My Story
In October of 1981, I attended a Greg Lake concert with my girlfriend of the time. Greg Lake had just released his first solo album that year and was completing his UK tour with Gary Moore. This was also the year that saw the release of Diary of a Madman.
I was seventeen years old at the time and managed to purchase a few drinks at the bar. During my second pint the fans started to make their way to watch the support act so the bar area was slowly emptying. I was trying to guzzle the amber nectar prior to making my way to our seats when my GF noticed a group of people arrive, one of whom my girlfriend thought was Rod Stewart (She was 16, blond and in love with Michael Schenker!). All had long hair, wore denim’s and looked just like any other punter turning up for the show. Upon a second glance, I immediately noticed this was in fact Randy Rhoads in company with Tommy Aldridge and some other guys I did not recognize (I think Rudy Sarzo was with them but I cannot be sure since I was not all too familiar of who Rudy was at that time). Randy immediately removed himself from his buddies who stood cagily looking around near the stair well from where they arrived. Stunned, I found myself immediately gazing at Randy who just walked casually straight towards me, this was not an opportunity to miss out on! Like an exocet, I approached Randy and introduce myself.
From then on I proceeded to have a long conversation which included discussing music, guitars, Ozzy and the new Diary of a Madman album. Randy was very eager to hear my view/response towards the Diary Album "have you heard the album yet" he asked? Then he proceeded to ask me about each and every track and whether his solo’s/riffs/sound were good enough or needed improvement! He really wanted my perspective. As a fan at 17 years old, I found it very hard to answer some of his questions like - “which track I liked least”? “NONE, every track is awesome”!!! That was about the most intelligent answer I could give at the time, much to Randy’s disappointment.
Half hour into the conversation, I could see Tommy getting agitated and frowning at me but that was not going to deter me, I was in mid flow with Randy Rhoads, that’s far better than watching some support act I never heard of before. The Tommy crew still hadn’t moved from their entry point and was still looking around the empty bar while the support act rocked out on stage obvoiusly eager for Randy to join them and move on. Randy wasn't going anywhere, he was locked in convo and very intrigued...
It was also around this time that I was playing rhythm guitar in a band with a few of my school mates. I taught myself guitar when I was 14 and had an old beat up CMI Strat copy which never really stayed in tune, however I had recently purchased a Tiger stripped Washburn A20-v. Randy was real excited about this and kept asking me questions about it, did I like the action, sustain etc. What effects and amp I used? Gee thought I was the interviewer! To say the least Randy was amazing and couldn’t be more obliging! To be honest I knew shit in comparison about guitars! We spent the entire time talking during the support act with Tommy deeply gazing and frowning away at me from a distance and we only departed when Greg Lake was due to appear on stage. An entire hour or so past before the fans started to reamerge for the nxt round of dirnks prior to the main performance. Tommy was increasingly becoming aggitated..!
Randy was drinking a small shot of Gin in a clear plastic beaker or maybe it was Vodka, so my GF told me. The GF took a small sip when Randy asked her to hold his drink while he signed his autograph for me, when he wasn't looking. He signed the back of my ticket, which just happened to be the colour green and the only pen I managed to get hold of from the bar was also a green BIC! Nevertheless, the autograph is clear and legible. The GF was completely shell shocked with all this and had been for the entire time we spent talking. When Randy asked her a few questions she replied with short “going nowhere” type answers and just looked intently at Randy with her big blues eyes drooling…
When it was time to leave, I rushed over to Tommy Aldridge and tried to get his autograph. However, at this point I think he was pretty darn pissed off after I just spent the entire support act slot speaking with Randy and so promptly dismissed me and refused to give his autograph, much to my dismay.
Randy insisted that I come to the December show, so prior to finding my seat, I quickly made my way to the booking office and purchased two tickets for Blizzards up coming tour for the 24th December 1981, using my ever increasing credit card debt! (My mind was rolling and I contemplated to ask Randy for a backstage pass but I was just too chicken shit to ask).
Armed with my new tour tickets and Randy’s signature I made my way to my seat to watch the Greg Lake performance, I was seated two rows from the front on the left side of the stage (The side Gary Moore took). The opening number was “Nuclear Attack” and included other hits like “Parisienne Walkways” and “21st Century Schizoid Man”. In fact, Gary Moore was superb and only a few feet away from me. At the end of the concert Gary wiped the sweat from his face and threw a white towel into the audience which my girlfriend managed to get a hold of. Even the hardened denim clad rockers in the front row knew not to fight a determined blond female for the prize in question!
Once the concert ended, I made my way to the outside stage door in the hope of meeting the band.
There was about twenty fans patiently waiting, gossiping amongst each other, some of whom gave up waiting and went home. A large tour bus was parked and after about an hour a group of bouncers came out and parted the groupies from stage door to bus in a manner in which Moses parted the Red Sea!!
