THE WHO
SUMMER OF 74
Charlton Athletic FC
5-18-74.
The Who, Humble Pie ,Lou Reed , Bad Company . Lindisfarne, Maggie Bell, Montrose .
Last update Jan 2008
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THE WHO SUMMER OF 74 Charlton Athletic FC 5-18-74. The Who, Humble Pie ,Lou Reed , Bad Company . Lindisfarne, Maggie Bell, Montrose . |
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Recollections and reports.
ticket stub courtesy Mark Pitfield |
Townshend -" At Charlton I got completely pissed... I was so happy to get out of it. For Madison Square Garden we had to fight and snatch the time off from the film and consequently when we got there it wasn't really all that wonderful from our point of view... I felt really guilty I couldn't explode into the exuberant and happy energy our fans did. I screwed up every inch of energy doing it then would be brought down by a monitor whistling or something and I'd have to work myself up again..." |
Bad Company |
I remember the day pretty well. I can't recall any feeling of impending violence in the audience but I'm sure Pete Townsend had a better view then I did! Drunkenness yes certainly,( ever been to an open air without it?) but all in all the audience seemed to be fine! I remember the rain, but also later the sun coming out for the rest of the day and things getting pretty hot....I was bright red the next morning! As far as the sets went I remember being very impressed with the then brand new Bad Company and also Montrose who played I think their first British gig at Charlton.....the last song being Space Station Nr, 5 which went on with its feedback end for about 2 minutes after the band had left the stage. The
Who were great as was Lou Reed who had a great band with him at that time.
Can't remember Lindisfarne too well (although I loved them at the time)
except for their sing along standard "Clear White Light" which
as always went down well. |
Bad Company photo courtesy Repfoto© 1974.
You can view and buy many great photos of Bad Company at Charlton and other venues at Repfoto
Let
me rock the boat and support Pete Townsend's comments regarding violence
on the day. I got separated from friends at the start of the day and ended
up on the terraces overlooking the field. Good vantage point though, facing
the stage. Montrose stood out as the most enjoyable for me, a great rendition
of 'Space Station Number 5' rocking the crowd. Anyway... about mid-way
through the day temperatures and tempers started rising. I watched as
a food fight started on the pitch, the sandwiches were finally accompanied
by empty cans, then half empty cans, some of them of the paper-bin sized
Watney's Party 7 variety and then finally bottles, as things, quite naturally,
got nasty. |
Lou Reed and Transformer Charlton 74 |
My
day nearly came to an abrupt end as a beer bottle shattered on the back of my
head. When I came too I made my way to the First Aid Tent. Scalp cuts always
shed a lot of blood hence the effect of a wet red shirt and blood soaked jeans
created quite a stir including a few screams (maybe mine!) on my way there.
The St. John's Ambulance had their hands full with similar casualties. Speaking
to one of the ladies binding my head, she told me that there was "Some
lunatic out there wandering around with a foot-long spike, he's sticking it
in peoples necks." ... They had already had a few victims to attend to
already and the police were trying to track him down.
A trip to the local hospital in an ambulance with others. A stitched scalp "No
need for an anesthetic, it'd make a bigger hole than you've got there lad!"
I remember the thread pull on every one of those 5 stitches like it was yesterday.
Though I think I was much more concerned that they had to shave off some of
my beloved hair.
Managed
to persuade them to take me back in one of the returning ambulances and finally
got a security guard to let me in. My belongings were still where I left them.
I got back in time to see The Who performing Boris the Spider so all was not
lost. Though I've still got a full head of hair, I occasionally get a gleeful
comment regards the bald spot surrounding the scar on the back of my head -
"So you're going bald then!"
"Nah mate... beer bottle... Charlton Athletic '74." "You should
have seen the other bloke."
