During the 1960s I photographed many of the national and local bands who played in Portsmouth, Hampshire. Many of the photos below are included in my book My Back Pages, with a foreword by Dave Allen, published in June 2012.

 

 

 

Some of the photographs are also included in the recently published, 'Dave and Mick's Pompey Pop Pix'  

 

 

 

  

Guildhall Square, Portsmouth

 

 

1970's chopper bikes and the Radio 1 Roadshow with Alan Freeman, Southsea Common.

 

 

 

 

Roger Chapman, Family, on the open air stage at the end of South Parade Pier.

 

 

Julie Driscoll in the dressing room, Guildhall, with the Brian Auger Trinity.

 

 

 

 

 

 Brother Bung, Indigo Vat. 

  

Brother Bung, later the Bob Pearce Blues Band, came from Southampton.

Bob Pearce is sitting above the sign, leaning on the wall. Probably taken 1967/8.

For more about Bob Pearce visit,  http://www.davidstjohn.co.uk/bobpearce.html

 

  

Alan Price, South Parade Pier.

 

 

                                                                                            Alan Price.

 

 

 

 

Stan Webb, Chicken Shack, South Parade Pier.

  

 

The Free on Fridays.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Arthur Brown, Portsmouth Guildhall.

 

Black Sabbath,  'Ozzy' sitting down, South Parade Pier.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Black Sabbath contact sheet.

 

 

 

 

Viv Stanshall, South Parade Pier.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bonzo Dog, South Parade Pier.

 

 

Gentle Giant, Tipner Rock Festival.

 

 

John Morgan, The Spirit of John Morgan, South ParadePier.

 

 

 

 

 

Dave Arbus, East of Eden, South Parade Pier, made the charts with 'Jig a jig'.

 

 

Aynsley Dunbar ?.

 

Don't remember who this was, but it was the Guildhall stage.

 

 

Family, Guildhall.

 

Bob Pearce, Brother Bung, (later Bob Pearce Blues Band), Indigo Vat.

 

 

 

 

Sandy Denny and Fotheringay, South parade Pier.

 

 

 

 

Generation photographed at Browndown after a gorse fire had destroyed all the vegetation.

 

 

Horizon.

Does anybody know where Les Pope the drummer is?

 

 

Horizon.

 

 

Horizon.

 

 

Zoot Money, South parade Pier.

 

Ginger Baker, South Parade Pier.

 

 

Shy Limbs, South Parade Pier.

  

Shy Limbs and the RAC men.

 

Shy Limbs were a popular band, here they are with the AA men. Off to play at the Factory in Birmingham the van broke down about 12 miles from the venue. The AA towed us in, the band went on an hour late, I took some photos and went for a walk along the towpath of the Grand Union Canal, when I got back about 2pm the gig was just finishing, John Dickinson, the singer, ordered a taxi for us all to get back to Bournemouth. Birmingham to Bournemouth the taxi fare was £12.00! Andy McCulloch, the drummer, with a towel over his head, later played with 'Greenslade' and 'Arthur Brown'. King Crimson's Greg Lake was a former member of Shy Limbs and was lead singer on 'Love' the flip side of their single 'Reputation'.

 

 

 

 

Edgar Broughton Band, South Parade Pier

 

 

 

 

 

Jeff Lynne and Idle Race, South Parade Pier. I had photographed them a month before and not got round to sending them the photos. I was walking past the stairs that led to the balcony bar as Jeff Lyynne was coming down, seeing me he jumped from half way up, bringing me to the floor, with a shout of 'Wheres my photos!'

 

 

Last Orders contact sheet

 

Last Orders, not 1960's but 1980's.

 

Pink Floyd.

 

Nick Mason 

 

Roger Waters

 

 

 

Pink Floyd, South Parade Pier

 

 

Nick Nicolson, St. Louis Checks.

 

 

 

 

 

Alan Williams, St. Louis Checks.

  
Alan Williams recently told me that he is, "Working as a chauffeur for the great and the good. I had Roger Daltrey  in the car recently and reminded him that the Checks played support to the Who four or five times in 1965, he said, ”Didn't we have the best f****** childhood?, the kids today have got nothing like we had.” I agreed and he gave me a fiver tip. He also said he was "going to do a Tommy Cooper" ..I said, "What tell jokes and do some tricks?"...he said "No, die on stage"... I said, "well if you want some tips on that you should come down to Westbourne next monday and see me make my singing debut...he didn't turn up..."
 
 
 

 

Ginger, St. Louis Checks.

Chris, St. Louis Checks, Indigo Vat.

 

St. Louis Checks, Rock Gardens Pavillion.

Don't remember who this was, maybe Hookfoot or Heavy Jelly, South parade Pier.

 

Tangerine Slyde, South Parade Pier.

 

 

Tangerine Slyde -Steve, Brian and Mick. 

 

 

The Tipner music festival.

 

Colin Carter and Coconut Mushroom 1970 Rag Week.

Playing in an old building just behind Queen Victoria's

statue in the Guildhall Square. The building was due

 to be demolished to make way for the new council offices.

Colin left the band  to join Flash.

 

 

Coconut Mushroom, Indigo Vat.

 

Colin Carter, Coconut Mushroom.

 

Phil Freeman singer with Image at the Tricorn Christmas party c.1969.

 

 

Blackout maybe the Indigo Vat or Kimbells.

 

 

Not Portsmouth, Woburn Music Festival, 1967

Original singer Carl Wayne with the Move

Below - the view from the stage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Heaven, South Parade Pier. 

 

 

South Parade Pier on fire during the filming of Tommy.

 

 

 

 

Dave Allen's has more photos of local bands on his website at http://www.pompeypop.co.uk . He also has a blog at http://pompeypop.wordpress.com. Mick Cooper, ex-organist with 60's folk-rock band 'Heaven' also has a website at http://michaelcooper.org.uk