[THD]

The Roundhouse concerts I think I attended three of them but Dinkie Dawson says they only did two Feb 25 1970 and Apr24 Pop Prom? 1970 I certainly remember listening to John Peel’s Sunday radio show and him announcing that FM were doing a show at the Roundhouse in a couple of days time at very short notice and we went to it , maybe that explains why I recall this third concert but it’s not noted ?
The problem I have is separating out what incidents happened at which concert at this venue , as it seems my memory works by associating what happened with the venue So I have problems if I saw them at the same place more than once So what I say happened will have occurred at at least one of them that I attended, but I don’t know which one( unless I say otherwise in the text )

The Roundhouse is a round Victorian building in Camden north London , which was once a railway turntable for quickly changing the direction of,steam locomotives I think there was a balcony all round it- don’t know if this was in the original railway design ..

I remember seeing Mick and someone , poss Peter, standing at the Bar when we arrived , but I was far too timid to go there and try to talk. When we were waiting for the bands, music would be playing and at least twice in the same evening they played Norman Greenbaum’s Spirit in the Sky which really worked well , and I still think is a great record (I think this wasn’t the rock Prom Concert )
John Peel(British BBC radio DJ ) was master of ceremonies at ( at least ) one of these, and people were throwing paper plates, ,some with messages written on them, Frisbee style at the stage ,and he picked up a couple , read them and was certainly displeased by the comment on one of them . ! I guess others were messages for the Mac (I don’t know why there were paper plates around !) We sat on the floor, there being no seating in the body of the hall ,or not at the front a least At one concert I was dying for a pee well before FM took the stage ,but I daren’t leave my position as it was jam packed with people sitting on the floor It seemed though, when the Mac took the stage all thoughts of this problem went out of my mind till after the show When you are young, you are prepared to put up with inconveniences that are intolerable when you’re older! ,

Supporting acts:
One was Elton John: I wasn’t impressed Again ,the reports say he was topping the bill at one of the pop proms but I would not have gone to a concert to see Elton, and my recollection is he was supporting FM at one of these Roundhouse gigs. Also a group called ,Hookfoot, and possibly one called Sassafras, and also Nico ,formerly of the Velvet underground, who sat on the stage and sang several dirges, accompanying herself on a pumped organ thing She was OK though ,and I quite liked it (all I can say is, again , I don’t think this was at he rock prom either )

FM
There was a huge inflatable pink penis dangling over the stage from the balcony, which circumnavigates the place I’m sure Peter made some quip about this when they took to the stage
He started to play Man of the World I think (could have been Albatross I
I suppose)










and after a few bars ,made some comment about doing something more exciting or “that’s enough of that “or ( words to that effect, ) **and just started playing the riff to Oh Well* and they continued with that song till the end, though it may have been an extended version going into a jam I feel this happened pretty early on in the set -,May have even started like that.
These concerts were very loud, too loud in retrospect ,my ears would ring for hours afterwards. At one, the drums were mixed far too high in the mix,-Though I noticed this, it didn’t worry me- it was so exciting They played a great Madison Blues at this show I think they played Lke it that Way
Peter introduced Rattle Snake shake with “this is a song about Masturbation “and sort of said the word with relish I remember being absolutely overwhelmed at some point and wanted to get up on stage and join in the jam- the fact that I didn’t have my guitar with me didn’t seem to be a problem -though of course I didn’t move , but this is how powerful it could be! )
I noticed Christine Mc Vie at the side/,back of the stage, looking intently and admiringly at Peter ,whilst they were playing -,dare I say almost in disbelief at how good he was!


My memory is that these were all superb concerts, and ,as I had dragged along as many friend as possible to convert them to the cause ,I’m very glad ,to say FM came up with the goods !(Having said that, I didn’t ever see a bad concert by them !)


** if anyone would be kind enough to tell me if anything like this happens on any of the bootlegs that would be interesting cause if not, it might give an indication that there was a third concert.., If anyone can sort out the concerts ,I’d be very grateful!