In November 1974 I was wrapping up my pencils at Edge Hill College in Ormskirk and thinking about heading home from the autumn term. Licking my fingers and flicking through my copy of the NME I was beside myself with excitement when I saw that Little Feat were coming to Manchester in January.
Little Feat ! Coming to my neck o’ the bayou !
But there were some big BUTS… I couldn’t drive, train to Manchester meant going into Liverpool first and then getting out and the return journey would have been a nightmare. Bigger BUT.. I just had to see them play !!
The only way was to get me a driver with a vehicle. I decided that if I could get 10 people committed I could hire the college minibus and then approach a couple of options to drive.
I skulked the corridors of learning for a week pouncing on anyone and everyone who might have the slightest interest in music. Even widening my targets to include those who had no interest in rock music but just liked a night out. Some I hardly spoke to normally.
“ Hey, Little Feat are coming to Manchester,” I would accost excitedly.
“What ? Who ? Never heard of them.”
“Nah, not for me.”
“No money.”
“Manchester in January ?Are you kidding ?”
I ground it out. I had two. My girlfriend and I. Then a couple more. Then a couple more. As surely as tickets were selling out I was running out of options. Then I had 8. I needed two more then it was the minibus and driver. I wrung a reluctant commitment from a couple who were in the ‘never heard of them but will go for the night out’ category. Nearly there.
I booked the minibus and now I needed a driver. All the minibus drivers in college were the sporty types. They spent their time running around on muddy pitches or driving to them. I got a flat ‘No’ from every one of them. The final hurdle.. I can’t fall at the final hurdle.. I had managed to get hard drinking students to part with beer vouchers for this … some had no clue as to what they were going to see …
My finest pleading skills are not pleasant to experience but with the offer of me paying for the driver’s ticket we had our driver. Wuh Hoo , we’re on !! ‘Who are we seeing again?’
“Trust me.”
It was one of the best night’s of my life. On so many levels. The music was amazing – the show was awesome – I was so excited – the people who came who had never heard Little Feat danced all night and then thanked me for getting them involved. Even Pete the Driver had a great night.
This was recorded by the Beeb just two days later. Oh man…………memories….
(Open in Youtube….you’ll be glad you did…. 🙂 )
singlemaltmonkey 