How many times?

Ah the wonders of the interweb. I've been telling everyone for years that I'd seen the Pink Floyd three times in the Syd Barrett era. I was wrong. I checked and I've compiled this list of dates

1967
1 October -Saville Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, London,
(second house- I saw John Peel emerging from the theatre as we waited to go in)

I'd heard the Floyd on the radio. I thought "See Emily Play" was a sublime piece of work, so when I turned up at the Savile that night I expected to see an all singing, all dancing, chart topping pop group. What I got was about 45 minutes of instrumentals played by a band in almost darkness, with their coloured shadows projected on to a white screen behind them. This was my first experience of a light show. The audience, myself included, were underwhelmed. No-one clapped. We'd never seen anything like it. To be fair, no-one had.

14 November -The Alchemical Wedding, Royal Albert Hall, Kensington, London, England (Jimi Hendrix tour)
A few weeks later Dave Callaghan and I went to the Albert Hall, to the opening night of a package tour with four bands headlining. It was quite a bill. Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, The Move and Amen Corner(!), plus The Nice and Hendrix' usual opening act Eire Apparent. We had seats in the area usually reserved for the massed choirs- behind the stage. It was strange to see Charlie Watkins and his crew in their customary white lab coats operating the PA which was a couple of 4x12 columns a side and (I think) and Audiomaster mixer. Amen Corner were very popular with the teenage girls who screamed every time Andy Fairweather-Lowe looked their way. Quite what the girls made of Keith Emerson's theatrics involving stabbing daggers into his Hammond Organ while the band flailed away is beyond me, or of Eire Apparent's ear splitting volume. I swear they were the loudest band I ever heard. My ears are ringing just thinking about it. Floyd were the Floyd. Still playing instrumentals like "Interstellar Overdrive" while the lights flashed around and on them. I'd been listening to their first album and was getting used to the sound. The Move were stunningly visual. Imagine a five piece band where everyone believed he was the leader, the front man? Carl Wayne, Ace Kefford, Trevor Burton and Roy Wood stood in a line along the front of the stage. No-one gave ground. Each one sang lead at some point. The harmonies were the best I'd heard. I saw them a few more times in the next couple of years.
This was the second time I'd seen Hendrix that Autumn. I don't recall much except the final few bars of his act when he threw his guitar into the air above the stage. The Albert Hall is a huge space, and I can still see his white strat attached to a curly guitar lead almost levitating before crashing to the ground in a squeal of noise. He'd left the stage by then. What an exit!

6 December -Horror Ball, Royal College of Art, Kensington, London, England
I don't know how we found out about the next show. It was at the ICA just around the corner from the Albert Hall. I think we must have gate crashed. I know I felt out of place. My clothes were so straight! There were two stages in the room. When we arrived, a nifty blues band called Black Cat Bones was on one of the stages. I'm no fan of the blues but they were young and energetic. I was surprised to read a few weeks later that the lead singer Paul Rogers and drummer Simon Kirke had joined up with a boy from the year below mine at St Clement Danes Grammar School- Andy Fraser; and a lad I knew from my days in the 2/31st Kensington Scout Troop where he was known as David Kossoff's son. His name was Paul and together they were known as Free.
Anyway, Black Cat Bones finished and the music carried on from the other stage. I think it was Jimmy James and the Vagabonds, a hard gigging soul/ska band. On the other stage we we soundly entertained by the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band. I saw them a few times before they split up. Great fun!
Back on the other stage and it was a Scottish pop harmony band called Marmalade, who were just about to hit the big time with "Obla Di Obla Da".
Last band on (for me at least) was Pink Floyd. This time we were close to the front of the stage and could see the band clearly. One thing was obvious as the band began to play. Syd wasn't playing much. He sat on the stage making noises with his guitar. It was the beginning of the end.


22 December -Christmas On Earth Continued, Olympia Exhibition Halls, Kensington, (Syd Barrett's last gig in a four piece Floyd lineup.)
This was an all-nighter and I don't recall the Floyd's set. There were two stages set up opposite each other in the Great Hall a huge railway terminus sized space in West London. There was a funfair in one of the other halls and I saw a strobe light for the first time. It may have been similar in size and scale to the event at Alexandra Palace earlier in the year but I didn't go to that.
What do I remember?
The Soft Machine were their usual screechy and impenetrable self. The only song that was in any way accessible was "I did it again"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soft_Machine
The Graham Bond Organisation. I don't remember anything about them. Ditto a lot of bands. Most went on for too long.

(picture from here- http://liberalengland.blogspot.com/2012/01/christmas-on-earth-continued-1967.html)
I recall the Move. Same four-in-a-line across the stage. Great presence. Eric Burdon and the New Animals? Not for me.
Hendrix? He did all his usual tricks. This was the third time I'd seen him in as many months and for most of the set the audience seemed indifferent. Suddenly it was as if a switch was flipped and they came alive. He really won them over. I don't think I saw them again.
Traffic were interesting- if you like organs and sax solos. I'd bought "Paper Sun" and a few other singles and I'm sure they were excellent that night. I just don't remember anything about their performance.
I'd seen Keith West and Tomorrow a couple of times. They never seemed completely together. Their guitarist stood in front of his amp stack hunched over his guitar, used a Vox wah wah pedal and didn't seem to interact with the others. His name? Steve Howe, later to join Yes.

That was it. Did I actually see Syd's final gig with the Floyd? I was there, sure. But it left no memory. Just another gig.

It was to be over a year before I saw the Floyd again.

9 May 1969 Camden Fringe Festival Free Concert, Parliament Hill Fields, Hampstead.
I remember two things about this day. The first was of sitting in a field waiting for the Floyd to appear, listening to interminal bands, only to fall asleep for a hour and waking up after they'd finished. The other was hearing Peter Green remonstrating with the crowd and asking them not to throw bottles at the stage. It was pitch black in the park and we soon cleared off home.

25 May 1969 A Benefit for Fairport Convention, The Roundhouse, Chalk Farm.
I actually got to see the Floyd at the Roundhouse when a bunch of artists put on a benefit for the survivors of the crash that took the life of Fairport Convention's drummer Martin Lamble, and Richard Thompson's girlfriend Jeannie Franklyn and put the others in hospital. I don't recall all the acts. The Edgar Broughton Band were very loud as usual, but Floyd were great. Their new(ish) guitarist had fitted in and the band's musical horizons had widened.

We also went to a concert at the Albert Hall where the band demonstrated their Azimuth Coordinator. basically it was a couple of extra speakers around the hall with a joystick controller so we had the sound of an aeroplane flying around the room. The Floyd website gives the date of the first time it was used as 14th April 1969 at the Festival Hall. I definitely saw them use it at the Albert Hall. We were in the expensive seats (£2/10s and I was earning less that £10 a week) Roger Waters did his egotistical cymbal stealing trick during "Careful with that axe Eugene".

However the only Albert hall concert I can find listed is this one:
7 February 1970 Royal Albert Hall, Kensington, London, England
That was almost a year later. ???

I am sure of this date though. It was the last time I ever saw Pink Floyd play live.
18 July 1970 -Blackhill's Garden Party - Hyde Park Free Concert, Hyde Park, London. The band premiered their new album "Atom Heart Mother".