Laurie Wisefield (guitar, vocals) / Andy Powell (guitar, vocals) / Martin Turner (bass, vocals) / Steve Upton (drums, percussion)
Now then… the headliners, and a band that I was very much looking forward to seeing. I loved – and still do love, and play regularly – their signature album ‘Argus‘, and was looking forward to them playing several tracks from it; I wasn’t disappointed. Most of their set included material from that album as well as three new tracks from the forthcoming ‘Locked In‘ LP.
As impressed as I was, the same couldn’t be said of the music press (nothing new in that, you might say). Alan Francis of Record Mirror said that the band “turned in a poor performance” whilst Melody Maker’s Karl Dallas wrote “I’ve got to admit that Wishbone Ash are not exactly my cup of tea, and while I can admire the rapport between Powell and Wisefield’s guitars, enlivened in at least one number by Andy’s new talk-bag (hope he doesn’t lose his teeth like everyone else who uses one), I was strangely unmoved. The same could not be said for the audience, who went wild, and were understandably somewhat upset when the band departed after playing for just over half and hour – a third of the time originally allocated them. However, all was not lost, because they came back to play ‘Bad Weather Blues’, one of the three new items in their set, most of which came from ‘Argus’, and all was going well when suddenly the lights went out on stage. Unfazed by this somewhat uncharitable behaviour – assuming that their late arrival in the first place was indeed not their fault – the lads played on in the darkness, while security men illuminated them from in front of the stage with torches.”
I really don’t remember that ending to the weekend, but if it’s been reported then that’s clearly what happened. I suspect that the lights were turned out because of the by-laws saying that they had to be finished by a certain time, and that they had overrun because of their delayed start. No doubt someone will be able to confirm or deny this.*
Anyway, as I’ve already said, I know that I had a jolly good time and really enjoyed their set. And to date, it’s still the only time that I have ever seen any incarnation of the band.
* Now confirmed by Phil Townsend on Facebook. And David Beer recalls that there was also an “illuminated firework sign of the band’s name on the roof of the stage”.
Setlist: Phoenix (intro); Rest in Peace; The King Will Come; Warrior; Persephone; Half Past Lovin’; Trust in You; Time Was; Blowin’ Free / Bad Weather Blues / Phoenix (closing section)
Here’s what the official newspaper programme said about them…
Gigs'n'Stuff 