Welcome to St. Giles… People have always just hung around in St. Giles…. In the 18th and 19th centuries it was the urban poor who had, of course, nothing to do. These days it’s the rather more industrious crack dealers and users that hang around it’s streets…
Ah, rock & roll: the impact of my first ever gig was life changing Hammersmith Odeon, Nov. 29th 1975 Darkness in the auditorium. Excitement and anticipation fill the air, wild cheering. Kenny Everett taps the conductors baton:”ladies & Gentlemen, pray silence for a night at the opera”…Loud intro tapes boom out across the audience. The piano operatic bit of Bo Rhap begins, then a moment later, a fleeting glimpse of Fred backlit behind a white screen for the “I see a little silhouetto” line. Black stage again… Operatic chorus continues, getting louder, building to the crescendo, “to me, to me, to me —” Everything explodes at once, synchronised to the first notes of the heavy bit: Fred takes a flying leap off the drum rostrum as the flashpots explode and white light, white heat flood the stage. I remember saying ‘Oh my God’. Everyone stunned. What an entrance….