Biggest In Person Show of 1956

This package was booked as a 40-date tour and although Bill Haley was once again the headliner, Frankie Lymon was the hot group at the time of the tour.  Although not as tense as the spring tour, Haley is banned from several shows by local ordinances or orders.  The Vic Lewis Orchestra is a British set of musicians who join the tour for part of its run backing most of the acts. The Buddy Johnson Orchestra later joins when the British musicians return home.

 

Talent: Bill Haley & Comets, The Platters, Clyde McPhatter, Frankie Lymon & Teenagers, The Clovers, Ella Johnson, Chuck Berry, Shirley & Lee, Shirley Gunter, The Flairs, Buddy Johnson Orchestra, Vic Lewis Orchestra

 

I have only a partial itinerary for this tour, so any additions would be welcomed.

October 14, 1956 The Mosque, Richmond, VA

 

October 17, 1956 City Auditorium, Winston-Salem, NC

 

October 18, 1956 Municipal Auditorium, Charleston, WVA

 

October 20, 1956 Olympia Theater, Detroit, MI

 

October 21, 1956 Sports Arena, Toledo, OH

A single show booked at 8:30 p.m.

 

October 22, 1956 Syria Mosque, Pittsburgh, PA

 

Two sell-out shows tonight with plenty of police presence to keep the crowd under control.  Bill Haley and the Comets were banished from the show by police order.

 

October 23, 1956 Arena, Cleveland, OH

 

One performance scheduled tonight.

 

October 24, 1956 Gardens, Cincinnati, OH

 

A total of 8,000 fans fill the Gardens for tonight's show.   The local Enquirer newspaper sent their theatre critic to review the show.  His review was kindly but he left long before the headline acts performed due to deadlines.

 

October 25, 1956 Stambaugh Auditorium, Youngstown, OH

Two shows booked at 7 and 9:30 p.m.

 

October 26, 1956  War Memorial Auditorium, Rochester, NY

Two shows booked at 7 and 10 p.m.

 

October 27, 1956 Onondaga County War Memorial Auditorium, Syracuse, NY

 

Two shows scheduled tonight.

 

October 29, 1956 Auditorium, Ottawa, Canada

October 30, 1956 Auditorium, Kitchener, Canada

November 2, 1956 Indiana Theater, Indianapolis, IN

 

November 3, 1956 Missouri Theatre, St. Louis, MO

 

November 4, 1956 Municipal Auditorium, Kansas City, MO

 

November 8, 1956 Ice Arena, Albuquerque, NM

Two shows are scheduled at 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m.

 

November 9, 1956 Liberty Hall, El Paso, TX

 

November 13, 1956 City Auditorium, Galveston, TX

 

November 14, 1956 Heart of Texas Coliseum, Waco, TX

 

November 15, 1956 Municipal Auditorium, San Antonio, TX

 

November 16, 1956 Sportatorium, Dallas, TX

 

November 24, 1956 Opera House, Chicago, IL

 

Two shows scheduled tonight at 7 and 10 p.m.

 

November 25, 1956 War Memorial Auditorium, Ft. Wayne, IN

 

Sources (and do I trust them)

One of the first things taught to historians is how to evaluate sources when reasearching their subject.  The same goes for those of us researching rock history.  Today I'll talk about evaluating sources in the specialized field of rock concert research. 
I generally lump sources by their type and then according to their reliability.  Here are the categories I use:

Listing -  This is usually a newspaper line item announcing a show. Usually in a entertainment section and taken from a press release. Depending on the proximity of the show date, I tend to rank this as moderately dependable. Here's an example of what I mean.

Ad - A newspaper or magazine advertisement with venue, promoter and ticket information.  Often has a promo photo of at least one of the bands.  This rate a bit higher in dependability for me since these are paid for by the promoter.  If he's spending money, there's a good chance the show happened.  Like this one:

Poster - Posters used to be a pretty dependable source for concerts but with the growth of eBay and the market for counterfeit posters, this now needs some investigation of their own validity.  I now rank these as low in terms of dependability. Like this fake poster from 1964.

Handbill - Handbills are a bit like posters in that they are more of a starting point, rather than a confirmation.  However, there isn't quite the counterfeit market for them so you don't see as many bogus ones to lead you down the wrong path. Here's one from 1965 Asbury Park Convention Hall.

Ticket stub - A bit above moderate in reliability but tickets were often printed for shows that where cancelled at the last minute.  But they are great for identifying dates in the first place.  Here's one from 1967 Hollies' show in Hawaii that was subsequently cancelled along with their entire U.S. spring tour.

Review - A show review in a newspaper or magazine is generally the confirmation I look for to ensure that a show actually took place.  But they too can be misleading.  Especially in the '60s and '70s, newspapers who did review rock concerts (and there weren't many) had a relatively early deadline for their morning editions.  So many times, the headliner got little notice since the reviewer often left before they went on to file their story.  Occassionally there was outright deception.  Poco was to play the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto on New Years Eve, 1970 and the review contained a brief description of their set amongst six other bands.  Problem was...Poco never made it through customs into Canada and missed the show.  I might never have figured that out except that the reviewer was fired when fans called him on it.  Turns out the entire review was fiction!

Tour Itinerary - Official tour itineraries are gold for what was originally booked for shows but often do not reflect shows that were cancelled or postponed.  Wish there were more of these around but most band members just tossed them once the dates were completed.  Thankfully Poco's Road Manager Denny Jones kept copies from all the tours he did with them and noted changes on them too! 

Fan recollection - Much like law enforcement, I take eyewitness testimony with a grain of salt.  It's great additional confirmation when they give you enough details to make sure they were actually there.  But more often, dates are several years off, bands are mixed up, and other details don't mesh.  Hey, if you can remember the '60s, you weren't really there, right?