www.zawinulfans.org
Tour
Dates
Online
music
Scores
Weather Report
Links
Articles
Musicians
Photos
Chat
Mailing List
Guestbook
Contact us!
IMPORTANT NOTICE
You are browsing the old
www.zawinulfans.org website.
To see the new website,
click here.
I
played football with Weather Report I
was living in Edinburgh at the time having only just
returned from a 9 month stay in Australia. I had loads of
time to sit back & decide on my next move; so you could
say I was kind of chilling out. One lazy Friday morning in a
neighbour's apartment I was browsing through an old copy of
the "New Musical Express" when I came across the advert.
WEATHER REPORT-LONDON HAMMERSMITH ODEON then the date. It
was only after the initial shock had passed that I realised
that the date was THAT VERY DAY!!! Immediately
I sprang into action and within half an hour my concert
ticket, flight to London and overnight bag were taken care
of and my taxi was on the way. The ticket office in London
insisted that the ticket was picked up at the venue by 4pm;
so I was a man in a hurry!! I got there with an hour to
spare. There
was no point in going into central London so I thought I'd
take in the sights and sounds of Hammersmith. As I walked
away fron the venue I could hear music so I walked towards a
large side entrance. I expected to be turned away by this
guy walking out, but he simply put his finger to his mouth
and said "stay quite, they're recording". Before I knew
where I was I was standing at the side of the stage watching
the film crew for the "South Bank Show" record WP playing
"Singapore". I haven't seen the tape for over 15 years, but
if you have a copy, that's me with the white t-shirt on at
the side of the stage as the boom camera sweeps across the
stage. If the quality of the recording was higher resolution
you'd also notice my mouth hanging open in awe! After a
while the music stopped, people started moving equipment
around and it was obvious that I was in the way. So off I
went in search of food. When
I arrived back at the venue it was still too early to get
in. While I was pacing around impatiently I glimpsed through
a narrow gap in the buildings, Wayne Shorter pacing around
in much the same manner as I was. Off I went down the side
of the building, again fully expecting to be thrown back out
onto the street. Before I knew it I was shaking Wayne
Shorter's hand, thanking him for all the pleasure his music
had given me over the years. He was very polite and
commented on my Scottish accent. So I recounted the events
of the day to him. Amazingly, he was taken aback that I had
gone to such great lengths to get there. To me it seemed
like only the natural thing to do under the circumstances.
At that point Joe Zawinul arrived along with a young woman
who turn out to be their manager. Wayne Shorter said
something like "hey Joe this is John and he's come all the
way from Edinburgh to see the show". I'll never forget Joe's
answer......He grunted "huh, serves him right!". I wasn't
offended and laughed so hard I almost choked. Joe
Rossy and Victor Bailey appeared, picked up and kid's
plastic football and attempted to play basketball with it.
It wasn't nearly bouncy enough so they gave up pretty
quickly. Then the man himself, like the true European that
he is, started to tap the ball around. I was and still am a
football addict and within a minute we were playing 20 yard
passes to eachother like we'd been in the same team for
years (okay I'm exaggerating). At
one point I said something to him like, "I see your feet are
as educated as your hands!". He seemed to like that and we
played and chatted happily for about 15-20mins. The manager,
in the meantime was taking photos. Now, my only regret was I
didn't take my own camera (especially stupid because I'm a
photographer) but I'd left it at home in the rush. If anyone
knows who that woman might have been or if she's looking
into the website, PLEASE dig out photos and send me some
copies. Soon
it was time for the band to go in and warm up. Wayne Shorter
told me I must come in for the after gig party, so off I
went. The
concert itself I'm not going to attempt to describe. That
level of virtuosity creates a level of communication far
more profound than this writer can attain with words. After
the applause died down I was in such a daze of pleasure that
I forgot about Wayne Shorter's invitation and off wandered
into the night. It was only after I arrived in central
London that I realised that I hadn't thought about where I
was going to stay. A couple of phonecalls later I was on the
tube heading for Clapham Junction. My
friend didn't know Weather Report's music, but that didn't
stop me from boring him with every detail of a night that
had totally overwhelmed me. With hindsight I didn't regret
missing out on the after gig party because I would have been
like a starstruck teenybopper at a Spice Girls'
party. I
don't normally like living in the past but the three
occassions that I saw Weather Report were the most profound
musical experiences of my life. Recounting that day onto
paper for your webpage is a pleasure, especially if it gives
me a chance to see again their inspiring performances on
video. John
Bisset
28/4/00
by John
Bisset,
Scotland (UK)