Here’s a potted history of Nick’s gigs from the 60’s and 70’s

Johnny Kidd & the New Pirates

1966
May 14th	Bromley
May 20th	Walton On the Naze
May 21st	Odeon Cinema, Kingsbury
May 26th	Leas Cliff Hall, Folkestone
May 27th	Abergavenny
June 17th	Victoria Cross Gallery, Wantage
June 19th	Plaza Ballroom, Newbury
June 25th	Leas Cliff Hall, Folkestone
July	Oxford Prestatyn, Clwyd Seaton, Devon
August 19th	Caird Hall, Dundee …. first date of a Scottish tour
August 26th	Clacton, Essex
August	Grimsby, Lincolnshire Weston-Super-Mare, Somerset Ripley, Surrey Nantwich, Cheshire
September 3rd	Orpington, Kent
September 19th-25th	cabaret dates in Darlington (the Flamingo Club) and Middlesbrough
October 1st	Raven Club, R.A.F. Waddington, Lincolnshire

Nick described the Raven Club as “a tremendous gig, Johnny was in top form.” A keen and excited Kidd was looking forward to the next gig at Bolton on Friday 7th October. They arrived late and although Kidd was willing to perform free the manager cancelled the show. Instead, they visited the Nelson Imperial looking for bookings as they got on well with the manager there. It was just after midnight and while travelling back, the car in which Kidd and Nick were passengers was involved in a collision three miles south of Bury, Lancashire. Traffic had to be diverted while firemen cut the injured out of the wreckage. Nick was hospitalised at Bolton Royal Infirmary with lacerations, plus head, back and arm injuries, but Johnny Kidd was pronounced dead on arrival.

Bobby Hebb

1966
December 1st	Streatham Locarno Ballroom
December 5th	Pavilion Ballroom, Bath
December 9th	Gaiety Theatre, Rhyl, Wales
December 10th	Imperial Ballroom, Nelson
December 10th	Dungeon Club, Nottingham
December 11th	Ram Jam Club, Brixton
December 13th	Palais de Danse, Leicester
	Tiles, London
	Cavern Club, Liverpool

Pirates

1967
February 23rd	Royal Naval Air Station, Helston
February 24th	Penzance
February 25th	Plaza Ballroom, Newquay
March 3rd	Welwyn Garden City

The Flowerpot Men / Sundial

This list is in progress…. thanks to Alex Kononow for supplying some gigs from the Marmalade Skies web site.

Carter-Lewis, the songwriters behind The Flowerpot Men hit “Let’s Go To San Francisco”, lease the group name to Ivy League singer Tony Burrows so that he can put together a touring group to cash-in on the hit. The group includes future Deep Purple members Jon Lord and Nick Simper, Ged Peck who eventually becomes guitarist with Simper’s post-Purple group Warhorse, and future Fat Mattress singer Neil Landon. They tour constantly through until the following February.

1967
1st-6th October	1967 BBC SESSIONS (1st, Happening Sunday-2nd-6th, Pete Brady)
1st October^*	Manchester Mr Smiths
6th October^*	Rugby Benn Memorial Hall
4th October^*	Finsbury Park Astoria	^*Traffic headline a package tour bill that includes The Flowerpot Men, Tomorrow, Art, The Mindbenders and Vanilla Fudge.
6th October^*	ABC, Chesterfield
7th October ^*	City Hall, Newcastle
8th October ^*	Empire, Liverpool
10th October^*	ABC, Croydon
11th October^*	Birmingham Town Hall
13th October^*	Colston Hall, Bristol
14th October^*	Gaumont, Wolverhampton
15th October^*	De Montfort Hall, Leicester
17th October^*	Gaumont, Ipswich
28th October	Hinckley St George’s Ballroom
4th November	BBC SESSIONS
4th November	Imperial Ballroom, Nelson
15th November	Stevenage Locarno
17th November	BBC SESSIONS
17th November	BBC1 TV Crackerjack
18th November	BBC SESSIONS
18th November	Birmingham Flowerpot
19th November^*	Saville Theatre	^*Robin Gibb of The Bee Gees has a lucky escape when the train on which he is travelling crashes at Hither Green in South East London (5th). Forty-nine people are killed but Gibb emerges from an overturned carriage suffering shock. A fortnight later the group play a special show in aid of the disaster fund followed by a concert at the Saville Theatre (19th), supported by The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band and The Flowerpot Men.
20th November	Stokley S&S Club
25th November	German TV Beat Club
26th November – 2nd December	Latino, South Shields (Cabaret)
2nd December	BBC SESSIONS
3rd – 7th December	Wetherall’s, Sunderland (Cabaret)
8th December	California Ballroom, Dunstable
9th December	Nottingham University
12th December	Keele University
16th December	Hinckley St George
19th December	Southport Kingsway
23rd December	Nantwich Civic Hall
30th December	German TV Beat Club
1968
3rd February	California Ballroom, Dunstable
5th-9th February	BBC SESSIONS

