Be-Bop Deluxe – 29th January 1977 – Bracknell Sports Centre. Tickets £1.60
Going into 1977 I was feeling optimistic as I was about to finish school and due to start an apprenticeship as a Sheet Metal Worker, I looked old enough to go into Pubs and I was looking forward to seeing all the bands I discovered through my brothers record collection. Little did I know in just a few months my musical world was about to be threatened with the Punk revolution of the Summer 1977 which promised to literally replace the Status Quo (pun) and other bands I wanted to see.
History tells us that this didn’t quiet happen and in fact some of the biggest rock albums of all time were released between 76 and 78 including Rumours by Fleetwood Mac, Bat Out of Hell by Meatloaf and Hotel California by the Eagles as well as some of the biggest Festivals with 200,00 people attending Bob Dylan at Blackbushe Airport and 80,000 to see Genesis at Knebworth Park. The biggest effect that Punk Music had on the live music scene in the UK was the Pub Rock scene with many of those venues promoting Punk instead.
Be-Bop Deluxe who I saw at Bracknell Sports Centre on 29th January that year are a perfect example of how music was changing, I went along after seeing their Rock based performances on the Old Grey Whistle test with Bill Nelson’s rip roaring guitar solo’s and their hit single Ships in the Night from the classic album Sunburst Finish but by the time they released their final album Drastic Plastic they which was recorded in the Summer of 77 they had redefined their genre as Art Rock/ New Wave.
Support on the night came from the Steve Gibbons Band who had a hit that year with Tulane a cover of a Chuck Berry song and I remember really enjoying their set and rather than thinking I was witnessing the end of Classic Rock seeing these two bands perform on the same bill, it all felt fresh and exciting to me.
Many years later I had the honour of booking Bill Nelson for a solo performance at Windsor Arts Centre, it was a great night but also has the dubious honour out of all the thousands of music events I have organised to be the only one, although sold out had a 100% male attendance.
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