Bev Bevan diary: The last weeks in April over the years

1964
Not a single night off for the Diplomats during the last two weeks of April, 1964 - 18 shows in 16 days ! The datesheet read --------------------
15th Moathouse Club, Birmingham
16th B'ham Council House
17th Tyburn House pub in Erdington and Tamworth Assembly Rooms
18th Carlton Club, Erdington
19th Coventry Flying Club
20th Bulls Head pub, Yardley
21st Tyburn House, Erdington
22nd Morgue Club in Harborne and Moathouse Club in Birmingham
23rd Station Hotel, Selly Oak
24th Bulls Head, Yardley
25th Carlton Club, Erdington
26th Carlton Clud, Erdington
27th Solihull Civic Hall
28th Tyburn House, Erdington
29th Moathouse Club, Birmingham
30th "For Teenagers Only" TV show at ATV Studios in Aston.

1967
Standout gig for the month of April was a "Psychedelic Experience" at the Alexandra Palalace in London, along with Pink Floyd, The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Soft Machine and the Pretty Things.

1968
A busy time for The Move - recording at Olympic Studios near London, photo shoots for teen magazines "Rave" and "Fabulous" and a run of gigs North of the border at Edinburgh Assembly Rooms, Glasgow University, the Kinema Ballroom in Dunfermline and Grogburn Pavillion in Gavrock , then South of the border to play at the 101 Club in Carlisle.

1969
A tour of Scotland for The Move , plus a week's cabaret at the Cavendish Club in Blackburn.

1970
A few gigs for The Move. Played at Glasgow University and the Bells Hill YMCA, also in Glasgow, then onto the Flamingo Ballroom in Hereford, the Gala Ballroom in Norwich and an appearance on BBC Radio One Club, recorded at La Fayette Club in Wolverhampton, plugging our new single, "Brontosaurus".

1972
On April 18th, 1972, Electric Light Orchestra played their first ever show - at the Fox and Greyhound in Croydon. More shows followed at Bangor University, Victoria Halls in Hanley and Liverpool Stadium, plus an appearance on Granada TV's "In Concert".

1973
Fairly busy time for ELO. A few days recording at Air London Studios and an appearance on BBC Two's "In Concert" and "Sounds of the Seventies" TV shows. Also flew from Heathrow to the Isle of Mann for a show there, then flew back to do shows at Chesford Grange in Warwickshire and Hastings Pier Pavillion.

1974
Well into a ten week tour of North America with ELO. Gig in Chicago, which also had Suzi Quatro on the bill then onto Minneapolis to perform 2 shows there, before moving on to La Crosse, Wisconsin. Next day it was four flights and a drive to get to Bloomington, to open for the Edgar Winter Group. Next stop was Porchester, NY, where Chic Corea opened the show. Concerts followed at the Jack Kennedy Theatre in Washington and two nights at the Electric Ballroom in Atlanta. Flew to Nashville to appear at "Muthas" Club and stayed at Roger Miller's King of the Road Motor Inn and got to meet fellow hotel guests Glen Campbell and Jimmy "Big Bad John" Dean. On to the Cow Palace in Kansas City before flying on to Wichita, Oklahoma City and Austin, Texas.

1975
ELO appeared on BBC TV's "Old Grey Whistle Test" and undertook a short tour of Holland.

1978
Flew to Sweden to begin a European tour with ELO. Prees conference and presented with gold albums for "A new world record" before sell out show at Stockholm Ice Stadium. Next day flew to Gothenburg for concert there, Nice change next day to take a 4 hour train ride to Malmo, then next day it was a ferry trip to Denmark to play in a lovely little theatre in Copenhagen. Trains and boats and planes ! Next day flew to Norway and sold out 5,000 crowd in Oslo before heading to Germany and shows in Hamburg and Dortmund.

1985
At Musicland Studios in Munich and ELO's "Balance of Power" album finally completed. Back in England, I appeared in a video to promote Roy Wood's new solo single "Under fire", along with ex Move / Wizzard bass player Rick Price, comedian Jim Davidson and members of UB40.

1986
In Dublin to take part in video shoot for new ELO single "So serious". Also appeared on BBC TV Terry Wogan Show ( though it was Kenneth Williams standing in for Wogan ).

1995
Touring with ELO Part 2 and played the most bizarre set of dates in a single week that I can ever remember. Flew from London to play a show at Rand Easter Showground in Johanasberg, South Africa, followed by a horrible overnight flight to Egypt's capital, Cairo. Managed to grab a couple of hours sleep in the Singapore Airlines lounge before boarding a flight on that fine airline to Dubai. A show there the same day at Dubai Golf and Country Club ( unfortunately , no time to play the course ! ).

After the show it was straight back to the airport to spend a second consecutive night on an aeroplane, to fly back to Heathrow. From there drove to Colchester for gig at the Leisure Centre, and opening the show was Denny Laine. Thirty one years previously we had been band mates in Denny Laine and the Diplomats. Next day it was a flight to Aberdeen to play a concert there. So in the space of five days we played in South Africa, Dubai, England ans Scotland !

1998
On an Australian tour with ELO Part 2. Began in Perth at the impressive Burntwood Casino, then flew to Melbourne to appear on local TV show before driving to Barooga. Coach drive back the next day to Melbourne to play three nights at the swanky Crown Casino. From there it was on to Tasmania for a devilish good show in Hobart, then on to Sydney for two concerts there.

2010
On Thursday April 22nd singer Louise Warren made her debut with The Bev Bevan Band at the Jamhouse Club in Birmingham.
On April 27th the Bev Bevan and Jimmy Franks Show started it's new Tuesday night slot, 10pm to midnight, on BBC WM 95.6 fm ( and repeated every day for a week on BBC I player ).