Tuesday, March 07, 2006

London Trivia - When was the first rock concert?



We are on the trivia trail again! Who can guess in what decade the first Rock Concert was held in London? Was it the fifties? the sixties? who do you think it was? Only rule - it has to have been called a Rock Concert. Come on - give it your best shot.

As you may have guessed by now, you are all wrong. It was in the 40's. The Eighteen forties! Really. The photo is of the obelisk for this bloke called Joseph Richardson who discovered that the stone he was digging out the ground made a nice noise when you hit it, and by chipping bits away you could tune it. This new sound became all the rage and in eighteen-forty-something he held what was billed as a "Monstre (sic) Rock Concert" in London. You can see the detail of the inscription on this Kensal Green Cemetery obilisk on My Other Stuff and some pictures of the instrument itself here.

That just goes to prove what we have always known - the Stones have been around for ever!

posted by Ham at 00:06 -- Comments here: 8

Comments on "London Trivia - When was the first rock concert?"

 

Blogger Denton said ... (17:33) : 

The first I attended was in the 60's so it has to be before that. I would guess the 40's if only to make be feel less old.

 

Blogger Eric said ... (17:41) : 

1430, by Joan of arc and her band. She set the stage on fire if I do remember...

;)

 

Blogger Blamey said ... (21:34) : 

I'd have to be associated with Bill Haley and the DJs of the time wouldn't it - so the early fifties

 

Anonymous Anonymous said ... (22:01) : 

50s methinks.

 

Anonymous Anonymous said ... (23:11) : 

Eric, the audience set fire, not her! Looks like she's been the first rock&roll victim ;)
I look forward to knowing the answer to the trivia!

 

Anonymous Anonymous said ... (00:13) : 

Wow, impressive :)
Is the BBC radio broadcast available somewhere on the internet?
This is (not) my g-g-g-generation ;)

 

Blogger midnitebara said ... (08:21) : 

thanks for sharing that history. No wonder its called rock music..., but when did they add roll to it. ~rock-n-roll~?

 

Blogger Ham said ... (23:22) : 

I enjoyed that!

Fred - I looked but couldn't find that program. It was satisfyingly difficult to find any references to it, actually.

Midnitebara - Do't know about the roll, but they also used a stell band (same deal - hitting lumps of iron)

Manuel - What would I say, I dunno, I was a bit dazed and confused at the time

Chris - definitely not cheating, it was a rock concert, sorry.

 

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Name: Ham Location: London, United Kingdom View my complete profile