Playlist May 3/2012.....The Rolling Stones Invade Treasure Island Gardens.
The true story of The Rolling Stones one time only visit to sleepy colonistic London Ontario on Apr 26/1965. This was the only time ever, that a Rolling Stones show was stopped part way through due to a riot....and the show was not started again. True, there have been many riots (even deaths) at Rolling Stones shows, but this was the only time ever, that a show ended after approximately 15 minutes. Another thorn in sleepy London Ontario's ass.
1. Ed Rudy Radio Rolling Stones....started the show with the intro to Ed Rudy's radio show on The Rolling Stones. Originally aired on 10/23/64, the day prior to The Rolling Stones first (and controversial) appearance on stodgy old Ed Sullivan's show (more on this a little later).
This was The Rolling Stones 3rd American tour and first time they actually ventured into Canada. There were 4 dates in Canada; Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and finally London and from there they went to New York state for more shows. For the London show, tickets were $2.50 (tax included) and were available at Country Park Restaurant, 253 Dundas St.
Opening the show, were The Nottingham 3 from St Thomas Ontario, The Fortune Tellers, a top 40 band and J B and The Playboys from Montreal.
2. JB and The Playboys....One Love, Your Love
3. JB and The Playboys...Leave My Woman Alone.
For this show, The Rolling Stones were paid $10,000 and played for approximately 15m...and they got to party for the rest of the evening here in sleepy London Ontario.
Here's the actual set (with a couple of screwups as noted) that they played in London...I went through various live bootlegs to try and find the best version of each song. Thanx to Danny Husband (and his sister) for the pics...
4. The Rolling Stones...Everybody Needs Somebody To Love....from an 8/30/65 BBC session.
5. The Rolling Stones....Around and Around....live on Ed Sullivan 10/25/64
6. The Rolling Stones...Time Is On My Side....live on Ed Sullivan 10/25/64. This was the band's first ever appearance on Ed's show and probably the first exposure for most North Americans to the band. Ed was appalled by the band, here's a quote from The Rolling Stones: Complete Recording Sessions; "Adult American TV viewers were alarmed at this seeming riot in their own homes and gradually the pressure mounted. Ed Sullivan, anxious to reaffirm his prestige, denied responsibility that he had anything to do with the booking of The Stones. He was shocked by the performance and vowed to cancel all future rock and roll acts. He claimed that his show had been built up over 17 years and he did not want it broken up by such unruly behaviour. They were not like that other British act, The Dave Clark Five- such nice gentlemen!"
7. The Rolling Stones...Pain In My Heart...from the Now LP...this should have been the 2nd song in the set, but I screwed up.
8. The Rolling Stones...Good Times...from the 12 X 5...another screwup, this song wasn't supposed to be played, but i couldn't count the night of this show.
9. The Rolling Stones...It's All Over Now...from 12X5...and yes, this song should have been played.
10. The Rollings Stones...Off The Hook...from Now LP....this song was never finished. What happened according to eye witness's, is that the snow fence (yes, snow fence, after all this is sleepy London Ontario) that separated the band from the 3000 fans, either broke down or was pushed over by 2 young girls. Doesn't really matter, it was a snow fence, and how was that going to contain 3000 screaming rabid fans all wanting to touch Brian Jones immaculate hair?
When the snow fence went down, the police ordered the stage power to be cut, hence the instruments would no longer be audible (were they actually audible before that???). And at this point a portion of the crowd rushed the stage to meet and greet their idols.
Here's Bill Wyman's take on the situation (from Rolling With The Stones by Bill Wyman) " The Stones went onstage about 8:30PM and played to about 3000 fans, many had driven from Detroit and gave the band a great reception. Things were going fine until the police cut off the power midway through the set. " The Police just created an antagonistic atmosphere" Bill told the London Free Press on Apr 27, 1965. " These kids were just enjoying themselves, the police acted in a typical small town way. They just panicked'. Mick said 'Our instruments wouldn't work and the place was dark, there was a riot, but it wasn't our fault. We're always the ones to get the blame"."
From here I played some Rolling Stones bootleg recordings from that era, some of them have titles that fit the scene...
11. The Rolling Stones...Don't Lie To Me...10/11 June 1964 Chess sessions.
12. The Rolling Stones...Last Time...from the Got Live LP.
13. The Rolling Stones...Roll Over Beethoven...10/5/63 BBC session and The Stones first ever radio session.
14. The Rolling Stones...I Get Around...Beach Boys song, possibly west coast recording with Phil Spector??? The guitar is quite recognizable as Keith.
15. The Rolling Stones...No Expectations....RSVP bootleg...the sound quality of this is superior to the actual released copy of Beggar's Banquet in my collection. The clarity and dynamic range of this bootleg is just phenomenal and I'd highly recommend it if you dig this era of The Stones!
Now we get into the Canadian bands that have opened for The Stones over the years...among them; JB and The Playboys, The Staccatos, Esquires, David Clayton Thomas and The Shays, The Rogues, The Band, Canadian Legends, Steppenwolf, April Wine and we'll start with the best, the band often referred to as the Canadian Rolling Stones, The Ugly Ducklings.
16. Ugly Ducklings...Just In Case...from a 7" with one of the most devasting fuzz guitar sounds on record.
17. The Ugly Ducklings...She Ain't No Use To Me...again, from a 7".
18. The Ugly Ducklings...I Wish You Would...from the 1980 self titled LP. This LP was a mixture of LP cuts and unreleased versions to cash in on the burgeoning punk scene in Toronto.
19. The Ugly Ducklings...Nothin'...from the Somewhere Outside LP...if the Ducks had recorded nothing but this song, they would still be legends today! A pure garagepunk anthem that so many bands have recorded over the years.
Many years ago, I was told the story about The Ugly Ducklings opening for The Rolling Stones at Maple Leaf Gardens. It was the first time for the Ducks to be playing at such a huge venue and curiosity got the best of rhythm guitarist Glynn Bell. He peaked through the curtain to have a look at the crowd and the crowd went ballistic!! Due to his near perfect Brian Jones coif, the crowd thought it was Brian peaking through the crowd!!
20. David Clayton Thomas and The Shays...Take Me Back....DC and The Shays opened in Toronto on The Stones first Canadian tour.
21. David Clayton Thomas...Done Somebody Wrong...from the self titled LP. DCT came to Western 9/22/2009 to give a talk on the anniversary of Woodstock, at which his combo, Blood Sweat and Tears played at. He didn't recall a lot about it, as at the time it was just like any other gig...but he did talk about some of his early days starting out in Toronto. And I did get to shake his hand and get some of my early DCT LP's autographed!
22. The Esquires...It's A Dirty Shame.
23. The Rogues...Girl.
24. Ronnie Hawkins...Hey Bo Diddly...1958 recording featuring Levon Helms who passed away 2 weeks ago. Levon was in The Band who opened for The Stones.
25. Ronnie Hawkins....Who Do You Love...again, featuring members of The Band and our quick trib to Levon Helm.
Hope you enjoyed this one, it was a TON of fun going through hours and hours of Rolling Stones bootlegs, books, websites (there's a lot of misinformation out on the internet) and talking to a few people who remembered this event.
Here's a link to the podcast, which is up for 1 week only:
