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Once again the Quarrymen were invited by the Galician band “Extrema Urgencia” to take part in a “Homage to John Lennon” concert in aid of the charity “Medicos sin Fronteras”. Len, Colin and Rod made the journey to La Coruna in Spain’s north-western tip from which they drove to Santiago de Compostela, the beautiful cathedral town which is the objective of the thousands of pilgrims who make the walk to the shrine of St. James.
On the Friday before the gig, which took place on the following Sunday, the Quarrymen were fortunate to be able to play on one of the region’s top music tv shows, “LUAR”, which plays for two hours in peak time on Friday evenings. This was the first time they had ever been asked to mime to their own cd and being used to playing everything live they were rather apprehensive, especially as the track chosen by the tv programme was “Blue Suede Shoes” which contained a piano solo! The Quarrymen’s own piano player, John Duff Lowe had not been able to make this gig due to business commitments, however a Spanish friend, Alfonso stepped into the breach and mimed brilliantly to the piano track even though he was really a guitar player!
Len and Rod were lent a couple of John Lennon style Gallotone Champion guitars to use on the show, and fooling around with them in the dressing room, they decided that those old guitars didn’t sound so bad after all! (see picture). The actual “tv performance” went very well, with a good plug from the presenter for the charity show on the Sunday. The sound was fantastic, obviously someone had pushed the “Kylie Minogue” button on the PA system, and the lads received a standing ovation.
After some serious sightseeing around the old part of Santiago, including a viewing of the famous “Swinging Censer” in the Cathedral, the lads went off to the Auditorio de Galicia for the sound check and the concert itself.
The concert was opened by an appeal by Julia Baird (John Lennon’s sister) on behalf of “Medicos sin Fronteras”. Also on the bill, which was hosted by actor/singer/humorist Javier Gurruchaga, were Spanish singer Chenoa from Mallorca, who had taken part in Andrea Bocelli’s world tour in 2011, whose repertoire included a fantastic rendition of “Kansas City”, bluesman Adrian Costa, and actor/singer Manuel Manquiña, plus of course Extrema Urgencia, who were joined by the Quarrymen for “Blue Suede Shoes” and “Twenty Flight Rock” before they closed the show with their own set.
You can hear “Extrema Urgencia’s” first number by clicking below. We hope to have some footage of the Quarrymen’s performance here at a later date.
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Bergamo Beatles Festival which was organised by the Magical Mystery Club, an Italian Beatles Fan Club, who had arranged concerts and exhibitions over the weekend. Davide and his wife Mariangela had opened their club five years ago and had always dreamed of getting the Quarrymen to play there, so this was the fulfilment of that dream.
Kuzminac.
