Getting into a twist with the young girls in the balcony
The summer of '63 was a happy go lucky time for the four peroxide blonde Brummie teenagers calling themselves Denny Laine and the Diplomats.
As well as that nerve-racking ordeal of opening for The Beatles at the Old Hill Plaza we also appeared on regional TV - Midlands Today and Up And Doing For Teenagers (catchy title, eh?)
Other highlights of that sunny summer included a day return coach trip for our fans to see us play in Aberystwyth (an all-inclusive ticket was a whopping 25 shillings, or £1.25 in today's language).
Then there was an All Nite Twistacular at Birmingham Town Hall, which began at 11pm and finished at 7am. As well as ourselves, the bill included Johnny Neal and the Starliners, Gerry Levene and the Avengers, the Modernaires and Group 5.
The ticket price for this was just 10 shillings and sixpence (52p).
I am still staggered that in that near puritanical age, parents would allow their darling young daughters out all night. If only they had known what was going on in the top balcony during the early hours!
Other memories of that time include playing at Irish club The Masque (Harp) in Sparkhill, the poster saying: "Calling all jivers, twisters and rocksters to see Denny Laine and the Diplomats - the latest group with the greatest beat!"
The other band on the bill, the Fabulous Rocking Dexstones, were merely the new group with the new beat.
Meanwhile, the Wednesbury and Darlaston Manufacturers Society had us second on the bill at their annual apprentices dance at the Town Hall in Wednesbury, supporting the Stan Fielding Band under the direction of Len Rowe.
All with licensed refreshments and spot prizes!
Plus there was a Whit Monday Carnival and Barbecue Dance at the Coronation Youth Centre in Shirley, an End of Session Dance at Solihull college of further education and a Gala Nite Twistacular at Wednesbury Youth Centre.
The poster guaranteed: "Wet or fine, Rain or shine, You can be sure of a swinging time!"
Our publicist Denis Detheridge got us plenty of local news coverage and even some national press coverage, too. There was a full page in the TV Times and a write up in The Fish Fryers Review, a magazine I have yet to see featured on Have I Got News For You.
Denis was also editor of the Midlands' only monthly music magazine Brum Beat. In one edition he devoted a whole page to us in the Life-lines column, in which Denny listed his hobbies as "Girls, driving, music, watching other artists perform and collecting clothes."
Steve rated his favourite singers as "The Everly Brothers, The Beatles, Ray Charles and Elvis Presley". Phil wittily noted that the biggest influence on his musical career was "my mother's insistence that I become a bank clerk."
In my 'personal and professional ambition' section I wrote: "To own an E-Type Jaguar and have a record at the top of the charts".
Hey! What a lucky boy I am - I have achieved both of those ambitions!
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Bev Bevan - Musician and radio presenter
The Modernaires were there? The vocal group from the 1940s who sang with big bands?
I know they were doing some contemporary rock n roll style things to keep up with the times, but....just curious.
I was there at the Town Hall in Brum that night, I was only 14 and my Dad only agreed because it was at the Town Hall, so he was sure there would be security and because I had to promise to be back on the 7:30AM bus. It was a great night real good fun.