Back to Sitemap                                                                         Back to Home Page                                                    Contact David

THE CONCORDE RE-UNION NIGHT  8th February 2008

"I have a dream...." Martin Luther King  1963

"I have a dream........"  David St John 2007

*This is the first draft and will be updated with more info+photos soon*

If you have just landed on this webpage, then may I suggest you backtrack and take a look at my other pages throughout the site to get a flavour of what this very special night was all about. Just click on the Sitemap and read all about the golden years of the pop music scene in and around the Southampton area.  I was lucky enough to have been singing with several bands from 1964 to 1972 before leaving my hometown to pursue a solo career which is well documented in this same personal website.  In fact, I had been performing a few years before as I started out as a ten year rock 'n' roll singer in 1958 so 2008 sees my 50th anniversary in showbusiness!  Trivia time - I was born on the 12th October 1948 - the very same day as another musician who went onto much bigger things than me!  He is still performing with his own very successful group all over the world and one of my favourite bands as well.  Answer at the bottom of this page - don't look yet!

I started my website a few years ago to promote my main comedy act and then added a few bits and pieces along the way including a biography page which mentioned my early years and fond memories of the various groups that I had been with.  Back in those Swinging Sixties, there were loads of wannabe pop stars who were influenced by the explosion in 'beat groups' which were kickstarted by the Shadows, then overshadowed by Beatlemania and many more amazing  groups that set the templates for the next few decades.  Although I left Southampton, I always kept in touch with many good mates who sang and played alongside me and some forty odd years later I was able to make more contact via the internet as my music-related webpages grew, thanks to people stumbling across the old memories and getting in touch.  One of my oldest and best mates is a talented singer/guitarist by the name of Dave Dinnage but mainly known as 'Beau' who was part of my very first 'proper' outfits known as the 'Abdo-Men' in 1964 as he shared vocals and rhythm guitar before switching to bass a few years later.  We played pop covers mixed with R&B and I was lead vocal/blues harmonica with Glenn Lee on drums, Mick Young (Beau replaced him) Geoff Baker on bass and Dave Sothcott on lead guitar.

A couple of years ago Beau dug out an old photo of our second band - The Unforgiven ( see other webpages ) along with an amazing piece of a 'Rock Family Tree' called 'Southern Roots' first compiled in 1980 by John Clare and Terry Hounsome who did a fantastic job of researching loads of musicians and singers around the Hampshire area.  Again, my other pages do mention all this so worth taking a look.  This inspired me to write and research more info then add it to my website which has grown into a decent size 'modern history' offering that has really taken off in recent years.  It has put people in touch with each other, both family, friends and old musical colleagues that hadn't seen each other for many years, as well as serving as a memorial to many old mates that are no longer with us.  Many a child or grandchild has typed in a search on older relatives and been moved to find that many of them are fondly remembered as well as getting a feel of what fun we all had back in those younger days!

Like many musicians, I always enjoyed the odd 'jam' night and meeting up with old group mates whenever I was passing through Southampton with a day or two to spare.  I also nurtured an idea to try and get a reunion of my old groups but never managed it (apart from a 1990 gig of my last band - Script/The End who had a four year residency at the old Railway Hotel in Woolston)  By 2007 my website boasted an impressive line-up of bands and singers, some of whom were still playing in various guises so this made me think about trying to organise a little get together- maybe meet up for a few beers, swap stories/gags and jump up onstage to knock out a few classic numbers.  Next idea was a suitable venue and I was thinking about a communal club that would hold a decent crowd and maybe linked to the old days and then it all clicked.  The Concorde Club which was celebrating its own 50th anniversary during 2007 and still owned by its founder Cole Mathieson, who had started out by promoting jazz music in a backroom bar at the old Bassett Hotel in Burgess Road Southampton on the north west corner of the Common.  During the early Sixties, the club  booked many blues and R&B bands many of which featured future 'superstars' in their line-ups such as Rod Stewart, Elton John and many more fledgling talents who were honing their skills.  I had always enjoyed visiting the Concorde Club to watch some amazing groups, blues stars as well as playing there on a few occasions or sitting in on harmonica etc.  The venue relocated to a converted school house in Stoneham Lane just off the (current) M27 motorway in 1970 and has developed into a superb complex of main club, bars, restaurant and hotel facilities, so I dropped by to see Cole and pitch my idea to him.  He was quite amazed to learn of my website and the many old bands and musicians that were still around as well as being in touch with each other. I suggested that we might stage a reunion night, in which the old line-ups could scrape up a short set each along with a few solo acts and DJs from across the decades - many of them had worked alongside the groups on dance nights as well as playing the Concorde at some time.

