SLADE / CARAVAN / LINDISFARNE / STATUS QUO
Australasian Tour 1973

PROMOTER: unknown

SOUND SYSTEM: JANDS

Slade (headline act)
Noddy Holder (guitar, vocals)
Dave Hill (lead guitar)
Jim Lea (bass, guitar, violin, piano)
Don Powell (drums)

Caravan:
Derek Austin (keyboards)
Richard Coughlan (drums)
Stuart Evans (bass, vocals)
Pye Hastings (vocals, guitar)
Geoff Richardson (viola)

Lindisfarne:
Alan Hull (vocals/guitar/piano)
Simon Cowe (guitar, mandolin, banjo)
Ray Jackson (mandolin/harmonica)
Rod Clements (bass guitar/violin)
Ray Laidlaw (drums)

Status Quo:
Francis Rossi (guitar, vocals)
Rick Parfitt (guitar, vocals)
Alan Lancaster (bass, vocals)
John Coghlan (drums)

Support acts:
Sydney -
Blackfeather
Melbourne - Country Radio, Buffalo

Tour Schedule:
23 January 1973 - groups fly to Australia to start tour
27 January 1973 - Auckland, New Zealand) - Hamilton Racecourse
28 January 1973 - Sydney - Randwick Racecourse
29 January 1973 - Brisbane - Lang Park Oval
31 January 1973 - Perth - Subiaco Oval
3 February - Adelaide - Wayville Showgrounds
4 February - Melbourne - Melbourne Showgrounds

History

This tour was significant in several respects -- it was the first tour by UK glam legends Slade, who were then at the height of their fame, and their LP Slade Alive was at the top of the album charts when they arrived. It was also, regrettably, the only visit here by prog-rock doyens Caravan and popular folk-rockers Lindisfarne. Lindisfarne's single "Fog on the Tyne" had been a minor hit here in 1971, and the group had enjoyed considerable success in the UK, but by the time they visited Australia internal tensions had brought the group close to breaking up, and the Wikipedia article on the group describes their Australasian tour as "disappointing". 

It was to be the last tour by the original Lindisfarne lineup and the group broke in two soon after their return to the UK -- Cowe, Clements, and Laidlaw left to form their own outfit, Jack The Lad, while Alan Hull and Ray Jackson retained the Lindisfarne name and put together a new version of the group. As well as his work in Lindisfarne, Jackson played mandolin on Rod Stewart's "Maggie May", and in the early 200s he successfully sued Rod to win royalty back-payments for his performance on the recording, for which he had never received proper credit or payment.

It was also an eventful tour for Caravan, one of the leading groups of the so-called "Canterbury Scene", with keyboard player Derek Austin and bassist Stuart Evans both leaving the group after the end of the Australasian tour; Evans was replaced by John G. Perry on bass and vocals, and former Hatfield & The North member Dave Sinclair joined later in the year, replacing Austin.

However, this tour was the first of many visits to Australia by the bottom act on the bill, Status Quo. Their popularity would soon eclipse even that of Slade, and they made almost yearly visits to Australia from 1974 onwards, with bassist Alan Lancaster eventually settling here after he left the band in the late 1980s.

In Sydney, the Jands sound system was severely tested by Slade, who were legendary for the punishing volume at which they played. According to the Jands website, Slade's sound man took one look at the mixing desk and declared "I don't use the meters (or any of the other controls), just push them all to the top." After the first show, Jands' crew wisely moved the limiters away from the mixing desk, installed them backstage and set them so that the speakers could not be overloaded.

In Melbourne, the outdoor concert was marred by heavy rain, which began at midday and continued until evening, despite the fact that Melbourne was in the grip of a a drought at the time. Because of this, the order of performance was changed with Caravan appearing first, then Lindisfarne, then Slade and finally Status Quo. Normally Slade, the headliners, would have appeared last, but they were moved forward in the bill because of the rain.

Concert-goer Anthony Tigani recalls the Slade set-list as follows:

"Hear Me Calling"
"In Like A Shot From My Gun"
"Darling Be Home Soon"
"Know Who You Are"
"Lady Be Good" (instrumental)
"Coz l Luv You"
"Look Wot You Dun"
"Mama Weer All Crazee Now"
"Gudbuy T ' Jane"
"Take Me Bak' Ome"
"Keep On Rocking"
"Get Down And Get With It"
"Born To Be Wild"
"Good Golly Miss Molly"

"They played the old songs because we were a little behind them in England. We got up to date with their act by the next tour in 1974. When Slade toured here Slade Alive was at Number 1 on the charts if i remember correctly the album Slayed knocked the Slade Alive album from the Number 1 position."

References / Links

Thanks to Anthony Tigani for information about the Melbourne concert.

Slade
The Slade Archive
http://www.crazeeworld.plus.com/contents.htm

Caravan
Calyx - The Canterbury Website
http://perso.club-internet.fr/calyx/caravan/chrono.html
Calyx Caravan Chronology
http://perso.club-internet.fr/calyx/caravan/chrono.html

Jands Production Services
News Archive, 1973

Bob Young
photograph of tour party, 1973