A world away from the sometimes massive, sometimes glitzy, many times sanitised band venues of today, were the small but sometimes wild venues of the 60s. A letter sent in this week by reader Peter O'Donnell inspired much reminiscing. A night out in Newcastle meant an early evening at the Club Agogo, Mussel Inn, Majestic, etc. then an early morning at the Downbeat. Now I must admit that I was never a regular at the Downbeat, only going a couple of times, but the reputation of this den of iniquity was unsurpassed on Tyneside, with stories of free love, drugs, rocking all night, frequent police raids etc. etc. How much of it was true and how much legend? You could find the Downbeat in Carliol Square. It used to be about half a crown to get in (2s 6d) in the old days (12p approx). Peter from Whickham often spent the night there. He tells us: "I managed to get in free. I went with a band called the Jetstreams, and carried their drums in. "They were the best band the North East produced but they never got anywhere. Their lead guitarist was called Pussy Mew and he went on to join Screaming Lord Sutch's Savages, so the Jetstreams needed a new guitar player and in came Hylton Valentine, who later went on to The Animals. "When I went to the Downbeat there was the Jetstreams, The Animals, The Alan Price Combo. "The Animals were tremendous. They used to take the roof off there. Shouting the blues. At its height you couldn't get moved, we were jammed shoulder to shoulder and we probably invented the pogo, you couldn't do anything else. "But sometimes I found myself there when there were only three people in, very quiet. There was no toilets and it was freezing at times. "At first there was no drink. They lost the licence then got it back. "I never saw any drugs, but did sleep the night on the floor, in my top-coat, waking up at four in the morning before going home. "It was crazy, really, but there were never any police raids when I was there. You would get them coming in and looking around - it meant they knew where everyone was. "The Club Agogo was probably more suspect for things like that, but I went for the music, The Animals, the blues. "You also got the Yardbirds, Jimmy Paige and Geoff Beck , the Pretty Things, it was all rock 'n' roll and blues. "You'd never get Billy J Kramer and Gerry and the Pacemakers at the Downbeat. The bands that went on just used to blast away. You also got Sonny Boy Williamson and Howling Woolf. "The Club Agogo was also popular, I'd see bands on the City Hall, then they would go to the Agogo for afters and have sets there. I remember once having breakfast there with Chuck Berry - everyone just mixed in. "He bought it - I ate it. "The Animals would come back, there would be seven or 10 of them on stage, all from different bands. Kid from King-size Taylor and the Dominoes from Liverpool on the drums, Eric Burdon singing and Hylton Valentine on guitar. "They had some mad sessions - same at the Downbeat." Another claim to fame for Peter is meeting The Beatles at the Majestic. "I saw them three times and heard them once." | 
Tyne Bridge Publishing
