When was the first time you saw The Shads?

[Lee Restarick]

I've really had to think about this.
It was Great Yarmouth, can't remember the name of the theatre, but it wasn't one of the pier venues. I bought a grey tour T-Shirt which had the year on it, might have been 1982.

[dyker124]

Saw the Shadows with Cliff a few times early 60's. One I particularly remember was Birmingham Town Hall (1960-61). I could hear very little due to all the girls screaming. Ther were also girls dropping onto the sides of the stage from the surrounding seating and being thrown off again by the bouncers. Also saw them again at Birmingham Odeon New Street in the 70's I think. The last time was in Birmingham on the 2009 Final Tour. Every time that I have seen they have been brilliant. They have never let me down. First class always.

Kind regards
Roger

[DaveB]

First time was in the Fairfield Hall in Croydon in the late 70's. John Farrar was with them. I went with my brother and a mate. I was only 17 or 18 at the time. London was expensive to get to at that time as Ryanair were not around. Aer lIngus and British Airways were keeping the airfares pretty unaffordable.

We booked a box as it was the only thing available.

The highlight of that concert was the drum solo Honourable Puff Puff from the Specs Appeal album.

I saw the 25th Anniversary show in the Palladium, all there recent Dublin shows and the 50th Anniversary show.

I love them, I hate them. They are magic, yet sometimes very boring (TV albums). They are my no. 1.

Dave

[PoppieHank]

I think the first concert I saw would have been sometime in 59 and it was in a cinema (? Leicester Square). I was actually a big Cliff fan having been an Elvis fan since 56.
Myself and my cousin had very good seats about 5 or 6 rows from the stage but once the curtains starting parting and Jets bass began the intro to Dynamite the girls started screaming and many rushed down the aisle and tried to jump onto the stage only to be grabbed by one of the security staff lining the stage front and they were bodily evicted from the cinema. The screaming continued and I remember the girls in the row behind me were having a competition to see who could scream the loudest... right in my ears. Unfortunately I dont remember much more about the night but it must have made some impact on us to try our hands at this new rock and roll stuff that was all the rage and still playing at the local Shadows club.
If anyone can shed some light on where this was I'd love to know.
Cheers
Peter

[Gatwick1946]

Hi All,

Straying off topic a bit. Reading this thread has reminded me of the first time I met some of the Shadows.

It was in the 1980's and the Shadows had played at the Dome theatre in Brighton, West Sussex. The theatre was circular and at the back were wide doors which were used to unload the gear after the gig. Hank and Brian appeared and chatted to fans after the show. They had changed in to what looked like sports kit, ie trainers and whites. I showed Brian my battered old copy of "The Shadows by Themselves", and asked Brian if he would autograph it, despite the fact that the book did not include him, as he had not then yet joined the Shads. He was happy to oblige and I was struck by his very polite speaking voice, as I had never previously heard him speak.

Hank was very relaxed and spent a long time chatting to the fans. He signed my copy of the tour programme, but I was so starstruck at meeting him that I straight away forgot what I said to him! I think it was about the VOX AC30 amps. He spoke about them at some length - I wish I could have recorded his words. I noticed that the lenses in his spectacles were quite thick, which also made his eyes look slightly larger.

Cliff Hall and Alan Jones did not appear so I made my way to the front of the theatre. Bruce came out and headed for his white Rolls Royce car and was right away in the middle of a crowd of fans. Bruce had one or two minders with him; they were concerned that the fans might accidently damage the car. I got Bruce to sign my copy of "The Shadows by Themselves" and said I was sorry that it was so tatty. Bruce laughed and said that he thought he still had a copy back home.

I still have that battered old book with Hank, Bruce and Brian's signatures. I had always hoped to get Jet to sign it; perhaps I will run into Licorice one day.

Kindest regards,

Christopher

[Andy Stace]

The first time I saw them was at Croydon Fairfield Halls on the 1977 20 Golden Dates tour. A couple of years before my brother had got a copy of Greatest Hits and one evening he played it on my Mum and Dads Grundig Radiogram! As a then 14 year old I was instantly hooked, but it took some time to properly get into it. Anyway on that day in May 77 my brother suddenly announced we were going out, but it wasn't until we got outside the venue that I knew what was going on! I will never forget the moment when the lights dimmed and on they walked to give 2 hours or so of pure magic. I tried to go to as many shows as possible on all the following tours, because for me they were at their best live. I miss those happy times.

