web hosting short URLs photo sharing

I was nearly arrested trying to get to a Seekers concert

This piece is a revised version of an email article in the Surfin' Seekers mailing list.

Oh, the lengths you can go in order to see your favorite group in person - and I'm not talking about crossing the ocean on a £20 Ryanair ticket (plus taxes far exceeding that amount!), nor am I thinking of the scorn of disbelief in people's eyes when they were told I would be going to see some Australian pop group they had never even heard of - and I'm not even thinking about the overdraft in my bank account.

No, I had put all that behind me when on Wednesday May 31 I went down to stay with David in Lymington, Hampshire in order not to be too tired on the day of the concert (Thursday) - and may I suggest to everyone that they at least go visit this wandering oracle of Seekers memorabilia if they have the opportunity in passing.

After settling formalities (and going to the nearest club for a few pints of local bitter) we sat down to read the first of a major stack of Surfin' Seekers email looking for the last bit of info from our Daddy and Mommy all rolled into one: Peter Otten. The plan had been made well in advance of the concert that he would driving the two Richards, Kayleigh, David and me in his autobus to the concert in London - a great and helpful offer we'd only been too happy to accept.

To make a very long story short there had been a slight change in plans, and we were now not going to be picked up at David's house, but somewhere adjacent to the Motorway. The first suggestion was that we'd stand on the local roundabout which was so big we could not be missed. Fair enough I thought, and in my mind I was already writing an article of how I spent an hour walking around the Caedmon Roundabout! But there was another change so instead we stood for a while in the windy weather (a long while, it might be said) on the slipway to the M? It was obviously illegal, but no problem I thought - sure every person in every car passing by sized us up, but no one seemed to mind , not even one police car which didn't even blow his horn when he saw us. So we were fairly happy standing there for a couple of hours, and everything seemed to be going well as we were in mobile contact with Richard coming up the motorway.
But just as we thought that now the German autobus would be coming to us, another police car drove up with two police officers in it, and they had David and me on their minds - and they meant business. So in the Queen's English (or some other industrial language) they told us what we were doing wrong, and they wanted us off the slipway presently.

Now if I may so myself I speak pretty good English - even Judith Durham complimented me on it - but for once I was happy to play the part of the poor helpless tourist claiming that we weren't doing any harm standing there.
Well the Constable was not going to stand for any rubbish on my part, as far as he was concerned we were lawbreakers, so he gave us two options: either we'd go away at once, or we could come with him down to the local magistrate where we could think it over for the night!

And then unbelievably he offered us a third option: we could continue walking down the motorway in the opposite direction till we got to a sign. So without any further ado David and I took him up on his offer - but to this day I still don't understand why we were given this third possibility which was at least twice as illegal as just standing on the roadside. We didn't even get to the sign, though, because somehow Peter and Barbel must have spotted us, and in a matter of seconds we said hello to the Richards and found ourselves driving on the motorway all the way up to Wem-ber-ly - and it was one great drive by Richard Veit, who seemed not at all troubled by all the cars driving on the wrong side of the road, but instead changed positions as if he had been doing it all his life. And Richard didn't even allow himself to be disturbed by the rather inconsequential road signs on the outskirts of London.
(And while I'm at it, may I also compliment the driving of Barbel and Peter in the wilderness outside London as we drove back after the concert).

When we stood outside Wembley's famous twin towers (where the concert wasn't, it was of course played inside the Arena) I already had my first shiver down my spine - the first of many over the next couple of days. It was hard enough believing that I was here for my first Seekers concert, but to have made it there after the earlier events of the afternoon was something I had thought impossible for one crazy moment.

So we all thought we deserved an award, or at least a decent meal. When my eyes chanced upon the "Ugly Duckling" restaurant in Wembley town, being from the land of Hans Christian Andersen's I naturally thought that fairytales were coming true - but I was outvoted and we all went to MacDonald's instead. Ugh!!

When we came back we started meeting all sorts of Surfin' Seekers, including Piers and Errki. (And inside the hall I met Rick, Pat, John and some others (sorry if I don't remember everyone) including Saul who started our mail group, and I was very pleased to meet him, as I got on with him very well).

