Whilst Sparks were my first live gig, they weren't in the end my favourite. I saw Queen play live three times, and good though they were, they still couldn't snatch my personal no 1 live gig spot. Nor could Procul Harum, Elton John, Kevin Coyne, Rick Wakeman nor even the fabled Bob Kerr's Whoopee Band. My favourite gig ever was at The Wembley Arena at the promotional tour for their Out of the Blue double LP. And they played my favourite track.
Wild West Hero - ELO.
Listening to this you can hear how my grounding in classical music and choral singing would draw me to it. This was released back in the day when albums were awaited with baited breath. Not then the idea of previewing tracks for months before so on the release date everybody knows all the tracks. This LP is famous for the fact that Kenny Everett had a radio show on Capital Radio on the day it came out. The only music he played that day was this LP, in it's entirety. Twice.
3 comments:
I saw Queen play live twice: Knebworth and then Paris. They were most excellent.
I'm a bit jealous that you saw ELO at Wembley though. Was that the one where they were introduced as "The greatest band in the world" by Tony Curtis? I remember watching it on telly.
I had the Out Of The Blue LP on blue vinyl and played it to death. Funnily enough, my favourite track was... Wild West Hero.
Such memories, thank you. I loved ELO though never saw them live.
I have though, seen the Rolling Stones, the Kinks, the Hollies, Marianne Faithful, the Swinging Blue Jeans and others I can't recall...all in Cardiff and all for very few ponds.
Masher - I saw Queen in the earlier years, or at least before they went "stadium - sized". It may well have been that gig. The stage was set with the space ship and then the lights on the top started whirling, the top half ascended and there inside were the band. Old hat these days, but stunning back then.
Toffeeapple - I should think we were seeing the bands live for less than the cost of one of their CDs now!
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