The BUDDY HOLLY WINTER DANCE PARTY
Buddy Holly, Dion, Big Bopper and Richie Valens
£18, £17 Adults. OAPs/Children £15.
On 23 January 1959 Buddy Holly began a string of dates across the American mid-west. The Winter Dance Party Tour included Ritchie Valens, The Big Bopper, Dion and the Belmonts, Frankie Sardo and of course Buddy himself. Buddy had recently parted company with original Crickets Jerry Allison and Joe B. Mauldin and, on this tour, brought along lead guitarist Tommy Allsup, drummer Carl Bunch and bassist Waylon Jennings, a protege of Buddys who would later become an international country music legend. The tour faced atrocious arctic-like weather conditions, the situation aggravated by the bus constantly breaking down and not being equipped with a working heater. Drummer Carl Bunch quickly succumbed to frostbitten feet and had to be hospitalised. Buddy and Ritchie took over the drumming, backing each other and the other acts. For the 3 February date at Moorhead, local boy Bobby Vee and his Shadows (no connection to the British band of the same name) were hired in. Dion and the Belmonts continued and completed the remaining dates; Jimmy Clanton, Fabian and Frankie Avalon were substituted as headliners, whilst Ronnie Smith fronted the Crickets for the remainder of the tour.
50 years on from what was to prove to be Buddys, Ritchies and the Boppers final concerts, we present a celebration of their music, together with that of Dion and the Belmonts. Hits range from the early songs such as Buddys Blue Days Black Nights and Rock Around with Ollie Vee to True Love Ways and It Doesnt Matter Anymore. Also featured are the Big Boppers Chantilly Lace, Running Bear and White Lightning, Ritchies La Bamba, Come On Lets Go and Donna, and Dions The Wanderer, Runaround Sue, I Wonder Why and Teenager In Love. Tonight we prove that the music did not indeed die but lives on and is as vibrant and relevant as ever.
The Hippodrome. St. Georges Road. Great Yarmouth. Norfolk NR302EU. ENGLAND. BOX OFFICE FOR ALL SHOWS Telephone 01493 844172