On This Day 23/03/1968 Tom Jones v The Beatles. Amen Corner drop Rock ‘n’ Roll

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On this day, 23 March 1968, it was reported in the music press the battle for the number 1 spot between Tom Jones and The Beatles.

Tom’s “Delilah” was challenging Esther and Abi Ofarim for the top spot but The Beatles “Lady Madonna” released only last Friday leaped in at number three. The Beatles single has already passed the 250,000 mark in the UK and sold over a million in the USA.

Said Ringo this week : “It’s great news’” “Lady Madonna” is the song that Ringo admitted was “Almost a return to rock and roll”

He said: “It was loosely based on Humphrey Littleton’s jazz hit “Bad Penny Blues”.

Tom Jones, who opens today at the Flamingo in Las Vegas, has signed for a six and a half week season at Bournemouth’s Winter Garden. He will be backed by the Ted Heath Orchestra and the show will also star Roy Castle.

In October Tom undertakes a 17 day tour of South African cities and returns to start a major UK tour.

Also it was reported :

AMEN CORNER are to drop all rock-'n'-roll from their act so as not to be accused of jumping on the Rock Revival bandwagon.

Andy Fairweather-Low told the MM this week: “The group feels we wish to disassociate ourselves from the current trend.

“We were playing rock numbers in the act over 14 months ogo but we are now dropping them. We are going to take three days off to re-vamp the act and rehearse new numbers.”

Organist Blue Weaver and road manager Mike de Minter were taken to hospital when gale force winds turned the group's wagon over at Nay-hole,

Ayrshire, on Saturday afternoon, Blue hurt his hand and was unable to play. He hopes to return to the group today (Thursday).

On This Day 10/02/1970 Badfinger

On this day, 10 February 1970, Welsh rock band Badfinger played Cardiff University with support provided by Rainbow People.

The story of Badfinger is a sad one, with band leaders Pete Ham and Tommy Evans disillusioned by the sheer difficulty and stress of turning their musical talents into hard cash.

Originally signed to the Beatles' Apple Records as the Iveys, Pete Ham, vocals, Mike Gibbins, drums, Tommy Evans, guitar, and Ron Griffiths, changed their name following the release of two unsuccessful singles.

Swansea-born Griffiths left in September 1969 and was replaced by Joe Molland of Liverpool.

The new line-up had a transatlantic hit with Come And Get It, written by their famous label boss Paul McCartney.

Their song No Matter What was another Top 10 hit, followed by critically acclaimed albums No Dice and Straight Up.

By the beginning of the 1970s, Badfinger was something of an Apple house band and even appeared on three solo Beatle recordings (All Things Must Pass, It Don't Come Easy and Imagine) as well as appearing at George Harrison's Bangla Desh benefit concert.

In 1972 Harry Nilsson enjoyed a huge transatlantic chart topper with Without You.

But Pete Ham found it difficult to penetrate the financial jungle which surrounded the music business.

He found himself working in a factory to make ends meet, hearing his song Without You playing on the radio as he toiled away.


In 1975 personal and financial troubles got too much for him and Ham hanged himself.

In November 1983, history repeated itself in the most bizarre fashion when Tom Evans committed suicide by hanging at his Surrey home.

Like Pete Ham, he had been suffering from depression and financial worries.

Following the discovery of some home-recorded tapes, these were finally issued as two complete albums of Ham's songs in the late 1990s.

Although the quality of the tapes was poor, they indicated a great songwriter with a marvellous grasp of pop melody and compounded the tragedy of his early death.

Badfinger ( line-up)

• Tom Evans

• Mike Gibbins

• Pete Ham

• Joey Molland

On This Day 07/11/1964 The Beatles

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On this day, 7 November 1964, music legends The Beatles played Cardiff’s Capitol Theatre.

it was the 24th date of The Beatles’ 1964 British tour and a return to the Capitol.

The group had previously performed at the venue on 27 May 1963, and returned for their final UK tour date on 12 December 1965.

They performed two concerts on this night, for which they were paid £850. Their set throughout the 1964 tour contained 10 songs: ‘Twist And Shout’, ‘Money (That’s What I Want)’, ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’, ‘Things We Said Today’, ‘I’m Happy Just To Dance With You’, ‘I Should Have Known Better’, ‘If I Fell’, ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’, ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ and ‘Long Tall Sally’.

The support acts on the tour were The Rustiks, Sounds Incorporated, Michael Haslam, The Remo Four, Tommy Quickly and Mary Wells, and the compère was Bob Bain. The evening’s two shows began at 6.30pm and 8.50pm.

Mike from Newport on the BeatlesBible website had this to say about the memorable evening - “I remember going to see this concert with my sister ( from Newport by train),it was the 6 .30 pm show.

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I remember Mary Wells singing ‘My Guy” The Beatles opened with ‘Twist and Shout’. they were were dressed in light grey ‘Beatle jackets’ near the end of the song, John Lennon took his tie off and threw it into the front row !,

It was a loud, crazy night. I still have the ticket stub, and one from the Bob Dylan 1966 show !

Footage from the visit in 1964 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PknnUXESgSI

On This Day 27/08/1967 Brian Epstein

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A day in the life: August 27, 1967. Brian Epstein, the Beatles manager, was found dead at his home in London. Jane Asher was the one who answered the phone call breaking them of the bad news in Wales, and communicated it to Paul. Sad, tearful and confused,

The Beatles gave a short press conference and left for London.

John recalled: “We were in Wales with the Maharishi. We decided to accept his invitation to Wales after the conference he gave in London.