Brian Farnan
| It was nearly
30 years ago but here are the things I remember. Firstly, my memory is that the weather was good, don’t remember rain at all. Secondly, I remember Maggie Bell having some equipment problems that made her stop and, whilst the problem was being rectified, she said in her broad Scottish accent "It had te happen te me, right" – presumably a reference to the loss of her boyfriend Les Harvey who had been electrocuted on stage next to her a couple of years before. I can confirm that Lou Reed did perform “Heroin” and that he was absolutely out of control from what I could see. He kicked what looked like a bucket of water over a TV cameraman at one point. I also remember being a bit surprised at his bleached blond hair after the black curls he had the last time I saw him live in 1972/3. |
The late great John Entwistle Charlton 74 |
I
was given a free copy of Montrose’s album (which I still have) at the
festival by someone, presumably someone from their record company, and, looking
back, I’m amazed that it made it back home given the crowd.
The Who were, despite Pete Townshend’s opinion,
fantastic as far as I’m concerned. I too didn’t sense any violence
in the air (other than the good natured, minor episodes of bottle throwing which
occurred at just about every open air event in those days). Pete’s comment
that we were the largest crowd The Who had played in front of since Woodstock
was greeted with the loudest cheer of the day I think.
S. Smith
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I recall both the 74 and 76 gigs as I lived nearby at the time and attended both. I was certain that Status Quo opened the first concert, I dunno why? I remember Nicky Horne from Capital Radio introducing the start of the concert on what was a fantastically hot day. I certainly remember Lou Reed with his bleached hair and Montrose whose set was superb and the effects from Sammy Hagar's Stratocaster were amazing. I consequently went out and bought their album Rock the Nation as a result. I seem to recall reading Sammy had some kind of gadget fitted to the scratchplate which emitted varying frequencies depending how far away his hand was. |
Humble Pie started their set with Thunderbox as they'd just brought out the album of the same name. I always felt sorry for Maggie Bell as she went off after 20 minutes due to sound problems, by then the crowd wanted The Who on in any case. The stadium erupted when The Who came on stage a little late and were I think using a laser light show for the first time (unless that was '76?). All the bands were fantastic and apart from a bit of bottle throwing at the front, which was still going on about an hour after the gig finished, the atmosphere tempered with the weather made it a great day.
Keith Parker
Wow
! 30 years ago? I too dont remember any violence and i dont remember the rain
either. We got there just in time for Lindisfarne to start their set, we didnt
know Montrose had played till we read the report in MM the next week. What stood
out for me was Humble Pie, i thought they were absolutely brilliant that day
with Stevie Marriot on the top of his form. During the Who's set somebody had
the bright idea of turning the floodlights on ( i think it was when they were
playing 'See Me, Feel me') to reveal the whole stadium swathed with
the raised arms of the audience.
A wonderful day.
M Barrie
hi In regard to Pete Townsends comments about drunkeness at the festival. I remember not being allowed to take bottles and cans into the ground,it was either drink it or plastic containers so a lot of people were drinking bottles of wine in a few minutes to get in for a good place (i know my group did) which led to the inevitable hangovers a few hours later. I left after being disapointed with Lou Reed's set (seen him 2yrs before with the tots), Bad Company opened the day I think it was their 1st gig, Lindisfarne were good. Friends who stayed said The Who were great but they ended up sleeping in Hyde Park as they missed the last train. good site thanks glyn |
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Hi We got there early enough for me to purchase a whole load of Who posters for 10p each,.that was one thing about the Who they didn't rip their fans off .The problem was by the end of the day said posters were somewhat creased ,I've still got them though. First band up were Montrose ,they had Sammy Hagar singing and Ronnie Montrose playing a flashy silver guitar and weren't bad at all. Lindisfarne were next, who had by then split into two with Jack the Lad being their other side ,they were really great ,a real festival band but I would have liked to see them further up the bill. |
Next Bad Company, by now the clouds had disappeared and it began to warm-up. I had been looking forward to Paul Rogers et al as Free are one of my favourite bands but I was a little bit disappointed as I think this was one of their first gigs.Rogers was all in white and Boz played well but Mick Ralphs was not Paul Kossof ,if you get my drift. I think they played "Little bit of love" last.
