1960s

DATES

1960 - 1969

1960

24th January

Sarah Vaughan, Johnny Dankworth and his Orchestra

20th March

Ella Fitzgerald "Jazz at The Philharmonic"

Shelly Mann and His Men, Jimmy Giuffre Trio, Roy Eldridge, The Paul Smith Quartet

12th April

Shirley Bassey, Matt Monroe

John Barry & His Concert Orchestra

16th April

Count Basie & His Orchestra, Joe Williams

16th May

Conway Twitty, Freddy Cannon, Johnny Preston

1st October

Miles Davis Quintet, The Jazz Five

18th October

Jimmy Jones, Mark Wynter, Michael Cox & The Hunters,

Brook Brothers, Dean Rogers & The Maruaders, Janet Richmond, Johnny Wiltshire & The Trebletones, Tony Marsh. Kenny Lynch,

30th October

Connie Francis, Cyril Stapleton Showband, George Meaton, Ray Merrell

1961

12th January

Dave Brubeck Quartet, The Joe Harriett Quintet

19th February

June Christie, The Four Freshmen, Bob Miller & The Millermen

7th- 12th April

The Pearce Duff Show

with Pan Yue Jen, Bill Pertwee, Teddy Johnson & Pearl Carr, Arthur Haynes, Marguerite Pattern, Ballet Montparnasse

21st May

Gene Vincent, Adam Faith, The Echos, Peter Gordeno,

Dave Reid, Chance Gordon and The Roulettes

5th October

Adam Faith, John Barry Seven, Dave Allen, David Macbeth, Desmond Lane, Johnny LeRoy

November

Temperance Seven, The Mudlarks, Joan Small, Michael Cox, Bert Weedon, Tommy Sanderson & The Sandmen

1962

3rd March

Ella Fitzgerald, Coleman Hawkins, Roy Eldridge Quintet, Paul Smith Trio

17th March

The Four Freshmen, Kenny Baker, Matt Munro,
Jeri Southern and Danny Williams, Gerry Mulligan Quartet

1st April

Count Basie & His Orchestra, Lambert, Hendricks & Ross

14th April

Nina & Frederick, The Twotones, Joe Church, The Harmonicords, Daisey May & Seveen, Malcolm Mitchell & His Trio

(The Harmonicords later changed their name to The Bachelors)

5th May

Louis Armstrong & His All Stars, Gerry Brown's Jazzmen

1st June

Shirley Bassey, Nelson Riddle Orchestra

9th June

Errol Garner

7th October

George Shearing, Joe Williams, Sarah Vaughan

24th November

Johnny Mathis, Ted Heath & His Music

2nd December

Dave Brubeck Quartet

1963

12th January

The Duke Ellington Orchestra

This concert ran until almost Midnight!!

23rd February

“Jazz at The Philharmonic” with Ella Fitzgerald,

Oscar Peterson Trio, Roy Eldridge Quartet

30th March

Cliff Richard & The Shadows, Alan Randell, The Vernons Girls, Patsy Ann Noble, The Trebletones, Frank Berry

12th April

Shirley Bassey, Matt Monro

John Barry & His Concert Orchestra

4th May

Gerry Mulligan, Johnny Dankworth & his Orchestra

12th May

Ray Charles & his Orchestra

24th May

The Commonwealth Day Concert

13th July

Nat King Cole, Ted Heath & His Music

28th September

Sarah Vaughan, The Kirk Stuart Trio,Count Basie & his Orchestra, Jimmy Rushing

2nd October

Erroll Garner

18th October

Jimmy Jones

19th October

Lesley Gore, Brook Benton, Dion & The Belmonts, Timi Yuro, Trini Lopez,Ken Thorne Orchestra, Jerry Stevens

Billed as “The Greatest Record Show of 1963”

30th October

Connie Francis

17th November

Stan Kenton & his Orchestra

24th Dec-

The Beatles Christmas Show

Tickets from Beatles Chrismas Show 1963/4

11th January

With Billy J Kramer & The Dakotas, Rolf Harris,

The Fourmost, Barron Knights with Duke D'Mond, Tommy Quickly, Cilla Black

John Lennon had his Gibson J160F guitar stolen during these shows

a 1962 GibsonJ-160E acoustic/electric, sunburst finish.

