Bev Bevan diary: April is showered with gigs
OK, here's some of my diary notes from other first two weeks of April from years gone by.
1963
A busy time for Denny Laine and the Diplomats with 11 shows in 14 days around the West Midlands with gigs at The Atlas Ballroom in Stechford, 2 nights at the Springfield Ballroom, Wednesbury Town Hall, Bilston Town Hall, the Queens Head pub in Erdington, the Shirley Annexe Youth Club, Birmingham Town Hall, the Starliners Club in B'ham's city centre, the Hen and Chickens public house in Langley and two nights at the Adelphi Ballroom in West Bromwich.
1964
Just two nights off for The Diplomats during the first two weeks of April with gigs at the Station Hotel in Selly Oak, The Club Cedar in Birmingham, Bilston Town Hall, Coventry Flying Club, 2 nights at the Bull Heads pub in South Yardley, the Tyburn House pub in Erdington, the Cotton Youth Centre, the Shamrock Club in Birmingham, Solihull Civic Hall and 2 late nights t the Moathouse nightclub in Birmingham.
1969
A German tour with The Move, plus gigs in Southampton, Bridlington and Newport, South Wales.
1974
On a ten week tour of the USA and Canada with ELO. First two weeks of April were spent on the East coast of America . A college gig on Statten Island, New York was followed by an appearance on the Mike Douglass TV Show in Philadelphia, performing "Bluebird is dead" and "Ma Ma Ma Belle".
Drove to New York City to headline at the NY Philharmonic and that brilliant American band Steely Dan were also on the bill. From there it was a drive to a college gig in Campden, New Jersey, before the 3 hour drive to next day to get to Wilkes Barre College in Pennsylvannia.
Next stop Westbury Music Centre, where British band Renaissance opened the show. Flight from there to play a college gig in Rochester, NY before flying off next day to Pittsburg. A night off there and went to a cinema to see "The Excorcist" ( not as scary as the book ! ).
Show the following night had that fine British rock band Spooky Tooth opening the show. Next port of call the "Joint in the woods" in Newark, New Jersey , before driving to Westbury in Connetticutt, then more shows followed in Baltimore and Columbus in Ohio and Louisville, Kentucky - birthplace of Mohamed Ali.
1975
On a short tour of Spain with ELO with shows in Barcelona, Madrid and Bilbao. None of the concerts very well attended.
1976
The very end of a long North American tour with ELO - around 60 gigs in all. Final shows in West Palm Beach, Jacksonville, Dothan, Atlanta and finally, St Petersburg.
1977
The end of another long tour of the USA and Canada with ELO. Played to 11,000 people at Hartford Civic Centre. Next day it was 3 rather bumpy flights to get to Ottowa -Hartford to Buffalo then Buffalo to Toronto and finally Toronto to Ottowa to do a concert there. Returned to Toronto the next day for a splendid night at Maple Leaf Gardens to 17,000 strong crowd. Final show of the tour at Montreal Forum before flying home.
1996
On a British tour with ELO Part 2 and concerts in Oxford, Cambridge, Nottingham, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Liverpool, York, Grimsby, Croydon and Cardiff.
2004
Debut gig for the newly formed Bev Bevan Band at The Jamhouse in St Paul's Square in Birmingham - Phil Tree on bass and vocals, Neil Lockwood on keyboards and vocals, Phil Bates on guitar and vocals and me on drums and chat.
2009
Sunday April 5th - the first Bev Bevan and Jimmy Franks Show on BBC WM 95.6fm-- and also on line and on BBC I player.
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Bev Bevan - Musician and radio presenter
Bev, I enjoyed your latest post but I cringed at all of the spelling errors in your 1974 entry. For the record, here are the correct spellings: Pittsburgh, Muhammad Ali, Connecticut, Mike Douglas, Staten Island, Camden, and Wilkes-Barre (note hyphen). And Joint in the Woods was located in Parsippany, NJ, not Newark. I saw ELO in NYC on your 1974 tour; incredible gig!