麻豆社

Many of the most famous bands of the '60s played The Hillside Ballroom in Hereford, including the Rolling Stones, The Who, The Kinks and Status Quo.

The cult star Screaming Lord Such also played a memorable gig there, dressed as a vampire, and with a coffin on stage, long before he went on to form the Monster Raving Loony Party.

The future members of Mott The Hoople were in the audience for many of the early gigs at The Hillside.

Stan Tippins was the band's original singer:

"I think every band played there bar the Beatles.

"The Rolling Stones went there; I remember seeing them on a Friday night about 1963, and their first single had just come out called Come On.

"It was an old Chuck Berry number and it came in the charts that week at 22.

"It was only half full, most people didn't know who they were - but they were fantastic, they were unbelievable.

"The movements of Jagger astonished me - he was such a great mover on stage.

"Also Keith Richard - he did this little dance movements, then Bill Wyman was stationary - he didn't move at all.

"You could focus on every member of the band and think they are great."

Screaming Lord Sutch also made quite an impression on Stan:

"I remember him running off the stage with an axe, chasing his bass player all around the room, and then he set fire to a Christmas Tree in the corner."

John Farr, a regular at The Hillside, also remembers that gig:

"Screaming Lord Such used to come on like a vampire; he'd have daggers and people in coffins.

"Very bizarre for a musical act, but interesting!"

John also saw the Kinks and says: "They were tremendous, they were really good.

"They did cause a bit of a stir, because Dave Davies exploded a stink bomb on the stage."

Dave Griffiths turned up to see a gig at the venue, and ended up meeting the band:

"It was either late 1969 or early 1970, I walked into the bar in the hall (at the Hillside), early in the evening, dressed as we did then in a shirt, tidy trousers and jacket, with a tidy, short hair cut.

"I saw, sat at the far end of the bar, a group of long haired, denim clad blokes, and thought 'who the hell are they?'

"They turned out to be the band.

"I'd gone to see them because I'd heard an earlier single that I thought was OK.

"It was called Pictures of Matchstick Men (which they didn't play that night).

"It was Status Quo, and that night they played a soon to be released single, Down the Dustpipe.

"After listening to that, and several other songs, and I was hooked, and have been a fan ever since."

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