SPRING 1998

Issue No 15

Contents

• A Yawn in Your Ear (Editorial)
• World Service (The Re-Master Programme)
• Mann on the Net
• On The Road 1998
• SAS Band
• The World of Manfred Mann's Earthband (Foreign releases - Graeme Yates)
• Uriah Heep, Look At Yourself
• Uriah Heep - MMEB & the missing links
• The Southampton University Gig
• Winged Messenger (Letters)

The Southampton University Gig

The Earthband were already special to me - top of my favourite musical tastes when something happened which raised them even higher than the pinnacle they had already achieved in my eyes, It was in the mid 1970's and soon after the Roaring Silence had been released - one of the best albums ever made in my opinion. The EarthBand were out on tour and one of the venues they were playing was at Southampton University. A friend of mine lived in Andover and he also liked the EarthBand sound and I said "Vic,

how do you fancy a trip to Southampton to see Manfred Mann's EarthBand in concert?" He agreed immediately and I said fine, I would arrange to purchase tickets and then I set out to try and purchase some in advance. The University told me that the tickets were not yet available but it was unlikely to be a sell-out and if I turned up on the night I would have no trouble getting in. I was not happy with this scenario and the day before the concert was due to take place I checked once again with the venue, only to be told the same thing again. I reluctantly accepted this and informed Vic I would be down the next afternoon to pick him up and drive us to Southampton.

The day arrived and as usual all I could think about was the couple of hours of extreme pleasure I was going to get later that evening. I was not working that day so I sorted out a selection of the Band's finest music to play in the car to both get in the mood for the gig and also to keep the momentum going afterwards - it was going to be a memorable day, one to remember for a long while. Little did I know how true this was going to be. I drove down from West London to meet Vic and after a spot of tea drove down past Winchester to Southampton and on to the venue. I parked the car and we duly made our way to the venue for the concert only to see SOLD OUT plastered outside the entrance - a disaster, the impossible had happened, we had driven all that way for nothing. I tried to see if we could purchase tickets but the booking staff apologised and said all tickets had been sold and despite me telling them of my telephone calls to buy tickets, they said "sorry, there was nothing they could do". I turned to Vic, uttered a few choice words (definitely not printable) and we set about the disappointment of returning home without our EarthBand fix.

As we started to walk away from the venue we noticed Chris Thompson, along with a couple of other people heading in the opposite direction towards the entrance - we said hello and he said "aren't you going to the gigs lads?". We said we had driven down from London to see the concert and told him the whole saga about the tickets, and now we were having to return home extremely disappointed. His attitude was one I shall never forget, he said we'll sort this out, you come in with us and you can watch the concert from the front. He was good to his word and apart from meeting a couple of other members of the band and some of the road crew, we were having the bonus of seeing the band from a privileged position. The Band were soon on stage and proceeded to play yet another quality live set - what had seemed likely to have been a big let down was now even more memorable than I ever could have imagined.

Other than a quick thank you to Chris for giving Vic and I the opportunity to see the gig I have never really had the chance to say "thank you" properly, until now, where through the pages of Platform End I can say "Thank you Manfred Mann's EarthBand for giving me so much pleasure over the years and in particular on that occasion at Southampton University for giving me the opportunity to see a memorable live concert". The kindness and consideration shown to my friend and I that evening proved that you are not just any band but that you are THE BAND for me - to quote someone else "Simply The Best".

Graham Hiseman
Uxbridge, Middlesex

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