Rock history
I won’t bore you with the physical details so let’s just go straight to my history as a fan of progressive rock, as we old timers used to call it!
My first, AND LOUDEST, concert was Deep Purple at the Hammersmith Odeon in 1974, which was the Burn Tour, so sadly I never saw them with Ian Gillan, or at least not until the ‘Perfect Strangers’ got back together. I did see them then at Wembley Arena in 1985.
Hammersmith Odeon was to become a common venue for me through the Seventies and early Eighties. Other regular haunts were the Croydon Greyhound, Guildford Civic Hall, Roundhouse and Marquee Club plus numerous others.
A highlight for me was in 1976. I went with a group of friends to see Backstreet Crawler at Guildford University. We arrived half way through the set of the backup group, an, as yet, unheard of Aussie band by the name of AC/DC! After being blown away by Angus and his mates, we then suffered about ten minutes of Backstreet Crawler before deciding to retire to the bar where we spent the rest of the evening chatting to the members of AC/DC. Bon Scott was an absolute gent.
Off the back of that and one or two other small gigs, AC/DC hit the news and ended up at the Marquee Club where they did a residency. They ended up with 15 nights, I think, and I was there for nine of them. I believe they broke the house record on several nights.
During that period the bands I saw most often were UFO, Rush and AC/DC. Not sure I can remember all the other bands I saw but here is a quick stab at it (in no particular order)… Camel, Caravan, Man, Judas Priest, Motorhead, Iron Maiden (see my page on the Soundhouse Tapes), Nutz, Stray, Scorpions, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Rainbow, Aerosmith, Budgie, Pink Fairies, Black Sabbath, Hawkwind, Whitesnake, Uriah Heep, The Enid, Michael Schenker Group, Blue Oyster Cult, The Runaways (yes, I know), Girlschool, Styx, Foreigner plus many more I can’t think of.
Where I’m at
Currently live with my wife in Alston, Cumbria on the North Pennines, but also have a second home in South Carolina where we spend several months of the year.
Apart from my current music venture I am a top rated seller on eBay, mainly selling used Apple Mac laptops and parts. More about that on my eBay page.
Our Carolina home was born out out of our main business which is selling golf holidays… What? Yes, that’s right, nothing wrong with diversity!
Find out more about what we do by visiting any of our web sites…
www.golfholidaysamerica.co.uk
www.lowcountryholidays.com
www.macnstuff.co.uk
