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A conversation overheard down 'ammersmith tube between two ex-grammar school Beatle freaks and one poor kid aged about ten.
First man: "Lennon's 'ere in' e?"
Second: "'Yeah, some photographer geezer's seen 'im."
Poor kid: "Paul McCartney used to be in the Beatles didn't he?"
First man: That's right, you might see three of 'em 'ere tonight, p'haps four."
Poor kid: "There was four people in the Beatles weren't there?"
And so it all began some rainy Wednesday night at the fag end of the seventies. One soggy Boxing Day in Hammersmith Odeon. The golden trail to the Beatles reunion. Some of "the best bands of the decade," all playing for charity and reaching for a sense of occasion with a Harvey Goldsmith promise of "more than a few surprises," my dears.
That first night began and ended with Queen. Outside, the louts were asking the same five pounds for a ticket that would've bought you one at the door as it wasn't sold out. I wonder how much of a donation the London Ticket Tout Collective made to the cause?
Queen came on in that same leather gear they've paraded on the TV screen in the last month ever since they discovered barbers, eschewed the opera and got back to their rockin' roots and svelte Freddie flung himself into "Jailhouse Rock" to prove the point. "We Will Rock You" and "Somebody To Love" followed until during "Get Down And Make Love," Brian May's guitar seemed to be at odds with what was spilling from the vast wall of speakers. Was it a tape, was it him, was it real? No one really seemed to care. The band received slightly more than a polite response as they sauntered through "You're My Best Friend" and a new single "Save Me" which is a re-write of the last three. "Don't Stop Me Now" and "Keep Yourself Alive" are both excellent songs though the latter would've sounded better without the guitar and drum solos. "Crazy Little Thing" featured Mr Mercury on acoustic guitar and "Bohemian Rhapsody" featured a tape recorder.
After that Freddie came on pretty aggressive and pushed over a huge side monitor and reappeared hoisted up on the shoulders of a husky Superman to sing "We Will Rock You."
Freddie's singing and Brian Taylor's drumming were excellent throughout and Fred whipped out every early seventies rock pose from his encyclopaedia and a few new ones too but generally Queen failed to ignite their audience. They were loud, brash, dynamic and very tight but eventually became very boring too and without the promise of another band at the end of the night more than a few desperados straddled off into the drizzly night before the finale.
The second night began with a lot more rain, a couple more bands and even a few surprises. The touts kept watch at the doors while Matumbi took the stage (which looked like the warehouse department of Macari's music store) and asked us about five times whether we'd had a nice Christmas or not. They received a distinctly hostile reception at first they knew it .
Things brightened up with two passionate performances of "Boy Oh Boy" which should be a single and a wondrous "After Tonight" which sent applause ringing round the stalls. Some fun came along when the two lead singers decided to throw a few accents around from Brixton to Bermondsey and immediately they endeared themselves to the audience. Matumbi's vocal harmonies were excellent and with their catchy reggae vignettes and Dennis Bovelle's perfect production it's difficult to see why they don't have more hits.
The first "surprise" came along in the shape of some half-wit in a Jonathan King wig who told some jokes about "queers" and managed to reach the same standard of comedy that ITV dished up over Christmas. At least we were blessed with a discerning audience. He was quickly booed off. The second surprise came in the shape of the Clash.
The skeletons that once were the Clash burst into an excellent "Clash City Rockers" and "Safe European Home" and were rumoured to have come from the Palais across the road where they'd just given another secret performance. Strummer became Simonon and vice-versa for the unspectacular "Guns Of Brixton" where the lead vocal was completely submerged until half way through and some of the songs lost their effect by being badly paced and including some dreadful backing harmonies.
Some of it though was magnificent. "Jimmy Jazz" saw Strummer pacing the searchlights like some kind of Hardy Kruger clone from a sixties war movie and an emotive rendering of "Complete Control" and "Lovers Rock" reminded me of the golden days of the Clash before they acquired their Autumnal tint and the habit using five different guitars on stage. Mickey Gallagher joined them on silent Hammond at about the same time as Mr Guy Stevens was seen to be forcibly dragged up the centre aisle by some awful mean-looking bouncers and Joe Strummer clouted some chap across the jaw who got up to sing "Janie Jones" with them for an encore.
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