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Geoff Docherty has promoted almost every known British Rock Group in the business. Bands promoted included The Who, Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and David Bowie. He also promoted Deep Purple, Rod Stewart, Free and many more.
Acts that didn’t usually play in the North-East played for Geoff Docherty. The legendary Bay Hotel in Sunderland was where it all started. In January 1969 Geoff managed to secure the rock band Free for the grand sum of 35 pounds. He charged 4 shillings admission. Between then and July of that year he had booked almost 50 acts into The Bay. These included The Who, Jethro Tull, TRex, Yes and also Pink Floyd.
By the mid 1970’s Geoff Docherty had become one of the biggest promoters in the UK rock scene.
Books:
Geoff’s book ‘A Promoter’s Tale (Rock At The Sharp End)‘ became a best seller and was also set to become a film with Dave Stewart of Eurythmics fame taking the role as music co-ordinator. A second book which was a follow up, Three Minutes of Magic was published in 2010.
After six and a half years with the Fleet Air Arm on HMS Ark Royal, Geoff took on a number of jobs. This was before being told there was a position at The Bay Hotel. At that time The Bay had a regular Saturday night dinner dance in the ballroom. It was all ladies in cocktail dresses and men in dickie bows. The rest of the week the ballroom was empty. Geoff asked the manager if he could hire it and he would take the risk of putting bands on. His first band was Family who cost 150 pounds. This was a huge gamble, as Geoff was only earning 2 pounds a night at that time. However, the hall was jam packed. After paying all the expenses Geoff was left with 40 pounds, he never looked back.
Good Friends:
John Peel was a good friend of Geoff’s and a regular at The Bay Hotel. He was either performing or sometimes just going along to see the bands. John wrote the Foreword to Geoff’s book. In it he said ”Geoff was responsible for what I have no hesitation as describing as the best gig I ever attended”. John was talking about the night Geoff had booked The Faces – or as they were eventually to become, Rod Stewart and The Faces.
Geoff Docherty’s tale is truly unique. He tells of Pete Townsend smashing his guitar to bits on stage, also Keith Moon kicking the drums over. He booked Country Joe and The Fish just after they performed at Woodstock. It’s a story of the difficulty in booking bands outside of London and dealing with the London managers and promoters.
