Top of the first half are The BeeGees. Great. I love them. Then in the second half we have Grapefruit singing, among other things, Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da. Finally, top of the bill, Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich. I ADORE Dave Dee.
Here is a picture of the interior of the hall from the end opposite the stage. My seat was in the little wing to the left of the stage, with just a low wooden wall (with a gate in it!) between me and Dave Dee! Girls were running onstage throughout to throw their arms round his neck and kiss him. Me? All I could think of was that my mini-dress would ride up and display my underwear to the thousands packing the hall.
("Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall" - the upturned mushrooms in the dome probably gave rise to this line in The Beatles' A Day In The Life. They are there to improve the accoustics.)
The group released songs that came from all sorts of musical idioms from across the world. We had Mexican (Legend of Xanadu), Spanish (Don Juan), Greek (Bend It), Russian (Okay) styles, and their first record, Hold Tight, was in the rhythm of an English football chant. Dave Dee was sex on legs, cracking a whip in Legend of Xanadu, writhing suggestively and wriggling his hips, well, it was more than a girl could stand. The words of the songs were often suggestive, too, like Bend It (recently used NOT in its entirety by Weight Watchers in a TV ad):
It's nearly a year since Dave Dee died. He was 65 and had been battling cancer for three years. In recent years the group had reformed and was playing gigs in the UK and Germany.
Dave had done a lot of charity work in between times, and had been an hotelier and a magistrate. I guess the quiet respectability became too much for him.
A few weeks ago I bought a cd of some of their songs, and many are sexy enough to take a Vincent video. They certainly stand up well to repeated listening. I had hoped my vinyl-to-cd machine would allow me to digitise their singles and LPs. Oh well.
If anyone is feeling nostalgic, there are lots of videos on YT: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=A201EDDB36A5A3CF
5 comments:
'Xanadu' was one of my favourite records once upon a time. Hadn't realised 'Dave' was no longer with us...
oh my goodness - what an amazing trip down memory lane - i remember seeing them somewhere, but don't think it was anywhere as salubrious as the AH and DD was rather gorgeous --- just tell me one thing though, do you remember what you had for breakfast? LOL
p.s. can't believe the BG's (my ab fab fav initials) were once DDDBM&T's warm up act
Wow! The hair! The fashions! Don't you just want to relive it all again? LOL
What a great memory! I can remember going to concerts but no where near a gorgeous venue like Albert Hall, to think you were there, and, it was referenced in a Beatles song! I've never heard of this band but really liked the song on YouTube...thanx for sharing! The clothes from the 60's were the best fashion EVER.
To be honest, Ann, I think they were pretty well joint top billing, with dd,d,b,m,t just having the edge 'cos they'd had more hits.
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