“Oh God, Not Another Boring Old Knebworth” said the posters. Line-up: The Tubes, Frank Zappa, Peter Gabriel, Boomtown Rats, Rockpile, Wilko Johnson’s Solid Senders.
This was the second Knebworth festival to take place in 1978, following the Genesis / Jefferson Starship / Tom Petty gig earlier in the summer. I remember thinking it was a bit late in the year for an open air gig and feared the worst from the weather, but actually it was ok on the day; quite fine. I drove down with a group of mates. We argued all the way down about who was the “best” act of the day. Such things seemed to matter a lot in those days. In the car we had a big Zappa fan (me, and I was sure that Zappa was the biggest and best act and should be headlining), a newly converted Tubes fanatic, and a couple of Peter Gabriel / Genesis fans. Zappa and the Tubes were billed as joint headliners, however on the day the Tubes closed the show, which annoyed me a little. We camped and pitched our tents near a big generator (big mistake) which for some reason we didn’t really notice when we set up. However it was humming loudly all night and powering a massive floodlight which shone on our tents, so we didn’t get much sleep.
The show was opened by the Boomtown Rats, Wilko Johnson who had recently left Dr Feelgood and was fronting his new band Solid Senders, and Rockpile featuring Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe. All class acts and a great start to the day. I’ve already written about Peter Gabriel and the Tubes in earlier posts. Both were great; the Tubes closed the festival with a massive crazy show. They were joined by Todd Rundgren for encores of Baba O’Reilly and
The Kids are alright, played in honour of Keith Moon who had died just two days before this concert.
Zappa was great, although I didn’t enjoy his performance as much as the concert I saw in Edinburgh the year before. His band had changed and they played very few songs that I knew. Still, it was a good day with a varied, and very strong line-up, although the lack of a major league headliner resulted in a far from capacity crowd.
We spent the night with a big light shining on us, a loud humming noise from the generator, and a few “Wally” shouts (although they were starting to fade away by this point in the ’70s). Very little sleep and a long drive home in the morning.
Zappa setlist: Rubber Slices (The Deathless Horsie); Introduction and Soundcheck; Dancin’ Fool; Easy Meat; Honey, Don’t You Want a Man Like Me?; Keep it Greasey; Village of the Sun; Poor Suckers (The Meek Shall Inherit Nothing); City of Tiny Lites; A Pound for a Brown on the Bus; Bobby Brown; Conehead; Flakes (part 1); Flakes (part 2); Magic Fingers; Don’t Eat the Yellow Snow; Nanook Rubs It; Saint Alfonzo’s Pancake Breakfast; Father O’Blivion / Rollo; Bamboozled by Love
Zappa band: Frank Zappa (guitar, vocals); Vinnie Colaiuta (drums); Arthur Barrow (bass); Ed Mann (percussion); Tommy Mars (keyboards); Denny Walley (guitar, vocals); Peter Wolf (keyboards); and Ike Willis (guitar, vocals).
Archive for the ‘Rockpile’ Category
22 Mar
Frank Zappa & the Tubes Knebworth 9th September 1978
25 Oct
Dave Edmunds Redcar Bowl 1977 and Newcastle City Hall 1979
Dave Edmunds Redcar Bowl 1977 and Newcastle City Hall 1979
When I was a young kid, I was just amazed by a version of “Sabre Dance” by a band called Love Sculpture. I tried and tried (and failed) to learn the guitar part, which was super fast and very difficult to copy. I watched the guitarist on Top of the Pops, me eyes glued to his fingers running up and down the fretboard. At the time I didn’t realise that the guitarist was Dave Edmunds. The next time I heard of Dave Edmunds was when I Hear you Knocking was a massive hits and was played at all of the school dances at the time. 
Roll on 7 years or so, and I finally got to see Dave Edmunds in concert, fronting his band Rockpile along with Nick Lowe on bass, Billy Bremner on guitar, and Terry Williams on drums. Dave Edmunds is often called the Welsh Wizard, and he sure is a wizard of rocn ‘n roll, and Rockpile were one great rock band. They had some great songs: Here Comes the Weekend, I knew the Bride, Girls Talk, Queen of Hearts, and they all seemed so cool at the time. I recall the Redcar Coatham Bowl gig well. 
I went with my mate Will and we were standing right at the front, a few feet away from Dave and Nick. I can’t remember much about the City Hall gig, but I’m sure that it was also good fun. I found a weblink which suggests that Lew Lewis was support for that 1979 tour. But my favourite is still I Hear You Knocking, which takes me back to those school dances…..Postcript. I just found a programmme from the City Hall gig, which I’d forgotten I had. It confirms that Lew Lewis was the support act. Lew was a friend of the Feelgoods and a member of Eddie and the Hot Rods in their early days. The programme advertises the latest albums by both Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe.
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