DAVID BOWIE: MEMORIES OF A FREE FESTIVAL

Thanks for the article on Bowie’s Hunky Dory (RC 363), not only for elucidating the circumstances in which it was devised, but also for the long overdue kudos accredited to Mick Ronson for his crucial in its evolution. I was fortunate enough to witness one of his earliest gigs with Bowie in the confines of Beckenham Arts Lab at the former Three Tuns pub where he complimented perfectly the songs and works in progress of his new boss on his Les Paul.

Bowie himself deserves acclaim for the prescience he showed in selecting support acts each week. Besides the acoustic Steve Harley (then Steve Nice) and Robin Scott (who in his 1979 guise as M had a huge hit with Pop Muzik), who appeared as a singer/ songwriter plugging his Head album Woman From The Warm Grass, there were Gerry Rafferty and Billy Connolly, AKA the Humblebums. Few who were present will forget the night when the pair threatened to inflict physical damage upon various members of the audience whose chatter was drowning out their performance. Another regular was Noel Brown, writer of Dave Edmunds’ Readers’ Wives, who was instrumental in the discovery of Kirsty McColl and whose Black Snake duo of 1970 featured for a time, I believe, bassist Paul Riley of Chilli Willi repute.

Then there were local proteges Comus, now deservedly earning some retrospective kudos for their First Utterance. Formed at the local Ravensbourne College of Art, the group expanded to include, for a time, flautist Mike Cole, later to hit paydirt as part of Cymande in the US with the much-sampled The Message. One Sunday night, Cole brought along his friend Rico Rodrique, thus establishing a connection with the Specials. Other notable members were the then-16-year-old Bobbie Watson on vocals and violinist Colin Pearson, later to produce, among other hits, Alphaville’s Big In Japan.

Naturally, there were underachievers –that curiously stooping figure Keith Christmas never fulfilled his potential despite the release of several albums. Christmas was one of the support acts at the free festival at Beckenham Recreation Ground in August 1969, as documented on Space Oddity’s Memory Of A Free Festival. Basically an adjunct to the Arts Lab, this event was one of the first such occasions in the suburbs after pioneering concerts in Hyde Park and Parliament Hill Fields. This featured the aforementioned Christmas, along with names like the Strawbs – still an acoustic trio replete with double bassist Ron ‘Noddy’ Chesterman at this stage – and Junior’s Eyes.

In addition to acting as Bowie’s backing group on the Space Oddity tour that autumn, the latter group cut a vastly underrated album, Battersea Power Station, and were responsible for the unearthing of ace guitarist Tim Renwick, of Quiver, Sutherland Brothers and Quiver, and who also worked with Pink Floyd and Elton John.

The following summer (1970), David helped organise a similar event in Martin’s Fields, Bromley. This took place on July 4, and among the acts appearing were High Tide, with future Bowie collaborator and Hawkwind member Simon Hanse on violin and original Misunderstood guitarist Tony Hill. The occasion also marked one of Peter Green’s first live appearances since his exit from Fleetwood Mac, and he played what appeared to be an ad-hoc set backed by local musicians, which consisted of Peter shouting out the appropriate key at the beginning of each number.

By this time, Ronson and co were no longer named The Hype and on that occasion as least were announced by their leader as the Damon Runyonderived Harry The Horse. I distinctly remember David and co covering a song from Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks, probably Madame George. Sadly, the event ended in disarray, with an undignified police raid on a few dope-smoking hippies.

Also residing in the Bromley/Beckenham area at the time were Andy Brown (then of the Herd, later Status Quo), drummer Geoff Britton, who, in addition to playing for East of Eden, the Wild Angels and Wings, was in the UK karate team. Exiled Geordies Skip Bifferty, featuring future Blockheads John Turnbull and Mickey Gallagher, rented a house in Wickham Road, Beckenham, although it was said that they later fled to the Isle of Wight in order to escape from Don Arden!

I had the pleasure of meeting, albeit briefly, with Bowie and his old schoolmate, fellow member of the Lower Third, and future sleeve designer George Underwood, and both seemed levelheaded and personable. PS: Were Comus the first UK group to cover a Velvet Underground number? They played Venus in Furs as early as 1969.

by Stephen Turner
<< Back to Issue 367

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