
Hysteria and Satisfaction when Rolling Stones performed in Dundee in 1965
Screaming, fainting and sobbing teenagers caused pandemonium when the Rolling Stones performed in Dundee in June 1965.
The Marryat Hall was turned into a casualty station.
Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts could barely hear themselves play and dodged stuffed toys of all shapes and sizes.
It made national headlines.
The Stones were the band of the moment following the release of (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction, which dominated the airwaves in the summer of 1965.
The band first played the Caird Hall a year earlier.
Albert Bonici and co-promoter Andi Lothian booked the Stones to join the bill of a pop package tour which was headlined by Freddie and the Dreamers.
The Stones performed at 6.30pm and 8.50pm on on May 20 1964.
The band returned to Scotland for a headline tour in June 1965 which included dates at Glasgow's Odeon, Edinburgh's Usher Hall and Aberdeen's Capitol Theatre.
They received 40% of the gross box office and 'no less than £750 per venue'.
Everyone wanted to see them.
Four Dunfermline schoolgirls skipped lessons after the Edinburgh show.
Hitchhiking 23 miles to the Gleneagles Hotel where the band were staying, they managed to meet the Stones and get autographs and souvenirs.
Next stop was Aberdeen.
You can't always get what you want, it's true, but the Stones did when they enjoyed a hearty meal of sausages, eggs, bacon and chips in Laurencekirk.
The fry-up at a country pub prompted Jagger to sing a song for the locals.
'We had a great meal on the way up,' said Jagger.
'Laurencekirk, I think it was.
'And the people were very nice.'
They returned to Gleneagles before the two shows at the Caird Hall.
Tickets were priced from five shillings to 15 shillings.
The Stones chose the supporting acts and were backed by The Hollies, Doris Troy, Johnny Cannon and the Shades, and the West Five.
Before the gig they were taken to Broughty Ferry for a photo shoot for Romeo and Jackie teen girl magazines in the grounds of the Taypark Hotel.
The band members were all clad in suits.
The two shows at 6.30pm and 8.45pm were attended by 3,500 fans.
The Stones were drinking bottles of Coke backstage.
They played for 30 minutes.
Songs included Not Fade Away, It's All Over Now and The Last Time, although little could be heard because the screaming was so loud.
Jagger and his bandmates thought a young fan had fallen from the balcony during the show when an enormous cloth gonk was hurled on to the stage.
In fact, it was a gift from Jean Gracie from Dundee and Ann Brown from Monifieth.
The Stones brought the girls backstage during the interval.
They were photographed by The Courier for the following morning's paper.
It was the calm before the storm.
The screaming reached a crescendo at the second show.
The teenybop adulation threatened to become overwhelming.
Hundreds of hysterical teenage girls attempted to break the cordon of police and 50 stewards which were made up of amateur boxers and wrestlers.
However, one girl got through.
Jessie Noble from Fintry raced past Wyman and Jones to the centre of the stage.
She threw her arms around Jagger and started hugging and kissing him.
Two burly stewards dragged her to the wings.
'I kissed Mick,' she said. 'I touched him and hugged him.'
There was a short spell of peace. Then it was back to the yelling, stamping, screaming and fainting again.
Jessie broke through the cordon a second time.
She was promptly carted out again.
The Courier said the floor of the hall became a battlefield.
The screaming girl fans stood on seats and chanted: 'Mick! Mick! Mick!'
Rooster-strutting Jagger looked in his element on stage and the cheering got louder when he took his jacket off and threatened to throw it to the audience.
Red Cross workers had stationed themselves around the hall.
Forty 'hysterical and fainting girls' were carried to the Marryat Hall.
They were laid out on blankets, then revived and treated at the scene.
One girl who collapsed unconscious was taken to Dundee Royal Infirmary for treatment after attendants worked unsuccessfully for half an hour to revive her.
Maureen Rooney of Mid Craigie was suffering from 'acute hysteria'.
She regained consciousness and was sent home.
Other teenagers attempted to reach the stage but were held back by stewards.
After the final song, many girls, who were still in the venue, were sobbing with disappointment because the band had left the stage.
The fans left behind a litter of dolls, papers, autograph books and sweets.
There were a number of broken seats.
A car was waiting for the band in Castle Street. The Stones drove back to Gleneagles.
A policeman grabbed a girl who attempted to throw herself in front of the car.
Jagger defended the group's followers after the Dundee gig.
'The fans don't mean to break the seats,' he said.