When I received my Wembley ticket in the mail I had looked at the seat plan and worked out that my front row ticket would be somewhere out in the corner of the hall. So I said see you later to David and worked my way towards the front, but I could hardly believe my eyes when three pleasant surprises were waiting for me: Firstly I had my seat right in front of the Seekers - and I was to feel throughout the concert that Judith was looking at me particularly as she sang the songs that matter so much. I was astonished to find that sitting on my very left was none other than my host: David! Considering all the events of the afternoon I then half expected that the Old Bill would be turning up - but they didn't, and instead I was in line for my third and final surprise: my neighbour to the right was the very lovely and friendly Surfin' Seeker: Caroline!

So I felt I was in line for a good thing, and indeed I was when the concert finally got underway. I have to admit that I really do not remember very much about the concert itself. Footballers describe their Wembley experience as something that seems to go by in a matter of moments, and that's exactly how I felt when it was over; I couldn't believe that it was, as to me it had only just begun. And in some ways I still even now weeks after the concert haven't found the words to describe my feelings about finally finding the Seekers after all these years. It did start to come back to me eventually, no doubt helped by the fact that I went to the Bournemouth concert as well.

The Seekers concerts follow a fairly formally strictly set format with the same songs, the same musicians and even the same jokes every night. However the Seekers do allow themselves to stray from the format, and to interact with their audiences, and as the two concerts I heard testified: Seekers concerts are simply not of one of a kind.

The Seekers (as we know them in their most successful and popular line-up of Judith Durham, Bruce Woodley, Keith Potger and Athol Guy) started in 1963 as a folk-based group with a reportoire of some American, Irish & of course Australian folksongs. A few pop songs were also part of their set-up, as the four musicians actually had musical backgrounds in jazz, rock and opera! At various stages in the group's 37-year career the emphasis has shifted somewhat away from the acoustic folk style to more pop-oriented styles and at times they have even recorded with big-band style, which suited the outstanding vocal range of the lead singer, but would also drown out the acoustic instruments which would be somewhat lost in the production mix. So being a bit of a "young folkie" I was slightly apprehensive going to their concerts: would we see & hear the original format or would it be similar to the 1968 farewell concerts (which used orchestras as backing bands).

The group, fortunately, considers themselves to be the original unplugged act, and their backup at the English concerts consisted of just two musicians: a drummer, who remained very discreetly in the background despite a wide array of percussive instruments, and a keyboard player, who did stand out more distinctly on some of the material, but neither succeeded much less attempted to get in the way of the musical style of the Seekers. Athol Guy plays bass, Judith occasionally still belts out a now hardly dangerous tambourine (but sadly not the piano), while Keith Potger plays 6&12-string guitars and a banjo and Bruce Woodley plays a number of 6-string guitars and a mandolin. I loved the fact that the acoustic instruments were clearly audible throughout the concerts.

I was really pleased to hear and watch Keith's 12-string guitar playing. For many people the 12-string is just a novelty instrument, but for me there have been many 12-string heroes: Leadbelly, Pete Seeger, Glen Campbell, Gordon Lightfoot, Harry Chapin, John Denver and Gene Clark (and the other Byrds) - and it was very satisfactory to see that Keith was not just playing his 12-string as a rhythmic instrument or for a few extraordinary licks as in e.g. "I'll Never Find Another You" but as a melody-carrier as well in many songs, especially "Colours of My Life". I was impressed at Athol's casual yet competent bass-playing, and I simply marvelled at the way that Judith seemed to be one with her audience.

But I am actually a little concerned at the apparent marginalisation of Bruce. I have always thought that his creative input was every bit as important to the Seekers as the individual vocal parts, but here we were confined to just four of his compositions. And on top of that the one song which has characterized the Seekers second time around: "I Am Australian" was left out of the show. It stands to reason that with the Seekers 150+ song reportoire, there will be some who will be disappointed at one or the other song left out (and indeed I can think of one or two missing), but I feel that this song is such a highlight of the Jubilee video that I find it very strange that it was left out. It was suggested that on the Oz/Nz strip the song was left out in New Zeeland in order not to antagonise the non-australians. If this is the case, then I suppose, similar reasoning could be used for the UK. But I really hope this is not the case, because "I Am Australian" is not by any means a nationalistic, jingoistic song - on the contrary, it is a patriotic and proud song that any person anywhere can identify with - much like Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land" which has placenames and concepts particular to Americans yet is very appealing to people all over the world (including the Seekers of course).

