By Robyn on Facebook in 2023
Kennington, London: It was here only 51 years ago that I played my first rock gig. The band, which we posthumously named the Beatles, had two large amplifiers through which went two electric guitars, bass, and two vocal mics. Or maybe we had three amps. I was a foundation student at the City & Guilds art school and I volunteered my nameless fledgling beat combo to play the midwinter Art School Dance. The set included “Rain”, “Astronomy Dominé”, and “Waiting For The Man” and nothing written after 1968. Whether anybody danced is a moot point, but one of the male tutors did get into a fight with a male student and they knocked over the Christmas Tree. In the long-defunct spirit of having a Happening, I bought a box of soap-bubble cartons for the party-goers to blow soap bubbles, but the air was far too smoky and the soapy mixture just made the floor even less dance-friendly.
We were terrible yet returned to play the City & Guilds Summer dance and one the following winter, after I had left. I guess nobody else wanted the gig. The Beatles broke up, as Beatles do, not long after. This is my first visit back to the old art school in 50 years. Showbiz, eh?