When was the first time you saw The Shads?

[kipper]

first time i saw them live was at the london paladium in aladdin, i think cillia black was in it as well. my first real recall of them was when my mum took me to see the young one`s at the pictures, the stand out moment was when they played the savage in the simpkins youth club. i was only young but new this was something great. peter

[Martin Page]

first time i saw them live was at the london paladium in aladdin, i think cillia black was in it as well. my first real recall of them was when my mum took me to see the young one`s at the pictures, the stand out moment was when they played the savage in the simpkins youth club. i was only young but new this was something great. peter

Peace Pipe was played at the Simpkins Youth Club - The Savage was played at the theatre at the end of the film!

Martin.

[kipper]

first time i saw them live was at the london paladium in aladdin, i think cillia black was in it as well. my first real recall of them was when my mum took me to see the young one`s at the pictures, the stand out moment was when they played the savage in the simpkins youth club. i was only young but new this was something great. peter

Peace Pipe was played at the Simpkins Youth Club - The Savage was played at the theatre at the end of the film!

Martin.

thanks martin it was a long time ago. peter

[JimN]

first time i saw them live was at the london paladium in aladdin, i think cillia black was in it as well. my first real recall of them was when my mum took me to see the young one`s at the pictures, the stand out moment was when they played the savage in the simpkins youth club. i was only young but new this was something great. peter

Peace Pipe was played at the Simpkins Youth Club - The Savage was played at the theatre at the end of the film!

Martin.

thanks martin it was a long time ago. peter

To be fair, the theatre stage backdrop was a caricature drawing of Simpkins Youth Club.

[Gatwick1946]

Hi All,

I recall seeing the Shadows on a TV pop programme, when they played Kon Tiki. The set was based on a mock up of the Kon Tiki raft and they were introduced by, I think, DJ Keith Fordyce wearing a scuba mask. I believe this was in late 1961 and may have been the first TV appearance of Brian Bennett with the Shads.

The first time I heard the Shadows was probably on the radio. I remember that I was aware of Cliff Richard first and was surprised that they were also Cliff's backing group. I recall being at a party in 1961 when Quatermassters Stores was played a lot on the record player. At first hearing I preferred Quatermassters Stores to its "A" side, because the tune was an old favourite, from school coach trips.

This has been a very informative thread. Thanks Donna for starting it.

Kindest regards

Christopher

[iefje]

My father and I first saw The Shadows during their 2004 reunion tour on Saturday the 15th of May, at the Theatre Royal in Norwich. Before that we have seen individual members of the group. On Saturday the 27th of September, 1997 we saw Jet and Licorice, as well as Alan Jones, Cliff Hall, Clem Cattini, Barry Gibson and Phil Kelly at the fan meeting in Eindhoven, during the Local Heroes concert. On Wednesday the 19th of April, 2000 we saw Hank at the Congresgebouw in The Hague and a year later on Saturday the 7th of April, 2001 we saw Bruce at the fan meeting in Tilburg. We saw The Shadows again on Wednesday the 11th of May, 2005 at the Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam and with Cliff Richard on Tuesday the 10th of November, 2009. We managed to get autographs quite a number of times. We have them of Cliff, Hank, Bruce, Jet, Brian, Licorice, Alan and Cliff Hall.

[Geoff Alderton LH]

Hi all
I was a late starter seing the Shadows live. It was at the City Hall in Sheffield, Autum of 1987 I think. There was a comedian on the show to open proceedings.
He went on and on and got dirtier and dirtier. In the end a guy shouted from the circle and told him to bog off there are kids in here we came to see the Shadows.
They came on and opened with Riders In Ths Sky.
What a show.
Robo; Were you at the show ? Was it 87?
regards Geoff.

[David Martin]

The only time I saw The Shadows live was in a Blackpool theatre as a kid on holiday - Lic was with them, but I can't remember the date or venue. Maybe around 1962?

On TV, probably Crackerjack!!!

(And Gillian Comber's thighs...)

[Derek Mowbray]

I saw The Shadows at The Odean Cinema in Leeds in 1961 with the original line up then again with Brian on drums and still with Jet on Bass I think that would have been in early 1962 thats when I first heard them do Little B. then in May 62 at The Leeds Grand Theatre with Licorice on bass. After that at The Odean again in1965 with John Rostill and at The London Paladium in 1968 just before they broke up.

[Moderne]

My first memory of The Shadows was around 1969 when I was five. My parents were not keen on any sort of 'pop' music so it was never heard in our house but my grandparents had a pile of 45s and 78s which included Living Doll and Apache. I loved Living Doll and quite liked Quatermasster's Stores but wasn't too wild about Apache at the time. I didn't realise back then that The Drifters on Cliff's disc were the same as The Shadows. A year or two later I remember watching 'It's Cliff Richard' on Saturday evenings (but only when staying with relatives!) and enjoying Cliff's comedy sketches and banter with Hank Marvin but had no awareness that he was this great Shadows guitarist; in fact, I can't remember noticing him playing guitar on the programme at all!

It wasn't until 1977 and 20 Golden Greats that I became aware of The Shadows and the mysterious shimmering wonder of Apache! I didn't get to see them until autumn 1979 at the Hammersmith Odeon and was totally hooked. Their version of Frightened City was incredible: I never thought I'd hear Hank's genius lead break again until their 1980 Dutch performance appeared on YouTube. I feel very lucky to have seen my heroes so many times even though I wasn't born when they had their early success. Apart from 1984 I've seen them and Hank on every tour they've done since. Like Geoff, the only disappointment I've ever felt was when they had comedians as support acts on a couple of tours in the mid-80s...Wayne Dobson was one name I remember.

Unlike many fans whose main interest is the Hank, Bruce, Jet and Tony era and 'that sound', I have always been fascinated by Hank as an artist. There's something about his musicianship, songwriting, vocals, and humour which I just love; he is a unique talent. I'd love to have seen Marvin, Welch, Farrar and was looking forward to seeing Hank's Gypsy Jive tour which would have been taking place around about now I believe. I hope it gets re-scheduled sometime soon.

Cheers,

Clive