The story so far... Our two heroes (Den and Ken) hitchhiked from Manchester to London to see Simon and Garfunkel in concert at the Royal Albert Hall. Having failed to get a bed at any of the London Youth Hostels they spent the night at the cinema and dossing on Euston station forecourt. Wandering around London, killing time before the concert, then being offered a king’s ransom for their prized tickets, they finally take their seats and wait for their heroes to appear on stage. Extracts from my diary at the time help keep one’s memory on the straight and narrow. So, on with the tale.....
At last, the concert begins – “Fantastic reception. Paul addressed the audience: ‘Boy, are we nervous’, before confidently opening with ‘The Boxer’ and then the two of them settling into their set list finishing the first half with ‘I am a Rock’ leaving the audience exhausted and giddy for more.” I remember being transfixed by the legendary Larry Knectchel playing keyboards on the inevitable ‘Bridge over Troubled Water’ and the crowd giving him and Art a standing ovation. After a further ten numbers in the second half, finishing with ‘The Sound of Silence’ they departed the stage to a truly rapturous applause.
More, more more!!! – “After four more songs in the encore finishing with ‘For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her’, we the audience tried to get them back for a third time but impresario Tito Burns came on after about 15 minutes of incessant clapping and stomping to regretfully wind it up.” Ken and I decided to treat ourselves and buy seats on the overnight coach from Victoria to London. The coach was freezing but we were so dog-tired that we managed to get some sleep before the coach pulled in to Manchester just after 6am on the Sunday morning. Buses home and more kip after a spot of breakfast. Just reading the diary I really pushed the boat out money-wise: “Spent over £5 in the last couple of days! – now almost skint.” But I did have a part time job collecting money for an outfit that delivered potatoes to punters on the estate where I lived, but that’s a whole other story.....
A final note from the diary, attempting to sum up the adventure: “THIS SIMON AND GARFUNKEL CONCERT WILL GO DOWN IN HISTORY. THE ALBERT HALL WAS SHAKING WITH THE APPLAUSE, WHISTLING AND FOOT-STOMPING FROM THE 8000 STRONG AUDIENCE. THIS WAS A REALLY BEAUTIFUL AND UNFORGETTABLE EXPERIENCE” Very true and this was the first of many amazing gigs I have been to; although I have noticed that as I got older, ‘roughing it’, hitchhiking and dossing on railway station forecourts featured less and less.