Stage set for music royalty to rock Palace
Nostalgia recalls the Manchester connections of artists appearing at the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Concert next month
IN little more than a week, the Royal Family and the BBC will host a unique event at Buckingham Palace to mark the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. The Platinum Party at the Palace Concert on Saturday, June 4, will feature a host of performers from the fields of music and dance to celebrate 70 years of the Queen’s reign.
Many of the headline names have an affinity with Manchester having played the city multiple times in their careers.
They include Rod Stewart, Duran Duran, Elton John, Ella Eyre, Nile Rodgers, Craig David, dance group Diversity, Queen and Adam Lambert.
What’s more, Bury alternative rock band Elbow will be taking centre stage at the concert which will also feature former United player David Beckham making a guest appearance on film.
Closing the whole event will be a music legend who made her first appearance in Manchester way back in April 1965 – Tamla Motown trailblazer Diana Ross.
She was then one third of the Supremes along with Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard. They played Manchester’s Odeon cinema as one of the groups on the nationwide Motown tour.
Other acts from Detroit on the same bill were Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Martha and the Vandellas, the Earl Van Dyke Six and Little Stevie Wonder – so called because he was only 14 years old at the time!
The aim of the 21-city tour was to establish the Motown label in the UK. Only a few hits had made the British charts, including the Supremes’ classic Baby Love which went to Number One in November 1964.
Motown was already having an influence on British groups. The Beatles sang three Motown tracks – Money, You Really Got a Hold on Me and Please Mr Postman – on their 1963 album With the Beatles.
The Supremes went on to become the best-charting female group in history, notching up 12 Number One singles in the US Billboard Hot 100.
Singer-songwriter Elton John was certainly used to chart success when he performed at the Kings Hall, Belle Vue, in November 1973 and again in May 1976.
He was already a household name in 1973 after releasing the Number One album Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player including the hits Daniel and Crocodile Rock.
Three years later, he’d added songs like Candle in the Wind, Bennie and the Jets and Goodbye Yellow Brick Road to the Belle Vue playlist.
In 1997, Elton and lyricist Bernie Taupin rewrote Candle in the Wind as the song Goodbye England’s Rose for the funeral of Princess Diana at Westminster Abbey.
It was little surprise the Kings Hall at Belle Vue attracted so many stars. With more than 100,000 square feet of space and the capacity to hold 7,000 people, it was one of the largest venues outside London.
Another Platinum Concert performer, Rod Stewart, played the Kings Hall with the Faces in November 1974 and as a solo artist in November 1976 and December 1978.
One of the best-selling music artists of all time, Stewart had released the smash-hit single Maggie May in 1971 before he came to Manchester.
In December 1973, Stewart strengthened his Manchester connections by receiving the gold disc for his LP Sing It Again Rod from his footballing hero Denis Law, then playing for City.
Platinum Concert band Duran Duran played Manchester’s Apollo in December 1983 as part of an extensive global tour which included the group’s first major stadium dates in the US.
A documentary of the tour was later released under the title Sing Blue Silver. Duran Duran were back in Manchester at the International 2 venue in November 1988.
Moving forward, rock group Queen with American singer Adam Lambert as lead singer lit up Manchester Arena in January 2015.
Memories may well come flooding back of Brian May’s appearance, guitar in hand, on the Palace roof at the Golden Jubilee Concert of 2002.
Making new memories at the Platinum Concert will be Bury band Elbow, formed by school pals Guy Garvey and Mark Potter in 1997.
Elbow won the Brit Award for Best British Group in 2009 and their track First Steps became the BBC theme tune for the 2012 London Olympics.
Another Platinum Concert guest is recent Manchester visitor Ella Eyre, who performed at the Parklife Festival in Heaton Park in June 2015.
iNostalgia have come up with a special offer to mark the Platinum Jubilee. Buy Manchester Then and Now for £12.99 and get any other book for half price! The Queen’s visits to Manchester feature in many of iNostalgia’s titles which are all available on inostalgia.co.uk or on the order hotline 01928 503777.