Gig ticket stub from Monday 9th March, 1964 to watch The Crystals and Joe Brown perform at The Odeon Theatre. Does anyone remember who else was on the bill?
Image courtesy of Barry Jones.
Picture Stockton Archive
A Pictorial History of Stockton-on-Tees
Hi Bill… I don’t know what to say! My information on the Crystals comes from a very detailed book I have, “American Rock’n’Roll – The UK Tours 1956-1972”. It lists every American Pop/Rock’n’Roll artist/group who toured the UK during that period. The index lists every artists name, every town, even every theatre, and a summery of every visit by each artist. For the Crystals it gives the only UK tour they did as February-March 1964. Bill Haley & his Comets and Manfred Mann appeared at Stockton’s Odeon in September 1964 but no Crystals on the bill. Late in 1964 one of the group left and the Crystals became a trio, the group disbanded in 1967.
Hi Brian,
The September show was the one I attended. I’m 100% certain that the Crystals were on the bill. Also on was Johnny Kidd. I’m gonna phone a pal who would have been with me. I knew I wasn’t at the Feb/March tour, cos I left school in July 1964 and was definitely working at the time of the show I attended. I know the book you refer to, but not got a copy myself. I expect we’ll get to the bottom of this in time somehow.
Joe Brown was listed as top of the bill with the Crystals supporting him. Also on the bill were Johhny Kidd and the Pirates, Heinz and the Saints, Manfred Mann, Daryl Quist, Mike Preston and Kevin Kirk.
The Crystals must have made two appearances at the Odeon, I saw them a couple of years later, I think it was with Bill Haley and Manfred Mann.
Bill, you are mistaken in thinking you saw the Crystals at the Odeon a couple of years after they appeared there in March 1964. The Crystals in 1964 were “Dee Dee” Kenniebrew, Lala Brooks, Barbara Alston & Frances Collins and they toured the UK only once, that was this tour when they supported Joe Brown. The tour started at Coventry on February 16 and finished at Ipswich on March 28 – 41 nights with only one night off! The group actually broke up two years later.
I’m sure I also saw a US female group in Stockton in the 1960’s but who they were or when it was I can’t remember!
Brian, Definitely saw the Crystals on the Odeon, I’ll concede the date. They did the ususal 3 or 4 songs that had been hits and couldn’t seem to get off stage soon enough as all were performed at a breakneck tempo, much faster than the records.