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Scarborough, UK - 1974


A concert review by Steve Burns:

In autumn 1974, SAILOR played the Penthouse in Scarborough (Yorskhire, UK). The DJ, one Matt Watkinson, had been playing the album on odd nights, and I'd been quite impressed, so I'd bought it (he also worked at the local record shop which helped), and persuaded a few of my friends to come along to see this weird band who promised such an entertaining evening. Expect the unexpected, as they say.
The Nickelodeon on the stage convinced a few that we were in for something a bit unusual, but this was 1974, and we were a hard audience to please. We were all "into" synthesisier bands (Seventh Wave played a gig at the same venue a few weeks later, to great acclaim), but rather looked down our noses at "pop" bands. Which, it had occurred to me, this SAILOR might well be.
When these four guys walked onstage wearing the ridiculous sailor suits, I thought, "Lord, what's this?", and, when they started the first song ("Let's Go to Town", of course) and the sound failed, it looked as though it was going to be embarrassing.
They returned to the dressing room (or whatever), waited five minutes while somebody fixed the sound, then came back and blew the place away. They played the album in its entirety, plus (I think) "Panama" and (definitely) "Pimps' Brigade". For encores, they played more or less the entire album again. ("We don't know many songs.") At the end, we were informed it had been the first time people had paid to see them play - I can't say whether this was true or not.
Best wishes,
Steve
Copyright by Steve Burns


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