Fact #64800

As the band which has played Wembley more often than any other (42 times to be precise) Status Quo enjoys a very special relationship with Wembley Arena. We asked Quo’s Francis Rossi, and Neil Warnock, CEO of the band’s long-time booking agents, The Agency Group, to look back.

Francis Rossi : We first played the Empire Pool at the 1968 NME Pollwinners Concert. We used AC30 amps, and only the voice went to front of house, so the band sound came off the stage and sounded about the size of a matchbox, but at the time we didn’t know anything else.

We didn’t headline the Arena on our own until 1974, when we were too cool to let anybody see how excited we were about it. I think we really only realised we’d made it when we started being able to do multiple nights at the Arena.

Neil Warnock : I’ve worked with Quo since they were The Spectres in the early 60s. The Arena has a lot of idiosyncracies because it was designed originally as a swimming pool, despite which, the atmosphere that can be created is the product of a unique relationship between the artist, the audience and the venue. When you see it kick off, well, it doesn’t happen anywhere else.
(Source : as told to Johnny Black, February 2009)

Clive Ambler – Total Recall of the Wonders of Wembley

Clive Ambler, managing director of the Potter’s Bar-based production management company Stage Miracles seems to be blessed with total recall. Here he reflects on three decades of memorable malarkey on stage and backstage at Wembley.

“I first went to Wembley Arena to see Pink Floyd in 1972, when the ticket price was just 7s 6d, but our first working involvement was in 1977 at the Country and Western Festival. These were the days when amp racks had to be put on the catwalk and dimmers went in the basement on pallets in case of flooding.

Pink Floyd’s Animals Tour was an inspiration for us. We made a mock up of the pig exploding through a PA stack using a cuddly toy and a washing line.

In 1982, theoretically, we took a year off. Somehow, though, we ended up working on Earth,Wind and Fire, Ozzy Osbourne, George Benson, AC/DC, Neil Young, Holiday On Ice and Talking Heads, who came on stage with no lighting rig and used hand-held torches to spotlight themselves.

In the mid-80s, Elton John always had the best guests backstage (George Harrison, Robert de Niro, Bob Hoskins etc ) and I got to meet my boyhood hero George Best who I thanked for scoring six goals when I went to see him play against Northampton. His reply was, “Well then, you had better buy me a drink! “

My wife was heavily pregnant in 1986 and nearly gave birth when she saw the opening of ZZ Top’s show. The stage was covered in a white muslin cloth with a giant sphinx at the back which proceeded to raise its paw to its nostril so it could snort the cloth, thus revealing the band.

I also have great memories of 1988, when The Pogues revealed Kirsty MacColl coming out of a giant fridge to perform Fairy Tale Of New York and Alexander O’Neill appearing in the catering room with his radio mic telling us that the lady he had invited on to his onstage bed was such a dog he had to come back for a drink.

Luther Van Dross in 1989 was unforgettable for the fact that backstage he had a wrestling ring with performing dwarves, and when Stevie Wonder played in the round, the revolving stage broke and we had to get twelve men every night to push the damn thing.

We also worked on a Barry Manilow show for Danny Betesh when the fork lift drove over the multicore for the lighting and Barry had to go on stage with just six spotlights. He explained to the crowd who absolutely adored the show.

In 1999 I met the Dalai Lama coming out of catering backstage at the Beastie Boys gig .

After losing our friend and partner Les Clifford, it was wonderful to see the number of people who turned up at the arena for his commemorative day … and the number who still kiss the plaque in the catering room which is now named after him - The Clifford.
(Source : as told to Johnny Black, February 2009)

MORE WEMBLEY MEMORIES….
(Source : as told to Johnny Black, February 2009)

Peter Fewings - Technical Manager, Wembley Arena
The venue can be transformed into an ice rink in 24 hours. Disney On Ice use aluminium plates, four foot by thirty foot with piping inside. They lay them down and join them together to make a huge aluminium floor. Then they attach it to a huge refrigeration plant outside and pump fluid in. That reduces the temperature to below zero and then they spray water on which freezes.

David Bond, Senior Project Manager, Star Events Group
When Madonna played, she wanted to hang some unusually heavy pieces of sound and lighting gear. We had to modify some of the original beams and put in some bracketry to get more rigging potential from the roof, quite an endeavour.

Chrys Lindop (founder, Garwood Communications)
Stevie Wonder had a full-blown, mobile, broadcast standard FM radio station - Wonderland Radio. The owner of the trucking company coming to a show at Wembley turned on his radio around Hampstead and got Stevie’s monitor mix.

Ann Colleran, General Manager, Letheby And Christopher
As caterers, we find it a great venue with diverse audiences with different requirements. Meeting royalty is always a privilege, especially watching the queen putting on her lipstick without use of a mirror like all mums.