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THE LAST NIGHT OF
FRIARS AYLESBURY PHASE THREE
FOR FURTHER
EXCLUSIVE PICTURES INCLUDING MAYBE YOU IN THEM:
TICKET
QUEUE GALLERY
PEOPLE GALLERY
SPECIAL CAKE GALLERY
SPECIAL REMEMBERING THE CIVIC CENTRE
GALLERY
A
very sad night in so many ways - the last Friars Phase Three gig and the
last event in the Civic Centre. The building is being demolished very
soon and it will be missed. Roll on Phase Four.
There will be plenty of memories from this gig and we would be pleased
to hear from you.
Along with Genesis in 1980 this was the most in demand Friars gig
ever, and what a way to go.
This was a brilliant and emotional night and John Otway and Paul Weller
played sets as hot as the temperature in the hall. And for the last time
at Friars Phase Three, we heard the immortal
Let There be Drums before Paul Weller came on (well a Phase Three gig would be
incomplete without it!)
John received the FA Cup from Friars in 1979 and received a special
award at this gig. Paul received the FA Cup with The Jam in 1980.
Earlier this year, Paul received NME's Godlike Genius Award. At this
gig, that was topped when Paul received from David Stopps, the Friars Heroes Award.
Aside from the gig pictures, there are special galleries (see above) commemorating
the venerable venue itself and also as David mentioned from the stage,
an amazing cake to commemorate Friars Phase Three made for the Friars
team by Sarah and Len Woods (if you saw the SLF gallery from last year,
they made a similar cake for SLF).
It deserves a gallery of it's own.
We'll keep this page updated
as stuff comes in.
SPECIAL........including interviews and much more, including
maybe you!
THE GALLERY
HERE SETLISTS
HERE YOUR VIEWS
HERE
REVIEW
HERE
KRIS NEEDS REVIEW HERE NEW ROXETTE REVIEW
HERE
From the acts.....
Paul
Weller
-
This is a
sad and auspicious occasion - we have had some lovely times here in the
past and we're going to have a lovely time tonight as well.
THE SETLISTS
Paul Weller:
(reasonably accurate) Wake
Up The Nation/Moonshine/Up The Dosage/Strange Town/7&3/All I Wanna Do
(Is Be With You)/From The Floorboards Up/Aim High/No Tears To Cry/Shout
To The Top/Trees/Empty Ring/One Bright Star/You Do Something To Me/Wild
Wood/Pretty Green/Start/Fast Cars Slow Traffic/Come On, Let's Go/The
Changingman/Art School/Scrape Away/Broken Stones/Pieces Of Dream/Town
Called Malice
The setlist that was played above differed
slightly to what was planned....(thanks Jason)
John Otway:
Really
Free/Beware Of The Flowers/Josephine/We Rock/Bunsen Burner/House Of The
Rising Sun/You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet
THE FANS
Some of the feedback we've had!
The webmaster:
The best gig I ever saw at
Friars was The Jam's Setting Sons gig in 1979. For intensity, this was
up there with it and I never thought I would hear Jam songs played live
again in the Maxwell Hall. Good on you Mr Weller.
There is a
thriving
Friars community on Facebook
with hundreds of members!
Here's a selection of
comments:
"What a Brilliant Night! Thank you to
all involved in organising it and 'goodbye' to the old Civic."
"A big thankyou to all that made last
night happen. Fantastic night"
"Great gig last night - emotional
send off for Friars!'
"well done to weller - he did stoppsy,
friars and aylesbury proud. mate has seen him a dozen times and said
he's never seen him so chilled and enjoying a gig so much. place was
like a sauna - proper old skool friars gig"
WEBSITE
REVIEW
We ever wondered if this would happen and
when. To
most Friars fans, we all believed the last night of Friars Phase Three
was December 22nd 1984 when local heroes Marillion thrilled a capacity
crowd, but nearly 26 years later, here we are at what is definitively
the last Phase Three gig as the building is now slated for demolition.
35 years of memories will remain.
The
night was emotional,
electric and bloody hot! (I thought the Gary Numan gig with its' volcanic
heat lighting rig was hot, but this was something else!) For the first
time and irony of ironies, on the last ever night, they managed to put
two extra bars into the Maxwell Hall itself - after all the complaints
of 35 years.......!
