66 gigs....45,204 miles.....Europe, UK, USA & Canada

1983 Supertramp Europe

What an amazing year this turns into for my career as a tour manager.

I am hired by Supertramp originally as the European Tour Co-ordinator for the second largest tour to date in European live concert history.

In the process I have to turn down the job as tour manager for David Bowie and his Serious Moonlight tour but events take over and it turns out I'm to be the Tour Manager for Supertramp for the next three years. The playlist to the right here is a recent radio show broadcast in France as a podcast in memory of the great music they made together.

The year finishes off with an amazing couple of months in Australia setting up the World tour for Duran Duran and their album 'Seven and the Ragged Tiger'.

Europe 83 Tour Itinerary

European tour photos

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Again it was through Harvey Goldsmith's offices that I was approached by Kenny MacPherson and asked if I'd like to be put in the running for a job as tour manager for Supertramp's up and coming World Tour.

It was to become the second largest tour of Europe that a band had ever attempted to date, with three outdoor stages being leapfrogged around Europe for two months. I leapt at the chance and was flown over to Los Angeles to be interviewed by a couple of the band.

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Serious Moonlight tour pass 83

May 16th 1983 was to become one of the most memorable days of my life.

Not only was I asked to become the tour manager for Supertramp's huge World Tour, but I was also asked to be the tour manager for David Bowie's Serious Moonlight World Tour.

Take a listen to how this day unfolded.

In the photo below one can see the lift of the Plaza Hotel in Copenhagen. In the 70's and 80's it was the place to stay in the city, it had a cool bar and some nice rooms. It also had this lift that had a small notice board on the wall, which had a different saying pinned to it every day. The day I was there the saying was "Nature, TIme and Patience are three great doctors". It was so apt as I grappled to create my position on this tour, that I took it off the board and stuck it onto the front cover of my tour itinerary. Take a look in the gallery above.

plaza copenhagen

The other great touch was the wooden column in the reception area with brass plaques. Every artist or band that got to stay there was remembered by a brass plaque that was put up on one side of the column. It is still there today and is a who's who of the music business.

plaza copenhagen

rick on the bus 83

Boredom sets in and then all sorts of things start to happen !!! Who started this anyway .........

supertramp on a bus 83

Well it might have been Dougie, or for that matter Mike 'the Goon" McGinley who always liked a prank or a game of tennis if I recall correctly......

john and sax

Mr John Helliwell always with a friendly smiling face xx I can't remember whether it was this European tour, where we left him in Munich, yes I believe it was this tour, and John rode a brand new Ducati back to the UK.

Another perennial smiling face was of Scott Page, 'The Hedge' our extra saxaphone player. I was to work with Scott on a couple more projects before he went off to become a pretty successful entrepreneur. As you will see in the 1985/6 world tour with Supertramp, that 'Hedge' got a lot longer and I'll always remember the badge he bought me, but I'm getting ahead of myself again.

roger 83 europe

Tramp 83 tour pass

Europe Itinerary 83

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wolfgang 1983

Herr Wolfgang Koellen was one of the three site co-ordinators on this tour, looking after the setting up and breaking down of one third of all the stadium shows. Roger Searle and Chris Adamson being the other two chaps.

Wolfgang worked for Mama Concerts at the time, and Mama not only promoted the German shows but was also responsible for the overall promotion of all the shows on this European tour.

Scott Page

Roger on the left.

Amazingly, Roger had his pilot instructor fly a four seater from LA to Europe so he could clock up some more hours to get his pilots licence!!

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Now this is where you would normally find both me and Mrs D.......... in the bloody office. This is a picture of yours truly with Sue Davies, who on this tour was my trusty assistant, co-manager and boss all rolled into one. But on this tour for sure, the cog that kept the office in full swing. It was a difficult time in lots of respects, with the band splitting apart at the height of their popularity. Roger had a new manager, Sue represented Rick, Dave Margereson still represented John, Bob and Dougie. It was all a little complicated. Logistics were full on too, as in each city we had three different hotels; one for the band entourage, one for the crew and quite often a third for Roger and his small entourage.

on stage view 83

From the left; Ian (Biggles) Lloyd Bisley, Micky Finlay and... work in progress trying to identify this dude (sorry!)

Now you didn't want to get on the wrong side of these stage guys if you knew what was good for you. Unfortunately for Chris DeBurgh he did not realise this until it was too late. I tell the story on an audio clip.....

Me and Spy Mathews paris show 1983

Here we have our beloved production manager, Spy Mathews, in some pain from gout if I remember correctly, LOL.....no, I'm pointing him to the lavatories really! This photo taken at the Parc de Sceaux in Paris. Over 120,000 people came to this show, the largest single concert on the whole tour.

sue myself and kenny thompson in Paris 83

Relax time after the Paris show, phew that was full on.......

supertramp paris 83

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supertramp stage paris 83 set up

It is so difficult to find any live recordings of this tour. It is possible to buy the Munch show, which is really good quality as it was recorded by a German TV station.

You can purchase a DVD called 'A Story so Far' that shows quite a few of the numbers from this World Tour, filmed in Munich and over in Toronto too. Here it is https://www.amazon.co.uk/Supertramp-The-Story-Far-DVD/dp/B00006EHO5/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

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I was in awe as usual of the way the crew put these shows together so quickly. Nowadays 100's of people work to set up a stage something like this but back then there were 100 of us in total.

supertramp stage paris 83 set up

It's a good pair of photos, above showing the front and below left, the back of the stage setting up. Taken by Gordon James from Canada who was a very busy Radio DJ.

The screen was the most difficult aspect of the whole thing, as in windy weather it was a nightmare to get up......and beyond a certain wind speed, it had to come down as well!

The majority of the crew were from Los Angeles and part of a production company called Delicate Productions that came together out of the 'Breakfast in America' Supertramp crew.

You can see from my datesheet that toward the end of this leg of the tour we stayed at a place called the Parkhotel Adler. It was in Hansel and Gretel land, tucked away in the Black Mountains. We decamped there for 8 nights and I believe it was at this time we used a private jet to get to a couple of shows, flying back to the mountains immediately after the performances. I now quote the hotel website as they explain themselves. "The Hotel is an exclusive hideaway in the heart of the Southern Black Forest. It is located in the pintoresque village of Hinterzarten right next to the most important skiing and ski jumping resorts of Germany. The nearest town is the medieval city of Freiburg with its famous cathedral in the old part of town and one of the oldest and most traditional universities of Europe".

black mountains

We must not forget our support artists on these shows. For the most part there were not a lot of different acts and the most frequent one was Chris DeBurgh and his band. The other act that did multiple shows with us was Joe Cocker. I know which one was my favorite. I belive as you go through the itinerary there are mentions of the support acts. Others included Mink Deville, Mothers Finest and Nina.......

Road Stories

66 gigs....45,204 miles.....Europe, UK, USA & Canada

1983 Supertramp Europe

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