Now as for the 25 songs which they did perform at the concerts: the concert was very much like a career-retrospective. They went through the hits, and also made detours which looked at how gospel influenced their singing style. Furthermore sections of the group were highlighted: Judith did a solo performance, while the males had a drink, while the three "boys" did a comedy-like spot while Judith had a change of dress. The choice of material seemed more based on what they may have perceived to be what was expected of them and less on personal taste.

"You Can Tell the World", the opener, herolds religious messages, but may also be seen as a signature song for what the Seekers were when they started out. They may have been another pop group on the charts to the public at large, but they were in fact quite apart from most other groups at the time in that they sang songs with content and indeed were quite radical in comparison with their peers - although their public images hovered on the squeaky-clean.

Another aspect of the gospel songs (of which as many as eight were performed, some in a medley) is that they highlight the highly complex and magic blend of the four vocalists. Neither of the three males could be called great vocalists (certainly not now when age has worked its way onto their vocal cords), whereas "great" doesn't even begin to describe the amazing ability of Judith Durham. But even she has not with her solo work reached the heights of musical beauty associated with the Seekers sound, while none of the other Seeker incarnations have come anywhere near her standards. The gospel songs, however, accentuate how well the four voices blend together, a truly unique sound.

Most of the Seekers' hits were played in a medley at the end of the concerts, although two or three hits were played in the first half, "Morningtown Ride" among them. The Seekers go out of their way to encourage singalongs, but it really isn't necessary, the audience knows the song by heart already, and some are singing without even noticing themselves.

One theme which is predominant in Seekers' songs (whether it be gospel, hit or flop) is the uplifting spirit of the words AND the musical style as well. Songs such as "You're My Spirit" and "Colours of My Life", performed back to back, call this to attention, while the highly controversial "Walk with Me" takes the "radical" edge of Seekers' songs to a more complex level.

Although the group succeeded with their presentday CD, "Future Road", in adapting their 60s musical identity to an updated 90s format, on the night they only play two selections from that record. The choice of material shows some degree of willingness to take chances. Seekers' audiences tend to prefer the faster, upbeat material, yet the two recent songs are both slow ballads. One "Bush Girl" is introduced by Judith Durham as the goup's way of looking at discrimination of women in a historical perspective (the words having been written by Australian poet Henry Lawson), while "Shores of Avalon" goes even further back in history.

Bruce Woodley's songwriting, sadly underexposed during the concert, is finally brought to the foreground as the group sing his "Keep a Dream in Your Pocket" - in a way a tribute to all the fans who kept hoping against hope that they would one day get to see the group in person (personally, the two concerts I went to were two more than I ever expected to see of the Seekers), but also in general an uplifting song for dreamers of every ilk.

And then, hitting some proverbial fast-forward-button: Georgy Girl" and "The Carnival Is Over" - with the latter song obvoiusly prophetic of the very fact that for all the fans and for the Seekers themselves all the pleasures, thrills and joy is no more. The symbiotic relationship of fans and group, highlighted by the fact that the tour was conducted as a wish on the group's part to comfort the fans, comes alive one last and final time, as group and fans disappear into "A World of our Own".

One of the high points of the Bournemouth concert was Judith's improvised tribute to the Surfin' Seekers in Cyberspace. That certainly sent another shiver down my spine. Actually I was very surprised that she singled the 25 of us out for praise in an audience of some 1-2000 fans - but I'm not complaining!

Possibly the most beautiful moments of my tour occured on Saturday morning when the Surfin' Seekers finally had our get-together. In arranging the day Marjorie played a winning hand in taking us to the Morningtown Ride-like train and the café and the walks on Hengistbury Head . I might not have exchanged words with everyone, and I'm sorry that I didn't get to talk more to the likes of Ian, Peter B., Caroline, Roger,John, Richard and everybody else, but just to have been there means so very much to me.

And as I was saying as we were breaking up: normally in this kind of situation we would never meet gain - which we won't - but we will meet again on the list, but now with the added pleasure of actually knowing addressees quite well. The Seekers may have departed, but the Surfin' Seekers will long outlast their mentors' demise.