Cole agreed to this all and was quite excited at the concept of bringing a touch of the Sixties era back to the club as well as having his own chance to meet up with many an 'old face' so we set about the organisation.  I spent some considerable time in contacting my musical pals and colleagues by e-mail, phone calls etc and we finally pinned it all down to an amazing line-up for this show named "Back to the Sixties" We decided to make it a charity based night with all door proceeds, raffle and auction going towards a local charity - 'Liberty Child' which is one of the two main designated organisations under the Mayor of Eastleigh for the current year.  They arrange outings for deprived children, mentally and physically handicapped kids with great holiday breaks, activity days and much more, so we were all keen to help this fund apart from enjoying ourselves on the night.  If you were lucky enough to have been there on this exciting night, either in the audience or actually taking part in the evening performance then please read below for my basic report on the proceedings.  If you could not attend or were not lucky enough to have grabbed a ticket (the show sold out very quickly) then I hope I can bring a you a flavour of the whole gig although it's hard to put it into words and convey the feelings all around the packed room.

THE SHOW

Friday 8th February 2008

12-00pm   The Concorde Club

I met up with Wally Phillips of the J.A.B. rock trio who were playing on the show as he was kindly supplying the sound system and four backline amps via his own company- The  The Music Shop in Bitterne.  The p.a. was set up along with a shared drum kit brought in by Eddie of  Fret Music Shop Shirley so we were helped by the east and west side of the city! 

6-00 pm

I arrived back at the club and ready to meet and greet the featured artistes who had all been looking forward to seeing old pals and reforming their old bands after many years.  Most of the groups only had prior time for a quick chat on the phone or a very quick runthrough to decide what songs could be recalled plus keys, arrangements etc plus the fact that were all using the same gear without being too familiar with settings and much more.  The club reception soon filled and it was so good to welcome the bands, families, friends along with the Concorde Club members who were really keen to relive the memories of the club in past years.

7-00pm

The main club doors opened and people swarmed in to grab a good seat/table and were pleasantly surprised to be welcomed by legendary DJ in the shape of Johnny Dymond - one of the best known 'jocks' on the Southampton scene from the early days of the Sixties at the Royal Pier and Top Rank Ballrooms.  Johnny is well featured across my webpages so take a look.  He provided a nice touch by playing several hits by local recording stars such as the Brook Brothers, Heinz, Manfred Mann and many more as well as his own well known chat! This was a perfect warm-up session as JD worked the crowd and played more 'Sounds of the Sixties' in keeping with what was to follow.

Johnny Dymond- 'spinning the platters' at Concorde flightdeck!

7-40pm

The club was packed out and I was introduced by Johnny Dymond with a specialised intro (!) and jumped up onstage to welcome everybody to one of the most unusual nights ever staged in the city! A few gags and a brief explanation of how it all came about before introducing the Mayor of Eastleigh Roger Smith to say a few words and thank us all for providing much needed funds for his chosen charity of the year.  We had six bands on the bill and (reluctantly) had to limit each group to a 25 minute set in order to fit as much talent in as possible along with a few solo acts, so quite a challenge.

Mayor of Eastleigh Roger Smith

Mentions of 'zimmer frames' in the carpark, plus 'Sanatogen on draught' got a laugh plus announcing that we had a Viagra stand in the reception area went down well, although we had some very active pensioners waiting in the wings!

I then had the great pleasure of introducing the first group led by one of my old pals who I have known from 1964 when we both started out in the serious music business!   Three guys with guitars, dressed in smart suits and just sat on three chairs with no drums who performed a terrific opening set of classic blues numbers, including a couple of self-penned songs in the same tradition.

This B&W photo dates from 1964 with Bob shaking his maraccas (!) and Colin Herriot in the background

Note the old business card and old Reslo ribbon mike!

THE BOB PEARCE BLUES BAND

Bob Pearce    Vocals/guitar

Chris Collins  Vocals/guitar

Steve Stares   Bass guitar

                                                                                                      Steve                                Chris                                                Bob

It was in the style of an 'unplugged' set and it was so good to see Bob Pearce at his best, despite 'retiring' a couple of years ago!  When I first mentioned my idea back in the summer of 2007, he immediately jumped at the chance of joining in on such a memorable night and this line-up set the scene perfectly.  Bob and the lads played a great fast-moving set  that grabbed the audience's attention straight away and showed that blues musicians never 'retire' ! He has appeared at the old and new Concorde clubs over many years so he felt quite 'at home' and it was a pleasure to enjoy a dedicated blues man yet again.

