Motown Revue - Wigan 1965

[Jumpinjoan]

Was doing some research at work and came across this. I found it interesting anyway

 

 

[TOAD]

yep thats interesting

[Philippe]

"Poor audiences..."There's a great BBC documentary about this tour  where Mary Wilson reveals that they (the Motown crew) called it "the ghost tour".

[Shsdave]

Remember reading about this tour in B&S in the 70s & think they only sold 24 tickets in Cardiff

[Guest]

Can you imagine 1965 and a bus coming along the old A6 up north over Shap, with Berry Gordy sitting next to the driver and Diana Ross and the Supremes, Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Jack Ashford, Earl Van Dyke etc all sitting in the back.

  

What a wasted opportunity, it's a pity they came before they were famous.

[Jumpinjoan]

Can you imagine 1965 and a bus coming along the old A6 up north over Shap, with Berry Gordy sitting next to the driver and Diana Ross and the Supremes, Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Jack Ashford, Earl Van Dyke etc all sitting in the back.

  

What a wasted opportunity, it's a pity they came before they were famous.

 

I agree! Plus the fact that this happened before I was even born makes it more amazing to me 

 

It's not often that I wish I was older lol

Edited April 14, 2013 by jumpinjoan

[Guest MBarrett]

 it's a pity they came before they were famous.

 

Not entirely true.

 

Baby Love (on Stateside) had been in the charts for 11 weeks up to the first week of Jan 1965. With 2 weeks at No.1.

 

So you would have thought the Supremes alone would have sold a whole bunch of tickets.

 

Then they brought Georgie Fame in part way through the tour who had also been at No.1 in January of 1965

 

I don't think it helped that they had 2 performances every night which would have diluted the audiences, but there again that was quite normal for package tours at the time.

 

Still all a bit of a mystery to me!!

 

MB

[Trev Thomas]

what happened to the farmer and his horse ?

[Jumpinjoan]

what happened to the farmer and his horse ?

 

 Pmsl

[Philippe]

 

 

Then they brought Georgie Fame in part way through the tour who had also been at No.1 in January of 1965

 

I

 

 

 

They brought him to augment the audience, due to his popularity at the time. In the BBC documentary the guitarist is interviewed and tells a few anecdotes.

Edited April 14, 2013 by Philippe

[slimharpo]

I saw the show in the ABC Chester. There were so few there that the compere came out and asked those in the cheap seats at the back (me and my mate) to move to the front and clap our hands! The show was great and every artist gave their all. Fancy Martha Reeves kicking off with Nowhere To Run. Stevie Wonder did a duet with his manager at the time, Clarence Paul. The Miracles included Claudette and the highlight for me was Smokey on his knees singing Ooh Baby Baby. Soul Sam then known as Martin Barnfather was at the show with mates whom I also knew and they gave us a lift home as my mate and I had no money to pay for a train/bus!

[MrsWoodsrules]

Wow, didn't even know about this tour, really interesting.

I presume that's the same ABC in Station Rd, across the road from The Casino?

 

Aid.

[Jumpinjoan]

Yes, I'm sure it is Aid

 

There's a bit of a revue about it on LankyBeat saying they had about 100 people in (scroll down to ABC)

 

https://www.lankybeat.com/Venues.html

Edited April 14, 2013 by jumpinjoan

[Guest MBarrett]

I must stop relying on my memory.

 

I was thinking that Georgie Fame came in part way through the tour - but I just pulled this old NME out of the loft and he was actually being advertised weeks before the tour started. (Realised I had uploaded a scan to SS already. There must have been a thread on this subject before)

 

So 2 x Number 1 selling artists for the whole tour and they still couldn't sell tickets. Think how many records you had top sell back then to get to number 1! Mad!!

 

Another slightly confusing thing is that the Temps were in the U.K. at the same time. They appeared in the publicity photographs and on the Motown special that was on T.V. (compered by Dusty) But looks like they didn't do any of the tour dates. 

[Guest MBarrett]

Wow, didn't even know about this tour, really interesting.

I presume that's the same ABC in Station Rd, across the road from The Casino?

 

Aid.

 

This tour and the TV special were PR for the launch of the Tamla Motown label.

 

The first 6 singles released on the TM label were Supremes, Vandellas, Miracles, Temps, Stevie, and Earl Van Dyke. 

 

MB

Edited April 14, 2013 by MBarrett

[Jim G]

the documentary was good about this, it when the tour groups appeared on the Dusty Springfield it all changed and the rest is history. would love to have neen old enough to see them live back then...

[Guest MBarrett]

the documentary was good about this, it when the tour groups appeared on the Dusty Springfield it all changed and the rest is history. would love to have neen old enough to see them live back then...

 

If anyone is interested, here is info about the TV Special from the TV Times.

 

It was done as a sort of offshoot of Ready Steady Go! But it was broadcast midweek - possibly Wednesday night.

