In the old, dirty (and cheaper) London like the 1970s of these photos you’d see concert ads like these plastered everywhere, and in areas like Camden and Ladbroke Grove with a happening music scene and a more bohemian population the walls were often like dense collages of old and new posters pasted on top of each other in thick layers.
This constantly-changing gallery was a highly visible sign of the vibrancy of the city’s music scene, and these cheaply-printed, often illegally posted posters were a very rock and roll form of advertising. More than an email alert anyway.
A couple of gigs well worth going to above, like The Police with The Cramps at the Lyceum, and Rockpile with The Specials (bottom of the bill!) at the Palais, while below on the right there is a poster advertising the strange combo of bland soft-rockers Sad Cafe with punk poet John Cooper Clarke. Think I’d rather have gone to see Motörhead at The Music Machine..
This must be the strangest one though: Prog Rockers Curved Air with the New York Dolls third on the bill. I like to think people had more eclectic tastes back then, but more than likely the Dolls got booed off or had beer cans thrown at them by angry hippies.
I’ve seen some great headliner/support combos in my day: Orange Juice/The Pale Fountains, The Pretenders/UB40, U2/Public Enemy, and Siouxsie & The Banshees/The Associates. Sadly that last one was a bit of a disaster as the punks in the audience didn’t care for their avant-garde artpop and showered Billy Mackenzie in spit and beer the whole time they were on. The poor sod just stood there in a big fur coat and took it with a massive grin on his face.
I never saw this lot in concert but the song has the word “Wall” in the title and it’s live too, so what the hell.
Download: Over The Wall (Live 1981) – Echo & The Bunnymen (mp3)
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Bill Stickers is innocent !
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Actually up at our end it was his cousin – Bill Posters
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Having visited London several times throughout the 1970’s, I recall a great fuss being made about all these posters spoiling the city’s image. To my mind they were the only bright spots in many parts of the city. (I lived in Stratford in Newham for a short while).
As for great headliner/support combos, I’d have to pick Graham Parker & The Rumour with Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes as support at Aberdeen’s Music Hall in 1977. Half an hour after Parker started , me and my chums were still yelling for a Southside Johnny encore.
The late 1960’s/early 1970’s saw some fearsome package tours of “name” bands and solo artists; e.g. – Family with Black Sabbath & Chicken Shack in 1970.
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Talking about headline/support combo; the day before we headed down to the Dome, Brighton to see Nils Lofgren (c. 1975) we watched him on The Old Grey Whistle Test, supported by never heard of before Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. Much as we loved & still love Nils, had to admit that TP won the star quality prize.
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Top Rank – Liverpool – about ’73
Lindisfarne supported by Genesis…
Roll on a few years & Talking Heads @ Fairfield, Croydon – 1 Talking Heads, 2 The Damned (I think) & 3 Dire Straits – whatever happened to them?
T
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The first time I saw John Cooper Clarke he was supporting Be Bop Deluxe, which turned out to be a great combination. Quite a shock to see this Dylan ’66 looking chap stroll on with a small notebook, but after half an hour of laughing ourselves silly, we were ‘converted’.
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Tim’s memory is slightly different to mine. Talking Heads were indeed supported by Dire Straits on tour, but they played at the Greyhound in Croydon (not the Fairfield Halls) and the Damned were definitely not on the bill. If they had been they would have been headlining by then.
I did manage to see Echo & The Bunnymen – at the Lyceum supported by the Au Pairs, the Delta 5 and a new band from Ireland called U2 – they were rubbish.
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By that I meant to say that U2 were rubbish. Echo & The Bunnymen were awesome.
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