Anyone have any memories of the show?
Would loved to have been there but London was so far away to a young Northern dreamer...( still is to be honest!!)
Theres a wonderful review from The Melody Maker in that young dreamers Scrapbook! as... REBEL ROUSE WEMBLEY!
" Really its Steve Harley's lonely Hearts Club Band- because he recahes out to the young hopefuls from surburbia who unashamedly believe in romance but perhaps nuture a secret phobia about the blacker side of life.Harley mirrors or exploits this with his own deep-rooted obsessions and neuroses: Scared,Death Trip and Sebastian are full of dark imagery placing the emphasis firmly on fatalism. Scared was by far the most popular song of the night and the menacing Death Trip with the evocative lighting playing on his eerie eyes was impressive too.Here is an artist who is willing to push his followers to new boundaries,test their acumen and to ask in return for a bit of recognition.Harley is a pained poet who sees his role more of a poet than a pop person."

Couple of thoughts re the show...
1.Which song does the reviewer mean by scared?
2. Was the show filmed or recorded ( seems amazing if not!)?
3.Why were Smokie advertised as the support band and then they didn't appear on the night?
4.I heard on the grapevine that Cat Stevens went backstage after the show to congratulate the band on a great performance,it doesn't get much better than that! is that true?

Hi Stewart, I didn't go to the show but have some clippings that state...
"There was no support band, although Smokie were scheduled to play. According to the Evening Standard the following night thay had a row with the Rebel. And Harley announced he was going to play a two-hour set"
And ...
"Smokey pulled out of their Wembley Empire Pool spot... A spokesman for the group said "Smokey were not given the co-operation they were led to expect from Harley's people. The show was scheduled to start at 8 pm. At the last moment the band were asked to go on half an hour earlier and were refused permission to use the own lighting rig.
"They would have been playing in full house lights and without ant stage effects to an audience in the process of arriving. It would have been worse than uselessa. We had no alternative but to pull out altogether."

The review of the show lists some of the songs that were played, "Nothing is sacred" being one of them. I wonder if Sacred turned into Scared?

Hi Stewart,

I was there and Jean also posted to say she was as well from the discussion thread Psychomodo/ Human Menagerie !!!

Couldn't remember the date myself, but Jimbo the Oracle for all things Harley clarified the date for me. The Jim below is a different Jim to Jimbo.

From the discussion thread of Psychomodo/ Human Menagerie I posted:

With respect to the gig at the Wembley Empire Pool in 1976:
This was my first Steve Harley concert. I had the first row of seats behind a metal barrier after the first block of 10 or 12 rows. Fantastic concert and was there with my mate Jim. When the encore came the crowd rushed the front, so it was now or never !!! Vaulted the metal barriers, with bouncers just missing grabbing us to join the sweating, heaving sea of fans some three of four rows back. Emotional, tears in my eyes, excited and standing on the chairs we sang (with Jean!!!) for all it was worth... 'OH DEAR, LOOK WHAT THEY'VE DONE TO THE BLUES, BLUES, BLUES !!! again and again and again. Even after Mr. Harley left the stage. Magic.....and I'm close to tears again !!!

Can't wait for Birmingham Symphony Hall and see you all there!!!

Snowy

Happy, happy, happy memories. We were still singing as we queued to get out of the car park. Smokie? If they were supposed to appear, I didn't miss them.

As far as i know the Wembley concert was never filmed or recorded.Such a shame,i loved the live set at the time. Don't Go Don't Cry/Mr.Raffles/Mr.Soft/Hideaway/Back to the Farm/Understand/Sebastian/Here Comes the Sun/Sweet Dreams/Psychomodo/Sling It/Red is a Mean Colour/Nothing is Sacred/Mad Moonlight/Death Trip/Best Years of Our Lives/Make Me Smile. The reference to 'SCARED' surely relates to the song Back to the Farm where Steve screams the word several times.The guy reviewing the concert probably didn't know the actual name of the song. As for the Cat Stevens story....never heard that one before but who knows,the Wembley gig was quite a high profile one so he could have been there back stage.I'd love to hear more of Steve's recollections of those early days.Couldn't the board arrange something where we as posters all ask Steve one question each? It would be similar to those live online 'chats' that took place a while back but perhaps a lot more organized.Everyone can get their question in and Steve would have longer to dig into his memory to give the best answer possible.How about it Rachel? Something that Steve may consider? Anyone else like the idea??

I like the idea Mr Raffles. I would ask, how did Jim Cregan announce to you, Steve, that he was leaving the band to join Rod? Must have been tough for him to do, and even tougher for you to accept!!??