Roundabout

Deep Purple Mk I

20.04.68	Tastrup Vestpoppen Parkskolen, Denmark	(11 Scandinavian concerts in 17 days also including Copenhagen Nimb Club, Gothenburg and Roskid and a TV appearance)
15.07.68	Dutch TV
03.08.68	Warrington The Lion, UK
Aug 68	Ramsgate, UK
Aug 68	London Roundhouse, UK
10.08.68	Sunbury National Jazz Festival Kempton Park Racecourse, UK
Aug 68	Berne, Switzerland
Sept 68	Battersea ILEA College, UK
27.09.68	Birmingham Mother’s Club, UK
28.09.68	Plymouth Van Dyke Club, UK
17.10.68	Dating Game TV Show, USA
18.10.68	Los Angeles Inglewood Forum California, USA	(support to Cream)
19.10.68	Los Angeles Inglewood Forum California, USA	(support to Cream)
26/27.10.68	San Francisco International Pop Festival, USA	(support to Cream)
November 68	California, Washington, Oregon, Vancouver
06.12.68	Chicago Electric Theatre, USA
07.12.68	Chicago Electric Theatre, USA
11.12.68	Evansville ABC Shopping Centre, Indiana, USA
13.12.68	Kentucky Grand Ballroom, USA
14.12.68	Dearborn Michigan, USA
16.12.68	Merv Griffin TV Show
18.12.68	Oswego Lee Hall New York, USA
20.12.68	New York Filmore East, USA
21.12.68	New York Filmore East, USA
22.12.68	New York The Rock Pile, USA
24-31.12.68	New York Electric Circus, USA
18.01.69	Crewe, UK
06.02.69	Radio One Club, Birmingham Top Rank Suite
07.02.69	Sheffield, UK
08.02.69	Wolverhampton, UK
12.02.69	Cardiff Wales, UK
15.02.69	London University College, UK – Grand Valentine’s Day Rag Ball
22.02.69	Newcastle, UK
23.02.69	Argus Butterfly, UK
01.03.69	Kay Club, Wales, UK
07.03.69	London Goldsmith’s College, UK
13.03.69	Newcastle City Hall, UK
14.03.69	Redditch, UK
15.03.69	Rutherford, UK
20.03.69	London Speakeasy, UK
21.03.69	Swansea, UK
22.03.69	Brighton, UK
01.04.69	Tacoma Eastern Washington State College, Washington, USA
02.04.69	Olympia Evergreen Ballroom, Washington, USA
03.04.69	Seattle Arena, Washington, USA
04.04.69	Vancouver Agradome, Canada
05.04.69	Salem Armory Oregon, USA
05.04.69	Eugene Armory Oregon, USA
06.04.69	Edmonton Fieldhouse, Alberta
11.04.69	San Jose Santa Clara Fair California, USA
12.04.69	Astoria Armory Oregon, USA
13.04.69	Portland Temple Oregon, USA
14.04.69	Billington Western Washington State College Washington, USA
15.04.69	Cheney Eastern Washington State College Washington, USA
18.04.69	Pasadena Rose Palace California, USA
25.04.69	Fresno Convention Centre California, USA
26.04.69	San Diego Community Concourse, California, USA
28.04.69	Redding Shasta College California, USA
29.04.69	Ashland South Oregon College Oregon, USA
30.04.69	Chico State College California, USA
03.05.69	Pittsburgh Carnegie/Mellon University Pennsylvania, USA
04.05.69	Providence Warehouse Rhode Island, USA
09.05.69	Melbourne Civic Auditorium Florida, USA
10.05.69	Long Island Hangar Nassau Community College New York, USA
15.05.69	Cedar Rapids Coe College Florida, USA
16.05.69	West Point Blue Village Illinois, USA
18.05.69	Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
23.05.69	New York Forum, USA
25.05.69	Norfolk, Virginia, USA
29.05.69	Gilligan’s, Buffalo, New York, USA
10.06.69	Cambridge, UK
14.06.69	Birmingham Mother’s Club, UK
20.06.69	Brussels Revolution Club, Belgium
23.06.69	Christchurch College
27.06.69	Swansea, UK
28.06.69	London Revolution Club, UK
04.07.69	Cardiff Top Rank, Wales, UK

Marsha Hunt Band

1969
22nd August	Bilzen Jazz Festival, Bilzen, Belgium	a clip of this show, including an interview with Marsha, can be found on YouTube. By some perverse quirk of fate, Deep Purple Mk II were apparently also on the bill!
30th August	Isle of Wight Festival	They were billed as “Marsha Hunt and White Trash”, that being the name of Marsha’s previous backing band. The estimated attendance was 100,000, and they were on before the Who. However Ged Peck does not have fond memories of the gig, as you can find out at the Isle Of Wight Festivals web site here.

