‘Judas’ heckle went down in musical history
THE most famous heckle in music history took place in Manchester Free Trade Hall on Tuesday, May 17, 1966. The artist was Bob Dylan. The heckle? Just one word – Judas! The furore was all about Dylan going electric and seemingly betraying his unplugged, acoustic folk roots.
Fans were horrified when they heard the new sound. It all started so well in Manchester. The first set was a virtuoso solo performance from the American folk singer/songwriter using his trusted acoustic guitar. The second set was very different. Dylan swapped to electric guitar and, with help from his backing band the Hawks, belted out Tell Me Momma at full volume.
Folk traditionalists were not amused.
To make matters worse, the lyrics sounded like mush as the sound bounced round the auditorium creating an echo.
There were murmurs, slow handclapping and jeers.
Then, in a moment of stunned silence, someone up in the circle shouted ‘Judas!’
Dylan heard it and shouted back: ‘I don’t believe you. You’re a liar!’
He then turned to the band and told them to play loud, very loud!
They did, blasting out a seriously high octane version of Like a Rolling Stone. The heckler was thought to be college lecturer John Cordwell, as it was his voice the microphones picked up, although it seems that Dylan fan Keith Butler may have shouted at the same time.
A bootleg recording of the Free Trade Hall concert circulated for years although it was incorrectly labelled as one of the Albert Hall gigs.
It was not the end of Dylan’s troubles on his tour which included dates in Australia and the USA.
Hawks’ guitarist Robbie Robertson remembered that the electric set was booed almost every night.
‘They were wrong. We were right’, he said.
The Hawks went on to become music legends in their own right after changing their name to The Band in 1967. Dylan never looked back either. But the crucial moment happened in Manchester.
It was a pivotal time for the Rolling Stones too when they played the Free Trade Hall on Friday, March 5, 1971.
It was billed as the Goodbye Britain Tour as the band said they’d be leaving the country to live as tax exiles in the south of France.
This they promptly did when the tour ended.
The Stones played two concerts on the same day in Manchester, the second city on the tour after Newcastle. Our photo shows Mick Jagger strutting round the stage with Keith Richards on guitar. It was a packed house. Fans had queued for tickets overnight the previous month leaving assorted debris behind them.
Taking it easy in our next photo from January, 1966 is former Manchester College of Art student and pioneering blues singer John Mayall.
He teamed up with trumpeter John Rowlands, saxophonist Jack Massarik, guitarist Ray Cummins and drummer Hughie Flint in the Blues Syndicate and appeared regularly at the Twisted Wheel nightclub in Brazennose Street, Manchester.
By late 1963, they were appearing under the name the Bluesbreakers and released their first single Crawling Up a Hill in 1964.
Some illustrious musicians played with the Bluesbreakers.
They include Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, Mick Taylor and Peter Green, who later formed Fleetwood Mac.
Famous names were also involved in the Manchester legend about how Wayne Fontana and the Mindbenders came into being.
Originally, Fontana and Bob Lang were members of a group called the Jets, who secured an audition at the Oasis Club.
Only Fontana and Lang turned up as the band had split, so drummer Ric Rothwell and guitarist Eric Stewart were press-ganged into service.
Our photo was shot in May, 1965 just before the group’s single Game of Love went to Number Two in the UK and US.
In October, 1965, Fontana suddenly walked out in the middle of a concert leaving Eric Stewart to pick up the vocals.
The group continued as the Mindbenders and acquired Graham Gouldman when Bob Lang left in March, 1968.
A few months later the Mindbenders broke up and Stewart and Gouldman went on to form 10cc.
Another group who were frequent visitors to Manchester were the Beatles.
The city responded in style with adoring fans and something quite unique – Beatles wallpaper.
It was produced by Wallpaper Manufacturers Ltd in 1964.
In September 2016, a single roll was on sale on E-bay for £279.99p!
Manchester band the Hollies lined up with stand-in drummer Tony Mansfield in March, 1967 when they filmed an appearance in the city for the TV show Doddy’s Music Box.
Regular drummer Bobby Elliott had collapsed on stage with an inflamed appendix.
Mansfield (real name Anthony Bookbinder and older brother of Elkie Brooks) had been a founder member of the Dakotas.
Unmissable pictures like these – and many more like them – feature in Clive Hardy’s latest book Around Manchester in the 1960s.
The book is available at £19.99 with free postage for M.E.N. readers.
Order your copy by visiting the iNostalgia website, inostalgia. co.uk, or by filling in the coupon in this supplement.
In the meantime, Clive Hardy’s previous book, the muchacclaimed Around Manchester in the 1950s, is on sale now at all good bookshops.
The book covers every aspect of local life in more than 200 images from the archives of the M.E.N.
Around Manchester in the 1950s and Around Manchester in the 1960s, published by Manchester-based business iNostalgia, retail at £19.99 each with free postage for M.E.N. readers. Just go to inostalgia.co.uk to place your order or fill in the coupon in Nostalgia.