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Now to someone very strange- Lou Reed was two years ahead of the pack at Charlton. Peroxide hair black leather jacket and drainpipe jeans when everyone (believe me ) was wearing flares.His first words were "Im fucking'' to which the bloke behind me added ''Yeah fuking ugly''.I've always remembered that .Anyway he had got rid of the Steve Hunter, Dick Wagner guitars and his band weren't up to much but he was so obviously a star. By now I was dying of thirst and we set off to find fluids,we left our cosy little nook by the mixing tower and eventually found our way to the back of the stand where householders whose properties backed onto the ground were giving hundreds of people free water .I think there were very few outlets in the ground ,totally different to today.The people who lived around the ground were brilliant,bemused but brilliant. Anyway we then watched Humble pie from the vantage point of the huge terrace that existed at the old valley,I could be wrong but there must have been 25,000 people on that stand. The Pie were bleeding wonderful ,from that moment on I became a huge Marriot fan .They opened with whatcha gonna do about it and Marriot had 50,000 people eating out of his hand .That day they ran The Who close. Maggie Bell, I have to admit I used her set to get closer to the stage .From what I remember she was a very brave lady,a Who audience aren't the most patient of animals but she growled and snarled her way through her set like a Glaswegian Janis Joplin. I wonder what she's doing now ? I have no idea. |
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Right -The Who.It wasn't the best set I ever saw them do ,but, they played songs that I never saw them play again i.e. Tattoo and I'm a Boy ,they did a superlative version of Young Man ,parts of the Quadrophenia set were the best I ever saw them do it. Add to this that Moon was on top form as was Entwhistle and even a bad Who gig knocks 99 per cent of other bands. Townshend I think got in a strop early on ,cussing roadies and his sound and unusually for Pete he didn't really talk to the audience,The trouble with the Who was you never knew which one to watch as they were all capable of astounding things. Paul Trew |
Hi there,
Firstly great site,Its in my favourites.
I was 16 when I went with my best mate Wayne Bridle
to Charlton.We went really for one band and that was Humble Pie.
I can't remember the rain but do remember the sunshine.When it started we were about 20 meters from the stage on the left hand side.The atmosphere was fantastic where we were.
Not
really sure about who was first between Bad Company or Montrose,but boy Montrose
were fantastic.I think that 49,999 of the 50,000 people thought that. Fantastic
band, Bad scooter ride,Space station No 5 and the rest.
Bad Company were good -can't really remember much of their set but remember
enjoying it.
Lou Reed I thought was crap - until I heard him live.
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What really has stuck in my mind up to this day is that the bottle throwing began in the set from Lindisfarne,it started when in one of their numbers they called to the crowd to "Stand up and clap your hands".Really bad call.I remember behind us people were shouting "sit the fuck down "and the replies from the people in front of us"Fuck you". Then the bottles started going back and forth, the guy in front of me got one on his head,bad cut but he was so pissed it didnt really matter and the blood dried up fast with the sunshine and even with all the blood around we didn't have to worry about Aids then.
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Der Ox © Jimmy |
It was time to move to the front for Humble Pie,this was pretty easy and we got right at the front a bit mid center on the side where Steve played. I remember that after the concert there was a report in Melody maker or Music Express and I was in a foto taken from the stage,ANYBODY who reads this maybe you have this foto or magazine??? Then
Humble Pie came on stage and it was fantastic,can't really remember the
set but Thunderbox, No Doctor etc etc it didn't really matter what they
played. Maggie Bell can't remember a thing, We left just after the Who started their set not because of the violent atmosphere but because we thought they were crap.Sorry if I have offended any fans but it was the talk of the town after the concert that Humble Pie were the best act and that Pete Townsend thought it was crap as well. A
great day its such a shame that I can't remember much really, but wouldn't
it be great if about 40,000 people gave their memories on your site. |
Don"t
know if its me but i was at both the who gigs at charlton and remember the first
one as being on a piping hot day when street traders were ripping us off for
overpriced drinks through the railings...the 2nd gig 2 yrs later was indeed
wet as i recall sitting on the then steep teracing with friends under sheeting
to keep dry and warm sunburn was the order of the day in 74....
