The great song “American Pie” is etched in my memory for reasons, which sleep after time I will explain below. Don McLean bills himself as “The American Troubadour” and this performance at the magnificent Sage concert hall demonstrated just how well he deserves that title. The Sage announced the concert as below:
“The American Troubadour has had Top 20 singles worldwide with American Pie, Vincent, Cryin, And I Love You So, Wonderful Baby, Since I Don’t Have you, It’s Just The Sun & If We Try . He is an inductee of the Grammy Hall Of Fame, Songwriters Hall of Fame and is a recipient of a BBC Lifetime achievement award. This year he was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, which can be found in front of The Pie Hole Bakery, between Hollywood and Vine.
American Pie was recorded in May 1971 and a month later received its first radio airplay. Thirty years later, it was voted number 5 in a poll of the 365 “Songs of the Century” compiled by the Recording Industry Association of America and the National Endowment for the Arts. Issued as a double A-side single in November 1971 and charted within a month. Interest from the media and public sent the single to #1 in the USA and Don to international superstardom. Every line of the song was analysed time and time again to find the real meaning. Don refused to sanction any of the many interpretations, so adding to its mystery” (Sage Gateshead website).
So why is “American Pie” so important to me? Roll back 50 years and the Lincoln Festival in May 1972. I was 15 years old and this was my first pop festival. I was so excited going along to a festival at such a tender age. I went with a couple of schoolfriends and we met up with a bunch of lads (“boys” as we called ourselves) from Sunderland. We built a festival base out of bales of hay which we slept in, danced on and generally had a great time around after hippie throughout the weekend. The reference to “boys” is quite important. “Boys” were cool, and as in the words of the David Bowie song “Boys Keep Swinging”… “Boys always work it out!”. There are other references to “boys” in the literature and songs such as the Thin Lizzy hit “The Boys Are Back in Town”. For me being a boy meant knowing which concerts and festivals to be seen at and being a cross between a mod, hippie, “a face” and young man about town. However I always felt a little bit of an impostor and not a real “boy”. I never really hung out with the boys and just hooked up with them on certain key occasions, particularly at festivals. Anyway for this weekend I was a trainee boy and proud to be so.
The Lincoln Festival had a magnificent lineup with Rod Stewart and the Faces, the Beach boys, Rory Gallagher, Humble Pie (now Steve Marriot was definitely a boy), Genesis, Strawbs, Status Quo, Joe Cocker, Monty Python!, Stone The Crows with Maggie Bell, Lindisfarne, Nazareth, Atomic Rooster, Slade and many others. Anyway, appearing on the Sunday afternoon, as I recall, was a guy called Don Maclean sandwiched between excellent performances by Status Quo (who were busy transitioning from a pop band to the number one boogie machine) and the magnificent Humble Pie (with Steve Marriot excelling himself as a great soul and blues singer “my skin is white, but my soul is black”). “American Pie” had just been in the UK singles chart and was, by then, a global hit with its very enigmatic lyrics, which we all know now are loosely based around the death of Buddy Holly, a hero of Don McLean. The festival had been plagued by showers of torrential rain but, just at the point Don started singing “American Pie” the rain stopped and the sun came out. It was a truly magical moment and we all stood up (the boys singing and dancing on the top of our hay barn). From that point on I was a fan and I went to see Don McLean several times after that at Newcastle City Hall. He went on to have many other hits including the beautiful “Vincent” about Vincent Van Gough.
So roll forward 50 years and my carer Jan and I are seated at the back of the Sage waiting to see Don McLean. This was Jan’s first Don McLean concert and for me, it was probably around 40 years since I last saw him. I lost touch with him, sadly, along the way. Support act was Elles Bailey who won the crowd over with an excellent set of Americana tunes. Don came on stage with acoustic guitar and took us through a set that you would expect from an American Troubadour. A mixture of his own classic songs, traditional American folk and crooner songs; some of which were familiar to me, others less so. I had forgotten “Castles in the Air” and it was great to hear his version of songs such as “Deep in the Heart of Texas” and “I’m Gonna Sit Right down and Write Myself a Letter”. Excellent. He looked well and was in fine voice. He finished, of course, with “American Pie”. We all sang along again and the words seemed just as touching, powerful and enigmatic as they ever did. For a moment, in my mind, I was back on the hay barn, with the boys. Soon it was all over and we left the hall humming and singing “American Pie” which has earned its place in rock ‘n’ roll mythology. The troubadour returned to the road, with a handful of songs, and one particular piece of magic which touches the hearts and souls of people around the world. Don told us that he was going to cut back on touring and will only visit a handful of places in the future; however to our delight, he announced that he loved the Sage concert hall and would include it on his shorter touring schedule in the future. Great news. Happy days.
Thanks to Jan for her photographic skills.
Setlist (something like this, partly from memory, the order may be wrong!): Lotta Lovin’; Botanical Gardens; The Lucky Guy; Crossroads; Tulsa Time / Deep In the Heart of Texas; Prime Time; Winterwood; Empty Chairs; Castles in the Air; Choose to Pay; I’m Gonna Move to the Outskirts of Town; Mountains o’ Mourne; I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter; And I Love You So; American Boys; Vincent; Midnight Special; American Pie
I was 15 at the time and so excited about going to a real pop festival. My dad drove me and a couple of mates down on the Friday night, after we’d been to the local Mecca ballroom. We arrived in the early hours of Saturday morning, having missed the Friday night bands, and slept in a big crash tent for a few hours. We soon ran into a group of other lads who had also come down from Sunderland, and between us we built a cabin out of bails of hay and planks of wood which were lying around in the fields. I swear there were around 20 of us sleeping in there. We were quite close to the stage, and I pretty much stayed in that cabin all weekend. We could also stand on the roof and watch the bands. There was a massive (and very empty) press enclosure which divided the crowd from the stage, so no-one could get that close, which was bad planning. The weather was wet, with rain for most of the weekend. But I didn’t care; this was a real pop festival, and I was determined to enjoy every minute. The line-up for the remaining three days of the event was really strong. I’ll try and recall as much as I can.
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