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Last update Sept 2005

Rock at the Oval.

The Oval , Kennington .

9-16-72.

Frank Zappa ,Hawkwind,Beck,Bogart and Appice,Linda Lewis,Man ,Biggles ,Sam Apple Pie ,Quiver.

MC Kid Jensen.

 

Recollections and reviews .

International Times, OVAL Cricket Ground .16th September 1972
    Promoting rock is always fraught with danger, as the brothers Foulk found out (yet again) last Saturday afternoon. Few people expected them to lose money on a line up like Jeff Beck, Zappa and Hawkwind, but they certainly did--the factors being poor weather and expensive tickets--with the result that the green was never more than half full and the raised seating round the periphery hardly used. But, as well as being a good tax loss, it was also the best music I have seen at a one-day event for a long time, and what's more you didn't have to queue for anything. I got there half way through Man's set, complete with a blue blazered male voice choir from the valleys, and their relaxed but insistent set got things off to a good start.
    Jeff Beck in a leery white suit made his first British appearance with the ex-Vanilla Fudge [rhythm] section, Tim Bogart on bass, and drummer Carmine Appice, a line-up he first mentioned several years ago, and together they ripped out a set of fast, funky and impeccable rock 'n roll. Beck was in good form, and ranged as far back as 'Hi Ho Silver Lining' and 'Over Under Sideways Down', and these brought a cheer from the shivering crowd beneath the grey gas works, but all the same I thought the sound was a bit thin in places, places where a bit of Max Middleton and good ol' Cozy Powell wouldn't have gone amiss. After a quick encore they were gone, and we settled down to wait for nightfall and the coming of the Grand Wazoo.
    After a lot of messing about, mainly because the lighting was making the giant p.a. hum, the Machiavelli of rock limped forth and introduced the members of his 20 piece jazz orchestra by means of an elaborate and prolonged balance check. The crowd got interested as the 10 minute mix went on, and when they finally came together and burst into 'Big Swifty' from the 'Waka/Jawaka' album, they had the inexorable power of a musical express-train. There is something awesome about a loud medium-size jazz orchestra roaring out into the night, and the small scruffy Zappa stood in the middle and beat out time with his Wazoo's wand like an infant-school music teacher. There was nothing infantile about the music though, he handled the complicated score and made it swing as only the composer could, particularly on a new piece 'The Adventures of Gregory Peccary' (a species of small wild pig native to South California, and how he avoids being made into a pair of ladies' pigskin gloves) and added between movements that in case anyone was getting restless there'd be a shuffle along real soon. This appearance was a lot different from the ad-libbing insanity of Mark and Howie, but we got a flash of Mr Zappa's serious side, particularly in the passages when he played guitar. We got a rendering of what he chose to call 'Dog Meat', a medley of the King Kong theme from Uncle Meat and the 'Dog Breath Variations', one of his most evocative and haunting compositions, but sadly no 'Peaches en Regalia', which I had hoped would be an ideal choice for this current medium. At the end, he hung around the stage and seemed to be disappointed at his reception, which was a shame after what happened at the Rainbow last year.
     By this time, the thing was running well late but little Linda Lewis did a quick set while the Sonic Assassins set up. It was a bad place to squeeze her in, between strong stuff like Zappa and Hawkwind and she didn't come over half so well as at Bickershaw, the last big crowd I saw her facing.
    Then the lights darkened, the boggies leapt to their feet as they heard Del and Dikmik's oscillators speeding up, and we all faced our private crises on Spaceship Earth, while the giant words 'Life Supply' and 'Functional' winked on and off in the heavens. These boys are no longer Ladbroke Grove aristocracy but genuine wasted Sergio Leone-type pop-stars and the act has tightened up enough to keep this together. There was a strong feeling of deja vu about the Wind's set, a strong echo of the early Floyd, not musically but in the incredible vibes built up between an audience and the sounds they identify strongly with. It was a shame Mr Brock and the boys' piece de resistance, the firework display, had to be cancelled due to lack of time and increasing charyness by the genteel cricket club officials already narked by the bonfires blazing away the sacred turf. A shame 'cos a bonfire and fireworks scene would have been a good lift at the end of a good Oval.
MAC.


