In these days of changing ways, so called liberated days, A story comes to mind of a friend of mine.
Well these are certainly changing ways, and how I long for our liberated days again as well.
The truth is, I had originally planned doing chapter 1 last year, but what with all the UK Rod concerts felt there would be no airway space. But now in these surreal times, ironically there couldn’t be a better time to look back at a period of time when we all thought being part of Smiler we had suddenly hit gold dust.
Today I will give you chapter 1 of a possible 7 chapter story, you could ask “Is this like a soap that’s replacing all those being curtailed on TV at present?” (Thankfully, I never watch any of them anyway) You could view it that way I guess, but it needs chapter 7 to be accepted by certain parties, it could prove like verse 7 never clear, and someone might not want me to tell you what perhaps you’ve always wanted to hear.
That for now though can wait till another day as I bring you the first chapter of my / our story, which I hope will be followed up almost weekly. So read on, and please contribute where applicable, as requested at the end of this chapter via the message board or / and Facebook. Thank you.
Year 2009 – Smiler issues a release that states “In liaison with Rod’s management company, the fan club has been allocated a number of front row tickets for Rod’s “One Off” UK concert at Plymouth Argyle football ground on Thursday July 2nd.”
I can’t remember how many that was – probably 50, although it could have been more, the fan club stated also these will be available to long serving members based on the date you joined. Well my thoughts on that was, I knew my membership number, and it was probably too high to get lucky, so presumed I didn’t need to rush to pick up a phone.
I didn’t have to as it happened, the phone rang, it was Neal, “Brother” (That’s what we call one another – it’s a Smiler bond that developed in a way whereby we see one another as family) “Have you seen the news about Plymouth? Do you fancy going?”, I replied “I’d love to bruv, but I can’t see that I would qualify if we only have “50” tickets based on my membership number”, Neal replied “What do you mean, your high on the list, a lot of all the early Smilers have left long ago, you would easily qualify”. Astonished, with my heart skipping a beat, I know I should of double checked with my wife Alison, but this appeared as a one-off must not miss, so the response was “Well, if you think I’m a certainty, then yes, I fancy that” – Neal replied “Brilliant, brother, I will get it sorted”.
Of course, when I told Alison, whilst a little disappointed she would miss out, she said “Of course I don’t mind” – That normally means though, she will expect a treat of some sort to compensate. But that was a small price to pay for an opportunity like this.
Now I thought I was excited, little did I realise my new found travel agent was that eager that not long after he would come back to me and say “Okay brother, we have two tickets, I will drive (the nearly 200 miles), I’ve also booked 2 separate rooms at the Travel Lodge in the centre of Plymouth, you’re okay with all that aren’t you?” – Okay, I was ecstatic …. Roll on 2nd July…
It was probably sometime between 10 and 10:30 on the morning of the 2nd July that Neal stopped outside my house. I can only ever remember one previous occasion that I had travelled with Neal driving before, that was to the Jazz Café to see Mac the previous year, the journey up to London from us is less than 20 miles, so travelling in his little sporty Mazda MX5 we were never going to be pushing the speed limit that day, so there was a small amount of apprehension as to how he might approach a 200 mile trip down to Plymouth, could my friendly taxi driver be a “boy racer” in disguise? Well he had the sun shades on and looked the part. Any questioning of how he would get me from A to B, really proved to be unfounded, as I couldn’t have asked for a smoother ride.
So there we were facing a three and half, to four hour drive, two guys that had simply got to know one another over a silly spat on the Smiler message board, chatting away about everything and anything about our lives, I don’t think we even had any music on as company either. We would stop for a natural break, a coffee and a bite to eat just over half way down, and by early afternoon, probably around three we reached the Travel Lodge. I can remember Neal being a little uncomfortable on where he could park, in fact I remember you had to use the NCP car park opposite.
I seem to remember we met a couple of fellow Smilers, Neal would greet them with a big hug and introduce them to me as Dee and Roxy. Awkward, as I was certainly somewhat apprehensive about meeting let me say “strange folk”, so I just nodded and said “Nice to meet you”. Neal would suggest to me “Let’s go to our rooms and freshen up a bit and have a little rest then meet up say about four and look around for maybe something to eat”. As we went our separate ways to just chill from the journey we had just embarked upon.
