Midnight, But No Oasis...

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The soundtrack to my adolescence was brought back to me this afternoon: watching a documentary about Jethro Tull. The picture shows the cover to their first album, on top of which is the stub of the ticket from the one time I saw them in concert. September 1970: I was fifteen and growing up rapidly. It's no exaggeration that this lot were very important to me at the time - still are, as far as their earlier stuff's concerned - and that this one particular gig was very special indeed.

They were scheduled to play back-to-back shows at Birmingham Town Hall, which hosted some of the biggest artists in the late sixties and early seventies; the first at the usual start time around seven in the evening, and the second kicking off at midnight. We'd elected to go to and bought tickets for the latter. A clutch of us - all mates from school - gathered at my house for the evening before catching the bus into town for the gig. The last record we played before setting off was the B-side to Deep Purple's 'Black Night': 'Speed King'.

Fuelled by nothing but excitement - not even a can of beer, well maybe a couple - we headed off to get the B82 bus into Brum.  The atmosphere around the Town Hall seemed entirely foreign, almost exotic, as I was yet to become a habitué of the night proper: I was subsequently to spend a lot of the mid-seventies lounging around after hours in the Town's nightclubs and cafés. I can't remember who opened for Tull, but they came on stage about 1:30 in the morning and stormed it from the opening bar of 'Nothing is Easy': there was no let-up until we spilled out onto the streets at around three in the morning. Magic - ah, youth...

Comments

  1. Steve31 January 2021 at 14:39

    Gig was opened by Tir na nOg and Procal Harum. Don't remember much about either set. You're right about Tull though, they were epic. Finished with 'We Used To Know'. Have to say that the albums through to 'Aqualung' were great but sadly went down hill from then, (IMHO!), with a slight return with 'Heavy Horses'.

    ReplyDelete
  2. sideways31 January 2021 at 18:54

    I knew I'd seen Procol Harum, but for some reason didn't connect them with the Tull gig - thanks, Steve...Totally agree: I lost interest after Aqualung.

    ReplyDelete

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