Vinyl Countdown by Graham Sharpe

Author:Graham Sharpe
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oldcastle Books
Published: 2019-10-10T12:05:48+00:00

31

IN WHICH… THE SHOW MUSTN’T GO ON

Dave Mason was the sole (sorry) writer of ‘Hole In My Shoe’, Traffic’s follow-up hit to ‘Paper Sun’, and its ‘out-there’ psychedelic feel was again combined with nursery-rhyme-style lyrics, mixed with weird musical input. Mason’s involvement with these two Top 10 records singled him out to me as someone to follow wherever his musical meanderings took him, which is how I came to acquire the majority of his oeuvre. This made it a certainty that when he came to my neck of the woods to play a gig with his own band a couple of years ago, I was going to be there. I was so keen not only to be there but to get a prime viewing spot for this seated concert that I was actually the first person to book front row seats in the balcony, the best viewing spot offered in the Alban Arena. My booking was made months before the scheduled date of the show, and I marked it boldly on the calendar.

A few weeks later, I was contacted by the Alban Arena, telling me that it had been decided ‘by the band’s people’ that the balcony area should not be made available for the show and that everyone attending should be in the stalls. ‘Come on,’ said I to the minion deputed with the task of passing on this information, ‘It seems to me that the only reason for a band to make such a request would be that the concert is selling so poorly that the sparseness of the audience will be all too obvious if all parts of the auditorium are available.’ The minion did not confirm that this was the case but neither did she deny it. From that point on, I had a lurking feeling of dread about whether there would even be a concert, and a day or two before the scheduled gig I rang the venue to confirm the ‘doors open’ time, only to be told, ‘I’m afraid the concert is off. Dave Mason is unwell.’

I was shocked. Sympathetic, of course, had he been struck down by illness. But, call me a cynical hack, to me this sounded extremely suspicious. My journalistic instinct was sharpened to the point at which I decided to make the local media aware of my belief that this concert might have been called off as much for disappointing ticket sales as any health issues. The media got to work, doing not much more than believing me, and sticking a story online outlining the cancellation and one fan’s idea of why it was not taking place! Not many hours after the story was published, I received a phone call from someone claiming to be Dave Mason (I believe it was him) who assured me that there was indeed illness in the camp, and that was the actual reason for having to scrap the show. It isn’t every day one of your musical heroes gives you a bell, and apologises personally for not being able to fulfil a commitment.

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