Soon after, the band members rushed out directly from the stage door and into the tour bus. The bus doors then closed shut! It was after a further ten minutes and a lot of mumbling from the fans thinking they were gonna get ditched when the bus doors opened and all the fans were invited to make their way onto the bus and meet the band. I couldn’t believe my luck. In that traditional English manner, each long haired, sweaty, denim clad fan politely queued up to meet the guys like sheep being led to slaughter. Only Greg Lake and Gary Moore were on the bus, each seated on opposite sides complete with foot rests, pillows, bottles of water and plenty of towels (a large stack of which was set aside especially for Gary). All the fans received a bottle of water, a personally signed photograph and we all had the opportunity for a brief Q&A (mainly commemorating the band for their performance).
That night was awesome and one gig that I would never forget. I came home with three autographs (Greg Lake, Gary Moore and Randy Rhoads), two tickets for Blizzard in December, a rather sweat ridden towel from Gary and an experience I would never forget.
Obviously, eager to see Blizzard just before Christmas, my euphoria was soon shattered beyond belief over the course of four months. I was first to learn that Ozzy cancelled the December gig due to a sore throat and exhaustion (Hardly surprising after such a massive tour as well as fitting in the sessions to record Diary). I had no choice but to exchange my tickets for a Motorhead gig early 1982 (Iron Fist Tour), I was then even more astounded the day Randy tragically lost his life early that year 1982, ten days after my 18 B-Day. I was shattered to say the least! The Motorhead gig did nothing for me since that was supposed to have been a Blizzard gig back in December 1981 with Randy Rhoads. And Lemmy didn’t make it better when I waited by that same old back stage door to catch them for autographs! I remember someone shouting from above, only to look up and see Lemmy head protruding from a second story window armed with a bucket of cold water filled with ice, which he then proceeded to use in order to disperse the crowd below!! At 11 pm at night, it worked! That was on the 26th of March and so soon after losing Randy Rhoads. I wasn’t exactly on high spirits to say the least, especially since I didn’t want to exchange my ticket in the first place. I promptly went home giving the profound one finger salute towards Lemmy whilst mumbling the lyrics to track 4 from the Motorhead Iron Fist Album.
Despite all this, I came away from the Greg Lake gig in awe of Randy Rhoads. He was such a nice guy and gave so much to a complete stranger at no cost; he was so easy to talk too as if we knew each other for a life time. I don’t think anyone really astounded me in such a way Randy did and yet to this very day that presence of RR still affects me whether we lost him or not.
Despite the tragedy, I can at least say I was privileged and honored to had met Randy in person and spend over an hour talking to him as just a normal young buck growing up and enjoying RnR. He was an outstanding human being that didn’t just dedicate himself to his music but was also committed to his fans. He loved life and gave so much and was so unjustly taken away from us all.
I did get to see Ozzy later the next year during the 1982 Speak of the Devil tour with Brad Gillis but it was not quite the same. Great gig with all the trimmings but I wanted to see Randy on Stage which was never gonna be the case, so the buzz just wasn’t quite the same. Nevertheless, the entire Ozzy team did well under the circumstances.
So, there’s my story which I hope everyone appreciated. I did do some additional research and after reading up on Greg Lake and Gary Moore I discovered a few facts that I hadn’t ever contemplated before.
In my discussions with GUITARIDOL he pointed out to me that GL and GM were signed up on Jet Records, so the guys may had met up and discussed the up coming GL gig, hence there appearance at the show. Nevertheless, the below still points out some connections from Rhoads and Aldridge towards Lake and Moore…
Gary Moore
While somewhat less popular in the US, Moore's work has "brought substantial acclaim and commercial success in most other parts of the world – especially in Europe". Moore throughout his career has been recognized as an influence by many guitarists including Randy Rhoads, John Sykes and Kirk Hammett.
Moore has collaborated with a broad range of artistes including George Harrison, Trilok Gurtu, Dr. Strangely Strange, Colosseum II, Albert Collins, Jimmy Nail, Mo Foster, Ginger Baker, Jim Capaldi, Vicki Brown, Cozy Powell, the Beach Boys, Ozzy Osbourne and Andrew Lloyd Webber. He has experimented with many musical genres, including rock, jazz, blues, country, electric blues, hard rock and heavy metal.
Greg Lake
Moore participated in the recording of Greg Lake's two solo albums, Greg Lake (1981) and Manoeuvres (1983). He also played live in Greg Lake's line-up. Some notable performances of his touring stint with Lake, were the live covers of King Crimson songs "21st Century Schizoid Man", "In the Court of the Crimson King", as well as "Parisienne Walkways".
Moore's 1980 album Dirty Fingers (which also featured ex-Ted Nugent vocalist Charlie Huhn, former Rainbow/Wild Horses and later Dio bassist Jimmy Bain, and ex-Black Oak Arkansas/Pat Travers and later Ozzy Osbourne/Whitesnake/Ted Nugent drummer Tommy Aldridge, had a song called "Nuclear Attack", which he also performed on the Greg Lake album.
Loyal RR Fan ….
