The Borough Assembly Hall was the main venue in town in 1965. Eddie Friday continued to promote on Saturday nights, but during the year there were some new promoters bringing different artists to Aylesbury – including a short-lived folk club.

One of the highlights of the year was the appearance of The Who on 10th September. A review by Tony White in the Bucks Advertiser covered The Who who played on a Friday evening and Screaming Lord Sutch who appeared the following evening – click on image below to enlarge:

Aylesbury saw the two extremes in pop entertainment last weekend – Friday being the noisiest thing it’s ever been my misfortune to encounter in the shape of The Who and Saturday being far more enjoyable, even though mostly old hat, in the form of Screaming Lord Sutch.

Friday’s performance by the young men being lauded as the bringers of “pop art” to pop was the first, and I sincerely hope the last, time that any form of music, even in its most primitive guise, has made me physically sick. The noise – I think that would be a better title – was so abominably loud that after 20 minutes I had to leave for a stiff whisky with aspirins to settle a throbbing head and an upset stomach.

S & M Promotions presented 16 year old Lulu on 20th August. In 1964 as a 15 year old, Lulu and the Luvvers had a hit with “Shout”. Tony White writing in the Bucks Advertiser was impressed:

This vivacious 16-year-old, who hails from Glasgow, brought the lads to the front of the stage to cheer her wildly – a change from the hordes of screaming girls. And her brief (about 35 minutes) appearance on stage sent them back asking for more …

Overall, it was a first-rate performance from a young girl I think is destined to be in show business for a long time.

The Ready Steady Go Club was another newcomer to the Borough Assembly Hall, with Zoot Money and his Big Roll Band, The Hollies and The Nashville Teens playing.

This was the third visit to Aylesbury by The Hollies, having previously played at the Granada in November 1964 and at the Borough Assembly Hall in April 1965. 1965 had bought two hits – “I’m Alive” (number one in June/July 1965) and “Look Through Any Window” (October 1965).

In July a Folk Blues Club presented by Bruce Dunnet spang up for a few weeks, presenting Nadia Cattousse, Shirley Collins and Arlo Guthrie.

Tony White did not enjoy Arlo Guthrie’s performance – and questioned whether the Borough Assembly Hall was the right venue for folk:

To me, and I know to many others, the answer lies in the Borough Assembly Hall bogie – that is its barn-like structure designed to immediately kill off any initimate atmosphere that a promoter aims for.

I know Bruce wants to get some of our younger folk artists used to working on a large stage, but I think he must realise that a much better rapport could be attained between the performers and listeners if they were altogether on the same level.

Eddie Friday’s promotions included Them and The Ivy League.

Them had had chart success with “Baby Please Don’t Go” (with B-side “Gloria”) and “Here Comes The Night”. The photo below is thought to have been taken at this gig in 1965. Thanks to Simon Gee who wrote to identify (left to right) Pete Bardens (keyboards), Terry Noon (drums), Van Morrison, Joe Baldi (guitar), Alan Henderson (bass).

See more photos at the Aylesbury Remembered website: https://www.aylesburyremembered.com/LiveMusic/Misc-Live-Music/1960s/Them-1965/.

The Ivy League had “Tossing And Turning” in the charts, peaking at number 3.

On 10th November, the Small Faces played.

The band included Steve Marriott, Ronnie Lane, Kenney Jones and Ian McLagan, who had replaced Jimmy Winston. In his review, John Finn wrote:

Those chirpy East Enders, the Small Faces, who rocketed to fame with their first record, “Whatcha Gonna Do About It”, recently paid their first visit to the Borough Assembly Hall last week.

Perhaps the most significant thing about them is their meteoric rise to fame. Inside six months they have risen from nothing to become potentially one of the biggest groups to hit the pop scene this year.

List of gigs at Borough Assembly Hall in 1965 – not including Bluesville:

Date	Club	Promoter Name	Artist 1	Artist 2
2/1/1965		Eddie Friday	The Half Dozen	The Mantas
9/1/1965		Eddie Friday	The Eric Delaney Band
16/1/1965		Eddie Friday
23/1/1965		Eddie Friday	The Knives and Forks	The Vibrations
24/1/1965		Eddie Friday	The Echoes	The Whispering Four
30/1/1965		Eddie Friday	The Classmates	The Cavaliers
6/2/1965		Eddie Friday	Shane and the Shane Gang	The Sonics
13/2/1965		Eddie Friday	Terry Judge and the Barristers	The Apollos
20/2/1965		Eddie Friday	Tom Thumb and the Four Fingers	Georgie, The Rave Ons
27/2/1965		Eddie Friday	The Wackers with Terry Anton	The Mantas with Carol Hanson
6/3/1965		Eddie Friday	Johnny Carr and the Cadillacs	The Narcotics
10/3/1965			The Primitives	The Shames
13/3/1965		Eddie Friday	Tony Knight and the Livewires	Rodgers Codgers
20/3/1965		Eddie Friday	Bern Elliott and His Klan	The Downsiders
10/4/1965		Eddie Friday	The Hollies	The Cavaliers, The Homelanders
17/4/1965		Eddie Friday	Shirley and Johnny	The Berries, The Monktones
1/5/1965		Eddie Friday	Beat Six	The Yes 'n' No
8/5/1965		Eddie Friday	Terry Judge and the Barristers	The Cameos
15/5/1965		Eddie Friday	Johnny Carr and the Cadillacs	The Mantas
22/5/1965		Eddie Friday	Bryan and the Brunelles	The Triads
29/5/1965		Eddie Friday	Washington D.C.s	The Macambos, The Victors
5/6/1965		Eddie Friday	Shelley	The Reasons
12/6/1965		Eddie Friday	Yenson's Trolls	The Silhouettes
19/6/1965		Eddie Friday	Shirley and Johnny	The Homelanders, The Konways
26/6/1965		Eddie Friday	The Persuasions with Terry Anton	The Vibratones
3/7/1965		Eddie Friday	Beat Six featuring Jeannie St. Claire	The Sneakers
10/7/1965		Eddie Friday	Johnny Kidd and the Pirates	The Sneakers
17/7/1965		Eddie Friday	The Tramps	Geoff Moule and the Diggers
20/7/1965	Folk Blues Club	Bruce Dunnet	Nadia Cattousse
24/7/1965		Eddie Friday	Gobbledegooks	The Dark Ages
27/7/1965	Folk Blues Club	Bruce Dunnet	Shirley Collins	Barry Thomas, The Tinkers
31/7/1965		Eddie Friday	The Cameos	The Nightbeats
3/8/1965	Folk Blues Club	Bruce Dunnet	Arlo Guthrie
7/8/1965		Eddie Friday	Them	Sound F-X
14/8/1965		Eddie Friday	The Ivy League	Terry Judge and the Barristers
20/8/1965		S & M Promotions	Lulu and the Lovers
21/8/1965		Eddie Friday	The Fairlanes featuring Lindi Loo	The Mantas
28/8/1965		Eddie Friday	Jimmy Royal and the Hawks	The Reasons
4/9/1965		Eddie Friday	The Shindigs	The Associates
10/9/1965			The Who
11/9/1965		Eddie Friday	Screamin' Lord Sutch and the Savages	The En Devers Ltd
18/9/1965		Eddie Friday	Johnny Cannon and the Shades	The Tribe
25/9/1965		Eddie Friday	The Wayfarers	The Vivas
2/10/1965		Eddie Friday	Rip Van Winkle and the Monsters	Lynn Cordette and the Countdowns
9/10/1965		Eddie Friday	The Cameos	The Skyliners
12/10/1965	Ready Steady Go Club		Kenny and Kash
16/10/1965		Eddie Friday	The Blue Ravens	The Sonics
19/10/1965	Ready Steady Go Club		Zoot Money and his Big Roll Band
23/10/1965		Eddie Friday	Dean Lord and the Gaylords	The Nightbeats
29/10/1965		Eddie Friday	Mistral Tuac	The Quantum
6/11/1965		Eddie Friday	The Barron Knights	James King and the Farinas
9/11/1965			John Mayall and his Bluesbreakers
10/11/1965			The Small Faces
13/11/1965		Eddie Friday	The Symbols	Alan Wade and the Hawkers
16/11/1965			Chris Farlowe and the Thunderbirds
19/11/1965		Bucks Ass of Youth Clubs / Eddie Friday	The Cameos	The Ravons, The Justice League
20/11/1965		Bucks Ass of Youth Clubs / Eddie Friday	The Shindigs	The Mantas
23/11/1965	Ready Steady Go Club		The Hollies
27/11/1965		Eddie Friday	Washington D.C.s	The Associates
4/12/1965		Eddie Friday	Billy Storm and the Falcons	The Vivas, The Unchained
11/12/1965		Eddie Friday	Johnny Anger and the Wild Ones	The Neutrons
14/12/1965		Eddie Friday	Dutch College Swing Band
18/12/1965		Eddie Friday	The Cameos	The Vibrations
21/12/1965	Ready Steady Go Club		The Nashville Teens
24/12/1965		Eddie Friday	Shirley and Johnny (hosts)	Lynn Cordette and the Countdowns, The Dark Ages