Zappa : Red Hot Rat
It was cold, dismal and damp, the early part of the day was tedious in the extreme, the thing over-ran by two and a half hours, and there were long waits between bands. But there was also some fine music at the Oval on Saturday, so the discomfort was worth it.
Unadvertised, Quiver played first, and I was extremely sorry to miss them. I wouldn't have minded missing Sam Apple Pie and Biggles, though: Biggles seem to have all the right ingredients, but they add up to all the wrong results: they end up with a mishmash of derivative uninspiring music which does them no credit, even for a band so new.
Then came the first lift of the day, Man - one of those bands I keep meaning to see and never do, and I'm really glad to have caught up with them at last. Mellow, but with a hard edge, they have a beautiful feel to their music, their songs are nice, and the interplay between the two guitarists is extremely effective. Their organist too is one of the few people I've heard who really understands how to use that instrument in a rock band.
Jeff Beck surprised me: he's never been one of my guitar heroes, but the new trio, with Carmine Appice and Tim Bogart, played some very nice, upfront rock and roll. It was the first gig after just a week's rehearsal, so the repertoire was a bit limited and there were rough edges, but they came on like an ace rock band and when they got into full flight were remarkably good. My one reservation is that drumming and singing might be too heavy a weight for Carmine Appice to bear but I'd be surprised if this didn't turn out to be Beck's best band. They got an encore, and he came back to do a medley of famous licks - even a flash of "Over Under Sideways Down."
After a long delay for setting up, and tuning, Zappa's Grand Wazoo took the stage, and if no-one else had played I'd have been happy to wait around all day just for that. The 20-piece band play Zappa's music with unbelievable taughtness and lyricism. Firing straight ahead on things like "Big Swifty" and "Dog-meat" (a kind of medley of "Dog Breath Variations" and the "Uncle Meat" theme), or creating strange rhythms and textures on "The Adventures Of Gregory Peckory" - don't worry, said Zappa, this'll be over soon and then we'll do a shuffle.
Zappa spent most of the time conducting, but when he did play guitar it was with the fire of a hot rat. This music had the best elements of "Hot Rats" and the orchestral sections of "200 Motels", and it was really a joy to hear a Zappa band well into playing and less into slapstick vocals. Welcome back.
By this time it was past the official closing time, but there was still another long wait before Hawkwind. Linda Lewis did a quick set in between, but I can't think of anyone less suitable for that time. Then Hawkwind, and despite my prejudices, I got quite into them in short bursts. Their policy of total assault tends to either alienate me or crack through, depending on my mood, and this time it had its effect. A strange business though, without a doubt - thick, head-pounding wadges of sound, strobes, shadows, glistening balls, a lady taking her clothes off, and finally the threat of a power turn-off. Personally I was ready to go by then anyway, and I slunk off with my ears ringing to the throb of "Silver Machine."
STEVE PEACOCK.

     Two weeks later it was up to London again, this time to see my all time hero, the mighty Frank Zappa! (FZ is still my all time great, by the way.) An interesting mix of music .From memory, the whole thing was compered by the DJ Kid Jensen, and the artists were Biggles, Sam Apple Pie, Linda Lewis, Man (local heroes for me, and they appeared for one number with the Gwalia Male Voice Choir!), Jeff Beck (with Tim Bogert and Carmine Appice) who was pretty damned good, then Zappa's Hot Rats Grand Wazoo Orchestra (not what a lot of the crowd were expecting - big band jazz and no comedy. I thought it was brilliant, my jazz sensibilities having been heightened a fortnight earlier by McLaughlin and co.) and finally Hawkwind, who were on last because they needed the darkness for their light show to have full effect. Musically they weren't too good, and we left after a couple of tunes.
     Funnily enough, I went down to London last September to see the last night of Jeff Beck's three night residency at the Royal Festival Hall, and it was exactly thirty years to the day since I'd first seen him at the Oval. He still looked the same, with maybe a few more wrinkles; black T-shirt and jeans, white Strat and a Marshall stack. And one of his guests was.... John McLaughlin! Ah, nostalgia!


All the best,
Bob Meyrick

Hi,
 
Just fond memories.
 
This was my first proper big gig.
 
I remember Man well. Became a life long fan from that day on.
 
I also liked Sam Apple Pie, as we followed them round the South London Pub Rock Scene at the time. If only ‘East 17’ were available on CD.
 
Was a big Hawkwind fan and had seen them a few times when they were nobodies.
 
I can’t remember much about the day. Weather fine but cold. Something about a stage announcement - that a woman’s breasts were the warmest place on the human body. My mate’s sister looked scared for a few minutes as all males turned to any nearby female.
 