Local hero John Otway played
a fan happy set and usually acoustic, this time with a band. If you wanted Really Free,
Bunsen Burner and the usual lunacy, you got it in spades and Otway,
never a man to be stopped, decided to use (defying the Geneva Convention
and local bye laws) a step ladder as a prop and you knew what was coming
next. For a man of venerable years, his athleticism and willingness to
hurt himself makes the Otway experience what it is and long may it
reign. Otway was reminded when he received his Friars Special Award that
he also played the first night of Phase Three back in 1975!
At 9.00, David Stopps, for
the very last time in the Maxwell Hall, came on to introduce the star
turn...30 years we'd waited for Paul Weller to grace the Friars stage
again and he didn't disappoint as the packed hall blew the roof off.
Kicking off with Waking Up The Nation, he did just that and time stood
still as "we're going to play one from the old days"......Strange Town.
Weller on his Albert Hall residency last week had reunited on stage with
Bruce Foxton for the first time in 28 years and many were hoping that
might happen on this night of nights. Wasn't to be, but that wasn't a
showstopper.
A nod to
his immediate post Jam career with some Style Council stuff and more
modern classics like You Do Something To Me and Changingman followed.
Die-hard Jam fans could not have been disappointed with very early Jam
tracks like Art School from the very first album and also from later
offering Sound Affects (Scrape Away).
During the second
encore, David Stopps came back on to present Paul with the Friars Heroes
Award to cap an already great night. Personally, I always found A
Town Called Malice a high point in the Jam's career even though it was
later on. Weller closed a phenomenal set with this very song and so
Friars Aylesbury Phase Three drew to a tumultuous close and certainly
not with a whimper.
Friars legend
Kris Needs who was there from Phase One day one and also played on the first night
of Phase Three, DJ'ed again and how right was it that Mott the Hoople's
Saturday Gigs was played right at the end? Kris' musical choice never
fails to hit to spot for the occasion just like all the gigs last year.
To
everybody who came not just to this gig but to all the gigs from
September 1975 onwards in this wonderful hall, thank you all and like
Andrew Marr (recently in a documentary about Britain) said as he shopped
in a supermarket in Dunstable.....over by the fruit and veg was where
Bowie played (at Friars Dunstable) - in time, you will probably be a in
a supermarket in Aylesbury saying the same thing about Paul Weller,
Bowie, Genesis, Blondie, U2, The Clash and and countless others. RIP.
KRIS NEEDS
REVIEW
 
THE NEW ROXETTE
REVIEW
A real day of finalities this one… The final Friars phase
three, the final appearance of live music at the Civic and the
building’s final working weekend with demolition a reality in the
immediate future. It was also a blazing hot day with the temperature in
the notoriously air con free Civic beginning to cook by mid afternoon.
Co-incidentally the final bill included the two blokes
who opened phase three back in 1975. The mighty Kris Needs, minus
bongos, was once again filling his role as DJ and the opening act was,
of course, John Otway.
The simple fact that Otway has spent the last thirty
years making a successful career out of failure goes a long way towards
proving his validity as an artist. Tonight he appeared with a full band,
stepladders and the usual gymnastics. The hits and misses were roared
through with joyous abandon, from Beware of the Flowers through
to Bunsen Burner. Otway is an entertainer in the true, old
fashioned sense of the word. He mines a seam running from Will Kemp all
the way to Harpo Marx. Long may he continue.
Looking tanned and athletic Paul Weller led his band on
stage with a Bowie ‘Serious Moonlight Tour’ Badge pinned prominently to
his T shirt. Starting with Wake Up The Nation they powered
through an amazing set featuring an unbelievable number of career
highlights. They came across fast and furious, Strange Town with
its proto power pop which musically summed up very late 70s music
for this writer. Fast Car Slow Traffic, in the hall’s sauna like
atmosphere, really evoked the heat and claustrophobia of urban travel.
No Tears To Cry with its Latin vibe brought back memories of the
late lamented Willy Deville. You could almost see his ghost returning to
the scene of his first European triumph on the Civic stage. There was
Shout To The Top, Wild Wood, You Do Something To Me, Changing Man
(which accompanied the ejection of a rogue photographer from the
balcony) and the presentation of a well deserved Friars Hero award
somewhere between the encores. It all sped past in a great wave of
moving, life affirming joy.
Finally, historians will note that the last song of the
last Friars phase three and possibly the last song played in the Civic
was Town Called Malice.
So
it’s farewell to the Civic and to phase three. They were both given a
magnificent send off by a magnificent band. Goodbye baby and amen…
Onward to phase four!
