Is this the same guitar?

[JimN]

Tony was long gone by April 1962. Depending on the date, it's possible that Jet was gone too. Tony did make a few more appearances for award ceremonies, etc, but I don't think Jet did.

[cockroach]

Thanks to the folks who can put material up on Youtube, I can enjoy seeing old clips I missed at the time, or only viewed in black and white.

I recently viewed the Shadows performing the six entries for Eurovision 1975 on the Lulu show. Although they are miming to a pre-recorded track, hearing it in stereo sounded good to me ears,

I notice that Hank uses a sunburst, maple board strat throughout. Is this a respray of the blonde strat he bought after the burns went missing, or another strat?

Kindest regards,
Christopher

To return to the OP...

I just watched the Shads doing Let Me Be The One on Eurovision 1975 on youtube..(I presume it's the appearance where Bruce is miming on a P Bass?

Hank is playing his black modified Strat , it's not a sunburst...

[drakula63]

Hank evidently had the white Strat modified especially for the Eurovision. I think it was a good move as it does look very dramatic. A shame that Brian wasn't allowed to use his pink customised Premier kit on the night. But that's another story!

[StuartD]

Hi Donna

The 1962 Ivor Novello Awards were possibly Licorice's first appearance with the group. They were shown on TV on May 13th and I remember seeing him perform on that night.

It was certainly just after he joined

Regards

Stuart

[JimN]

Hi Donna

The 1962 Ivor Novello Awards were possibly Licorice's first appearance with the group. They were shown on TV on May 13th and I remember seeing him perform on that night.
It was certainly just after he joined
Regards
Stuart

That may well have been Lic's first television appearance with the group, but he had been appearing live on stage with them for some weeks by then.

Both you and I saw the line-up with Licorice in April 1962. In my case, it was Tuesday April 24th at Liverpool Empire, though Bruce was absent and replaced by Checkmate Peter Carter.

[Stu's Dad]

How many nights did they play? I haven't got your memory for dates Jim, but I was there that week and the night I was there Chas McDevitt replaced Bruce. If you remember he was on the bill with Shirley Douglas. There were four of us, and one of my mates was seriously disgruntled, muttering that he'd paid to see The Shadows, not Just Hank.
He hadn't even accepted Tony Meehan leaving.

Len

[donna plasky]

HI. I think I found the photo with Helen Shapiro and The Shadows. Here is a print screen from the YouTube video of Look Over Your Shoulder. Possibly this is from Cliff's 21st birthday celebration. Or, if not, I don't know where it's from but it's a nice photo.

image.jpeg

(139.31 KiB) Downloaded 9529 times

[362436]

Hi Len. The Shadows were in Liverpool for the whole week.
I felt the same about Jet as your mate did about Tony.
Still the chance to see and hear the group in action made up to a certain degree.
Cheers, Ian.

[Stu's Dad]

Hi Len. The Shadows were in Liverpool for the whole week.
I felt the same about Jet as your mate did about Tony.
Still the chance to see and hear the group in action made up to a certain degree.
Cheers, Ian.

Thanks for that Ian, I was a bit dischuffed myself, Jet had only just left, and then to top it all Bruce went sick! I wasn't half as bad as my mate though, he was a bass player to be fair, I was still made up to see Hank playing in the flesh.

One thing I do remember is that when Hank sat at the piano to play Stand up and Say That, Chas McDevitt actually played a decent guitar solo.

Cheers,

Len

[JimN]

How many nights did they play? I haven't got your memory for dates Jim, but I was there that week and the night I was there Chas McDevitt replaced Bruce. If you remember he was on the bill with Shirley Douglas. There were four of us, and one of my mates was seriously disgruntled, muttering that he'd paid to see The Shadows, not Just Hank.
He hadn't even accepted Tony Meehan leaving.

Len

The events of the week are set out in some detail (more than I was able to provide, though I did provide some of it) in Jim Elyea's book "Vox Amplifiers - The JMI Years" (pages 568-569).

Some of the information seems to have come directly from Chas McDevitt, who was the first replacement during that particular bout of illness for Bruce, in Peterborough on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday (April 20th - 22nd inclusive) as well as on the following Saturday. He says that in Peterborough, his (bearded!) appearance came as a shock to the audience, whereas by the time the show opened in Liverpool on the Monday, the audience knew beforehand that Bruce wouldn't be there (and I can confirm that we did know in advance).

Peter Carter seems to have done the standing-in on the Monday through to the Friday at the Empire, with Chas returning to the fold for the Saturday evening.

My guess, then, is that you were there on the Saturday, when Chas once again stood in (probably because Peter had to play with The Checkmates elsewhere).

I was there on Tuesday.

My great aunt Sadie was then the licensee of the pub across the street from the stage door (The Eagle, affectionately known then, and now officially, as "Ma Egerton's"). She knew everyone in show business because they were all her customers. Most of the female members of the family worked or helped out there at times and even my dad was roped in now and then. Sadie spoke well of Jet, but she met them all from Sinatra to David Whitfield. As a child and younger teenager, I used to shelter just inside the door to the cellar, marvelling at the famous faces lining the small bar at The Eagle. That night (Tuesday 24th April 1962), she got me The Shadows' autographs (Hank, Brian B, Licorice and Peter Carter) with a dedication, written on a piece of music manuscript paper. I wish I still had it.

She had told me in advance that there was only one of the original Shadows left on the stage that week. Indeed, of all the material the Shadows had so far issued on disc, only Hank, of those on stage that night, had appeared on record. This was correct apart from, of course, Stars Fell On Stockton, which features Brian B, but they didn't play that anyway.

I certainly do remember Chas McDevitt and Shirley Douglas' act. They sat on two tall bar-stools, he with a red Strat, she with a red Precision, and sang quite twee cabaret-style songs. I had forgotten, if I ever knew, that Chas was at least partly responsible for Freight Train. I'm sure I had seen the duo on television shortly before this, so I vaguely knew what to expect from them.

Also on the bill (apart from the Chinese acrobats and their opening act) were Daley and Wayne (who often appeared with The Shadows) and the then-unknown Frank Ifield, who hadn't yet had a hit (that would be about ten weeks later). Jackie Trent was also in the show, but I don't remember a single thing about her.