Redcar Bowl: The Adverts; Atomic Rooster and other memories
I read a report the other day that a lady from Teesside is planning to put gigs on at The Redcar Bowl again. It would be great to see that the old Coatham Bowl active again as a concert venue. My mates and I spent some great nights during the 70s, usually Sundays as I recall, at the Coatham Bowl. We often stopped off in The Lobster for a drink before the gig. They used to have a lobster on a string which crawled up the wall when you came in the door. I wonder if it is still there? A lot of great bands played there throughout the 70s, following on from the days of the Redcar Jazz Club, which saw all the greats play in the 60s. I remember gigs by Lindisfarne, Chris Rea, The Flaming Groovies with The Damned supporting, UFO, SAHB without Alex, Split Enz (Finn brothers prior to Crowded House), Magazine (awesome), The Adverts (see ticket stub), Frankie Miller, Meal Ticket, Mr Big, The Rich Kids with Midge Ure and Glen Matlock, The Climax Blues Band, The Jags (the guitarist hit a guy in the audience over the head with his guitar for spitting at him!), Atomic Rooster (see ticket stub), Dave Edmunds Rockpile with Nick Lowe, Destroy all Monsters, X Ray Spex, my personal 70s favourites Penetration, The B52s, Dead Fingers Talk (great band; forgotten and very underrated), and many others that I can’t remember.
The last time I was there was when Will and I went to see Peter Green with the Splinter group, which was probably in the 80s. I have some ticket stubs for gigs that I attended at the Bowl, but for many of the gigs I paid at the door and didn’t get a ticket, or the ticket was given up on the way in. Of the two gigs I have shown tickets for here (I have others which I must dig out), I have little recollection of The Adverts gig, in fact I can’t remember being there at all! I do remember loving the Gary Gilmore’s Eyes single and seeing the The Adverts a few times at Newcastle, once supporting Iggy at the City Hall, and another gig at Newcastle Guildhall, where The Adverts were supported by Penetration and Warsaw, before they became Joy Division. I also think I saw them at the legendary Middlesbrough Rock Garden. The Atomic Rooster gig was part of a reunion tour, as I recall. Vincent Crane, who is sadly no longer with us, was a master of the swirling Hammond organ, who served his apprenticeship with Arthur Brown. He would do an organ solo called Gershatzer (thanks John for the correct spelling!), his piece de resistance, during which he would collapse and fall to the floor under the organ. The first time I saw him collapse I thought it was for real, but after seeing him do so a few times, I began to realise it was part of the act! I love 60s Hammond solos, and Vincent was one of the best.
A series of gigs are planned (see http://www.roundelpromotions.co.uk ) with others to follow. Good luck with the gigs; see you at The Hollies in August. Hope you do manage to get The Damned to come back to play in Redcar; it’s about time I saw them again. I’ll remember to stand near the back, I don’t want the Captain to pee on us as he did (naked) at the Rock Garden.
Update on March 4th 2012. I don’t know what has happened, but the Roundel Promotions website doesn’t seem to exist anymore and I read on a local news site that the gigs are not going ahead as planned, which is a shame. I was looking forward to seeing The Hollies in Redcar, but I guess that’s not going to happen now. Does anyone know what happened to the plans?
17 Jan
Redcar (Coatham) Bowl: gigs again?
Posted January 17, 2012 by vintagerock in Atomic Rooster, Meal Ticket, The Adverts. Tagged: blues, concert, concerts, folk, gigs, heavy metal, pop, prog rock, punk, R&B, rock n roll. 8 Comments
Vintagerock's Weblog. 
Posted by simon on March 29, 2012 at 9:22 am
Hi(again)
Oh! the memories just keep rolling along. Ufo.Gordon Gilltrap.Steve Harley.The Enid several times(the most redicilously underrated band in the world ever; back on the go again thank goodness)Curved Air(walked much of the way back to Hartlepool as missed last transport)Pallas.Druid
Sunday nights were made for the Coatham Bowl
Simon
Posted by vintagerock on March 29, 2012 at 9:29 am
Agree on The Enid. Makes me think of Land of Hope And Glory. Curved Air were magic. Peter
Posted by Steve Harland on June 21, 2012 at 12:22 pm
I know what happened having spoken to the lady in question myself. She had originally booked a series of Battle of the Bands gigs to take place once a month on Fridays. She also said she had spoken to the agent of The Damned and crikey, Blondie!! She also gave me figures to hire the venue with and without seats. I then went down to the venue and spoke to the staff who deal with external shows, as its owned by Redcar & Cleveland Council. The lady there told me the exact figure they are allowed to have with seats and without seats and they were considerably less than the figures that had been quoted to me. She also told me that if anyone books the venue they have to provide a deposit in the weeks leading up to a gig taking place. Although the Battle of the Bands was more a local event the first deposit was missed and the event transferred to a local pub in front of no more than 30 people. A friend of mine who took part in the event said it was a complete farce. The organiser sung with one of the bands who exceeded their allocated time by 15 minutes. Surprise, surprise they ended up winning on the evening.
I laboured the point about Blondie and was told that their fee was £20,000 and that they would be playing two nights and that tickets had already been sold for the gig, even though the gig had never been finalised nor promoted. I promote live gigs myself in the area and know how much hard work goes into organising them but you have to be realistic and upfront about everything, on this occasion I don’t think the lady in question was.
Posted by Captain Alehouse on August 3, 2012 at 1:25 pm
For those with good memories of The Enid, they are on the go again, and playing at Whitley Bay, Playhouse, 22 September 2012 Tickets start at £15.50.
http://www.playhousewhitleybay.co.uk/events/4755/the-enid
Posted by vintagerock on August 3, 2012 at 2:27 pm
Hi Yes I saw that the Enid are coming to Whitley Bay. I’m planning to go along, although Steve Gibbons is also playing in the region on the same night, which gives me a choice to make 🙂
Posted by Jack Dent on January 26, 2013 at 12:27 pm
Saw The Enid a couple of times at the Coatham Bowl, great memories. Also saw them once at a club in Scarborough after which me and my mate were let down for somewhere to stay so The Enid let us sleep on the floor of their vintage Rolls Royce. Quite comfortable but cold!
Posted by Tony S on March 18, 2013 at 5:13 pm
hi mate was at that Enid gig in Scarborough in March ’83 I think at the Taboo club if memory serves. They came on at midnight or something ridiculous crammed onto a tiny stage lol. As for the Coatham Bowl saw It Bites, FM, Voice of the Beehive, Transvision Vamp, Magnum, IQ amoung others. great nights!
Posted by Paul Thomas on August 18, 2016 at 11:17 pm
At The Jags gig the drummer was throwing drumsticks at a lad behind me, who was spitting. The drumstick gig a tall red head I was stood with. I throw my plastic glass half full of beer at the drummer. He jumped into the crowd at me & I hit him with arm ( which was in a plaster cast at the time.) The spitter was taken out by the bouncers & thrown in the boating lake. I went backstage after & got one of their promotional photos autographed. The drummer signed & wrote ” To the man who spat & flung glasses at me” …….. I still have it , inside a mint copy of their album on vinyl……🎼