Ace & Graham Parker and the Rumour – 25th January 1976 – Victoria Palace Theatre, London + Pub Rock Circuit of the 1970’s
In the mid 70’s if you wanted to catch some live music there was the University and College circuit which catered for Rock and Prog Bands or the Pub Rock scene as I was in my teens at the time I was too young to go legally go in Pubs at the time. Some of the bands that came out of the Pub Rock circuit included Dr Feelgood, Ducks Delux, Rockpile and Any Trouble.
One of the bands that broke out of the Pub Rock scene were Ace who had a hit single with ‘How Long’ the band released three albums before they disbanded. The band featured Paul Carrick who later went on to join Mike and the Mechanics as well as performing with many others as well as having a successful solo career and a Top 40 entry with his own version of ‘How Long’.
I went to see them at Victoria Palace Theatre, London on 25th January 1976 tickets were £1.80, up until this point I regularly went to see bands with my older brother Ken, when he moved out of our family home it was my sister Pauline who is sadly no longer with us who accompanied me to concerts. Her taste in music was completely opposite to mine at the time as she was a fan of the Osmonds, Bay city Rollers and David Cassidy and so it was really lovely that she made the time to go along to Rock concerts with her younger brother.
The support band on the night was Graham Parker and the Rumour and I remember some of Grahm Parker’s family were sat behind us on the night and were shouting and screaming throughout his set and DJ Alan Freeman was sat in front of us. Graham Parker and the Rumour were prevalent on the live music and festival scene and I did see them again at Reading Festival and supporting Bob Dylan at Blackbushe Airport in 1978.
If you are enjoying this series and would like them to continue there is a tip jar