The Bay City Rollers Sunderland Locarno 1974
Another guilty pleasure today. In fact, this is perhaps THE most sad admission I could make in terms of my gig going. OK I’ll admit it, I did go and see the Bay City Rollers….. and I survived to tell the tale, although only just. Actually, I think the Rollers deserve more respect than they ever get. I once read an article which described them as part of the true origins of punk rock, a bunch of Scottish street kids who played music for kids like themselves, and I sort of agree with that. In the history of pop The Rollers are often seen as a joke, which I think is sad. The Bay City Rollers played in Sunderland at the Locarno, just as they were taking off. It was probably in early 1974; when Shang-a-Lang was hitting the charts. They played on a Friday, which was a normal rock night, and a strange choice of billing. The normal faithful rock/hippy crowd, who went every Friday come what may, stayed away in droves, but I decided to go along with a couple of mates just to see what it was like. The ballroom was full of young girls and a smattering of skinheads. On any other Friday, I would have known almost everyone in there; that night I saw almost no-one I recognised, other than a handful of regulars who, like us, had come out of habit and curiosity. I couldn’t actually hear much of the Rollers set over the screaming, and the sound wasn’t wonderful. I do remember them singing hits such as Shang-a-Lang; Remember; Saturday Night and Summerlove Sensation (all from their first lp Rollin’) alongside a number of covers such as Be My Baby. Musically they weren’t great, but the way they worked the crowd was very impressive, Les on his kness at the front singing to the girls and all of the guys hamming it up. That was night was eventful for me for another reason. I was walking around the balcony when a skinhead came up to me and punched me hard in the face for no reason at all. I was dazed, and walked away; not very hurt, but pretty shocked. He was with a group, so it wouldn’t have been sensible to retaliate. However one of them came up to me, asked if I was OK, and explained that his mate was just edgy, and didn’t like guys with long hair. Just a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, I guess, but it did spoil the rest of the evening for me. I never did go and see The Rollers again, which is something I regret. From then on they played theatres and concert halls. I guess my experience that night put me off going along.
28 Jan
Vintagerock's Weblog. 
Posted by Editor, Coronation Street Blog on February 1, 2012 at 9:58 pm
Cracking blog post and a smashing blog. My husband has one quite similar where he blogs about old gigs he’s been to at http://hangsuspended.blogspot.com/. I’ll bookmark this though and come back again soon to read. Will look out for interest to find out what Eric Faulkner is like. We saw him a few years ago at Guilfest when he was on stage with Pauline Black from The Selecter doing an acoustic set. After the gig he walked past me in the field and despite being almost 50 years old, I turned into quite the giddy kipper having been a huge Rollers fan as a very young teenager back in the day. Eric had walked past ME.
Posted by vintagerock on February 1, 2012 at 10:02 pm
Hi Glenda. Thanks for you encouragement. I’ll have a look at your husband’s blog. Peter
Posted by Steve on August 29, 2013 at 9:21 pm
Can you recall the date of this gig (specifically) as I’m sure I was caught in the middle of a zillion crazy teen girls who were hysterical. I;ve not recovered and I am now 48!
Posted by vintagerock on August 29, 2013 at 9:32 pm
Sorry I’m afraid I don’t know the exact date. It was in the period when the Rollers were just becoming mega popular, and having their first big hits. I think that will make it early to mid 1974. Best wishes Peter
Posted by Michael on May 23, 2014 at 9:03 am
Fantastic blog Peter, I also saw the Rollers in ’76 as a guilty pleasure (the week after seeing the Rainbow Rising tour!). Well, more of a piss-take really, but the joke was on us as they were quite good as a 12 bar pop band but they were almost drowned out by all the screaming gilrs in a sold out King’s Hall, Belle Vue, Manchester. Despite my lifelong obsession with hard rock, metal, prog etc, I always had a soft spot for the Rollers afterwards, cheers, Mike
Posted by vintagerock on May 23, 2014 at 9:24 am
Thanks Mike I reckon any band as successful as the Rollers has to have something going for them Some of their singles still sound great The Belle Vue was a great venue I saw the Frampton Comes Alive tour there Happy Days Cheers Peter
Posted by Mark on February 11, 2017 at 7:30 am
Hi, I was at that Rollers gig at the Sunderland Locarno too. (Although I LOVE everything from Led Zepp, SAHB & KISS to Wet Wet Wet, Chris (God) Rea and U2, (and ANYTHING Glam-rock) my guilty pleasure is the music of the Bay City Rollers..
I can’t remember exactly the monthly date, but can confirm that it was not before June ’74..(and probably was in August or September). (The reason I can confirm that it wasn’t before June was simply that I moved from my home country (Scotland) at the end of May to the North East of England (and have lived in England ever since), and can DEFINITELY say that I saw the Rollers Live for the first time, whilst I have been living here..AFTER May. Regards..
Mark
Posted by Keith M on March 12, 2019 at 9:18 pm
I didn’t go to the gig at the Sunderland Locarno (which had 2 ballrooms The Mayfair (large) and Tiffs/Genevieve’s(smaller)) but my mate left us in the Vestry pub to go over, waited for about 2 hours to but couldn’t get in as it was full of teeny-boppers.
https://www.sunderlandecho.com/lifestyle/retro/dancing-and-romancing-at-genevieve-s-1-8321393
Apparently BCS prior to this played a working mans club and the concert chairman pulled the plug mid-song to announce ‘pies & peas on sale now in the foyer’.