UlrichS wrote:jigsaw wrote:I booked to go and see Cliff and the Shads at Finsbury Park in 1969, I’m sure it was the Astoria. It was after Bruce “left” and Alan Hawkshaw took his place. The curtains opened and only Brian Bennett, John Rostill and Alan Hawkshaw were on stage. John took to the mic and announced that Hank was ill. Because of this, they only played 3 numbers, Nivram, Exodus and Little B. In the second half, if I remember correctly, Cliff was accompanied by the Brian Bennett Band which included Alan and John but I can’t recall the rest.
This was on Friday, 7th November 1969. Hank missed also the concert in Birmingham the next day. And due to Cliff's illness the last two concerts on 14th (Liverpool) and 15th November (Manchester) were cancelled. Ill-fated tour?
The only other solo act apart from Cliff and The Shadows were Marcie & The Cookies.
The Liverpool date, and, I expect, the Manchester date, were postponed rather than being totally cancelled. I saw the show at a rearranged date a few weeks later: Cliff Richard, The Welch-less "Shadows", the Brian Bennett Band (which included Hank, Brian, John and Alan), Marcie and The Cookies and a comedian compére named Alan Field. On the Shadows' page in the tour programme (which I still have), the group's name was printed in the Umbra font.
See: https://ibb.co/23PQKp5