 

I think somewhere I have details of when it was recorded and the date it was broadcast in relation to the tour dates.

 

[Philippe]

From this link : https://www.maximumsound.org/Sounds-of-Motown-Ready-Steady-Go-Special-65-DVD_p_2862.html

 

 

This vintage TV special hosted by Dusty Springfield has been recorded at the Rediffusion TV studios in London on 18 March 1965. It is a compilation of Motown's greatest names , including the Miracles, the Supremes, the Temptations, Stevie Wonder and the Vandellas

This special was mainly Dusty Springfield’s idea, to promote the Motown music and artists to a wider audience in Britain. Dusty was an occasional presenter of the weekly TV pop show Ready Steady Go (which had the tag line… The Weekend Starts Here). She was a big fan of Motown music and suggested the idea for this special to Vicki Wickham, recording artists manager and RSG’s producer at Rediffusion.

This followed the Motown artists first tour of Britain in March 1965, which had suffered poor ticket sales and played to half empty theatres. The timing of the tour proved to be too early. The Motown artists were not well known in Britain (apart from the ‘in’ crowd) due to limited exposure on UK radio at the time. But the bosses at Rediffusion TV had to be persuaded to allow this special to be made. It’s thought that it was Dusty Springfield’s inclusion in the show which sealed it — but still a brave decision for the time. The TV special was very successful and is historically important as it did a lot to popularize Motown with a mass audience in the UK.

 

 

 

Edited April 15, 2013 by Philippe

[Ian Dewhirst]

From this link : https://www.maximumsound.org/Sounds-of-Motown-Ready-Steady-Go-Special-65-DVD_p_2862.html

 

 

This vintage TV special hosted by Dusty Springfield has been recorded at the Rediffusion TV studios in London on 18 March 1965. It is a compilation of Motown's greatest names , including the Miracles, the Supremes, the Temptations, Stevie Wonder and the Vandellas

This special was mainly Dusty Springfield’s idea, to promote the Motown music and artists to a wider audience in Britain. Dusty was an occasional presenter of the weekly TV pop show Ready Steady Go (which had the tag line… The Weekend Starts Here). She was a big fan of Motown music and suggested the idea for this special to Vicki Wickham, recording artists manager and RSG’s producer at Rediffusion.

This followed the Motown artists first tour of Britain in March 1965, which had suffered poor ticket sales and played to half empty theatres. The timing of the tour proved to be too early. The Motown artists were not well known in Britain (apart from the ‘in’ crowd) due to limited exposure on UK radio at the time. But the bosses at Rediffusion TV had to be persuaded to allow this special to be made. It’s thought that it was Dusty Springfield’s inclusion in the show which sealed it — but still a brave decision for the time. The TV special was very successful and is historically important as it did a lot to popularize Motown with a mass audience in the UK.

 

 

 

 

Yep. The whole concert was also released on on a video cassette. I've got one @ home. Good viewing!

 

Ian D

[Citizen P]

Yep. The whole concert was also released on on a video cassette. I've got one @ home. Good viewing!

 

Ian D

 

 

Was shown on telly 10 years or so back--I taped it-(then some bugger taped over it--)

 

I know there were a load of RSG videos out -did they ever get to DVD, cos I think this special was one of 'em

[Guest Garry Huxley]

Was shown on telly 10 years or so back--I taped it-(then some bugger taped over it--)

 

I know there were a load of RSG videos out -did they ever get to DVD, cos I think this special was one of 'em

 

Yes this was a RSG Video and i had on when in army, Minden Germany , I took it into Guard room one nite whilst on weekend guard duty and it was stolen,

Some guard eh.

[Tobytyke]

Wasnt Dave Godin running the tamla motown appreciation society at the time and apparently advised Berry Gordy not to go ahead with the tour as he feared attendences would be low. Appears Godin was right.

[Philly]

Fantastic picture of the artists promoting the tour ...... who can name them all in order left to right

Love how the plant pot got in the way of Earl Van Dykes group .... lol

 

Edited April 19, 2013 by Philly

[Philippe]

Who is the kid on the left ?

[Colsoul]

the 1965 motown   uk tour stopped off near me at a large statley home in county durham,wynyard hall, the lord at the time lord londonderry,and his wife entertained the the whole coach load of artists in the mansion, later his wife took off with georgie fame, who was touring with the motown party, theres gratitude for you, col

Edited April 20, 2013 by colsoul

[Mick Reed]

the motown   uk tour stopped off near me at a large statley home in county durham,wynyard hall, the lord at the time lord londonderry,and his wife entertained the the whole coach load of artists in the mansion, later his wife took off with georgie fame, who was touring with the motown party, theres gratitude for you, col

Didn't know about the georgie fame bit

[Colsoul]

Didn't know about the georgie fame bit

yes they married and had a child,sadly she committ suicide jumping of the clifton bridge in scarborough its all on the net,col

Edited April 19, 2013 by colsoul