“ I was stunned at the news, we all were, I guess, and went where the Maharishi was.. We told him he was dead and everything, and he just told us 'Oh, well, forget it', be happy, like idiots, in family, smile, that's what the Maharishi told us and that's what we did. I got that feeling anyone gets when someone very close to you dies: it's that little hysterical attack, that "ji-ji!

"It enters you for a moment and then suddenly, you start crying, I don't know if it's happened to you." I knew we were in trouble. I really didn't have these weird ideas about our abilities to do things other than playing music, so I was scared. We had her fucked up.

“I liked that Brian and I had such a close relationship for years because I wasn't willing to do things with strangers, I like working with friends.”

On this day 11/09/1975 Wings

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On this day, 11 September 1975, Paul McCartney and Wings played Cardiff’s Capitol Theatre as part of their Wings Over The World Tour. It was the third date on the tour following concerts at Southampton and Bristol.

The world tour followed the release of Wings' bestselling album Venus and Mars (1975), while the follow-up album, Wings at the Speed of Sound (1976), was completed after the band's Australian concerts. Both Venus and Mars and Band on the Run (1973) were well represented in the setlist for the two 1975 legs. Songs from Speed of Sound were then introduced into the set in March 1976, and McCartney is known to have remarked: "Everything I have done since The Beatles split has been leading up to this."

Wings' line-up for this tour was Paul McCartney (vocals, bass, piano, acoustic guitar), Linda McCartney (keyboards, backing vocals), Denny Laine (vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, bass, keyboards, percussion), Jimmy McCulloch (electric and acoustic guitars, bass, vocals) and Joe English (drums, percussion, backing vocals). They were joined by brass and woodwind players Howie Casey, Steve Howard, Thaddeus Richard and Tony Dorsey.

Cardiff - interview - https://youtu.be/oW8K_dn4AN4

Setlist:

Venus and Mars/Rock Show

Jet

Let Me Roll It

Spirits of Ancient Egypt

Little Woman Love

C Moon

Maybe I'm Amazed

(Paul McCartney song)

Lady Madonna

(The Beatles cover)

The Long and Winding Road

(The Beatles cover)

Medicine Jar

Soily

Picasso's Last Words (Drink to Me)

Richard Cory

(Simon & Garfunkel cover)

Bluebird

I've Just Seen a Face

(The Beatles cover)

Blackbird

(The Beatles cover)

Yesterday

(The Beatles cover)

You Gave Me the Answer

Magneto and Titanium Man

Go Now

(Bessie Banks cover)

Junior's Farm

Letting Go

Live and Let Die

Call Me Back Again

My Love

Listen to What the Man Said

Band on the Run

Hi, Hi, Hi

On this day Paul McCartney 26/06/2010

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On this day, 26 June 2010, rock legend Paul McCartney played Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium on his Up and Coming tour. Support was provided by the Manic Street Preachers.

McCartney had announced shows for Europe, including his first appearance at the Isle of Wight Festival, and his first show in Cardiff, Wales in over three decades.

The tour required 31 trucks to transport all its equipment and employed a full-time crew of over 150 people to make it all work.

The total weight of all the tour's equipment was 125,000 pounds (57,000 kg).

The indoor concerts on the tour used 90 speakers, and the outdoor stadium shows used 130.

Backstage at each show there were 14 touring offices and dressing rooms.

The catering department served approximately 480 vegetarian meals a day to the crew.

The tour ended on 10 June 2011 with a show in Las Vegas.

“I’ve had my eye on it for a long time – since it was built. I’ve often said to my promoter, ‘What about Cardiff and the Millennium Stadium?’ but it’s always been booked. So it’s been a long-term ambition of mine.”

Paul McCartney

McCartney began the Millennium Stadium concert with Venus And Mars/Rock Show, before performing a mixture of Beatles, Wings and solo songs. He appeared in good spirits, thanking the crowd in Welsh (“Shw mae Cymru! Croeso Stadiwm y Mileniwm!”), spoke of how he and George Harrison had hitchhiked to Harlech as teenagers, and jokingly referred to Liverpool as the capital of Wales.

After performing Foxy Lady he spoke of his admiration for Jimi Hendrix, and how The Beatles had been flattered when Hendrix performed Sgt Pepper’s title track in concert. He paid tribute to Linda McCartney, George Harrison and John Lennon, and performed ‘Paperback Writer’ using the Epiphone Casino which he had used to record it in 1966.

The setlist contained one extra surprise: an unscheduled performance of Ram On, in response to a placard request held up by an audience member. McCartney performed the song on George Harrison’s old ukulele prior to playing ‘Something’.

On This Day 27/5/1963 The Beatles & Roy Orbison

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On this day, 27 May 1963, legendary group The Beatles paid their very first visit to Cardiff play the Capitol Theatre.

The 1963 concert tour of the United Kingdom by Roy Orbison and the Beatles. Other acts on the tour included Gerry and the Pacemakers, David Macbeth, Louise Cordet, Tony Marsh, Terry Young Six, Erkey Grant, and Ian Crawford.

Orbison had a great influence on contemporary artists as The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. The Beatles were fans of Roy, and as early as the very first radio program they participated in, Teenagers Turn, recorded on March 8 1962 with Pete Best on drums, the group performed the song "Dream Baby" with Paul on vocals.

The song was a brand new single with Roy, released only a month before The Beatles did their version of it.
Although Orbison was originally intended to be the headlining act, the reaction to the Beatles on the tour caused them to be promoted to co-headliners, with the Beatles closing the set in the traditional headlining spot.

Concert Review - South Wales Echo