It’s only Rock & Roll, but I like it!

First of all I am very proud of the fact that I actually witnessed The Beatles playing live at the Gaumont cinema Southampton (yes really) in late 1963 when I accompanied my older sister (under mums orders!) and all I remember was the ear shattering screaming and the vague smell of urine as my sister and her mates let-rip in both directions! Before you smirk too cruelly, can I just say that I was mere babe in arms at the time, or more accurately on the verge of becoming a teenager. A few years later it was the turn of the Rolling Stones to entertain me and my mates at an early 1970’s Isle Of Wight festival - and so in a few short years I witnessed the two biggest bands in the world (ever?) perform live, for less than £3 a pop. Before you all roll your eyes in boredom, I will spare you the endless list of gigs I have attended over the years, only to say that Van Morrison can always be relied upon to be a totally miserable git and will refuse to play any of his songs you’ve actually heard of.

Meanwhile, watching Tina Turner at The Principality Stadium, Cardiff, was awe inspiring and when listening to Shirley Bassey perform in that same city - to quote the South Wales Echo music critic in attendance i.e. me! - “I felt concerned for the very fabric of the building.” Indeed, whilst living and working in the media in that great city, I was alerted late one evening to the fact the Tom Jones was to be found singing in a pub in the student quarter - it seems that upon finishing his usual middle-aged ‘knicker throwing’ gig in a major venue he and his bandmates repaired to this pub to play “proper blues” for nothing, to astounded punters. Bloody brilliant! Then there was a number of fantastic gigs I did the press & media for when a number of superb artists visited Mallorca in the noughties. Indeed, my favourite venue for all the concerts I have worked on or reported, must be the Plaza de Toros (Bullring) Palma, where artists such as Simply Red and the late Joe Cocker were quite superb and the atmosphere that the venue generated was both intense and strangely intimate. I hope you will forgive me this wander down memory lane but Glastonbury this year has triggered many memories of times past, although according to friends in Mallorca, the island still attracts first class artists in many venues here and across the Balearics. Finally, I will always remember one particular outdoor concert in the city of Perth, Western Australia. In the grounds of Perth Zoo (yes really) the soul-singer Al Green performed a fantastic set in the late afternoon in a temperature of 43oC - scorchio! Why not let me know your favourite gigs?