Seeing stars in the making

But when the three legendary acts played south Essex at the start of their respective careers that’s exactly what happened. In the second part of our best-ever gigs series we take a look at the late Sixties and early Seventies, which saw Hendrix, Bowie and Queen on the way up – and speak to the fans who saw them in an intimate setting.

Hendrix was so ahead of times

IN 1967 Jimi Hendrix was making a name for himself, but his daring guitar music was yet to take the world by storm.

When he played at the Cliffs Pavilion, Westcliff, in February that year he was on the bill below the British pop headliners David Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich.

“It was one of those bigger shows, like a package tour,” explains Malcolm Pounds, of Harewood Avenue, Rochford, who dipped into his first pay packet to pay for his ticket, which cost him an unbelievable 18 shillings and sixpence, the equivalent of about £12 in today's money.

“Halfway through the show Hendrix said, ‘Put the lights up’ and the place was half empty. It was that bad, so he asked to all the people at the back to come down the front to make it look like it was full.

“After a couple of months of him playing though you couldn’t get tickets for love or money.”

Although Malcolm was a fan of the legendary guitarist, he believes at that stage, Hendrix was ahead of his own time with his progressive style .

He explains: “When Electric Ladyland came out it was so ahead of its time. You listen to it now and it seems like a good, fantastic album. I can’t think why we couldn’t connect with it, but it was just so radical.”

Despite the quiet audience, Malcolm says the music was anything but. In fact, Hendrix rocked so hard the show had to be paused for the amps to be dragged back up the stage as they were about to fall off.

He says: “The gig was really, really loud – it seemed loud at the time. Probably now it would be quite tame.

“He had these great big amps, two stacks and they literally were vibrating and moving off the stage.

“I didn’t realise it at the time, but they had to stop because the drum kit was going to fall off the riser. I remember the roadies picking them up and moving them back up the stage because they were walking down.”

Hendrix himself had his distinctive style and look even then.

Malcolm says: “He had on one of those military jackets and he had the hair – all wild and frizzy – a lot of people copied that look later.

“It was pretty special really. Even the Beatles were quite conventional in comparison to the likes of Jimi Hendrix. It was a gig not to be forgotten, that’s for sure

WHEN DAVID BOWIE WAS JUST ANOTHER MINSTREL

ZIGGY Stardust marked David Bowie’s explosive arrival on the world of music, but it’s easy to forget he spent years building up to the creation of his mind-blowing alter ego.

Following the brief success of the single Space Oddity, Bowie performed at numerous gigs, playing on a fey, folky image that would ultimately fail and lead to him withdrawing from music before relaunching himself as Ziggy.

A spell as lead singer of the Hype saw him play gigs at the Cricketers pub in Westcliff – then known as the Fickle Pickle – Basildon Arts Centre, now the Towngate Theatre, and at a charity festival organised by a teacher at Eastwood School, in Southend, on August 1, 1970.

One of Southend’s own musician’s Will Birch, who would go on to form the Kursaal Flyers, shared the bill with Bowie at the festival playing in a band called Surly Bird.

“I remember it vividly,” Will says. “Bowie was not at the peak of his fame at that point. He’d had a hit with Space Oddity then he was kind of going through a period of transition.

“He was about halfway down the bill and he performed sitting cross legged and it was a very folky kind of performance.

“He was just a curio really on the bill. People knew who he was, but it was pre-fame.

“I thought he was great. I’ve got to say I wasn’t particularly a fan at that stage, but I always felt he was a pretty cool guy. He’d always had bands in the Sixties. It took him years to get the recognition.”

Will says Bowie’s charisma was apparent even in his folky guise.

He says: “I always thought he had a star quality, but whether his music at that stage was distinctive enough – apart from Space Oddity, which is a great pop song – who knows?

“There were lots of good people around and some of them made it, some of them didn’t. He was quite strong minded – he had to become a star.”

Although it’s difficult to imagine now, at that point people were far more interested in the headliner, the Edgar Broughton Band, than the skinny, curly-haired lad and his whimsical guitar.

Will says: “The reality was he was halfway down the bill and the bulk of the audience were completely oblivious to him.

“He wasn’t a big deal. He was just another minstrel doing the rounds.”

Barely known, but Queen ruled

TO see Hendrix as a support act was a stroke of luck for Malcolm Pounds – but he hit a jackpot when he went to see glam rockers Mott the Hoople at the Kursaal on 1st December 1973, and found the then comparatively unknown Queen opening for them.

As Freddie Mercury strutted across the stage in Southend, he knew he was witnessing something special.

“I always watch support bands and nine out of ten times they’re a bit rubbish,” says Malcolm from Rochford. “Every so often you get one and you think, ‘This is going to be huge’. Queen came out and were straight there. Freddie Mercury was doing his stuff with the microphone stand broken in half. They were absolutely brilliant.”

Although the band were yet to make it big, Malcolm says there was no doubting they were about to become stars.

He says: “I think it was the classic case of the support band coming out and really setting the standard and Mott the Hoople were probably sitting backstage going, ‘How are we going to live up to this?’ “I wouldn’t have wanted to be in Mott the Hoople that night. Queen were on fire when they came out and if they hadn’t made it I’d have been really, really surprised.”

Unbelievable as it seems, Queen also played another early gig on March 22, 1974, on Canvey.

The supergroup in the making took to the stage at the tiny Civic Centre.

Who knows what went wrong, but they can’t have got a very warm welcome – drummer Roger Taylor described it as the band’s worst ever gig.

In our next best gigs feature we’ll look back at when hard rock and heavy metal pioneers hit south Essex. In the mid and late Seventies the Kursaal was the place to be with Black Sabbath, Thin Lizzy, Deep Purple and AC/DC visiting the Southend venue. If you saw any of them, get in touch with Hannah Marsh at hannah. marsh@nqe.com or call 01268 469380.