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Hi Guys,
Just thought I would drop you a
line to say a "Big" thanks you for the nostalgia trip when I discovered your website through a pal drummer friend of mine
"Chris Sharley" who was the drummer with Sassafras!
I also played at the Stadium a few
times and had more than a couple beers in the Cross Keys when I was playing baritone/alto sax for several years with the Liverpool
Band "Supercharge" with Albie Donnelly and the rest of the mad crew!
I remember doing the gig there
with Heavy Metal Kids and Sassafras, we also supported Golden Earring there and when we got signed to Virgin, I seem to remember
doing a gig there on our own!
It was a really great gig, sadly
missed but never forgotten.
Ironically, all these years later
(I now play bass and am about to launch a musicians website. I live in Windsor and I recently joined a band and there I met
on drums - the boyo from Wales "Chris Sharley" of 70's Sassafras fame and lo and behold he lives 2 miles away from me!!
We have ended up as good pals and
often reminisce about the great 70's where we often were on the same gigs!
Keep up the good work
All the best
Graham " Bob" Robertson
Hi,
Finding this site brought the memories flooding back, especially the b&w
of the actual boxing ring. I played here several times in '74 & '75 with Sassafras, and can almost smell the blood and
liniment in the changing area. It was nice to see the band listed. Unfortunately I have no photos of that gig.
Thanks again
for the memories. Hang on, isn't that a famous song???
Kind regards,
Chris Sharley.
Hi Craig
I remember playing at Liverpool Stadium, but I thought it was
with Brinsly
Shwartz? I know we did a short tour supporting Hawkwind (our manager and
their manager were partners
at the time). A bit of a musical miss-match -
but we got on just fine.
To the plot: I remember leaving the stage after
our set. My brother walked
off ahead of me. It was pitch black at the side of the stage after an hour
in the spotlights.
The stage, as you know, was built on a kind of scaffold
frame and the stairs at the side were separate from the main frame.
As Iain
walked onto the stairs he must have moved them away. I gave the crowd one
last peace sign and then went AOT
down a hole between the stage and
stairway. I rattled through the scaffold at tremendous speed but somehow
managed
to keep my precious Gibson Everly clear of harm. I was a bit shaken
up. When I opened my eyes I saw the front row of people
just staring at me
in silence. Very strange. I got out and made my way back to the dressing
room. Nobody had even
noticed what had happened. "Where the fuckin' 'ell
have you been?" asked my brother. I just said "you wouldn't believe
it if I
told you" and that was that!
Best of luck with the book and stuff.
Best wishes,
Gavin Sutherland
Re Michael Karoli..He related to Dave Roberts....He told me that he remembered
played Liverpool stadium with Can and the rain was coming through the roof. Also he had his favourite Fender Strat stolen
out of the dressing room at that gig.
From C.P.Lee...ex Albertos, Greasy Bear..
How Do Craig,
Here, for what it is worth, are some (maybe all) of my
memories of the Stadium.
I met Roger Eagle in 1966 when he lived opposite my then girlfriend's house. He was still
the DJ at the Twisted Wheel at the time. Then he began running the Magic Village and he used to put my band (Greasy Bear)
on there and at the Houldsworth Hall in Manchester. When the Village closed Roger looked for another venue to promote gigs
at and eventually settled on the Liverpool Stadium. My first memories of it are of a kind of spit and sawdust hall. Cold and
ugly, with very primitive seating with a boxing ring in the middle. Roger had a theory - At the height of the Beat boom in
the early sixties you could simply hire a local hall and put up a poster that said =- 'Tonight! A Best group - Admission 2/6d'
and you'd sell out. He intended to do the same kind of thing at the Stadium - In a way it was 'Easy-Gig' - that is to say,
an absolutely no-frills venue with guaranteed entertainment - and it worked.
The first time I played there was with Greasy
Bear and we were support for Cat Stevens - this would be about 1970 (?) I'm never certain about dates anymore, it might have
been 1971. I remember shortly afterwards being there with Sha Na Na, and maybe even Canned Heat.
What always struck me
about the Stadium was the enthusiasm of the crowd. In those days it was almost impossible to see contemporary bands as there
were so few venues. Roger initiated a policy that he was to continue throughout the rest of his life and that was to provide
a place for people to play and people to go to - I used to get quite jealous of Scousers because the range of live music that
was on offer to them via Roger was far superior at the time to anything we could expect to see in Manchester.
There was
still a smell of the boxing ring about the Stadium, linament and embrocation - the dressing room used to reek of it. Cement,
plaster and brick, old boxing posters on the wall. Quite strange for the 'Hippy' pacifists who made up most of the band members
of the time.
As time went by Roger got more and more successful. This was still pre-Punk, but like everywhere else Liverpool
was full of youngsters who were bursting with the energy to start their own scenes, but nobody knew what to do or how to go
about it. People like Julian Cope and Bill Drummond would go to the Stadium to see whoever Roger put on because they knew
it would be good. He even put my next band Alberto Y Lost Trios Paranoias on, but by then I was probably becoming quite blase
about when and where I played. I can recall doing it but not with any more memory than that.
The next thing I heard Roger
had opened a club in Liverpool called Erics - and the rest as they say is history - Another venue, a different story.
Roger
was a very great man whose story deserves to be told in a book or maybe a film.
Best of luck with the website it
brought a lot of memories back,
Cheers,
CP Lee
Some stuff from E mail recieved from the surviving Heavy Metal Kids! 14 05 05
Hey Craig,
Thanks for your email.
Sure I remember the Liverpool Stadium! Is it still there, by any chance? So many great venues are gone, of course.
I’m circulating this email to Keith and Ronnie, the other original members of the HMK, to see if they
can come up with something.
My own memory is a little bit hazy about a lot of things to do with that era...Hahahaha!!!
But hey! Still here!
All the best to you and the site,
Danny Peyronel
Ronnie Thomas replied...
WAS THAT THE OLD BOXING STADIUM?
Danny said!
Can’t remember...but that sounds right...I only remember being outside it, waiting
to either leave, or get in...dark...scary...
Furthermore Keith came up with...
Yes it was the boxing stadium. See this photo. I remember one time we played there and they
still had these numbers above the stage.
We were playing so loud we managed to dislodge one of these number plates which
were made out of glass!
You Ronnie were stoned and unlucky for you it hit you on the head and drew blood! I remember the
look on your face! Luckily it was only a glancing blow so no real damage was done but it could have been nasty. Think we were
supporting Nazereth that time? I know we did it on our own with Nutz supporting us as well on the Sounds Cheap and Nasty tour.
(See Ad from Sounds at the time)
Keith.
( The pic of the stadium was the one on the home page and the ad can be seen elswhere..Thanks
Kids!)
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