The next act was a solo singer, who had originally appeared at the old Royal Pier during the early Sixties with bands such as the Blackjacks as well as being managed by legendary promoter Len Canham who is well documented elsewhere.  He had not sung since the mid Sixties until a couple of years ago, when he came along to one of my solo shows and was dragged up onstage to knock out a couple of good old Rock n Roll hits, helped by a few drinks!  It had intended to be a surprise for his table of relatives and friends sat in the restaurant section who had no idea about his guest appearance until they spied a programme for the whole show!

We had to quickly scrape up a makeshift backing group for Pete and we managed to rope in a few musicians to sort out a basic idea of the two numbers "Rip It Up + Blue Suede Shoes".  I introduced him and he knocked out the two great songs to a very appreciative audience who were astounded that some of us 'never lose it'!  Pete closed to a great applause and clearly enjoyed being back in the spotlight after some forty odd years!

PETE BROYD

Backed by:

John Walker Drums

Andy Brown Bass

Dell Gibbs Rhythm

Dave Mitchell lead

Pete Broyd with his 'new drummer' John Walker!

The next band contained just two original members of one of the finest Southampton groups ever - Roy Roberts on lead guitar/vocals alongside former lead vocalist (and guitar) Tony Hole who had not even seen Roy for some forty years, let alone play together!  The original line-up of this much respected group were known as Tony Benson and the Skylanes before changing names and becoming the amazing:

MEDDY EVILS

Tony travelled down from Yorkshire along with his son Mike who is lead vocals with  indie band "Silver Factory" but played bass on this show and both were very proud to be playing alongside each other on this special occasion.  The original bass player was Roy's brother John who was in the audience for this show, but let the youngster join the reformed Meddies for this one-off.

                                                                                                       Mike            Tony                    Ronnie                               Roy

The Meddies needed a drummer and were lucky enough to have the very talented Ronnie Allen join the band - one of the most experienced musicians in the area and played with many groups for the past 45 years and still drumming up a storm!  Ronnie also played with a couple of my old bands - The Unforgiven and odd gigs with later groups in the Sixties and has hardly aged at all!  The Meddies played an amazing set of classic numbers plus one of their old self-penned recordings called 'Ma's Place' and the music was really tight and blew the crowd away as if they had never been away!

Tony also paid a tribute in memory of 'Cuddles' the original drummer and was one of the best known musicians on the Southampton scene for many years as well as being a great pal to so many.

SET LIST

They closed to a fantastic applause from the whole room, many of whom were fans of the original band all those years ago so quite a moment.  Some even brought their old vinyl records to be autographed by the band!

JD'S ROUND TABLE!

I then handed over to Johnny Dymond who provided everybody with even more memories as he introduced a few of the 'vintage' DJs who had come along to join in the celebrations.   The farthest travelled was well known DJ Chris Golden who had made the journey all the way from Winnipeg Canada!  He is operations manager for the city's transport system and took a few days out to fly across to join us all - I guess that Winnipeg was gridlocked for most of this week?  Johnny also introduced  Geoff Knight, Joe Craen, Chris Golden along with a couple of others (names needed) and had an interesting chat with them all plus photos before leading everybody with a toast to dear old Len Canham who was probably beaming down at us all from above.

Johnny Dymond with ex Concorde DJs

                                                                                                 ?                      Johnny                    Geoff Knight        Joe Craen       Chris Golden

                                                                                                    Same line-up with Mick Haley - ex Peter Pod and the Peas

Next up - another good pal of mine who I hadn't seen for some thirty years- Bob Gorman, a very talented vocal/guitarist who made a good name for himself when playing with Brother Bung and Fresh during the late Sixties before leaving the group scene and carving out a solo career in between the odd jam nights etc.  Bob was the first of our very special 'international' guests as he had just flown back from his home in Gran Canaria the very same day and straight to the Concorde!  He only had a few minutes to meet up with a busking band comprising Wally Phillips (JAB) on bass and Bob's former drummer in Bung and Fresh- Roger Chantler so quite a nice reunion as well as having Bob Pearce in the room who also played alongside him in various bands. Bob G needed a guitar and there was a spare Fender Stratocaster lying on stage so I had to quickly ask whose it was - and could we borrow it!  It transpired that the guitar belonged to Roy Roberts and just one of his amazing collection of instruments (see Meddy Evil's own website) so he kindly agreed.

Bob Gorman

"Hey Bob - can you play some Hendrix for me!"

