The Greatest Concert You’ve Never Heard, Or Heard Of

Long before the Monterey International Pop Music Festival was held in 1967, in England there were the NME (New Musical Express) Poll Winners concerts. The 1965 event was held on Sunday, April 11, and it featured an unbelievable lineup, along with a couple of lesser-known acts. How did these huge names all clear their schedules to appear together on the same day?

The Moody Blues
Bo Didley
Go Now

Freddie And The Dreamers
Little Bitty
Pretty One
A Little You

Georgie Fame And The Blue Flames
Yeh Yeh
Walking The Dog

The Seekers
I’ll Never Find Another You
A World Of Our Own

Herman’s Hermits
Wonderful World
Mrs. Brown You’ve Got A Lovely Daughter

The Ivy League And Division Two
Funny How Love Can Be
Sweet And Tender Romance
That’s Why I’m Crying

Sounds Incorporated
Time For You
In The Hall Of The Mountain King

Wayne Fontana And The Mindbenders
Game Of Love
Just A Little Bit Too Late

The Rolling Stones
Everybody Needs Somebody To Love
Pain In My Heart
Around And Around
Pain In My Heart

Cilla Black With Sounds Incorporated
Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah
Going Out Of My Head

Donovan
You’re Gonna Need Somebody On Your Band
Catch The Wind

Them with Van Morrison
Here Comes The Night
Turn On Your Love Light

The Searchers
Bumble Bee
Let The Good Times Roll

Dusty Springfield with The Echoes
Dancing In The Street
Mockingbird
I Can’t Hear You

The Animals
Boom Boom
Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood
Talkin’ bout You

The Beatles
I Feel Fine
She’s A Woman
Baby’s In Black
Ticket To Ride
Long Tall Sally

The Kinks
You Really Got Me
Tired Of Waiting For You

The first time I heard about the ’65 NME concert was at a solo Ray Davies show, where he described how the Kinks were stuck being the follow-up act to the Beatles. Let’s all agree to ignore the presence of the posthumously disgraced Jimmy Savile, and please note that, despite being two hours long, the concert footage is far from complete, but what there is of it is fantastic. And now, on with the show!

2 thoughts on “The Greatest Concert You’ve Never Heard, Or Heard Of”

  1. Those Brits in the audience are so reserved and the main emcee so polite to a fault (yeah, Savile, eww), you’d think they’d all been slipped a Valium on the way in … until the Fab Four take the stage. What a DREAM line-up!

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