What are you listening to?

brilliant

And, interestingly, the last new CD that I bought was black, and labelled to resemble a mini-single

Cool and retro!

ATB,J.

First gig - Status Quo at Torquay Town Hall in '72 (Piledriver Tour - see Timbo's avitar). Was so loud my ears rang for 3 or 4 days after and I thought I had done permanent damage.

Last gig - Fyfe Dangerfield (Guillemots) at Exeter Phoenix two weeks ago.

Next gig - Manics in Bournemouth two weeks tonight. Can't wait.

Edit: Ooops! Forgot I'm going to Ade Edmondson's Folk-Punk Bad Shepherds at Tavistock on 17th.

Frankly, I'm stunned. Given your postings I would never have put this music behind it. This music speaks of rebellion, yet you don't write that way.

I'd better organise my Top 10 tomorrow morning at some point...

Rags, I'm not a good writer and can't compete with some of the fine 'wordsmiths' on this forum. Please see my witty response to the Dooley's jib below!!

I'm not going to blame my education or the school I went to...........

Right I'm off to see my dear old Mum with no1 son to take a load of crap up the tip.

Fleetwood Mac 1970 at Plymouth Guildhall followed quickly by Free and at Plymouth ABC Deep Purple and Emerson Lake & Palmer. Those concerts really got me interested in music as something other than 'background' and every Friday or Saturday night there would be two or three car loads heading down the old A38 from Newton Abbot to the Van Dyke Club in Devonport. Prior to that period most of my spare time had been spent either training or playing football so it was a revelation to discover there were other things to do with my leisure time!

The Van Dyke had a tremendous atmosphere. I am fairly certain the entry fee was ten shillings (50 New Pence) and you then went down the stairs to a dark dingy cellar with a bar just inside the door to the left and a small stage at the far end. Many top bands played there in their formative stages (including Derek and the Dominoes (Eric Clapton) and Led Zeppelin although that was before I had started going).

Memorable gigs for me there were Wishbone Ash, Rory Gallagher, Groundhogs, Mott the Hoople, Edgar Broughton Band, Stray, Fairport Convention, Lindisfarne, and the offshoots of Free after they split for a while Sharks (Andy Fraser) and Kossoff Kirke Tetsu and Rabbit (Paul Kossoff and Simon Kirke). The club was owned by a Dutch guy called Van Dyke (I can't remember his first name) and he also used to organise the concerts at Plymouth Guildhall and ABC theatre where apart from the ones already mentioned particularly memorable ones were Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, and Bad Company.

Mr Van Dyke had a very similar counterpart in Torquay in the form of Lionel Digby of the Old Cop Shop, Market Street, who organised concerts at the Town Hall and Pavilions. Many of the groups already mentioned I also saw in Torquay, and on occasions saw the same group on successive evenings in Torquay and then Plymouth. Some not already mentioned include Canned Heat, Strawbs, David Bowie, and Roxy Music.

Then there were the festivals. Reading 1971, The Oval Cricket Ground (1971 and 1972), and The Valley Football Ground (Charlton) 1974. The one-dayers at the Oval and the Valley were charity concerts a la Band Aid and included The Who, ELP, Rod Stewart and the faces, America, Genesis, Wishbone Ash, Ralph McTell, Lindisfarne (always necessary at a festival to warm the crowd up!), and Steeleye Span.

By 1974 marriage had crept up on me and marriage to a Motown fan plus the production of children with alarming regularity curbed my free spirit. I did manage to get to a small number of gigs after that and a couple of times enticed my wife along although she did embarress me a tad by wearing ear plugs!

Although my attendance at concerts has declined I still have a good collection of music and as I type I have Led Zeppelin blasting away (the said marriage having obviously ended!) getting me hyped up to celebrate our win at Crewe this afternoon. I have also considerably broadened my listening taste and my last two live concerts were both Andrea Bocelli, one at Hyde Park and one at Wembley.

Happy days!