Lennon and Harrison each bought one of these "jumbo" models

(price: £161) in Rushworth's Music House in Liverpool on

10th September 1962 (shown below with guitar/amp department manager Bob Hobbs). Mersey Beat, in the caption from its photo

commemorating the event, noted the guitars were "the only ones of

their type in the country -- which were specially flown to England byjet from America."

This was probably untrue, as they'd taken two months to arrive after

being special-ordered. (Additionally, these photos may have been

taken a few days after the sale, for they already sport straps and

smudges.) These Gibsons may have been used on the 11th

September recordings of "Love Me Do" but those tracks sound

Beatles, Cilla Black, The Fourtunes et all

Link to film of The Beatles backstage at The Astoria with Christmas messages

nearly identical to the earlier takes of those songs, on which they

weren't used. Lennon's J-160 E was used through the Please,Please

Me sessions, then stolen during the '63 Christmas show at the

Shortcut to Beatles Christmas message, recorded at The Finsbury Park Astoria

Finsbury Park Astoria Theatre, London.

(Pity poor Malcolm Evans, who had to break the news to Lennon.) By this time, however, Lennon and Harrison had gotten their identical guitars mixed up, so it was the one registered to Harrison that disappeared.

Link to photos taken at the rehearsals

1964

18th January

The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra with Frank Sinatra Junor, Hellen Forest, The Pied Pipers

17th February

Joe Brown & his Bruvers, Heinz & The Saints, The Crystals,
Johnny Kidd & The Pirates, Daryl Quest, Mike Preston, Al Paige, Kevin Kirk, Manfred Mann

Billed as "Your Lucky Stars Show"

21st March

Ella Fitzgerald

30th March

Cliff Richard & The Shadows, Dailey & Wayne, Bob Millar & The Millermen

12th April

Shirley Bassey, Matt Monro, The John Barry Concert Orchestra

2nd May

Dave Clark Five, Mark Wynter, The Hollies, The Kinks,

The Mojos, The Trebletones, Frank Berry

9th/10th

Chuck Berry, Carl Perkins, King Size Taylor & The Dominos, The Animals,The

May

Nashville Teens, The Swinging Blue Jeans, Karl Denver, Larry Burns,Burn Elliott & The Fennmen, The Other Two

The Rolling Stones are at this concert to see their rock'n'roll hero Chuck Berry play .They manage to get backstage for a chat but

Chuck is not interested. As a result, the Stones arrive late making

their way down to their own gig in Catford and have trouble

getting into the venue as it's by now surrounded by hordes of fans.

16th May

Cannonball Adderley Sextet

His f irst UK Tour, The band were:

Cannonball Adderley/alto sax, Nat Adderley/trumpet and cornet, Charles Lloyd/ tenor sax and flute, Joe Zawinul/piano, Sam Jones/bass, Louis Hayes/drums

18th July

Ray Charles & His Orchestra with The Raelets

5th September

The Rolling Stones, Charlie & Inez Foxx,Mike Berry, The Mojos, Billie Davis, Simon Scott, The LeRoys, The Innocents

Rolling Stones kick off their 4th British Tour

Video link to a report about this concert

26th September

Bill Haley & The Comets, Manfred Mann, The Rockin' Berries, The Untamed Four, Bobby Patrick Big Six, Bob Bain, The Nashville Teens

17th October

The Honeycombs, Millie, Lulu & The Luvers, The Puppetts,
The Applejacks, The Beat Merchants, Daryl Quist, The Shouts,Gene Vincent, Freddie Earle (compare)

Billed as "The Big Beat Scene"

31st October

Errol Garner

1st November

The Beatles, Mary Wells, The Rustiks, Michael Haslam, Sounds Incorporated, The Remo Four and Tommy Quickly. The compare for the tour was Bob Bain.