Most guitarists are pretty fussy about only playing guitars of their own, but Bob Gorman is a special breed and he just picked it up, twiddled a couple of knobs on the borrowed amplifier and tore into three amazing numbers which lifted the roof off the club, opening with a superb 'Foxy Lady' in the Jimi Hendrix style that Bob is well known for and raised a few eyebrows in the room.  What a perfect choice of classic Sixties that nobody else on the show chose to play and it certainly  blew the crowd away as he paid homage to the great man himself.  Bob later mentioned that he had gone to see Hendrix play at the Southampton Guildhall back around 1968 and I wrote a piece on my other webpages as I was lucky enough to have been there too.  I hadn't known that Bob and pals had been able to meet Jimi early on (no security in those days!) and took him to the Windsor Fish Bar for some traditional English fish and chips!  Bob was given one of Jimi's plectrums but I'm not sure if he still has it, but the memories will live forever.

Next couple of numbers were a brilliant blues number 'Before you accuse me' finished of with the Cream classic- 'Crossroads' and echoing the style of Eric Clapton who had played at the old Concorde club before conquering the music world.  The whole trio played a superb tight set, which was amazing for a last minute scramble but it just shows the type of experience musicians who can just jump up and do the business!

When I asked whose Strat this was, I was half expecting a worried looking musician rushing up to quickly grab a classic early 60s Fender and probably worth a few grand.  As mentioned, it was one of Roy 'Meddy' Roberts massive collection and he has just mailed me the following story which will greatly amuse all guitar players everywhere as it is a fascinating glimpse into what makes us guys tick.  This is the mail in Roy's own words:

Bob left the stage to a fantastic applause, with Wally and Roger staying onstage then joined by their own very talented lead guitarist Jinx and I then announced:

J.A.B

                                                                                  Jinx                                                             Wally                                             Roger

These are old photos from another gig - hope to have Concorde pics soon

Great name for a group - it stands for 'Just Another Band'  !  Quite an understatement as this classic rock trio tore the audience apart with a fast moving set of classic numbers that got the audience dancing for the first time of the night!  They are normally VERY loud and best appreciated at a high volume but they kept it fairly steady on this outing, thus providing another varied set with the following numbers:

When they closed this fantastic set, I kept the lads on for an impromptu 12 bar number as they backed me for a quick one of my old early R&B numbers - Jimmy Reed's "Baby what you want me to do/You got me running' and my only chance to blow some blues harmonica on the night, being far too busy to sit in with anybody else.  I kicked off this short set with the theme from "The Old Grey Whistle Test" - just harp and drums before belting in with the main number, with JAB playing superbly.

I then stayed on for a short comedy set and chose to switch to plenty of audience participation which suited the night, as opposed to my usual style.  Even special guest 'Michael Jackson' made a quick guest appearance!  Quite a few local Southampton based gags as well, so keeping it all within the style of the evening's entertainment and it was fun.

DSJ + JAB

Next band on offer was an amazing reunion of a very well known Andover group in the shape of:

TEN FEET FIVE

I already have a dedicated webpage to this superb line-up and you may have already checked on Ten Feet Five ? If not, take a look and come straight back!  This band had been formed during the early Sixties and named after the number of feet in the group (!) as well as having a well known foot logo on drums and group van.  In 1963, the TF5 had Dave Smith on lead vocals, Pete Staples on bass, Chris Penfound on rhythm guitar, Chris Britton on lead guitar, plus John Walker on the drums.  Pop enthusiasts will have already noticed two names on this line-up that later morphed into a new band that mad a massive impact on the UK charts and still tour to this very day.  None other than the Troggs as lead singer/songwriter Reg Presley took over along with drummer Ronnie Bond joining Pete and Chris so the rest is history.

Chris Britton was due to join us as a VIP guest and playing with the reformed TF5 but I understand that Troggs' commitments prevented this much anticipated appearance.  The original band stopped playing in 1965, but reformed for a few special shows in 1994 and carried on for another very successful ten years, appearing alongside many top Sixties groups as well as helping to raise some £100k + for several charities.  Sadly, in 2005 their great front man lead singer Dave Smith died very suddenly which affected many people who knew him over all the great years and is much missed.  Tonight's appearance was  a personal tribute and a dedication in the memory of Dave Smith and was a great comfort to many of his family and friends who had come along to enjoy an amazing reunion of TF5.   

The line-up featured:

Back to Top

                                           Back to Sitemap                                                                         Back to Home Page                                                    Contact David

©David St John 2008

Trivia answer:  Rick Parfitt- Status Quo!