Nick Garvey (guitars, vocals) / Andy McMaster (bass, keyboards, vocals) / Bram Tchaikovsky (guitars, vocals) /Ricky Slaughter (drums)
The Motors would go on to score big in 1978 with their smash hit singles ‘Airport‘ and ‘Forget About You’You’ but for now they were an almost brand new band having been formed only a few months beforehand in January 1977 and there had already been even more band changes by the time that they hit the stage on the third day of the weekend at the early slot of 12:40-1:30.
Rock newspaper NME wasn’t moved by them at all, Julie Birchill and Tony Parsons dismissing the band along with a few other early acts as being of “terminal mediocrity”. Unfortunately, by then if you weren’t outright punk or a big, old band then you certainly weren’t ever going to get a fair trial where that rag was concerned, and I say this in full acceptance of the fact that the NME was my rock music paper of choice back then. 😦
There is no known setlist but it’s a safe bet that they played material from their first album, ‘1‘ as well as their singles ‘Be What You Gotta Be‘ and ‘Dancin’ the Night Away‘.
Setlist: unknown
Footnote: In 2023 I bought their 1978 album, ‘Approved By The Motors’, and it really is a very good album. From the two hit singles – ‘Airport’ and ‘Forget About You’ (BBC Grandstand rip-off! 😂) – to the album closer, ‘Today’, it is a hugely enjoyable mix of power-pop and pub rock. Highly recommended!
Here’s what the official newspaper programme had to say about them…
Then, in 2022, I commissioned this tin pin-badge…
Gigs'n'Stuff 