (Keyboard); Hugh McDowell (Cello); Bev Bevan (Drums); Richard Tandy (Bass/Vocals); Wilf Gibson (Violin) and Andy Craig (Violin).
Out they all came with their violins and cellos, this was all new to me, I was used to seeing lots of lights and amplifiers when I went to see groups but tonight was different. There were music stands, only a few amps and not many lights. It looked a bit like my old school concerts. Looking back though, that was the whole point, Roy Wood, Jeff Lynne and Bev Bevan had had major success with The Move and were trying something different and different it definitely was as they roared into their first number ‘10538 Overture’. Wow what a start! I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I had heard the fusion of classical instruments with rock on ‘I Am The Walrus’ by The Beatles but to see it live was fantastic. Those opening guitar riffs followed by the sound of the cellos had me out of my seat and the whole place was rocking. ‘10538’ was to be their first single and we had to wait until July to hear it again when it was released.
The evening continued with songs from what was to be their first album, of course none of us in the audience knew the songs but it was a new and exciting sound. I think we were all aware that this group and sound were going to be around for a long time. The last 30 years has proved this to be right as ELO went on, albeit without Roy Wood, to enjoy major success worldwide. Their stage shows progressed to be more flamboyant than the one I witnessed that night. The encore on the night was ‘Great
Balls Of Fire’, the cello players were spinning their instruments round and jumping up and down. I thought at the time “If only my music teacher could see this, she’d have kittens!” What a great evenings entertainment, I was so glad I missed the football.
I bought the 10538 single on the day of release and it was brilliant. The b-side was a really catchy number called ‘First Movement (Jumping Biz)’. It was an instrumental track typical of the early ELO sound. I particularly liked the acoustic guitar with the cellos and Bev Bevans solid drumming was fantastic as always and very similar to how he played on the Move classic ‘California Man’.
Shortly after this gig Roy Wood left ELO to form another band called ‘Wizzard’. They played their first tour later that year and I was delighted to see that they were going to play in Brighton at the Top Rank Suite. It was in September 1972 but unfortunately, after waiting 3 hours, Roy Wood came on stage and announced that the van, which contained all their instruments, had broken down on the M1 and they couldn’t appear. I was very disappointed but managed to retrieve something from the evening when I chased Roy backstage and got his autograph. He said to me “We have a single coming out soon called ‘Ballpark Incident’ and it’ll rock ya!” It did and Wizzard went on to great success.
Paul Clarkson
Please note that all articles on this site are © to The Beat Goes On And On Fanzine and must not be used without permission.