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John Lennon's Original Quarrymen at The Half Moon, Putney

10th September 2005

It had been a long time since I'd been to the Half Moon and I'd forgotten what a cool little venue it is and just how much history there is there. My last visit was to see John Otway and must have been some four or five years ago. It seems that anyone who's anyone has played there at some point, from Steve Marriott to Stephane Grappelli, The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band to Billy Bragg, Peter Frampton to Paul Carrack and from Nick Cave to... Natasha Bedingfield. No, really. Queuing to get into the stage area we oohed and aahed at the 'hall of fame' photos and wished we could have been there for many of the past events.

It was just awesome to get the chance to see the Quarrymen. Until the start of the year, before the release of their new album Songs We Remember, just the thought of them reforming seemed as if it could only be the stuff of a vivid imagination.

There were four original Quarrymen present for tonight's concert -- Rod Davis (vocals and guitar), Colin Hanton (drums), Len Garry (vocals and guitar) and John 'Duff' Lowe (keyboards, tea-chest bass) and they were joined tonight by a guest fretless-bass player.

They were great and really seemed to be enjoying themselves, recalling stories of how they came to meet John/Paul/George/Pete, of the Casbah, of Liverpool in the '50s and of how they came to join (and leave) the band. The music rocked (in a good old fashioned kinda way) -- early Elvis, Lonnie Donegan, Chuck Berry, etc. -- they've definitely still got what it takes. I was too chicken to get up and play washboard with them when they asked for someone from the audience to join in, though. Maybe next time.

[Rod]
Rod Davis
[John]
John Lowe on the tea-chest bass
[Quarrymen]
The Quarrymen
[Quarrymen]
The Quarrymen

Photos © urban-spaceman.org