On October 10th 1974 I got a call from our manager to say there was a gig going that very night supporting Wishbone Ash could I contact everyone and get the band together for the show. I rang round everyone including the roadies and we were ready to rock. When the call came in I had been dying my platform boots (well it was the 70’s) I fancied green but because of that call I had to turn out that night with one green boot and the other still the original cream colour. The show was at Newcastles Odeon Cinema, the one and only time we ever played there. This was before they split it up into smaller cinemas and was a huge venue.

Now 30 years later I get an e-mail from a guy named Shaun who tells me he was at that gig. He sneaked in a cassette recorder with which to record the show. Shaun tells me he has just one song from my band on his cherished tape recording. He sent me a wav file and I’ve encoded it and added to this site. The wav was pretty distorted at source but prior to encoding I can hear all the performances of the 4 individuals pictured here to the right.It’s clearly one of our own songs but I only vaguely remember it. Thank you Shaun for the digital memories, where does the time go huh?

Bullfrog at the Odeon Newcastle circa 1974 by STMedia

UPDATED Jan 21st 2012

Yesterday I visited Newcastle to see the Odeon looking in a sorry state (below). I’ve since learned it has been de-listed and is undergoing demolition. Shame!

The pic below from 1995 is how I remember it.

This pic was taken in the 1940s long before I played there but this was the layout when it was a venue for bands. Once they broke it up into smaller cinemas it could no longer be used as a venue for bands.

This picture shows the scale of the Odeon before it became a multiplex. I believe it was this act of destruction that led to it’s eventual demise. If all those original features were still there it would no doubt still be a listed building.