Rick Pearce
THE GALLERY
All pictures: Used with
permission and as credited and
©
2010 www.aylesburyfriars.co.uk except where noted
This is a biggie - the Weller crew started at 7.30 Friday morning on the
full 2010 Weller set.
Picture: Mike O'Connor
Picture: Mike O'Connor
Picture: Mike O'Connor
As
with the Pretty Things and Kid Creole gigs last year, BBC News Oxford
did a news item on the gig
Picture: Stuart Robb
Picture: Mike O'Connor
About 1pm and the crew start testing the lights out.
Picture: Mike O'Connor
Picture: Stuart Robb
Back again for this special occasion, John Braley was stage manager
again for the gig.
Picture: Mike O'Connor
Just in case anyone wasn't sure!
Picture: Mike O'Connor
The
Friars team getting ready at lunchtime with posters and the like turning
up to be sorted for the night.
Picture: Mike O'Connor
Otway also did a stint at Waterstone's in Aylesbury in the day to
publicise his new book which was on sale at the gig.
Picture: Stuart Robb
Picture: Stuart Robb
Picture: Stuart Robb
Early afternoon and final preparation for the biggest production seen at
Friars since 1982.
Picture: Neale Wareham/Modent
Art
The
Weller crew getting their stalls ready.
Picture: Neale Wareham/Modent
Art
The
Aston Hall ready for the arrival of the fans.
Picture: Neale Wareham/Modent
Art
Security staff readying themselves for the evening.
Picture: Neale Wareham/Modent
Art
David Stopps introducing an act on stage for the penultimate time. Step
forward John Otway.
Picture: Neale Wareham/Modent
Art
The
local boy did good as you would expect.
Picture: Neale Wareham/Modent
Art
There aren't many people (Jean Michel Jarre aside) you see playing a
theremin!
Picture: Neale Wareham/Modent
Art
Picture: Joe Stopps
Picture: Neale Wareham/Modent
Art
Picture: Neale Wareham/Modent
Art
Otway and a stepladder can only mean one thing......
Picture: Neale Wareham/Modent
Art
Picture: Joss O'Kelly
Picture: Joss O'Kelly
John finished the evening receiving a special Friars award to add to his
other Friars awards.
Picture: Markus Kinch/Film
41
It
was an astonishingly hot night so many people took to the patio to chill
out.
Picture: Neale Wareham/Modent
Art
Picture: Neale Wareham/Modent
Art
A
special word here - this is Friars legend Kris Needs who, like Otway,
also played at the first night of Phase Three in 1975. He has been the
amazing DJ at all the Friars 2009-2010 gigs and designed the flyers for
these gigs like he did all those years ago.
Friars younger members please note.... Kris is playing something called
V-I-N-Y-L (aka the golden age) and subsequently some great songs....how
right that one of the last things Kris played was Mott The Hoople's
Saturday Gigs. You remember those golden Friars nights too.
Picture: Michelle Needs
Picture: Richard Burt
We've waited since August 1980 for this moment - Paul Weller back on the
Friars stage introduced by a rightly proud David Stopps. And Paul is
wearing the Bowie badge given to him before the gig by Friars own Judy
Pearce.
Picture: Neale Wareham/Modent
Art
Picture: Neale Wareham/Modent
Art
Picture: Neale Wareham/Modent
Art
Picture: Richard Burt
Picture: Richard Burt
Picture: Joe Stopps
Picture: Joe Stopps
Picture: Joe Stopps
Picture: Neale Wareham/Modent
Art
Picture: Richard Burt
Picture: Neale Wareham/Modent
Art
Picture: Neale Wareham/Modent
Art
A
truly ecstatic crowd.
Picture: Markus Kinch/Film
41
Picture: Richard Burt
Picture: Neale Wareham/Modent
Art
So
that's it, Friars Phase Three is all over now bar the tidying up.
Picture: Neale Wareham/Modent
Art
Picture: Neale Wareham/Modent
Art
The
most amazing cake as David mentioned from the stage. See the
separate gallery for this. This
was an amazing gesture for the Friars team from Sarah and Len Woods.
Picture: Neale Wareham/Modent
Art
Many people took pictures of the cake and here's The New Roxette's
Stuart Robb.
Picture: Neale Wareham/Modent
Art
The
empty bar being tidied for the last time.
Picture: Neale Wareham/Modent
Art
Picture: Sarah Woods
Quite possibly the last ever picture taken at Friars Phase Three.
Picture: Sarah Woods
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