Live music again at the (ABC)Reel Cinema

Casa // The Cinema Rave // 11.03.17

For one night only, Casa have been given permission to host a very special party in Screen 1 of a closed Reel Cinema, Plymouth. The old ABC theatre. The last time this venue was used for music was in 1967 when The Beatles held 2 sold out shows here. 50 years later, we take this historic building back to its roots, only this time, with House and Techno.

Saturday 11th March 2017 // REEL CINEMA

You goin' Big T.

Memories memories............................. saw the Beatles and Stones there in 64/5, Millie et al. It was the circuit. . And then Keith Emerson/Elton John etc much later after the club/uni circuit had died down. Some of the smaller support bands stayed at our gaff just up the road. That was amusing.
Shame Gus and Stirling can't do a Westward reunion next door.

Never saw the Beatles as I had school the next day. Bugger!
Managed to catch Cilla and a young brash Tom Jones who started with It's not unusual and ended with It's not unusual. That was around 1965.
As my musical taste developed (or not) I had moved on to Deep Purple, ELP and Supertramp. All performed brilliantly at the ABC Royal as it was known.
I seem to recall Peter Van Dyke being the promotor but might be wrong.

All before my time but the thing about that era that stands out for me is that everybody played everywhere all the time often on a bizarrely mixed bill so you might have The Rolling Stones with Helen Shapiro, Freddie & The Dreamers, Val Doonican, PJ Proby and The Velvet Underground (or wotevs) on the same bill.

On the whole I think this was a good thing. It gave plenty of opportunity for lesser acts to play with named acts in front of decentish sized audiences, they honed their craft as they went and as they improved they were promoted up the bill.

One such example was Slade. I saw them many years after their heyday way down the bill at Monsters Of Rock (now renamed Download, I believe) and they were quite simply sensational. In fact they stole the show completely and only AC/DC, who headlined, came close. I would have really loved to see them just before they hit the real big time at somewhere like the ABC or The Cooperage.

The massive shows we tend to see nowadays just aren't the same as seeing some bunch of roughnecks in a small, sticky carpeted, sweaty venue.

Saw Slade at that gig, they were great.

Highlight for me was Chuck Berry

Sir Francis Drake wrote:

All before my time but the thing about that era that stands out for me is that everybody played everywhere all the time often on a bizarrely mixed bill so you might have The Rolling Stones with Helen Shapiro, Freddie & The Dreamers, Val Doonican, PJ Proby and The Velvet Underground (or wotevs) on the same bill.

On the whole I think this was a good thing. It gave plenty of opportunity for lesser acts to play with named acts in front of decentish sized audiences, they honed their craft as they went and as they improved they were promoted up the bill.

One such example was Slade. I saw them many years after their heyday way down the bill at Monsters Of Rock (now renamed Download, I believe) and they were quite simply sensational. In fact they stole the show completely and only AC/DC, who headlined, came close. I would have really loved to see them just before they hit the real big time at somewhere like the ABC or The Cooperage.

The massive shows we tend to see nowadays just aren't the same as seeing some bunch of roughnecks in a small, sticky carpeted, sweaty venue.

This ^