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Ian Hunter:
I was a big
mate of Pete Frame’s, who said to come with him to the club. Pete
had my dog when we left to come to the States. I always liked
Stoppsy, in those days of strange promoters he was one of the good
ones at that time
We always
seemed to have a great time there: One of those gigs which became
entrenched in your memory for some stupid reason. We did hundreds of
gigs like that but, for some reason, that one would stick out. It
just became this very special gig that was up the M1. There were
hundreds of ‘em but some that stuck out. Friars was one of ‘em.
Great little club
Ian Hunter, on his website,
responding to this website's webmaster in 2008:
"Well,
it was Pete Frame, Dave Stopps and Kris Needs territory wasn't it? I
met Dave Stopps on the Ringo tour (he manages Howard Jones) and Kris
and Pete came to a recent gig in Milton Keynes (Spring 2008 - we
were there too!). (Friars) itself was great but like I say I
remember the people - 'Zig Zag' and all that"
Ian Hunter, quoted in the
Aylesbury Roxette (talking to Radio 1), summer 1976:
"Aylesbury is like a little
San Francisco. It's one of those places where everything seems to
start...I don't know what it is, but the people there seem to sense
what's going to happen. I know Mott the Hoople happened in Aylesbury
long before anywhere else, and it was the same for David Bowie.
Everybody seems to be friendly, and they make you feel good - and
whenever I played there, I felt like an old friend being welcomed
home. In fact the atmosphere of Aylesbury got to me to such an
extent that I was seriously considering moving there at one
time...but then I moved to America instead."
Gary Leeson, Friars fan
Casually
glancing through one of the national music papers one day I noticed an ad
for the Hunter Ronson Tour, being a Mott/Bowie fan I scanned the list of
venues with anticipation, I couldn’t believe my eyes there it was, 19.3.75
Friars Aylesbury, this was amazing, but amazement was quickly replaced by
panic, questions raced through my mind, when are tickets going on sale ?
will I get one ?
To my relief,
I managed to score a couple of tickets. I remember the excitement
and buzz of everyone queuing in the alley way leading to the BAH.
Once in I noticed that extra lighting and PA equipment had been
brought in, more than other Friars gigs I had attended, all this
just added to the excitement this gig was generating
The
music they played as far as I can remember was from Ian Hunter's brilliant
first solo album and Mick Ronson's excellent Slaughter On Tenth Avenue
album along with some Mott numbers. I recall a lot of fans including
myself being in awe that these two “Rock Stars” were playing such a
small venue. A review in Melody Maker by Chris Welch
mentioned that the gig was so loud that people were rolling around
the floor with bleeding ears, I can’t recall anything as dramatic as
that but it was certainly an unforgettable gig |