14th November

Brenda Lee, John Barry Seven, Manfred Mann, Marty Wilde, Johnny Kidd & The Pirates, The Flee-Rekkers Wayne Fontana & The Mindbenders, Heinz, Bern Elliot & The Fenmen,

1965

9th January

Chuck Berry, Kingsize Taylor & The Dominos, The Moody Blues, The Five Dimensions, Winston G, The Graham Bond Organization. Long John Baldry, Mike Patto (compere)

20th February

Roy Orbison, The Rockin’ Berries, Marianne Faithful,
The Three Quarters, Frank Berry, The Untamed,
Cliff Bennet & The Rebel Rousers

21st February

The Duke Ellington Orchestra

1st March

“The PJ Proby Show” with Brian Poole & The Tremeloes,
The Fourmost, Cilla Black, Tom Jones, Sandra Barry

6th March

Art Blakey and Jimmy Guiffre

20th March

“The Tamla Mowtown Show” with The Supremes,
Martha and the Vandellas, The Earl Van Dyke Six,
George Fame & The Blue Flames, Stevie Wonder,
Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, The Temptations

16th April

Ella Fitzgerald, The Oscar Peterson Trio

Ella Fitzgerail/Oscar Peterson Trio advert

5th May

Beach Boys, Helen Shapiro, Terry Reid, Simon Dupree & The Big Sound

14th August

The Byrds, Donovan, Elkie Brooks, Kenny Lynch, Them,Johnny B Great, Charles Dickens, Ray Cameron

The NME slam The Byrds' performance

24th September

The Rolling Stones, The Spencer Davis Group, Ray Cameron Unit Four + Two, Charles Dickens & The Habits, The End, The Checkmates,

9th October

Star Scene 65 with

The Everly Brothers, Cilla Black, Klaus & Gibson, Paddy, Billy J Kramer & The Dakotas, Lionel Blair & His Kick Dancers,
The Alan Elsdon Band, The Marionettes, Compere - Pete Brady

Everly Bros. Cilla Black Billy J Kramer flyer & Programme

22nd October

Gene Pitney, Peter & Gordon, Lulu & The Luvers, The Rockin’ Berries, Mike Cotton Sound, The Quiet Five, The Quiet Five, Syd & Eddie (Little & Large)

11th December

The Beatles Christmas Show with Moody Blues, The Koobas,
Beryl Marsden & Steve Aldo, Jerry Stevens, The Paramounts and The Marionettes

The Paramounts opened the show as well as backing Beryl Marsden and Steve Aldo, would soon change their name to Procol Harum! John Kellogs, their "Roadie" remembers "Geoge Harrison - the sweetest man - came all the way up the stairs to our dressing room to see us. He brought us a gift of a little plastic portable Dansette record player with a blues record by Albert King and a large 'jazz cigarette' for us to share. I was only 19. Thrilling days!"

Also that year

Paul Gurvitz (Baker Gurvitz Army)played his first professional live gig as a member of The Knack, at the theatre

1966

4th February

The Who, The Merseybeats, Graham Bond Organisation Screaming Lord Sutch & The Savages, The Fortunes

17th February

Gene Pitney, The Troggs, The Loot, Sounds Incorporated,
Davis Grant & The Vision, Norman Rowe & The Playboys

25th March

Roy Orbison, The Walker Brothers, Lulu & the Luvers,
The Marionettes, Kim D, The Quotations
Ray Cameron (compere)

30th May

A live satellite beamback of the Indy 500 race from Indianapolis USA

13th August

Radio England’s "Swingin’ 66" Tour with
The Small Faces, Dave Berry & The Cruisers, The Koobas, Neil Christian,Crispian St.Peters, Wayne Fontana & The Oppression

The tour was heavily advertised on the air. The gigs proved reasonably successful in the south-east of the country, where Radio England could be heard. Unfortunately outside the station's transmission area, audiences were understandably sparse. The tour proved a financial disaster, losing over £17,000. The station attempted to get some money back by selling autographed copies of the left-over concert programmes

26th August

Sonny & Cher, Jimmy James and The Vagabonds, Les Fleur de Lys, VIPs, Sharon Tandy, Bob Bain (compère)

This was a charity concert for underprivileged children and the Greater London fund for the blind

