On Thursday August the 8th I received a mail from Bob Jackson telling that he was coming to play two gigs in Denmark in the weekend with The Fortunes. I was very happy to read that Bob suggested that we could meet before or after one of the shows if it was possible. It would also be great if Jesper could be there too. Saturday night´s gig was in Holstebro, but as we were invited to a family party that night, it was not possible for us to be there. I mailed Bob back telling him that Jesper, Thomas and I would go to Randers Sunday evening. Sunday afternoon Bob phoned me at my home and we agreed that we would try to me before the show, which would start at 8 p.m. It was was package tour with The Merseybeats and Marmelade.
About 6.30 p.m. we arrived in Randers which is about 60 kilometres from where we live. We did not know exactly where in Randers to go, but since the place was called "Teltet" ( The tent ) we were looking out for a big tent. We were right suddenly we saw the big tent and outside it we noticed one singular person standing looking around. It was Bob. He did not notice us, and because of the traffic we had to drive past him to find a place to park the car.
When we came back he was no longer there and there were a tall fence around the place so we could not get in. We went a bit around and soon we saw Bob sitting with his friends drinking tea with his friends. We waved at him, and he helped us through.
About 9.15 it was the Fortunes turn to go on stage. I did not know what to expect as the only tune I could remember from them was "You´ve Got Your Troubles" - Bob had promised that he would try to get a Badfinger song into the songlist, which they regularly do, anyway. It was soon obvious that The Fortunes were better musicians and vocalists than The Merseybeats ( who were not bad at all!!).
After the show Bob came out to see us again and we sat outside the tent talking again for more than one hour; while Marmelade played. No doubt that Bob and Badfinger got themselves a new fan that night. My son Thomas has never before this been that interested in Badfinger music, but his meeting with Bob has changed this, and he was very happy that he decided to go along with Jesper and me.
Bob was very friendly and we felt at comfort almost at once. We sat down by a table and Bob got us a Sprite - It was a very hot day!!
During the one and a half hours we had a very pleasant and interesting talk about many different topics. Bob spoke openly to us about things like his forthcoming solo album, Head First , Warner Brothers, The Badfinger Live 82, the last Badfinger tour with Pete, Bill Collins, Badfinger in general, The Dodgers, The Fortunes and a lot of other Badfinger related things. We also had time to talk about more private things like our families and jobs. Jesper has just finished high school and he is very interested in kind getting some kind of musical education. Bob´s eldest daughter has the same kind of ideas and Jesper and Bob had long talk about music, playing, composing and things like that.
Time was running and soon it was close 8, when the first band, The Merseybeats were going on stage. Before Bob had to leave us to prepare himself for The Fortunes´ own show he helped us in from backstage; so we even got to the concert for free. We agreed to meet again after The Fortunes´show, which right after The Merseybeats.
We got ourselves a table and a beer in the tent, which wasn´t a problem as there not very many people ( 100-200 is my guess! ). I suddenly realised that The Merseybeats could very well turn out to be a great experience, too. I have most of their sixties catalogue in my collection, and I like a lot of their early material like "I Love You, Yes I Do", Sorrow" and "Don´t Turn Around". I did not know whether any of the original members would be there. We were not disappointed. Billy Kinsley and Tony Crane were still there and their voices sounded almost like they used to. The did a great one hour show with most of their hits and a terricfic version of Paul McCartney´s "Live and Let Die". I had to go up to the stage to take a couple of photos. When I blitzed the first time I knew something was wrong! I felt everybody stared at me. I quickly took one more picture ( Tony Crane looked down at me - if he was mad of just surprised I don´t know ) and hurried back to my table hoping none of the "guards" had noticed. Cameras weren´t allowed; but since we had come in from backstage we had not been checked.
It turned out to be a great show with highlighs as "No Matter What", "Without You" and "From a Distance" - the first two with Bob as lead-singer! We noticed that the drummer was the former Dodgers drummer Paul Hooper. Lead singer and bassist Rod Allen was still with the band as well as the great guitarist Michael Smitham who has played with people like Del Shannon, Bobby Vee, P. J. Proby, Percy Sledge, Johnny Tillotson, The Marvelettes, Anne Peebles, The Floaters and The Drifters. We all know of Bob´s qualities a keyboardist. Unfortunately a finger-operation gone wrong has caused him problems which prevents him from playing the guitar at the moment. Hopefully a new operation will help.
Obviously we weren´t the only ones who thought it had been a great show, beacuse later Bob mailed us telling that The Fortunes had been "given" 4 more gigs in Denmark.
We all hope to be able to meet with Bob again next time he´s in Denmark. It was long after midnight before we were home that night. But it did not matter. It had been a great day!
click to enlarge!
Jesper and Thomas outside the fence!
Bob got us something to drink and we sat talking in the sun.
Thomas took these pictures
It was all very releaxed
The Merseybeats
The Fortunes with Bob to the far right!
