Tuesday, December 20, 2011

The Rezillos - Johnny Rotten - Gary Glitter

On this day, 20th December, 1980, I went to see Gary Glitter play at the Rainbow Theatre in Finsbury Park, London. Gary Glitter was then making a successful comeback. He'd faded after his halcyon glam rock days, but a few years later, his young glam fans were punk rockers, and he was popular again.

As far as I remember, the Gary Glitter show was very entertaining. He certainly got a good reception. (Gary Glitter's later crimes and troubles are very well documented and you can read about them in plenty of places so I'm not going to add anything.) However my most striking memory of the night - as I'm sure I've written about already - but what is a little repetition between friends - is of seeing Sex Pistols singer Johnny Rotten, or John Lyden as he later became, in the audience. As Johnny Rotten walked down the aisle he was grabbed in a loving embrace by an absolutely massive skinhead in a sheepskin coat. The enormous skinhead held him in a star-struck, lover's embrace while the Sex Pistol stood there, unable to move for some time, looking slightly embarrassed in the grasp of his adoring fan.

The support band on the night were the Revillos, from Edinburgh. I was a fan of theirs, and a fan of their earlier incarnation, the Rezillos. I saw the Rezillos at the Vortex Club in 1977 and they were very entertaining. They weren't exactly a punk band but they fitted in well at the time.

I think I went to that gig on my own, which I did used to do, on occasion, in those days. That was OK, though no doubt I'd have preferred to have some girlfriend to have gone with.

The Vortex was a small club. At some point a member of the audience threw a pint of beer over the band. They stopped playing while the singer, Eugene Reynolds, berated the audience, on safety grounds. That was reasonable enough, as the tiny stage was covered in a jumble of electrical leads.

A few years later, supporting Gary Glitter, the Revillos were really good, but right before they were due to play their encore there was a bomb scare. Everyone had to troop out of the venue and hang around in the cold street outside for ages. We were let back in eventually but I don't think the Revillos got to play their encore, which was a shame for them, as they'd deserved it.