Afterwards, the band flew back to London from Renfrew Airport without Jagger.
He spent the weekend in Scotland with 19-year-old girlfriend Christine Shrimpton.
They visited Fort William, Oban and Loch Lomond.
Jagger and Shrimpton stayed in the Loch Lomond Hotel.
They flew back to London before the band went on tour to Scandinavia.
The Stones never returned to Dundee.
However, Bill Wyman did. He left the Stones in 1993 and later formed Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings.
Wyman returned to the Caird Hall with his new band in February 2008.
There was also an equally famous 'what if?'
Charlie Watts might have performed at the Dundee Jazz Festival.
He put together his own 33-piece extra-big band in 1985 featuring many of the biggest stars of British jazz – including Jimmy Deuchar from Dundee.
Deuchar stayed in Barnhill.
Watts described him as 'quite brilliant' and 'probably the best writer in the band'.
The friendship almost brought the Stones drummer back to Dundee.
Alan Steadman was the organiser of Dundee Jazz Festival. He tried to persuade Watts to join the bill.
The plan never came to fruition, though, and Steadman was left waiting on a friend.
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The Herald Scotland
2 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
When time ran out for the Glasgow Apollo
The venue's peak came during the Seventies and for those of us who were there then, it, and the many gigs we saw there, remain among the defining images of that decade. Alongside, perhaps, the Old Grey Whistle Test, John Peel's cult radio shows, and enthusiastic reading of the music weeklies – Sounds, NME, Melody Maker for news of the latest vinyl and tour dates. Not to mention, of course, the music of the time, whether it was punk and new wave, the Eagles, the Stones, prog, glam, heavy metal or soul. The Apollo memories are imperishable. Many of the bands that played the venue are, like the Apollo itself, no more, having broken up for one reason or another: 'musical differences', frustration over a lack of success, a desire to follow individual dreams. But a gratifying number of groups are still thriving today: Neil Young, the Stones, the Cure, Status Quo, Rod Stewart, Iron Maiden, Deep Purple, Robert Plant, the Rezillos, Robin Trower, AC/DC, Rod Stewart, Alice Cooper, Eric Clapton, Hawkwind, Jethro Tull, Jackson Browne, Van Morrison. Santana, too. Led by Carlos Santana, who turns 78 next month, they entertained the OVO Hydro just a few nights ago, nearly half a century after their last appearance in Renfield Street. And then there's Paul Weller, of course; it was his old band, The Style Council, who brought the curtain down on the Apollo on Sunday, June 16, 1985. Time has been busy catching up with other Apollo acts. Black Sabbath are bowing out with a huge farewell gig at Birmingham's Villa Park on July 5. That same night, a few miles away elsewhere in the city, Jeff Lynne's ELO will play the first of five last-ever concerts – two in Birmingham, two in Manchester, and one in London's Hyde Park. Elkie Brooks, who experienced the Apollo on a handful of occasions in the latter years of its existence, is on a Long Farewell Tour. In August, The Who will embark on their North America Farewell Tour, To look through the comprehensive gig listings curated by the people behind the excellent Glasgow Apollo website is to be reminded the astonishing wealth of gigs that took place there, across so many genres. The names of some of the acts – Renaissance, Rare Bird, drummer Ginger Baker's group Baker-Gurvitz Army, the all-female US rockers Fanny, Gentle Giant, Kokomo, Glencoe, Golden ('Radar Love') Earring, the Groundhogs, Traffic, Japan's Sadistic Mika Group – are familiar to fans of a certain vintage today. Less familiar, possibly, are Tea, who supported Baker Gurvitz Army in 1975; Dave and the Mistakes, who opened for Elvis Costello and the Attractions in 1981; and Sandii & the Sunsetz, another Japanese group, who were the support act for (of course) Japan in 1982. It's interesting to look back at the music weeklies and see what they made of certain concerts. Here's a small selection: * 'Heat, dust, smoke, lasers and Genesis combined to turn the Glasgow Apollo into a replica of Dante's Inferno when the band descended on the city on Friday night' – Melody Maker, July 1976. * 'Rory G[allagher] made it however, and played an undeniably proficient over two-hour set to the most rapturous reception I've seen in ages. The audience was crazy, drunken, happy, and collectively about as intelligent as the average tree-stump: in short, all the jolly working-class virtues that made me leave Glasgow in the first place' – Sounds, April 1978. * 'Fred Turner [of Bachman Turner Overdrive] is a real sweathog of a bass player. Whether he's hungrily engulfing chip sandwiches in a Glasgow hotel under the lights of a documentary film crew, or bouncing all over the Apollo stage until the lighting towers begin to develop major instabilities, you gotta admit the dude is, like, heavy, man. He ought to do a seesaw act with Leslie West' – NME, May 1975. * 'As a unit [Lynyrd Skynyrd] peaked with 'Tuesday's Gone', which took on a church atmosphere – in Glasgow the audience even started the Terrace Sway.... In Glasgow, the entire audience sang 'Free Bird' in its entirety. That's freaky (good-freaky), 3,000 people singing homage to a guitarist [Duane Allman] they've never seen' – Sounds, February 1976. * 'Backstage at the Apollo the theatre photographer is taking a group shot of the Rolling Stones receiving their trophies earned by selling out the three shows there. 