Black Oak Arkansas – 15th February 1975 – Bracknell Sports Centre
When people talk about rock bands from the 1970’s the same 10-15 artists are mentioned repeatedly so when I started writing this blog I was tempted to just mention the big names and the festivals, but there were hundreds of excellent bands performing at that time and as I have all the gigs I went to written down this it is a perfect opportunity to rediscover some of the bands that had been forgotten.
The great thing about keeping a Gig Diary from 50 years ago is when it comes to writing this blog it gives the memory a starting point and like grabbing the end of a thread it all starts coming back to you. What occurred to me is that back in the 70’s is that the whole process of going to see s band was very different to how it is now, in a time before the internet and online bookings, getting tickets for an event would normally start a week or so before hand.
I am sure for everyone it was different, living in Windsor at the time for us the place to go to buy tickets would be our local record shop, Revolution Records which was about a 20 minute walk from where we lived. This would make the whole process a lot more enjoyable and social, Richard who owned the shop was the font of all local musical knowledge and would soon get to know what music you liked so we would inevitably leave the shop with tickets and some vinyl as well as suggestions of bands to check out, he was the human version of AI. A few weeks after seeing Hawkwind my brother Ken, his girlfriend and myself went back to Bracknell Sports Centre on the 15th February 1975 to see Black Oak Arkansas which was the first night of their UK Tour with support from Sassafras and Fast Eddie, tickets cost £1.00.
The 1970’s was a time of Southern Rock from America with the Allman Brothers who had hits with Jessica and Ramblin Man and Lynard Skynard, you could hardly go anywhere without hearing Freebird whereas today they are known equally for Sweet Home Alabama thanks to the film of the same name, but there were plenty of other great bands including Molly Hatchet, the Marshall Tucker Band, Atlanta Rhythm Section and Black Oak Arkansas.
Led by charismatic lead singer Jim "Dandy" Mangrum he came across as a mid 70’s Dave Lee Roth, with long blond hair, bare chest, white jacket, white jeans and platform boots, with a very distinctive voice and is the only singer of a rock band I have seen who also played the washboard. Black Oak Arkansas were / are (they are still going) a five piece band with three guitarists who really knew how to rock with the two lead guitarists teasing the audience by threatening to smash the guitars together, which they eventually did at the end and threw the remaining parts into the audience. After the concert we saw a truck parked outside which was packed with Gibson guitars which would all be destroyed by the end of the tour, such was the Rock’n’Roll excess of the 70’s. Although Black Oak Arkansas were a fantastic live band I never felt their studio albums reflected this, which is why I think they never received the prominence of their counterparts.
Support band for the tour was Welsh rockers Sassafras who toured extensively across the UK and America and released several albums, following in the footsteps of fellow countrymen Man and Budgie. The other support band on the night was Fast Eddie who I can’t find any information on, but there is mention of a band called Fast Buck which featured Scott Gorham who joined Thin Lizzy a few months before this show and they did replace him to honour their live show commitments. I have a feeling that they are the same band as all of this rings a bell, but it was nearly fifty years again so I could be wrong.
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