Slade

Odds and sods about the British rock band Slade

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Their divine mission is to wake the dead

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US ad

When in Norway in May I saw an amusing American Slade ad that was displayed in the window of Shabby Records in Haugesund. With the help from my friend Jostein I have now obtained a scan of it. Hope you enjoy it.

Thursday, July 03, 2008

Don in Taarnby

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Mal

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John

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Dave

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Dave on John on stage

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John, Mal and the pillar

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Dave inciting the audience

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Guitars

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Mal and Dave in front of the pillar

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John and Don giggling

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Eat your heart out, Hendrix!

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Get your hands in the air

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John is splitting

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Dave in Kirsten's Christmas hat

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Does he bite?

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No, he didn't!

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Tea in the prop room

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Don and Tea

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Slade in Taarnby, Denmark

On June 27 Slade gave a concert in Taarnby by Copenhagen in Denmark. As my daughter Tea and I were on holiday in Copenhagen anyway, we took the train to Taarnby to see the concert.
We arrived at the venue – Kroegers House situated beneath the Strike Bowling Alley – around 7.30 p.m. and Don was already busy with the sound check. We talked a bit with Hanne, then the other guys arrived and they continued to do sound check until almost 9 o’clock when the doors were opened.
Slade had their dinner while the venue was filling up. It wasn’t that big a place, so it got quite crowded. I talked to Don and the rest backstage for a while and we had some comical situations, as there was no toilet backstage. Then Tea and I went out front to say hello to some of our old friends, among them hard-core fans Per and Kirsten. Kirsten had to lend Dave her Christmas hat, as he had forgotten his. Mikael Helmuth from the Team Theatre was there as well as several other friends and fans and I met both old and new acquaintances.
Slade went on stage at 10 p.m. and played for 75 minutes. The set list was:
We’ll Bring The House Down
Take Me Bak ‘Ome
Lock Up Your Daughters
Squeeze Me Pleeze Me
Far Far Away
Everyday
Red Hot
‘Coz I Luv You
Run Runaway
My Oh My
Gudbuy T’Jane
Mama Weer All Crazee Now
Get Down And Get With It
and the encores
Cum On Feel The Noize
Merry Xmas Everybody
The concert didn’t really resemble any I have seen so far, mainly because of bad acoustics and a pillar that was placed at the centre of the stage. Mal had to stand on a forward part of the stage in front of the pillar and Don had to sit behind it. Most of the concert Mal played a very entertaining game of hide and seek with the rest of the band, running around the pillar shouting “Peek-a-boo”!
The guys were in a great mood and that affected the audience, of course. When introducing Mama Mal asked the usual question of “are you crazy?” and when the audience gave the usual confirming answer, he replied, “I have to go home, then.” Usually Dave sticks his hand between John’s legs during Mama, but this time he didn’t, to John’s big surprise. It was funny to watch when you knew the act in advance.
When we got to Get Down everybody was to get their hands in the air of course, and Don signalled to Hanne who watched the concert from the wings to get her bloody hands in the air. Hilarious! The guys were at their craziest during Get Down with Dave and John dancing and Mal licking Dave’s guitar in the attempt to try to play it with his tongue. When Mal then announced, “I’m afraid we have to go,” the audience shouted their usual, “No!” but behind the drums Don shouted, “Yes!” just as loud!
For the encores John sported his Union Jack jacket added the Irish flag on the back, as his wife is Irish. And of course Dave came on stage wearing Kirsten’s Christmas hat. The crowd was really up and going by then and enjoying the concert.
After the show Tea and I went backstage to chat with the guys and hang out. Part of the backstage area was a prop room, so Tea played with the props while we talked (mostly about Don’s biography) and Slade had a fan audience, letting fans in one by one to meet and greet and get autographs. At 00.30 a.m. Tea and I left for the train back to Copenhagen. The next day Slade gave another concert in Denmark, this time in Skaerbaek in a different part of the country, but Tea and I didn’t attend, as we were still enjoying our holidays in Copenhagen. But that – of course – is a whole different story!
P.S. Thank you to Per Christensen for letting me use some of his photos.