Rock Stage 1980/81

[Alistair Wlson]

I'm interested in the archive status of 'Rock Stage' broadcast in 1980. It was a series of concerts at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham in July/August and was broadcast in the ATV area (and other regions??) later that year. Bands featured included Madness, the Stranglers, the Selecter, Joe Jackson Band, Q Tips and the Lambrettas among several others. Does anyone know if this still exists in the archive please? I've seen off-air videos of some of it so I'm sure it all will exist on collectors' videos.

As I was at some of the gigs I know that more songs were filmed that didn't make the broadcast. Any ideas if this unbroadcast footage still exists? As it captured some of these bands at their peak, it is historic, if not unique, footage - not sure that anyone else will have filmed Martha &The Muffins!

Rock Stage was also repeated in Summer '81 - I saw Teardrop Explodes and Dexys Midnight Runners. However I don't think these gigs were ever broadcast in the UK. Again any ideas on what happened to these shows?- I guess it would be at about the time Central took over the Midlands franchise so not sure if that had any bearing on them not being broadcast.

Any info will be greatly appreciated.

[Chris Dabbs]

Hiya. There was a feature about this in Record Collector a while back. It stated that the episodes broadcast were still survivng, but didn't mention anything about those songs not broadcast.
As well as other bands, I'm a huge fan of Madness, who filmed the programme over two days in August '80 - just before 'Baggy Trousers' was released.
The Face magazine did an article on the band during the filming. A song of theirs called 'Deceives The Eye' was performed as an encore, but not aired.
Before the second night's filming, the article said the band had to mime to the previous night's performance that afternoon. This enabled the film crew to do close-ups of the band so as not to intefere with the audience!
I have a great copy of this particular show as it appeared on ATV and showed the band at its best.
Regards, Chris

[Alistair Wilson]

Hi Chris.

Thanks for the info; it's good to know that the programmes themselves survive.
I'm also quite partial to the Nutty Boys and was gutted to miss this gig as it clashed with our annual family holiday. I only got to see Madness in Nottingham at the end of last year when they did a Christmas gig at Rock City. Better late than never!

Incidentally I remember seeing a schools programme in the mid 80s about careers. It featured the job of the road crew and was a documentary about someone working on a Madness tour. That also featured some Madness (Keep Moving album tour?) gig footage as well.

It would be good if the Madness management team could unearth this stuff as they'd make superb extras on a DVD. You forget how mental the crowds used to go at these early gigs.

All the Best,

Alistair

[Chris Dabbs]

Hi. Well...I too was at Nottingham last year. Great gig! Highlights were Chas Smash throwing crackers to the audience (!) and Lee doing a stage dive from the PA.
I have the schools programme you were talking about. Called 'Scene', it had the Mad Not Mad tour documented when it reached Leicester De Montfort Hall in Novemeber 1985.
If you want a copy let me know. I'm sure we can work something out.
Regards
Chris