When did you first see The Shadows?

[Moderne]

I also saw them around 1967/68 at Coventry theatre,there warm up act being Les Dawson,from Oppurtunity Knocks.The abiding memory from that was a knock out version of La Bamba, Bruce singing the lead vocal.

I seem to remember they did a version of La Bamba in the late 80s after Los Lobos had a hit with it. Incidentally when I saw them in 1979 they started with The Frightened City. My ticket cost £2.50! Like Chris I saw them in 1980 - also at the Hammersmith Odeon - but there were only standing tickets left when I went to buy one: it cost £2.25!! Is it me or has the cost of 'live' gig tickets by 'name' acts gone stratospheric in the last 10-15 years. Everything was on a simpler scale then: guitarists would play the same guitar for the whole gig, and Hank would change his echoes on his RE 301 while Bruce introduced the next number...

[MikeAB]

I remember that later La Bamba live vocal - it was great and sadly only done later as a Hank non vocal.

[Twilight Ranger]

The abiding memory from that was a knock out version of La Bamba, Bruce singing the lead vocal.They were excellent vocally ,much underrated .

Hank and Bruce didn't think very highly of their first attempts at singing themselves. Bruce gives a reason for their dissatisfaction in his book A Life in the Shadows.

Three hours later we emerged with our finished product, very disappointed. Hank and I, who both sang on the session, had never heard ourselves on record or tape before, and we expected to sound exactly like the Everly Brothers. We didn't. What we failed to realize was that the reason Don and Phil Everly sounded so good was that, because they were brothers, they possessed a rare tonal empathy in their voices that made them blend together perfectly when they sang. Their harmonies were magnificent, and the results came quite naturally because they were related.

[Paul Childs]

I also saw them around 1967/68 at Coventry theatre,there warm up act being Les Dawson,from Oppurtunity Knocks.The abiding memory from that was a knock out version of La Bamba, Bruce singing the lead vocal.

I seem to remember they did a version of La Bamba in the late 80s after Los Lobos had a hit with it. Incidentally when I saw them in 1979 they started with The Frightened City. My ticket cost £2.50! Like Chris I saw them in 1980 - also at the Hammersmith Odeon - but there were only standing tickets left when I went to buy one: it cost £2.25!! Is it me or has the cost of 'live' gig tickets by 'name' acts gone stratospheric in the last 10-15 years. Everything was on a simpler scale then: guitarists would play the same guitar for the whole gig, and Hank would change his echoes on his RE 301 while Bruce introduced the next number...

Yes they have gone stratospheric and way too expensive for a lot of people.
These name acts are already millionares.

[Stan666]

I nearly saw them at the London Palladium in '67/68(?) in the week that they split with Cliff...............Nobody told us that the Shads were not appearing, so we had the pleasure of watching Cliff with Chris Barbers Jazz Band.........I've not got over that yet!



Who tell something more about this split?

[Stan666]

An split in the middle of a session? No complaints about it, in newspapers at least?

[chronikman-ch]

1965 with Cliff in Marseilles France...a beautiful summer night under the stars...( August 11)

I found in my collection:
10. August 1965 Tuesday
The Shadows with Cliff Richard on Tour at the Palais du Pharo in Marseilles, (France)
11. August 1965 Wednesday
The Shadows with Cliff Richard on Tour at the Club de Valbonne-Val de Cuberte in Valbonne, (France)
hmr

[Moderne]

An split in the middle of a session? No complaints about it, in newspapers at least?

I don't think they split in the middle of the booking. It had been announced a while before that the Cliff and the Shadows 1968 Palladium show would be the last as The Shadows were splitting at the end of the season. It had already been arranged that Chris Barber's Jazz Band would do the earlier part of the booking. Of course, they did several more Palladium appearances together in later years - but never with the Hank, Bruce, Brian and John line-up. Stuart D or Jim N probably know more.

[Geffers]

It was 1971 ( or could have been 72 ) ! Marvin Welch & Farrar, this was with Cliff and Olivia with The Brain Bennett Orchestra, 1973 they returned as the Shads with Alan Tarney on Bass. Many happy years of seeing the. Shads after that

[pcamm]

First time I saw The Shads was in 2004 during the Final Tour at the second day of their stint at the Colston Hall in Bristol and then in Cardiff a day or so later. Bristol was much better due to better acoustics. I saw them for a third and final time a year later at Birmingham NIA for the Final Tour Part 2!

The first time I saw Hank was when I was 15 when my parents took me to see him in at Bristol (again at the Colston Hall) in December 1995. Having not known much about him up to that concert, except that he was some famous guitarist(!) I was blown away by the sound as he played the opening notes to Live And Let Die. Since that concert , I was hooked and I made every effort to see him in concert every time he toured and was also able to see him at Birmingham during Music Live in 1999 and his Guitar Tutor sessions with the fans. On that occasion I got to meet Hank at the Fender stand and get his autograph as well being given sound advice on how best to play the fast notes such as those on FBI.

I saw Bruce with his Moonlight Shadows twice at The Playhouse in Weston and the last time was the year before The Shads got back together. I also managed to get his autograph, however with so many fans wanting to talk to him, it was difficult to be able to say a quick hello or thanks to him. If he does read this forum, I would just like to say thanks to him for a great concert and still gobsmacked at how he is able to play The Savage so quickly and yet make it look easy (which, I have no doubt is not the case).