13th September

The Small Faces, Millie, The Honeycombs,
Lulu & The Luvers

27th September

Dusty Springfield with The Echoes, Dave Berry, Episode Six, The Settlers, Dave Berry, The Mindbenders, Boz & his Group, The Alan Price Set, Jeffery Lenner (compere)

September

The Yardbirds, Marmalade

20th October

Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Chris Farlowe & The Thunderbirds, Geno Washington & The Ram Jam Band, Eric Burden & The New Animals, The Georgie Fame Band, Eyes of Blue

A Radio London promoted Concert

6th November

The Beach Boys, Lulu & The Luvers, David & Jonathon, Sounds Incorporated, The Golden Brass, Jerry Stevens

13th November

“ The Star Scene Tour” with The Walker Brothers, The Troggs, Dave Dee,Dozy,Beaky, Mick & Tich, The Creation

1967

17th February

Gene Pitney, Badfinger, The Troggs, Sounds Incorporated, David Garrick,The Loot, Normie Rowe & The Playboys

3rd March

Roy Orbison, The Small Faces, The Jeff Beck Group, The Settlers, Paul &

Barry Ryan, PP Arnold, Robb Storme Group, Sonny Childe and The TNT

John Gray states on Smiler – Rod Stewart web site:
The opening night at the Finsbury Park Astoria was a disaster; mainly thanks to a power failure, which Rod swears to this day was instigated by Ian McLagan who was fearful the Beck group would steel the show! A furious Jeff Beck stormed off the stage, immediately sacked Rod Coons the drummer and announced that he was pulling the group out of the tour! Months of silence followed.

The tour also got off to a distressing start for The Settlers when a sneak thief got into their dressing room and stole their money. Cindy Kent said: "The thing is, we didn't have much money and the cash that was stolen was meant to pay for our digs and tour expenses. I can't remember how much it was, but it was a lot to us. Backstage at the Astoria was like a rabbit warren, with numerous stairways. As soon as Steve Marriott heard what had happened, he organised a collection from the other performers. It was very sweet of him and it saved the day for us."

17th March

“The Stax Review” Otis Reading, Sam & Dave, Booker T & The MG’s, Eddie Floyd, Carla Thomas, Arthur Conley, The Mar-keys, Emperor Rosko

Press cutting about arrival of members of the stax Review show

Video link to Otis Reading performing "Try a Little tenderness" at this concert

23rd March

The Hollies, The Spencer Davis Group, Paul Jones, The Tremeloes, Richard Kent Style, The Young Idea, Dave Butler (Compere)

31st March

The Walker Brothers, Englebert Humperdink, Cat Stevens,
Jimi Hendrix Experience, Californians, Quotations, Nick Jones

Cat Stevens remembers…
"Engelbert (Humperdinck), then someone, Sounds Incorporated I think, then Jimi Hendrix, then me - a prelude to The Walker Brothers, for the teenyboppers, sort of, winding them up. An amazing mixture of personalities.No one knew who Jimi Hendrix was at that time really. You’d hear, hey, there’s a fire onstage! And we came rushing down and there was this guy kneeling down burning his guitar. I was incredibly petrified, so petrified I couldn’t wear my new Arnello & David high-heeled shoes. I had to put on my plimsolls to actually move. All these people, the black arena… I remember an awesome concoction which Engelbert turned me onto, port and brandy. And that really did me more damage than anything else I was about to encounter six months down the line! On the other side you’d got Hendrix and his gang who were often puffing away, so it was quite a wild tour

Jimi Hendrix, Cat Stevens, Gary Walker & Englebert Hunperdink backstage

John Walker, Cat Stevens & Jimi Hendrix in the dressing room

The Walker Brothers backstage at The Astoria Finsbury Park

This show is also famous for Hendrix burning his guitar for the first time, he later repeated this at The Monterey Festival in California. At the end of his (five song set!), as he performed the song 'Fire' Hendrix set fire to his Fender Stratocaster – as the astonished audience looked on and petrified venue staff ushered the performer off. Hendrix injured himself and had to be taken to hospital with minor burns on his hands. This guitar was later found in a garage and auctioned at The Idea Generation Gallery in London on 4th September 2009. It fetched a remarkable £280,000, bought by a collector, Daniel Boucher of Boston, Massachusetts, USA