Simon Cowe (guitar, mandolin, banjo, vocals) / Billy Mitchell (guitar, banjo, vocals) / Ian ‘Walter’ Fairbairn (guitar, mandolin, violin, banjo, vocals) / Phil Murray (bass, vocals) / Ray Laidlaw (drums, vocals)
We had already seen and enjoyed Jack the Lad back in March 1974 so we pretty much knew what to expect on this occasion. Leader and chief songwriter Rod Clements had quit the band since then, but there was still a strong body of writers and performers in their ranks. Unfortunately there is no setlist for this appearance, but we can assume that the band would have drawn from their three albums, the current one being ‘Rough Diamonds‘ and its great single ‘Gentleman Soldier‘. The band was not actually billed to appear according to the official newspaper programme so perhaps they were a late addition to the roster?
Very few websites mention them so it’s quite hard to confirm at just which exact point of the weekend they appeared; my good friend Steve Toal, in his diary of the day, had them down as straight after Joan Armatrading, so that’s good enough for me! This website does at least confirm that they did indeed play and that I didn’t dream the whole thing! Melody Maker chose to completely ignore the band, whilst Alan Francis of Record Mirror positively enthused about them, writing: “Jack the Lad’s beer-sodden Geordie humour, antics, jigs and reels were also sufficient to get the 50,000 or so crowd on their feet roaring with approval. Festival organiser Jack Barris summed it up afterwards – when he was quoted as saying to their manager, “top of the bill next year.””
In his after-the-event musings in Sounds (6th September 1975) John Peel wrote just eleven words: “… the always affable, always diverting, Jack the Lad were similarly received [as Thin Lizzy, i.e. “A Good Thing”.]”
I know that we enjoyed them; they were just the sort of festival band that appealed to us – lively and playing spritely tunes for us to get up to. I know that I would have been up with the other 49,999, dancing and jigging around for 40 minutes or so. Happy days! 🙂
Setlist: unknown
Gigs'n'Stuff 