'More ANIMATION pleeeze,' Jagger shouts good naturedly to the nervous photographer. 'When the Faces played here they could only afford one trophy', Woody [Ron Wood] informs the gathering, 'so we gave it to Tetsu [Yamauchi] to make him feel wanted'. Tonight each band member gets their own special souvenir. Just another memory. Keith gives his to Marlon [his son]' – Sounds, April 1976. * 'For Scotland, the Pretender changed tactics. Wearing a tartan wool scarf, he concentrated on rock 'n' roll. It was such good rock that it made me think maybe the Eagles aren't the best American rock 'n' roll band. Maybe the best American rock 'n' roll band is Jackson Browne ... Browne's initial self-centred introspection gently fades away. The Glasgow Apollo was cold, and Jackson Browne wanted to warm the place up with some powerfully generated rock. I almost thought he'd do 'Whole Lotta Shakin'' – Sounds, December 1976. The Apollo was noted, then, for many things: for its unassailable place on the Scottish gig circuit, for the rampant fervour with which many groups were greeted, for the less-than-salubrious nature of its backstage facilities. It all added up to a brilliant, authentic venue. The Apollo was living on borrowed time 40 years ago, however. The outcry that had greeted an earlier closure date, in 1978, when the venue's operators were granted a licence to turn it into a bingo hall, was decidedly more muted in the run-up to the Style Council farewell in 1985. As to why, David Belcher, the Herald's music writer, had this to say: 'The answer on everyone's lips is the Scottish Exhibition Centre, which has been bruited as having the ability to stage five to 10 10,000-seater per year along with up to 40 annual 2,000-seater shows'. Belcher also noted that the Apollo was damp and crumbling and that its fabric had deteriorated alarmingly over the last five years – not surprisingly, perhaps, given that the place had opened, as Green's Playhouse, back in 1927. The Apollo's time was up, then. But who could possibly have guessed in 1985 that its absence would be mourned, four decades later? RUSSELL LEADBETTER


The Guardian
2 days ago
- The Guardian
Post your questions for music legend PP Arnold
She's the singer with iconic 60s hits such as The First Cut Is the Deepest and Angel of the Morning, who has been called on as a collaborator by some of the biggest names in British music. And as she gears up for a performance at this year's Glastonbury festival, PP Arnold will be answering your questions. Born into a family of gospel singers in Los Angeles, Arnold could have easily never ended up in music: by the age of 17 she was a mother-of-two in an abusive marriage. But she auditioned for Ike and Tina Turner and was hired as an Ikette, fleeing her husband to perform backing vocals on tour and in the studio, with Tina becoming a mentor. After the Turner band toured with the Rolling Stones in the UK in 1966, Arnold left and stuck around in England. The admiring Mick Jagger helped secure her a record contract, and she was quickly in the thick of swinging London as British pop and rock swept to cultural dominance. Arnold sang backing vocals on the Small Faces' Itchycoo Park and the band in turn backed her own studio recordings; she duetted with Rod Stewart on Come Home Baby; her backing band for a time were the Nice, featuring Keith Emerson; and the Bee Gees' Barry Gibb produced some of her work. Her debut album contained a cover of Cat Stevens' The First Cut Is the Deepest which many consider to be the definitive version, while the follow-up Kafunta – orchestrated by Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones – contained another iconic cover, of Angel of the Morning, both British chart hits. Those would be her biggest solo successes, but Arnold remained rooted in the entertainment business, segueing to musical theatre and collaborating with Eric Clapton, Nick Drake and singing backing vocals on Peter Gabriel's megahit Sledgehammer. She was sought after in the 80s and 90s dance scene, doing vocals for the Beatmasters and Altern-8 and singing the hook of the KLF's 3am Eternal. She also partnered with Ocean Colour Scene and Primal Scream. Now 78, she has continued to release her own music – 2019 brought The New Adventures of... PP Arnold – and she will perform songs from her remarkable discography at Glastonbury's Acoustic stage on Sunday 29 June at 4pm. Before she does, she'll answer your questions – post them in the comments before 10am BST on Tuesday 24 June.