Philip
Canty
Hi
My Experiance
I was one of a crowd that attended The Charlton Rock Festival in 1974, I believe
it was in the month of May.
Being a healthy rock fan of 19 I was into all the bands and musicians that appeared
there.
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Montrose
opened as I remember, followed by Bad Company. Both gave estatic performances
and Paul Rodgers was vocally talented as ever. Despite it being a little wet, during the afternoon the temperature rose and it was quite warm. My friends and I sat on the stone steps that looked down across the fan filled, overgrown pitch to the stage. Maggie Bell and Lou Reed both gave excellent perfomances, although very different in nature and style. The crowd was well impressed with Humble Pie, A1 Performance and had the crowd in their hands as they went through their set. |
The highlight of the day
was of course The Who, by which time everyone was moving towards the stage
and the heat was almost unbearable as bodies got closer and closer, a couple
of people fainted and I felt close myself. The Who tore away for 2 hours,
Pete Townshend jumping and doing his Windmill Guitar playing, excellent stuff,
Roger Daltrey swinging his mic around in the air and catching it, really great
showmanship.
What can I say, great rocking stuff!!!
When it was all over it took some time to actually get to the exit area as so
many people there.
My only reservation was that the refreshment facilities could have been better.
Taking 20 minites to reach the refreshment van only to be told no drink left,
and this was at 4.00!! I could have waited for them to get stock but
decided to get back to my pitch, thirsty.....
I did not myself witness and hostility and the journey back to Gravesend was
quiet, as much as it could be!
All in all it was a great day and I am glad I was there to witness it.
Leslie
Mayers
Gravesend
Kent
| Congratulations
on a great site - a small contribution if I may...... During the 70s I used to work at The Valley selling beer and hot dogs in the bars during matches. Our regular spot was a shed at the top of the main terrace, which was the sort of vast concrete standing-only room now long gone from English football stadiums. We were asked to do the catering for the concert, and thought we had a great spot for the day - but actually worked flat out non stop serving food and drink, and narrowly avoided some unpleasantness at the end of the day (more later). As other people have mentioned, there was no real attempt to provide enough catering or toilet facilities for the number of people the ground could hold - for football around 60,000 I think - and it was packed on a hot and sunny day (no rain that day folks). Because of that I can't honestly say I remember the acts in great detail, although Humble Pie were definitely the most impressive in terms of sounds and crowd reaction. It is also true that trouble gradually increased throughout the afternoon, and we saw a fair bit of bottle throwing on the terraces below. Stewarding and crowd management was pretty primitive in those days. When late on our bar started to run out of the basics and the lengthening (and by now fairly drunk/stoned) queues began to get agitated, we decided it was time to disappear, and closed the shutters on the pretence of receiving more supplies. There was actually no chance of the caterers bringing any more supplies up through the crowd - and no way for us to contact them for help - we were on a hiding to nothing. As a bunch of 6th formers of below average courage it didn't take long for us to work out that the hut would soon be overrun and us with it. |
Maggie Bell © Jimmy |
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To add to
the tension, we still had most of the days takings - several hundred £s
("a lot of money in those days" you may remember). So we hid it
in a rubbish sack, together with all the miniature spirits, and slipped
out of the side door one at a time to blend into the crowd and make our
way to the north exit. My last recollection is looking back from the gate to see about a dozen people pounding on the corrugated roof of the shed, with the panels buckling at the edges. I can only presume they helped themselves to the remains of the bottled beer and Wagon Wheels and had an evening to remember - or perhaps forget. I think we got a couple of free beers for our troubles but missed the end of the concert - by the sounds of it no great loss. Having said that, this day is one of my great memories of 70s rock and my copy of the programme (hidden in the black sack) survived and is carefully tucked away. I have attached scans of part of a Charlton FC programme advertising the concert - don't know if you have seen this before. Reminds you that marketing and PR have come a long way..... Regards & best wishes Richard Polom |
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