Another blog interruption, this time brought about by the death of Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys.
The Finsbury Park Astoria on Seven Sisters Road was a major venue in North London, on a par, I think, with the Golders Green Hippodrome. The main thing I remember about it is how easy it was to park nearby on Seven Sisters Road (how times have changed).
I'm not sure how many concerts we went to there but we never saw the Beatles. We would have seen The Who in '66. I recall little of that concert apart from 'My Generation' and Pete Townsend smashing a guitar into his Marshall amps.
We saw Jimi Hendrix in March '67 as part of a tour with the Walker Brothers, Cat Stevens and, even, Englebert Humperdink! But memories of Jimi feature far more frequently from Sunday Nights At The Saville.
One thing I'm certain of is seeing Otis Redding sitting on the edge of the stage while singing 'Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay'during the Stax Road Tour (as I recall us calling it) in '67. That was one of those concerts that becomes part of your DNA. There is a pretty good description of the evening here although I think we went to the 2nd performance as I don't recall any police being present. What was brilliant, however, was when groups of black guys got up during Sam and Dave's slot and started dancing in the isles!
Then, in December '68, we went to the Beach Boys European Road Tour - I even enticed my sister and brother-in-law along. For me the Beach Boys were an important 'node' in my musical development but the Californian surf sound was already being replaced by the West Coast psychedelia and anti-Vietnam motifs by the time they toured in '68. Still, I enjoyed the concert and I do have a couple of Beach Boys LPs from that time.
Brian Wilson, who passed away recently, was the inventor of the 'surf' sound and is highly praised for his innovative work as a musician and the word 'genius' is not misplaced (although he was not alone in this).
I hate to inform you that Dennis died decades ago in a bizarre drowning incident. The genius who died last week was his brother Brian. Perhaps a quick edit and delete of this comment and no one will ever know.
ReplyDeleteWhoops!!! Thanks, Deeanna for pointing out that error. I 'sort of' had a feeling something wasn't right when scribbling the post but didn't check it while checking the other performances. What's even stranger is that Brian's obit has been everywhere ...
DeleteNikki xxx
It's an easy mistake to make with so many Wilson brothers in the band. Dennis was the crazy one in the band. As you were watching them in 1968, Brian had by then retreated to his bed,suffering from his mental breakdown. And Dennis was heavily involved with the Manson family even writing a Beach Boys song with his new best friend Charlie. After a while he realised that Manson was using him, and also was highly dangerous and he distanced himself from Manson, but his fear of reprisals from 'The Family ', along with his addictions, drove him crazy. Compared to Dennis, Brian was positively normal.
ReplyDeleteI remember the Rainbow Theatre, as the old Astoria became, very well, although I never went to an event there. In the 1970s it was one of the main concert venues in London. Most well known bands played either the Rainbow, the Hammersmith Odeon or the Empire Pool. I have a couple
Oops hit publish too soon. I have a couple of live videos of bands performing in the Rainbow, Iron Maiden and Thin Lizzy. But the venue closed in 1982, and I didn't start travelling to London to see bands until 1986. My main memories of the Finsbury Park Astoria/Rainbow Theatre are of it being across the road from a pub that I regularly visited in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The Sir George Robey was a pub that became a music venue. By the time I went there, the wonderful art deco building across the road was a gospel church. I used to go to a lot of ska and reggae gigs at the Robey, including the annual International Ska Festival. I also remember drinking in there before heading up the Seven Sisters Road to Finsbury Park to go the Madness concerts in 1992 and 1994.
DeleteI'm very jealous that you saw the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Especially that gig at the Astoria, which was momentous because it was the first occasion Jimi set fire to his Stratocaster. IThe Who became synonymous with the Rainbow and even wra song about it, so you got to see them at the start of that live relationship.
Finally back to Brian. I am not a huge fan of the surf sound, but I did enjoy the bands more experimental work, and of course, Pet Sounds. If only Brian could have stood up to his bully of a cousin, Mike Love and his conservative ways. I was very glad to see Brian shake off his mental issues and return to music, completing Smile, the album Love had forced him to abandon. And I loved the reunion album the Beach Boys made in 2012. Again Love seems to have chosen to freeze Brian Wilson out again after their tour, and now it's sadly too late. Brian Wilson was definitely a genius.
I knew from your comments on Lila's LP pictures on flickr that you have an extraordinary knowledge of rock music ... the above doesn't disappoint!
DeleteSurf music was of its time, but for me, moving on from my first 78rpm record ... 'The Happy Wanderer', Vienna Boys Choir (1954 - My mother bought it for me!) through my first 45rpm - Cathy's Clown, The Everly Bros, 1960, then developing an interest in Woody Guthrie's music (my mother again - I even knew the words to This Land Is Your Land) to Dylan's first LP, the die was already cast for me surf music was just part of a musical rite of passage.
I'll be returning to Jimi in my blog (we saw him a number of times) and having read your most recent piece and the mention of Fleetwood Mac, I'll have to include gigs at 'The Fish', The Fishmongers Arms, Palmers Green!
Another quick Whoops ... the Fish was in Wood Green, not Palmers Green (which was a bit posher!)
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