Another old gig

 Another extract from The Morgan  Good Gig Guide this time from 1980.Rainbow was the first rock gig I'd gone to so here's what my idiot 18 year old self thought:

Friday 29th Feb 1980. Wembley Arena. Price £4.00.

Rainbow supported  by Samson.

So begins the Heavy Metal saga. Went with Mark and Alan (known as The Priest &  Axeman)Samson were bril, they knew their stuff,  even to their  own 'Roadhouse Blues' number, there's was  'Inside Out." A grand support. Even the records played during the interval were good. 'I'm part of the union'(Strawbs)& 'All you need is love' (Beatles) got everyone singing. Then on stormed  a magnificent Rainbow, really spot on, especially Don Airey's (keyboards) & Cozy Powell's (drums ) solos. But they went off after only 90 minutes-no encore. That left some bad feeling , but it really was a magical gig. The best ever!!

Another review that won't be winning the Pulitzer Prize for literature! I also seem to have left alot out as far as  can remember. At one point I remember 'Land of Hope & Glory' pumping out of the PA system & everyone was singing! More like last night of the Proms that a rock gig! 

Samson then had an unknown vocalist  called Bruce Dickinson, though in Samson he was called Bruce Bruce. Even he doesn't seem to know why ( from his later bio  'What does this button do?') .Within a year he would be singing with Iron Maiden.  

Rainbow's line up was their very best as far as I'm concerned. Ritchie Blackmore is a great guitarist,  Graham Bonnet had such a powerful voice though not originally from a rock background, Roger Glovers bass line just kept the whole thing rocking, Don Airey's keyboards was sublime. His solo included classic, pop, old songs all sorts of stuff & of course the legend that was Cozy Powell on drums just blew us away.

The evening was cut short , I believe Blackmore threw a moody  & wouldn't come back on. Not on really, we were the mugs who paid to see him!  There was newspaper reports of a riot after because of this, well it's another time  the press  just  seemed to make things up, as we saw no such thing and we didn't rush out either. Have you seen the ticket price? £4.00!!   Wow!

I also bought an album there (vinyl that is, its all we had then!) 'Long Live Rock n Roll' their third album. I wrote a longer slightly more in depth review that is complete cobblers, I tried to wax lyrical & failed dismally. One day I'll transcribe the whole thing. Just be gentle with me !   

Shortened though it was  this gig lives in my memory as one of the greatest. There's more to come!