45 years ago !!!! 45 !!!!
It only seems like yesterday.
The year was 1981. GILLAN released the classic ‘Future Shock’ album and announced an Australian tour. Thursday October 22nd was the date for the gig at the Thebarton Town Hall. The poster has obviously incorrect spelling, and you younguns would know the place as Thebarton Theatre.
I was watching Countdown on TV on the weekend before, seeing the band surprisingly appear, only to discover then that Bernie Torme (guitar) had left the band and was replaced by Janick Gers, a name a lot of you would be familiar with now, due to his ongoing long service with IRON MAIDEN.
The gig was excellent, if memory serves, opening with ‘Unchain Your Brain”, and playing many classics from the band’s albums, as well as one or two from Ian’s time with that other band, DEEP PURPLE.
The gig was also VERY LOUD, and remained the loudest gig I’d heard for 17 years, until SLAYER topped it with a frighteningly loud gig at the same venue in 1998. Incidentally, I saw MOTORHEAD 3 times in between and they weren’t as loud as this gig was, that in itself is unreal.
The gig poster you see is the gig poster that I ‘borrowed’ from a construction site boarding in the city and I’ve kept it ever since, eventually framing it a few years ago. You see it as soon as you walk inside my front door.
Cheers.