Didn’t like FZ. Boring as sh*t but we had to stand through it as Hawkwind were on last.
 
Took forever to get home as the Tubes had stopped and we had to walk intoCentral London, to catch the all night bus and then about 5 miles home. Praise the Lord for one last smoke.
 
I remember more about the Melody Maker Concert at the Oval a few months later…
 
Thanks for bringing back some memories.
 
Keep on Truckin…
 
Steve Crowther

Oh, and the reason they exceeded the curfew was that it took about an hour and a half to set Frank Zappa’s stuff up. This was the Grand Wazoo tour, and he had a full orchestra with him…….
  Pete
The Oval September 30th 1972
 
I had just turned 18 in the August and two days previously (yes on a Thursday) I had got married! We were not having a honeymoon and my wife (who had just turned 17 in the August) had bought me a ticket for the concert (and before you ask, yes we are still together today).
I attended with my younger brother and his friend, it was a very warm day with the sizable crowd in a celebratory mood.
I cannot say for certain whether or not Fudd played but someone obscure definitely opened the show, Horslips keep suggesting themselves to me, but I could be wrong on that count.
John Peel DJ’d the event possibly in conjunction with one of the guys who often did The Marquee. All I can remember him playing was a Nick Drake track as the acoustic guitar really cut through the PA system.
I can recall catching glimpses of the awards ceremony that took place in the club house with flash bulbs popping and Sandy Denny and Rod Stewart receiving awards.
For my money all the bands were excellent, with Argent and Focus going down particularly well with the crowd earlier in the day, but didn’t Rory Gallagher also play a set with Bert Ruiter and Pierre van der Linden from Focus?
It was an hugely unexpected bonus to get a short set from Jack Bruce and the atmosphere was electric as anyone or anything associated with Cream was accorded 'godlike' status in those days. His performance was top drawer which was all the more remarkable considering that he fronted an impromptu trio with the Focus back line.
Argent had a far funkier, chunky and ‘tighter’ sound than I had anticipated with ‘Hold Your Head Up’ being the big crowd pleaser. Russ Ballard’s vocals were also something of a revelation throughout their set.
Focus were the rising stars of a stellar line-up and the crowd roared their approval during ‘Hocus Pocus’ with Thijs Van Leer’s yodelling going down an absolute storm. I found their performance of ‘Sylvia’ a bit ‘thin’ as it lacked the bite and attack of the recorded version. Overall their set was very good but they were much better at The Rainbow the following year when they were supported by Blue, the Hughie Nicholson (from Marmalade) combo.
I spent a lot of the concert near to the crash barriers surrounding the stage leaving my brother and his friend somewhere out in the middle. During Genesis’ set, with ‘Get ‘Em Out By Friday’ being the highlight, Peter Gabriel read out a few messages and then said something along the lines of “will Stephen Kelly please meet his brother at the side of the stage as you have his train ticket home”. I motioned towards one of the jobsworth commissioners policing the VIP area saying “that’s me that’s me” as I climbed over the barrier. I wandered through the VIP area and met my brother who had panicked about getting home. At the back of the stage there was a long scaffolded ramp leading up to the stage and as there was no-one around I walked up it and watched Genesis for a while from the back of the stage before being asked to leave. Stunning. I should have taken some snaps but I suppose I didn’t want to appear too obstrusive.
Although ELP headlined (as the sun began to set), complete with Tarkus tank ‘models’ either side of the stage, it was Wishbone Ash who closed the concert and played a wonderful set.
I had seen ELP at the Isle of Wight but the sound during their set there had been patchy, but here it was excellent and they turned in a storming performance with Keith Emerson butchering his Hammond with knives as per usual. Throw in the strings of the grand piano getting thumped during ‘Take a Pebble’, Carl Palmer beating seven bells of hell out of his huge gong, along with smoke and explosions belching from the Tarkus models and you had a spectacularly theatrical performance. I seem to remember Emerson having problems with his Moog which was a notoriously temperamental instrument. Lee Jackson, with whom Emerson had played during his stint with The Nice, watched the ELP performance whilst sitting on the grass in the VIP area nursing a bottle of whisky.
I left the Oval with the dual lead guitar lines of Wishbone Ash still 'running free' inside my head. I had a fantastic day.
 
Steve Kelly

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