[Peter K]

Hello everyone,

during all those years I saw the group several times live on stage -

Berlin 1964 - Deutschlandhalle. The Shadows played their own set and accompanied Cliff during his part of the show. Other artists appearing this night
were Drafi Deutscher & His Magics, a German female duo whose name I forgot and Cherry Wainer, an organ player from Australia.
The Shadows also taped a TV-Show ( they played live ) which featured a really great version of " Sleepwalk ". In the seventies I had the chance to talk
to someone of the producing TV-Channel ( SFB ) and asked for the tape, but I was told that the show had already been deleted !
Colmar / France, August 1965 - Fète du vin. The Shadows played their own set ( I heard their version of Brazil and National Provincial Samba for the very first time ), and backed Cliff. Dionne Warwick was also appearing and joined Cliff & The Shadows for a version of " What Did I Say ".
Berlin, April 1971, Sportpalast. The Shadows were announced as " The Shadows, featuring Marvin, Welch & Farrar ". The Shadows did their own set
( with Dave Richmond on bass, I loved his bass sound ). They played a great version of " Something ". Cliff Richard was accompanied by " The Brian Bennett
Orchestra ". Also on stage singing in the first part of the show was Olivia Newton-John.
London, Spring 1978, Palladium - The " Thank You Very Much Show ". With Alan Jones on bass and Cliff Hall on keyboards. I was absolutely impressed by the sound of " Atlantis ".
Duesseldorf, Spring 1980, Tonhalle. The group had the late George Ford on bass, Cliff Hall was the keyboarder. Top title for me was " Parisienne Walkways ".
Mannheim, November 1980, Mozartsaal. Alan Jones on bass and Cliff Hall on keyboards. I sat in the very first row, the sound was brilliant. The ticket
was rather cheap, compared with today's ticket prices, I paid DEM 18,00.
Dortmund, April 2005, Westfalenhalle - " The Final Tour ", the only German concert during their European tour. Exactly the same set as on the DVD.
Cologne, November 2009, Lanxess Arena, Farewell tour with Cliff Richard. A very great evening with a great concert, but I was so far away from the stage
that I was really lucky seeing everything on giant video screens.
In Spring 2006 Bruce Welch's Shadows appeared live during the Porsche Oldie Night at the Schleyerhalle, Stuttgart. Other artists performing were The Equals,
Suzi Quatro and Tony Christie. It was a strange experience listening to those Shadows tunes without having Hank on stage, Bruce was the leader of the band
and did all the talking, too. I don't think that all people in the audience had a clue of Shadows tunes, but their reaction was great, the group got a lot of applause.

Peter Krueger

[drakula63]

The first time I saw the Shadows 'live' was at the Manchester Apollo in October 1980, on their 'Change of Address' tour.

It was an unforgettable experience - finally seeing them in the flash after three years of listening to their records and looking at various pictures. They were as good as, if not better than, I had hoped and expected and it helped that we had seats right in the centre of the stalls - amazing sound and view. I remember Brian played 'Arty's Party' as a drum solo and after he had finished Bruce quipped; "Not bad for 40, is he?" 32 years later (!!!), he's just as good! I also remember a fairly considerable number of people leaving their seats and going down to the front of the stage for the last two or three numbers - it was like a mini riot!

A fantastic experience, one that I can still recall quite vividly, and yes I still have both the concert programme and the ticket stub. Without checking, I think the ticket cost the princely sum of five pounds!! (And to think that I later paid £500 for two tickets to the Palladium gig in 2004!!!) Worth every penny...

[jimbojet]

1977 on the 20 golden dates tour at the Bristol Colston Hall. I think it was the first night from memory as there was a strong rumour going around that day that Cliff had been seen in Bristol and would come on as a surprize guest as he was plugging the "my kinda life" single and it was possible he would be giving his support to the bands new tour, however he never appeared but I kept thinking he would appear most likely when they played "Apache" as I was told he had come on during a Shadows performance of this on The Cliff Richard show on tv with Hank glasses and a strat..... my mothers brother who was and is a big Cliff and the Shadows fan came with me, and told me the that the last time he saw the Shads was with my mum at the same venue in the white jacket days when they were Cliff and the Drifters and he said as a young kid who only heard Rock and Roll on radio luxembourg was blown away and the man of the moment at school the next day. I went out and bought the 20 golden dates album the following week and started collecting records from used record shops around Bristol from then on. I never got to see them again as I could not afford it, however I met Jet in my aunties Jersey hotel bar in the early 70's ( I think he was selling cockles ) and I saw Jet play at the Basingstoke Anvil on the Marty Wilde tour before he passed away, so glad I got to hear him play before he left us, he was awsome that night, everybody was talking about him after the gig in the bar, guys who had heard him in the 60's said he was better than they remembered, what we've learnt since show what a pro he was till the end....

[drakula63]

I was 'introduced' to the music of the Shadows by my friend Paul, from Basingstoke, who played me Apache and Quatermasster's Stores in early 1977...