Reading - the bands, the guests, the details

[RayL]

Here's some more detail about last Friday's Children In Need Concert

The afternoon (coordinated by 'Old Derek' Misselbrook) gave the club guitarists a chance to play in possibly the biggest venue that they have ever (or will ever) get a chance to experience. A surprise visitor was Pudsey Bear (looking a little thinner than normal?) who managed a couple of Shads numbers on a bear-coloured Strat (that bandage over the eye doesn't exactly help the concentration!) He was finally revealed to be the organiser of the event, Graham Hyde.

First on for the evening show were The Driftin' Shadows
Brian Haycock Lead Guitar
Frank Glasspool Rhythm Guitar
Paul McManus Bass Guitar
Bob Dore Keyboards
Chris Wright Drums
Vocals were suppplied by the suave Ashley Stone and as a finale, Chris Wright introduced their special guest Clem Cattini, drummer and leader of The Tornados, who closed the set by taking over the drum stool for Telstar

'Legend' seem to have started a trend! The Silver Shadows came on with an all-white Burns line-up and (instrumentally) played an entirely Burns-era set
Stephen Swann Lead/Rhythm Guitar
Brian Haycock Lead/Rhythm Guitar
Eric Pole Bass Guitar
Chris Kenward Drums
Their special guest was vocalist Ian Geast, resplendent in a pink jacket, who sang five Cliff numbers mid-set then returned to close with Singin' The Blues. Steve Longden joined him on backing vocals for Gee Whiz Its You and Graham Hyde guested with the band (on tambourine) for The Flyder And The Spy

Next came the auction, with MC Richard Garland employing all his wiles to drive the price up ("I'm not having one thousand and one - make it one thousand and twenty-five?").

With the Strat and the Burns having fetched mouth-watering prices it was the turn of The Shadders from the South Coast club
Geoff Bearpark Lead Guitar
John Aylett Rhythm Guitar
John Gray Guitar
Barry Sutton Bass Guitar
Bob Dore Keyboards
Nobby Glover Drums
Their high-energy guitars and drums were interrupted after Mountains of the Moon by a non-Shadows number, Fire Alarm, which unfortunately had to close the set.

After everyone had trooped back in, Justin Daish unveiled his new band, The Shadowers, which includes former Shadow Alan Jones on bass.
Justin Daish Lead Guitar
Steve Longden Rhythm Guitar
Alan Jones Bass Guitar
Matthew Green Keyboards
Nigel Parsler Drums
From the South-West Shadows club, Justin introduced guest Owen Lawton on The Rise & Fall Of Flingel Bunt but by this time it was nearly midnight and another non-Shadows feature The Rules And The Neighbours meant that the set had to end at that point with the inevitable Apache.

A great evening for Shadows fans and a lot of money raised for Children In Need.

I'd like to thank my video team of Alan Taylor and James Nugent for all their hard work throughout the day.

Ray L

[OLDEREK]

Thanks Ray a lot of info there for us, here is Pudsey (Graham Hyde) in full flow, Graham said afterwards he could only see the neck of the Guitar at the first fret because of the Pudsey mask....

PUDSEY STRAT.jpg

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[Amanda]

Hi,

Thinking about it someone should have been playing the old Move classic
"Fire Brigade" in the car park.

Thanks for the listing Ray, I never picked up a programme or sat in my allocated seat
(someone else was in it!) but then again I got involved in different ways.

It was interesting sitting on the side of the stageand watching the proceedings and also
hearing the music from behind the stage for the first time.

I thought Justin's choice of Shads numbers was a good one and it's a shame that it ended
before they finished.

What happened to the good old days when no one left the building until it was well alight
"Elfin' Safety " I suppose

Let's hope for a better venue if it's done again next year!

And big thanks to Graham and the organisers.

Amanda

[OLDEREK]

Ray Liffen and Alan Taylor getting ready for the day, I'm looking forward to the DVD of the event..

RAY L.JPG

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[ShadsDrums]

HI D

Are you aware if anyone took photos of the bands up on stage. Would love to see what we all looked like up there!

Cheers
Chris

[RayL]

Hi Chris

Video records at 25 frames per second. If each band played for, say, 45 mins then, with three cameras recording four bands, that's a total of 810,000 still frames. Will that be enough to make a choice?

Ray

[ShadsDrums]

Can't wait, Ray - it'll be the first professionally recorded video of our band - ever! <pant>

In the meantime, was wondering if there were any still shots we could be treated to... would be nice to see 'em if there are but not sure how many folks were actually taking photos there on the night.

Cheers
Chris

[MeBHank]

The Shadowers were glad to be able to help towards so much money being raised for such a worthy cause, despite all the problems that hounded us during the day. I'm just disappointed that we weren't able to play the very best material of our set: we'd saved the best stuff till the end of the evening and we weren't able to play any of it (though Flingel Bunt worked well and I'm pleased that Owen Laughton got to demonstate what he can do - we had a lot of fun with that tune!). Nevermind, it'll save till another day. Providing there are no bomb threats, plagues of Egypt or further fire alarms we'll be able to show our full potential.

Here's to the next time...

J