Let’s head for some Eastern venues, and go back to the beginning for a bit.
The Burns Bar in Falkirk was the first gig I ever did with Big George and the Business. As I’ve mentioned this was during the time that George was working with Jimmy Dewar. It was also the first time I ran into the guys from Blues ‘n’ Trouble. They will feature again, you see if they don’t!
Memories are dim but I do remember the guy who ran the music nights there, a chap called Davy Waugh. A big music fan was he, though he would insist on running a not very rock ‘n’ roll raffle between sets. His nights eventually moved on from the Burns Bar to other venues in Falkirk, and we played most of them including the one in a Co-Op funeral parlour.
My abiding memory of these was to do with a bright floodlight that Greg the drummer used to use. At every gig, Davy would ask to borrow this so that he could use it to illuminate the whole stage. He also used to attach a coloured gel that would always melt, resulting in stage blindness and a request to “turn that fuckin’ thing aff!”. This happened every time….every time.
He did, however, have a great PA tape which introduced me to Ted Hawkins.
Carrying on along the M8 to its conclusion we arrive in Victoria Street in Edinburgh, about halfway down the hill on the left hand side.
The best thing about the Preservation Hall was that there were no stairs involved. It was a fair old trek with a four by twelve from the front door to the stage, but it was on the flat.
The worst thing as that it had a volume limiter connected to the stage power supply. This would cut the power if the volume rose above a certain level, above which George would inevitably rise even if playing acoustic. Quite often the PA company would plug everything into the wrong socket, quite accidentally of course.
Such a great venue, which has transformed into Irish theme pub when last I looked.
Calton Road is at the back end of Waverley Station and was home to a venue called…The Venue. It had been known as the Jailhouse and we had played there once.
It became quite a regular trip through and it was great place to play with a big in house PA run by a chap called Rob Maxtone-Graham and his missus Anne. They were a great team.
I did mention that Blues ‘n’ Trouble would show up again and they have. Tim and John jammed with the guys one night, and we were due to gig with them the next night in Kinghorn in Fife. After the gig, all the gear was loaded into the van apart from George’s guitar. Drink was then taken, so I decided to leave it right beside the door so that I would not forget it upon leaving.
This ruse failed and George called me the next day to say that it had been left behind, but that the B and T guys would bring it along to the gig that night. I was sheepish but relieved when Mr Bruce presented me with the guitar case.
My relief was short lived though. Upon opening the case, I found that it contained a completely different guitar. A Strat for sure, but NOT a white one. I remember actually thinking to myself, for a good few seconds. “He’ll not notice”.
I then heard some serious giggling from George and those pesky Blues ‘n’ Trouble pranksters.
I deserved it!
We shall move further afield next time folks.
