In conversation earlier this year with a sales manager of one of my suppliers of an audio supply company, as always with this gentleman I'm pleased and delighted to know that his primary driver is not selling product to me, although he does take this seriously, but the sheer love of music. In that curious serendipitous way, it turns out that he and I had over a period of 40 or so years, been to a number the same gigs. One in particular, in 1968 from memory, he and I are not really sure of the date, was at the Albert Hall where Chuck Berry supported the Who. It was in every sense of the word an incendiary performance.
The Who did the whole of the Tommy 'opera' and Chuck Berry, despite having a crap back up band, as he was known to do, played extremely well. However, from time to time in the performance of Chuck Berry and the hapless band that preceded him, who from memory were called Bodast, who featured, again if I recall correctly, the guitarist from Yes, Steve Howe, teddy boys - and I didn't think they existed in the late 1960s - would happily throw sharpened pennies and other objects on stage and at other members of the audience too.
Seats were torn up and it was a good old riot and as was typical of the Who in those days they must have thrived on the energy. Anyway, all told, this was a gig I was pleased not to have missed.
Click HERE for a bit about the hapless Bodast
As the sales manager in question, I believe (there surely wasn’t a third OLC member there as well!), it was indeed a memorable gig. I seem to recall the series of rock concerts was rather grandly called ‘Pop Proms’ . At a later Albert Hall gig this series of concerts also featured Grapefruit (resplendent in yellow suits) and The Move, who had progressed into a heavy rock band with axeman Roy Wood making full use of his new wah-wah pedal!
The Who’s ‘Tommy’ is now listed on Spotify, and for those who are not overly familiar with the album, I would thoroughly recommend setting aside an hour and a quarter, setting your Spotify preferences to ‘gapless playback’, turn down the lights, turn up the volume, and revel in the majesty of this album. (If you have a premium account, you’ll hear it straight through. If not, playback will be peppered with advertisements. My advice; sign up for a free trial month beforehand, it will be worth it!