Warhorse

This list is in progress…. thanks to Kononow Alex for supplying some 1970/71 gigs from the Marmalade Skies web site.

1970
17th March	Dacorum College, Hemel Hempstead	debut gig supporting Mott The Hoople
22nd May	Glasgow Green’s Playhouse
12th October	London Marquee
27th November	London Temple Club
19th December	Boston Gliderdrome
22nd December	BBC SESSIONS
24th December	London Temple Club
1971
6th January	Harlow Aquarius
10th February	Tunbridge Wells Civic Hall
16th February	Wisbech Burlesque
25th February	London Temple Club
26th February	Penarth Paget Room
27th February	Coventry College
5th March	Woolaston Nag’s Head
12th March	Penarth, Stanwell School
13th March	Birmingham, Hall Green Tech College
14th March	Stevenage, Bowes Lyon House
17th March	Harlow Birdcage
18th March	Birkenhead, Golden Primrose
19th March	Maidstone College Of Art
26th March	East Herts Tech College
28th March	Hull City Hall
29th March	London, Marquee
30th March	The Fickle Pickle Club, Alexandra Hotel, Southend
31st March	Western Super Mare Winter Gardens
30th April	London Sisters Club
2nd May	London Lyceum	Warhorse did not play as advertised due to “inaccurate and misleading information from an Agency”
13th May	BBC2 TV
June 4th	London City University
13th June	Locarno Ballroom, Blackpool
June 22nd	Oxford Town Hall
June 24th	Cambridge, Dorothy Ballroom
26th July	Princess Theatre, Clacton on Sea
August 1st	London Marquee
August 13th	London Temple Club
October 8th	Hornsea Floral Hall
October 14th	Maldon Jubilee Hall
October 16th	London Temple Club
20th November	High Wycombe College
28th November	Marquee, London
1972
16th January	Windrush Twynight Club, High Wycombe
28th April	London Fulham Greyhound
20th May	Waltham Forest Polytechnic, Walthamstow
29th May	Lincoln, Great Western Express Festival
21st June	Sheffield University
21st October	Workington West Cumberland College
28th October	Chester College
1973
31st March	Westminster Technical College
4th May	Ilkeston Regency
18th May	Mary Ward College, Nottingham
1st June	Hereford College
18th June	Sutton In Ashfield Golden Diamond
22nd June	Mayfair, Newcastle Upon Tyne
23rd June	Warrington Padgate College
27th June	Bath Pavilion
8th July	Bletchley Football Ground	(open-air festival)
12th August	Swansea Pandora’s
16th August	Birmingham Bogart’s
21st September	Cheltenham Pavilion Club
1974
25th January	Friday 1974 Westfield College, London
29th March	Technical College, Isle Of Wight	(?) to be confirmed
5th April	Country Bumpkin, Andover	(?)
6th- 26th April	Holland, Belgium and Germany	(?)
April 28th	Birmingham College	(?)
20th November	Art College, Oakwood Park	(?)

Lord Sutch & Heavy Friends

October 9th 1976 – Nick Simper and Roger Truth take part in the “Johnny Kidd Memorial Show” at the Edwardian Club at the Loughborough Hotel in Brixton. Carlo Little guests on drums, along with Screaming Lord Sutch and Wee Willie Harris on vocals.

Rosco Gordon

It was while he was with Flying Fox, in 1978, that Carlo Little was asked by the owner of the 100 Club in London to perform a special gig. “One day I got a phone call from the 100 Club in London asking me if I would get a band together to back Roscoe Gordon. I asked Pete Parks on guitar, Nick Simper on bass, and Sid Philips on sax. We rehearsed with Roscoe the afternoon of the gig. At around 11pm, while we were on-stage, there was suddenly a buzz in the club. In had walked a big guy who knew Roscoe from way back, they were great buddies. He walked on to the stage asking Pete if he could use his guitar, then he the proceeded to go into a blues song. It was the great B. B. King! He had been in town and had just finished a gig at the Hammersmith Odeon. We performed about four numbers with him, slow blues numbers, and I briefly told him how good it had been before he left as quickly as he had arrived. The show was recorded and released on album without our knowledge. There is a photo on the wall of the 100 Club still today of B. B. King when he performed there and you can see me drumming in the background!” B. B. King’s support, the Bobby Bland band, were also there, and Wayne Bennett their guitarist also played that night.