On July 13, 1969, Vanilla Fudge headlined the final ever live show at the Singer Bowl, a stadium in Queens, New York. Joining them on the bill were The Jeff Beck Group, Ten Years After and the Edwin Hawkins Singers, and it's a night that's gone down in history: The night John Bonham almost got arrested and Ten Years After frontman Alvin Lee got covered in orange juice.
“Alvin was the butt of the juice thing, so he wouldn’t have been amused," Ten Years After bassist Ric Lee told Classic Rock. "The vibe that night within the band wasn’t that great. Just before we hit the stage Led Zeppelin arrived with manager Peter Grant and tour manager Richard Cole.
"Jimmy Page and [Ten Years After keyboardist] Chick Churchill were quite friendly; there’d been talk of him joining Zep on keyboards. We went down a storm, so did the Jeff Beck Group. As they went back for an encore, John Bonham went past and said: ‘C’mon, we’re going on for a jam.’
“Bonzo jumped on the kit and began a kick-ass rhythm. Ronnie Wood and Tim Bogert plugged in to the nearest available amps, as did Jimmy Page and Beck. Robert Plant and Rod Stewart grabbed microphones. Carmine Appice and I grabbed a pair of sticks each and pounded the nearest toms. The audience went apeshit."
"It was one of those riotous sort of days," said Beck, recalling the riotous nine-man jam version of Jailhouse Rock that descended into an orgiastic version of The Stripper. "Everybody's energy level was one hundred per cent and we were throwing things at each other on stage; I threw a mug of orange juice at Alvin Lee and it was all over his guitar."
"Bonham was pretty drunk," said Ric Lee. "He proceeded to take his trousers off between songs. The police got very twitchy. He was down to his underpants when Cole and Grant hauled him off the drum stool. My last memory was of Bonham’s hairy backside disappearing, illuminated by a spotlight. He’d split his trousers when the police arrived in the dressing room.
"My ex-missus patched them together with a giant safety pin, else he’d have ended up in jail. Which he did later after the Texas Pop Festival We did a lot of shows with Zep. There was a friendly rivalry. But you had to be careful of Bonham. He could turn on you.”
Ten Years After bassist Leo Lyons put more flesh on the bone. “There were light-hearted episodes rather than feuds. I can’t remember that jam because I was probably stoned but I do recall the gig and Cole and Grant putting Chick Churchill in an ice bucket. It was like a tin bath we kept the beer cold in backstage. After that we rarely crossed paths except in hotels and airports and festivals.”
Ric and Leo don’t bear Alvin any ill will. “He’s the closest person to a brother I’ve ever had,” said Lyons. “Of course we had ups and downs. When we were in The Jaybirds we used to stop the van and have a fight then get back in and it was all forgotten. People get on your nerves. It’s like a marriage.
"I never thought of playing with another band, and I had offers. Hendrix asked me to join his band when he first came to the UK and I said no. We’d put in so much work getting Ten Years After off the ground I didn’t want them to succeed without me. now I feel nostalgic about those great days. It was like being in the army, best time of my life, as they say."
