Apr 4: Ticket Stub #5: Roy Harper

Before the days when you have your ticket as a QR code or bar code on your phone - even animated for particular gigs.

I'm going to share some of my old ticket stubs which I took some pictures of.

This concert was one of many that I saw Roy Harper perform - sometimes alone and sometimes with his son Nick. I saw him all over the country from the east coast to the west.

Roy is remembered of course on two classic albums. 

First there's Led Zeppelin's 'Hats off to Roy (Harper) from Led Zeppelin III. He also sang backing vocals on 'Have a Cigar' by Pink Floyd.

And also on David Gilmour's self-titled first solo album from 1978, he recorded a version of Roy's song 'Short and Sweet'. Roy recently did a farewell tour, and still sounds good. There are some classic tracks that he has recorded over the years. One of them is 'Commune', which always reminds me of a friend Caroline.

And of course he has to finish with 'Same old Rock' - which featured Jimmy Page on guitar.

Mar 4: Port Sunlight and Roy Harper

Port Sunlight was a community built by the Lever Brothers for their workers, who made soap.

It was over to Port Sunlight for me and some friends in the late early 1990s - was not sure when exactly,  but this WIKI confirms it as 1991 - it shows the venues of Roy's gigs and I remember quite a few of them in the 1990s all over the north of England.

Port Sunlight is a model community and we had a little look round before the concert. It's a beautiful place, and full of social history. The workers were provided with a nice house and a garden where they could grow some of the food they ate. It was created in 1888

I remember the hall - the Gladstone Theatre - being made from wood, and there were lots of signs warning of no smoking, which was hard to maintain when you're seeing Roy Harper back then...

Port Sunlight sits on the banks of the Mersey on the Wirral Peninsula - quite a trek from South Yorkshire for the gig, and named after the main brand of soap. A large number of architects worked on designs to ensure that there was variety in the type and design of houses.

Other similar model villages funded by industrialists are Saltaire and Bournville.

As with Bournville, alcohol wasn't originally provided.

Built in 1900, the Bridge Inn in Port Sunlught was originally a ‘temperance hotel’ that didn’t serve alcohol. This changed when William Lever put it to a vote and the village’s residents decided they wanted a place to enjoy an alcoholic drink.

What's the most unusual venue for a gig that you've ever been to?

Tell me about it in the comments below.