Little Richard/Bo Diddley/The Everly Brothers, Odeon , Manchester (GB) - 16 oct. 1963

This rock ‘n’ roll/pop show opened with The Flintstones who were Tony Smith, Terry Marshall saxes, John Puddy baritone sax, Terry Slater guitar, Rod Freeman rhythm guitar, Doug Collins bass guitar and Dave Golding drums. They then backed Mickie Most, a nondescript singer. Next came The Rolling Stones: Mick Jagger vocal/maracas, Keith Richards guitar, Brian Jones guitar/harmonica, Ian Stewart piano, Bill Wyman bass guitar and Charlie Watts drums. They were at the start of their very long career, of course, and performed these covers: Poison Ivy, Fortune Teller, Come On, Money, I Wanna Be Your Man, Not Fade Away and Memphis, Tennessee. Then came the great Little Richard (vocal/piano of course) who was backed by The Flintstones and he sang his great hits from the 1950s with the expected verve and histrionics, climbing over the piano, throwing items of clothing into the audience, above all playing great, pounding rock ‘n’ roll. After the interval came The Rattles, a German band, members Achim Reichel vocal/guitar, Hajo Kreutzfeld guitar, Herbert Hildebrandt bass guitar/vocal and Reinhard ‘Dicky’ Tarrach drums. Next was pop singer Julie Grant, also backed by The Flintstones. She was followed by Bo Diddley, the Chicago blues/r’n’b singer/guitarist, with Norma-Jean Wofford (The Duchess) guitar, Jerome Green maracas and (probably) Doug Collins and Dave Golding. Bo, with his trademark rhythm, was received very well. Finally, we heard The Everly Brothers, Don & Phil, country-sounding rock ‘n’ roll heroes, close-harmony vocals and guitar, and they were backed by The Nashville Three who were Don Peake guitar, Joey Paige bass and Jim Gordon drums. As expected, they performed their hits. Received with screams by some members (female) of the audience, they also had to put up with shouts of Bo! Bo! by others (male) who wanted more of Bo Diddley. A great concert, rather split between the pop and r’n’b ends of rock ‘n’ roll, Little Richard and Bo Diddley being the highlights.