Alison and I had visited Plymouth for half a day, back around 1978 when we had a holiday in Dartmouth. Back then my recollection was of a city which was a lively place, plenty of shops, I think I even bought a snazzy pair of shoes there! Now though, some 30 years on, it came across very different. If my memory is correct, from the Travel Lodge we walked uphill to be greeted by 3 roads of shops leading to a market square. The city looked, let me put it, stuck in a by-gone era, even the people walking around shall I say “Appeared somewhat depressed about life” – you get to think, living so close, and in my case, working in London, even just a year on from the Financial meltdown, there is always a buzz about our capital city. Sadly little appeared to have a buzz about Plymouth that afternoon. I think, having taken in the surroundings, Neal and I even decided there was nothing to offer us as far as food for now, so we turned about and went back to the hotel and got ourselves ready for the night’s entertainment.
We met up again with Dee and Roxy in the foyer, I was simply following along with whatever arrangements were being made, we jumped into a taxi and went off to a pub, who’s name I cannot remember now – perhaps someone might remember?
Well for the “new boy” this was an eye-opener, I was introduced to quite a few people, names I wouldn’t remember, but would recognise their faces again if I saw them again. If the city centre of Plymouth appeared lifeless, the crowd assembled here was brimming with life, I felt that I had just walked into someone’s party but knew nobody, so for me, it was a case of stand back and observe. As someone who doesn’t drink as well (two shandy’s give me a headache!) it was time for a spot of people watching and enjoy the vibe and music being played.
When it was time, the same four would go to jump into a taxi and ask “Plymouth Football Ground please”, “Okay” said the driver “But I will warn you, it’s very busy getting down there”. There was a steady rain fall, something that had come on since we had walked through the city centre earlier. As the taxi crawled along, as soon as the stadium was in eyesight, Roxy would say, let’s get out and walk it from here.
I seem to recall we had to pick up our tickets from the box office, where most of the Tartan Smiler’s were now congregating, the excitement could be felt in the air, to me it was beginning to feel like one of those days queuing up to get into a play-off match at Palace, expectancy that you would be part of something that would stick in the memory for many years to come.
As I looked down on my ticket it read – Block A6 – Row A Seat 79 – as I reached my seat it was front row, slightly towards the right side of the stage, never before had I been this close at a Rod concert, so my camera was primed ready for the show. I remember before it started, Penny Lancaster would walk past us all smiling and “high fiving” many of the Smiler members, this was a special buzz.
Of course, eleven years on, I don’t remember all Rod sung that night, but I did a bit of research and found a listing (below) under setlist.fm. What I also found was Smiler’s post on the concert which was taken from Claire Robinson’s article in the (Plymouth) Herald – now you can make your own mind up on the authenticity of these two items. In Claire’s review, she quotes Rod as saying “We shall overcome this light bit of dampness” “four songs into his set after a classic Chuck Berry slice of rock ‘n roll and before his first big hit of the night, You Wear It Well”. I won’t re-write what she had to say back then, you can read it off the “net” if you choose anyway. The other quotation I will repeat though was –“But it was Maggie May that made hairs on the back of the neck stand up as 20,000 fans bellowed along absolutely word perfect”.
Why have I made reference to this you may ask, well setlist.fm appears to have a completely different running order and omits the two rather important songs that I have extracted that Claire just happened to mention, plus I’m struggling to see where a bit of Chuck Berry features in the early starters of the setlist.fm playlist?
I do clearly remember Rod singing The O’Jay’s Love Train though, covered on his Soulbook album released back in 2009, the Smiler’s would all be out of their seats and shunting along conga style like a train, and believe me or not, Penny had joined in to!
Rod would end the night singing Da Ya Think I’m Sexy and what had to be one of the best concerts I had been to for some time had come to a close. We assembled slowly with the plan to return to the pub, I had bought myself a mug and a programme and franticly tried to keep them dry throughout the evening, that said it was only a little bit of drizzle we had to endure. Secretly though I was quite eager to see what my photos would be like to be honest, but that would have to wait for now.
We started to walk in what we thought was the general direction the taxi had brought us earlier, Neal, Roxy, Dee and myself had been joined by a guy named Dave with a strong Welsh accent, along with another lively guy by the name of Martin (who as it happened, which I only found out later, had the same surname as me). The chat was all about the concert and the fact we were all together at the front, comments made of it being like old times at Rod gigs when we all rushed to the front. Although I have to confess, that was never me, I have always looked on from a comfortable distance, not wanting to be caught in a crush, somewhat reserved back then, and still quite similar now.
