Book Pink Floyd – £250 ($334) a pop.
How would you like to hire Pink Floyd for just £250 (US$334.47) a night? Back in 1969, in the UK, such a thing was possible. As you can see from this vintage price-list, Joe Cocker, the Moody Blues and Jethro Tull cost you £350 ($468) nightly; and Ten Years After, even less.
Rory Gallagher’s band was still called The Taste in 1969, and going for just £150 ($200) per gig, as was Grapefruit. Grapefruit, as mentioned in my last post, was a band founded by an elder brother of AC/DC’s Young brothers, Angus and Malcolm, and the Easybeats’ guitarist, George Young.
You might notice Simon Dupree and the Big Sound on the list. Formed by the three Shulman brothers, they became the highly-regarded progressive rock band Gentle Giant the following year (1970) when I worked with them at Tony Barrow International. Also, the iconic Pretty Things cost just #150 to hire and the Godfather of British blues, Alexis Korner (misspelt on the list), a paltry £100. Most expensive to hire were the Small Faces, and the UK’s top blues band, Fleetwood Mac.
