"The Big Show" The DC5s 1965 Tour of Australia
Tour Programme
After their non-stop exertions of 1964, the members of the DC5 may have thought 1965 would be a little less hectic. However the year was once again made up of whistle stop overseas tours, which this time also took in the long trip to the Antipodes. At 2 a.m. on May 25th, the group along with Tommy Quickly and The Seekers flew into the Western Australian city of Perth thirty six hours after they London, to start an eleven day, seven concert, 4500 mile tour before going on to New Zealand. However before the tour started such was the demand for tickets that three extra concerts had to be pencilled into the already exhausting schedule.
The tour promoter was Kenn Brodziak a 52 year-old Entrepreneur who had been bringing big name acts into Australia since 1948. He used the name "The Big Show" for all his major tours and had recently organised the Beatles tour of Australia. The DC5 were to be the headline act along with Aussie group "The Seekers" who were returning from a successful spell in the U.K. Tommy Quickly, a Liverpool singer from the Brian Epstein stable and Aussie duo Bobby and Laurie, who had just had a massive Aussie hit with "I Belong With You”, were the other permanent members of the tour party. In addition a local DJ was provided from each city to act as "show compere" along with local groups to supplement the evening's entertainment.
The "Big Show" opened in Perth at the Capitol Theatre with two concerts on the 26th May, the day after their arrival in Australia.Local group “The Frames provided the support to the four main acts. The Perth newspapers hadn't given too much coverage to the concert or the DC5, concentrating only on the return to Australia of "The Seekers”. The concert was recorded as "Bobby and Laurie" have since issued a CD of their live performance at that venue.This was the brief report in the "West Australian" newspaper.
"Put your hands on your ears, it blocks out the screaming. The music comes through, the vibration comes up through the floors”. This was the advice a teenage redhead at The Capitol Theatre last night-and she was right. From the moment the curtain began to rise it was on. They screamed, they stamped, they leapt into the air, they sent streamers whirling through the spotlights on the stage. They showered their favourites with rose petals and when the petals ran out, screwed up paper bags aimed at the performers. And the artists were The Seekers, The Dave Clark Five, Tommy Quickly, long haired Bobby & Laurie and The Frames…..With a battery of five microphones to help them they matched the ear-shattering screams with the explosion of rhythm from banjos, bass cymbals, drums and guitar."
The following day the acts made the long trip from Perth to Melbourne (approx 2000 miles) where they performed two concerts on May 28th and 29th. The venue was the Festival Hall and local DJ Stan "The Man" Rofe was brought in as compere. There were also two additional local groups performing, MPD Ltd and "The Henchmen”. The local radio station broadcasted the concert, it was also recorded as excerpts appear on "The Seekers" 5 CD set.
The following day the "Melbourne Sun" concentrated mainly on the homecoming of “The Seekers” in its concert report. It also printed a picture of Judith Durham of “The Seekers” sitting on Dave Clark's knee.
The Dave Clark 5 were allocated just one paragraph;
"After the interval the Dave Clark 5 came on and the roof came off! Stadium manager Richard Lean Jun said that it was the most noise since The Beatles and Dave Clark on the drums was able to drum up just the support he wanted".
Scant reward for attracting seven thousand paying customers into the Festival Hall!
May 30th was spent making a shorter trip from Melbourne to Adelaide (500 miles) where they were to perform one concert at the Centennial Hall on May 31st. For this venue MPD Ltd were retained and the local support was provided by Tony Worsley and the Blue Jays. The "Adelaide Advertiser's" report the following day was again devoted to the performance of “The Seekers.” Their reporter was obviously not a young man, as after “The Seekers” finished their spot and the DC5 came on, he promptly went home as they were too loud !!!!
From Adelaide the party made the 1300-mile trip to Brisbane to perform two concerts at the Festival Hall on June 3rd. The four regular acts were supplemented by local Brisbane band "The Escorts”. Six thousand fans flocked in to see the performances. The "Brisbane Courier-Mail" gave the DC5 very little column space with:
"The reception for the Dave Clark 5 was riotous! Two thousand teenagers crammed the stage and a dozen climbed onto it to hug and kiss the “five” before police threw them back. The concerts proved that rock and roll is not dead… at least in Brisbane!"
The artists either travelled the 500 miles from Brisbane to Sydney late that night or early the next day as they performed three concerts at Sydney on June 4th and 5th. The DC5 also found time to record a one-hour TV "spectacular" at the ATN TV studios in Sydney, for broadcast through the Channel 7 network.The concert venue this time was "The Stadium", MPD Ltd. rejoined the ensemble and "The Showmen" were brought in as the local attraction. The "Daily Telegraph” obviously had a more musical minded reporter as he queried the folk orientated Seekers position amongst five amplified electric rock groups:
"After the pulsating noise of The Showmen, Tommy Quickly and Bobby and Laurie, the folk quartet's instruments were tinny and faint causing a feeling of anticlimax. By contrast the top ranking English group, The Dave Clark 5 were more dynamic. Although one couldn't hear the words of their songs above the screaming, stamping and whistling of thousands of teenagers, it didn't seem to matter. With literally a ton of amplifying equipment to pound out the beat, words were not necessary and what did stand out was the tremendous abandon with which the audience responded to this driving sound. In the last analysis each group was individually pleasing but the mixture of folk and Liverpool beat did not blend successfully”.
So the short hectic tour of 10 concerts, various TV and radio interviews and even a TV special ended. The DC5 had played live in front of some 60,000 Aussie fans, the next day the DC5 and Tommy Quickly travelled 2000 miles to New Zealand where they undertook a seven concert tour in the following six consecutive days. All this bearing in mind they were also some twelve thousand miles from home gives some idea of the tremendous pressure, which the group performed under especially in 1964 and 1965. After New Zealand the Dave Clark Five went straight onto their third tour of the U.S.A.
For recollections of the tour from group member's , other artists and fans see next page
( link below )
