Memory:John Burns
I remember when I was in the Royal Navy at on HMS Resolution in the early 70's I saw an advert for a film show of a Jimi Hendrix concert to be shown at a college in Glasgow, I can't be specific about dates. As I had been a Fan before he died, I decided to go to the show. When I walked in to the hall I was amazed to see the amps and sound gear which was set up and thought it was for the movie. I sat down and after a short interval Gentle Giant was introduced, I saw these guys come on stage and was a bit pissed off since my time was restricted due to train timetables. Well I wasn't mad for long, the band did things musically which just kept me enthralled for the whole of their set. I'm not usually demonstrative but I stood and cheered and clapped and whistled and demanded an encore. I can't even remember if I saw the Hendrix film now (no disrespect Jimi) but the next time I got shore leave it was straight to the record shop and bought "In a Glass House", and I have been a fan ever since.
I was then fortunate enough to see the Band on the "Free Hand" tour at the Drury Lane theatre where they once again astounded me with their versatility particularly the when the whole band played drums (stolen afterwards by Ultravox and Thin Lizzy I think it was). Even Queen stole the 3 or 4 second intro trick on one of their albums. Anyway, I thought I would let you know how chance made me a fan for life, I still drive people mad by forcing them to listen to CD's (I save the Vinyl copies for posterity).