Spectator
2 days ago
- Spectator
Style, wit and pace: Netflix's Dept. Q reviewed
Can you imagine how dull a TV detective series set in a realistic Scottish police station would be? Inspector Salma Rasheed would have her work cut out that's for sure: the wicked gamekeeper on the grisly toff's estate who murdered a hen harrier and then blamed its decapitation on an innocent wind turbine; the haggis butcher who misgendered his vegetarian assistant; the Englishman who made a joke on Twitter about a Scotsman going to the chippy and ordering a deep-fried can of Coke… It would get lots of awards, obviously, but I doubt it would do that well in the ratings. But you needn't worry about Dept. Q (Netflix). Though it is set in a police station in Edinburgh it bears about as much relation to contemporary Scotland, Scottish policing or indeed Edinburgh as, say, Midsomer Murders does to real-life English villages. Perhaps this is because – based on a novel by Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen and originally set in Copenhagen – it derives from the Scandi-noir genre where every other person in the bleak, washed-out countryside and pullulatingly corrupt modern metropolis is either a bent City bigwig, an occultic serial killer – who wears antlers on his head while drawing runic symbols in blood – or the disturbed victim of some Terrible Family Secret that will only be unravelled after a series of long car and ferry journeys to remote islands where no one wants to answer questions. Our hero is DCI Carl Morck (Matthew Goode), whose statutory unique quirks are that he's stupidly clever, incredibly grumpy and deeply traumatised having been shot in the head by the same masked gunman who crippled his colleague (and only friend) DCI James Hardy (Jamie Sives). Everyone hates him; he hates everyone in return; but you'd definitely want him solving your case, even if it's impossible, such as the one he's investigating here. I feel bad about describing it because it might give away the game about the rather ingenious temporal device that furnishes the first episode with its satisfying final twist. (Skip to the next paragraph if you don't want it spoiled.) Essentially, a woman barrister (Chloe Pirrie) has gone missing on a ferry and her case has been closed because there were no leads or witnesses and she is presumed dead. In actual fact though – oh, the horror! – she has spent the last four years imprisoned in what looks like the metal hull of a ship, where she is psychologically and physically tortured by a vicious old woman and her sidekick who bear her some-as-yet-undisclosed grudge. See what I mean about our being in Scandi-noir territory? This is the sort of crime almost no one ever commits in real life because even if they had the motive the logistics would be just too complicated. That's why, having hit you with this bizarre and deeply implausible scenario, the rest of the book/TV adaptation has to work so frantically hard to provide you with the convoluted psychological and organisational rationale necessary to persuade you that this hasn't all been a huge waste of your time and credulity. Not that I'm really complaining by the way. Just like with Slow Horses – whose set up this resembles quite a lot – Dept. Qisn't really about the tortured MacGuffin of a plotline but about enjoying the company of loveable misfits. Besides Goode's adorably hateful antihero detective, these include: Akram Salim (Alexej Manvelov), a deceptively gentle soul who used to be in the Syrian secret police; DCI Hardy (now bedbound but at least if he can still help solve crimes it might suppress his urge to kill himself); DC Rose Dickson (Leah Byrne), with her big red hair, bright red lipstick and mental-health issues. They work together in a dingy basement, forgotten since the 1970s, and, handily, have a decent budget because the cabinet secretary has apparently decided that it's good for optics if there's a dedicated department for solving cold cases. All the other characters are, of course, similarly messed up. The missing woman's brother William (Tom Bulpett) has mental-health issues on account of having had his head stoven in by a mysterious hammer attacker; Kelly Macdonald's Dr Rachel Irving – aka meet-cute love interest – has been off men ever since jilting her bigamist husband at the altar; Morck's teenage stepson wears a mask and plays death metal at full volume while playing video games, etc. Yes, the crime bits are bit warped, morbid and voyeuristic (for my tastes anyway), but the cast are great, and it's adapted and directed with such verve, style, wit and pace by Scott Frank, you can hardly not enjoy it – nor wish they'd get a move on with Season Two.