" Walking Down Memory Lane "
Go back in time with us. And enjoy the memories of all kinds of small and big events which have taken place in the lives and careers of The Bee Gees and their fans.
3 Hours In The Ladiesroom To See The Bee Gees!
The date is February the 19th.1973 and the Bee Gees are performing with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Festival Hall in London.
Marion Adriaensen, Leen Rietdijk, Johan Moerman, Louis Bakens and me travel down to London full of expectations.
There is only one problem (major one).…neither one of us has a ticket for this concert!
But of course we’re confident we will somehow get a hold of some tickets.
Actually even David English from RSO couldn’t help us get some tickets.
But he gave us some information about the soundcheck for this concert which would take place in the afternoon of the 19th.
We were advised to go down to the Festival Hall very early because there might be some one who could help us.
So, with a positive attitude we got on the tube and to our amazement… there’s this guy in the same carriage as us with a cello.
“I’ll bet he’s one of the musicians from the Orchestra” Louis remarks.
Of course no one of could see the humor in this.
But when “mister Cello” got off the tube at the stop for Festival Hall we rushed after him and found out… he wás one of the musicians, he was on his way to the soundcheck and certainly we could walk with him to enter the Hall.
Photo credits: Leen Rietdijk, Marion Adriaensen
This was the moment we’d been waiting for …there they were: Barry, Robin, Maurice, Linda, Hugh, Andy, Dick Ashby, Alan Kendall, Dennis Bryon and Tom Kennedy.
We enjoyed every minute of this two hour private concert!
Afterwards, in a bold moment, we walked over to the Gibbs, who actually didn’t think it at all strange for us to just appear out of the blue.
They were very friendly and we were allowed to take pictures as well.
We told Tom we hadn’t been able to get tickets for the concert, he laughed and advised us to stay in the ladiesroom till the beginning of the concert!
This proved to be a golden tip
So that’s what we did, for three long hours we enjoyed the view looking out over the Thames from the toiletbowl.
And because there were only two toilets, we had to take turns.
Lucky for us none of the staff got the urge to go to the loo!.
Round 8 PM and with chattered nerves we had another big job ahead of us; to enter the concerthall without anyone noticing us ánd finding 5 empty seats.
We found out that all this time we were in the loo that was located on the artist’s floor because when we got out we almost could shake Elton John’s and Lulu’s hand!
Don’t ask me how we managed to enter the room and find 5 seats close to eachother, but we did.
The seats we occupied were cordoned off, but by now we were such professionals we just removed it.
We thoroughly enjoyed this concert, the second one that day for us, and for me my first ever meet with the Bee Gees.
Thirsty and hungry we went for a bite to eat after the show and we were still in such a Bee Gees-mood that we ordered a Cucumber Castle instead of a Cucumber Salade!
Agnes Corstjens (GSI)
This was the amazing story of how some Dutch Bee Gees fans first met their Bee Gees.For all of us it was a day we`ll never forget.And the performance of The Bee Gees with the London Symphony Orchestra was very special.
It had been 4 years since the brothers had done a live performance in Britain and it was a pity that so many people hadn`t been able to get tickets for that show.This was because the hall only holds 3000 people and shortly after the box office opened all seats were sold out which proofs they had easily filled The Royal Albert Hall then.The concert started with Colin Blunstone he was average but his backing group was very good especially the pianist and lead guitarist.After their spot there was an interval.
The second part opened with the London Symphony Orchestra which was quite enjoyable.
Would have been nicer if they`d played some Bee Gees tunes as well!!
It did seem as if they were never going to stop playing and many in the audience felt the tension of waiting for the time The Bee Gees would enter.When they finally did appear they got a great reception from the audience.
Barry opened the show but the first song was a bit weak due to not enough volume on the mike and also due to the fact that he was suffering from flu! Actually all of the boys had the flu the week prior to the show and they were not able to practise till a day or two before the concert. Most people who sat there didn`t even know of course.Barry and Linda were still feeling rough when they left for their tour through The States some weeks later!!.
Robin was in great form and he got everyone going.Maurice surprised everyone by appearing in a lovely black suit which was trimmed with silver on the sleeves and on the legs of the trousers.
He got some wolf whistles but he just gave the audience a very surprised look and he then shouted `mum`.
They sang all the well known and loved numbers ( see set list ) and also included the song: `Saw A New Morning`, which hadn`t been released at that time yet.
When they played `Lonely Days`, Robin and Barry got everyone going and then the end came and at this point everyone in the hall rose to their feet and showed them how they felt having witnessed a fantastic show which we had all waited for so long.
Set List
- New York Mining Disaster 1941
- To Love Somebody
- Really And Sincerely, followed by the introducing of the group etc.
- Lay It On Me
- Saw A New Morning
- I Can`t See Nobody
- Words
- In The Morning
- Don`t Forget To Remember
- Wouldn`t I Be Someone
- I Started A Joke
- My World
- Alive
- Run To Me
- How Can You Mend A Broken Heart
- I`ve Gotta Get A Message To You
- Massachusetts
- Lonely Days
Can anyone of you still remember this event?
It was one of those many nice memories of a Bee Gees` fan.
If you should have a special story to tell us which happened a short or a long time ago, just a nice Bee Gees memory, just let us know.
GSI itself will also regularly publish memories of the Bee Gees past on this page for all of you to read.
MARION (GSI)
