The Move hit the hippy capital of the world

OUR gigs at the Whisky a Go Go had been a huge success.

But after a wonderful 1969 week in the 'City of Angels', we loaded up our U Haul trailer once again, hitched it to our rented Dodge sedan and hit the road again.

Our route was due North. Our destination: the the hippy capital of the world, San Francisco.

This was the city, of course, "where little cable cars reach halfway to the stars" and where you had to "be sure to wear some flowers in your hair!"

If you believed the Scott McKenzie hit, that is.

In spite of a week of mellowing out in Los Angeles you wouldn't find these five working class lads from England's industrial heartland Birmingham wearing any flowers in their hair!

We were in San Francisco to rock - and rock we did!

Greatest

Being put on the same bill as Joe Cocker's Grease Band and one of the greatest rock 'n' rollers of all time, the brilliant Little Richard, was all the incentive we needed.

Plus we were playing two sets a night at the legendary Fillmore West, where almost every great Sixties group had played, and where every great Seventies group would go on to play.

Our gigs at the venue were recorded for posterity and are about to be released as a double-CD set titled (surprise, surprise!) The Move Live At The Fillmore.

These were some very special performances.

We knew that they were the last dates of the long-awaited American tour.

We hoped to return to the East Coast to play the venues in New York and Chicago that we'd missed due to our visa problems, but Britain was calling.

It would soon be time for us to go back home to Brum.

Don't miss the concluding part of my US tour diary next week to see how the gigs went, and what we played.