Again, if memory serves me correct, after probably about half an hour, we managed to wave down a taxi, I believe at this point, Dee and Dave had dropped some way behind us, so only the four of us got in the cab, as the driver was impatient to hang about for the two others that had drifted from sight. We got back to the pub sometime after 11, there was a disco, and I was told they had a license to stay open till 2. With the last two hours being purely just Rod music.
I distinctly remember hearing the Kaiser Chiefs number Ruby being played, the noise from the singing of everyone was quite deafening to be honest – great number though for a sing-song. Midnight was upon us and Rod was now blaring out, the dancing and singing had just gone up another degree. But for me, the tiredness of the long day had set in, plus all this was very new to me, no doubt had I had my wife of the past 34 years alongside me, there may have been a different energy about me, and less of “an odd one out” feel. After about half an hour, I caught Neal’s eye and said “I’m knackered bruv, I’m going back to the hotel”, his response was “Oh I will come along with you”, “No” I insisted, and so we arranged to meet for breakfast at what would be the latest point in the morning just before 10.
Again, I needed a taxi to get me back to the Travel Lodge, they were eagerly waiting outside so I didn’t have any problems. Back at the hotel, exhausted, I started to flick through my photo’s, I was pretty pleased with a few of them, and as I laid on the bed, I tried to drift off to sleep.
I have to confess, I never sleep well in a different bed for the first time, no matter how tired I might be, plus without my wife next to me, it’s always doubly difficult. No doubt I did drift away for short spells, but by 7:00 a.m. I simply decided it would be better to get up, get showered and go for a walk on a nice sunny morning. It’s something when I’m on my own, I love to do, especially when few people are about, as you will discover in later chapters as well. Naturally I didn’t know exactly where I was going, but the aim was always to walk down by the sea, Plymouth Hoe, as they call it. Of course, it always helps to locate the waterfront if there is a lighthouse on the hill as well as a big monument of Sir Francis Drake, so I strolled around the vast green spaces on the cliff tops taking in the air, there were 2 small navy ships in the Plymouth Sound waters, as you looked over at a hotel with a vast open air swimming pool. I then circled round and came upon a harbour with hundreds of boats, then slowly made my way back through the town.
For whatever reason, I remember walking into the WH Smith’s simply to glances at the papers and CD’s in the store, plus it was about the only shop open before 9. One of the local people just happened to be talking to the cashier about “The Rod Stewart concert the night before”, so I discreetly hovered to eavesdrop on what she had to say, I distinctly remember her saying (In one of those lovely Devon accents) “It was absolutely fab, he didn’t half put on a show, he’s got some energy for a man of his age, and yeah I think he’s still sexy. A better show than when Elton was down here a couple of years ago in my opinion”. It put a big smile on my face to hear all that, and naturally put a spring in my step as I returned back to the Travel Lodge and prepare to meet up with Neal for breakfast.
We chatted over breakfast, then it was time to head for home, Neal certainly looked like he had gone the distance at the pub the night before, but said he had slept like a log. Neal like myself (all be it for different reasons) does not drink alcohol, so I had no reason to worry about jumping back in the car with him to travel home and thinking he could still be over any legal limits. The return home was no different from the one coming down, we just couldn’t stop talking to one another about the whole experience, I do recall though we did listen to Atlantic Crossing on the journey and the discussions about the Rhino releases of the albums.
Home by mid-afternoon, again after a break on the way, if I thought I knew Neal pretty well before our trip to Plymouth, I now knew him a whole lot more. Apart from my immediate family, there couldn’t have been a nicer guy to have shared this probable one-off experience with, our referencing of one another as brothers had only strengthened that bond further. We had just lived a dream thanks to the powers that be in the fan club. Little did I think then, this was just a start of a magical mystery trip that would extend over another 12 months or so.
Track listing according to setlist.fm:-
Some Guys Have All The Luck, It’s A Heartache, This Old Heart Of Mine, Love Train, Handbags & Gladrags, Rhythm Of My Heart, Downtown Train, Reason To Believe, Tom Traubert’s Blues, Forever Young, Dirty Old Town, First Cut Is The Deepest, I Don’t Want To Talk About It, You’re In My Heart, Twistin’ The Night Away, Have I Told You Lately, Hot Legs, Baby Jane, Sailing. Encore – Da Ya Think I’m Sexy.
Foot note:- If you also attended this concert, feel free to add anything to my story, what were your memories? Use either the Smiler message board, or if this is released on Facebook, comment there. I would love to hear from you and if I met you that day, thank you for being part of a memorable party had by one and all.
Words By Colin Baker
Montage By Yve Paige