New concert date to celebrate Elgin Beatles promoter Bonici
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THIS weekend would have seen a long-planned and one-off celebration of a visionary Elgin music promoter who brought The Beatles to Scotland.
The celebration to mark Albert Bonici's contribution on what would have been his 100th birthday on July 19 has now been rescheduled for July 24 next year after it was wiped off the 2020 calendar by the pandemic.
Bonici, The Bands – The Two Red Shoes Story had been set to take to the stage this Saturday, July 18, at Elgin Town Hall, featuring many of the local musicians Albert worked with in the 1960s.
Albert built his own Elgin club, created his own record company, managed local artists and worked with 1960s big-hitters including The Rolling Stones, Dusty Springfield, The Kinks, Pink Floyd, The Small Faces, Yardbirds, Cream and The Who.
Many of them played his Two Red Shoes club in Elgin.
He also brought The Kinks to Elgin Town Hall, Cream to Nairn's Ballerina Ballroom, and promoted The Rolling Stones on their 1964 package tour of Scotland.
However, it was his connection with The Beatles that was his biggest coup – signing them up in 1962 for their first tour of Scotland when they were "just another band".
Crucially, Albert had a clause inserted into the contract to promote any subsequent tours of Scotland. At the height of Beatlemania, he promoted their tours in the central belt in late 1963 and 1964.
No one, including Albert, could have had any idea the frenzy that would erupt within the next 10 months.
Albert died on July 8, 1990.
Elgin Beatles enthusiast David Dills, a writer and artist originally from San Francisco, had spent many hours making detailed plans for the concert in Albert's honour.
He said: "The date of the Elgin Town Hall event was rescheduled by consensus for July 24, 2021, and tickets will be on sale later in the year.
"Albert would have been 100 years old on July 19. He opened his long-awaited Two Red Shoes Ballroom on July 28, 1960, just after his 40th birthday. He became an active promoter by 1956 and added a small stage in the Park Café until the facility could be built.
"There were a few roadblocks, but organising and promoting music events was what he wanted to do since his teens, though World War Two held him back."
David's Albert Bonici blog can be read at https://scotbeat.wordpress.com/.
Fellow concert organiser Mark Aldridge, from Elgin, said: "It is with sadness that the MND charity gig on Saturday, July 18, to celebrate what would have been Albert Bonici's 100th birthday, fell victim to the Covid-19 crisis.
"All the artists were so disappointed after all their hard work preparing for the show. However, they are now looking forward to the rescheduled date of July 24, 2021.
"In the meantime we continue to try and highlight Mr Bonici's legacy to the music in Moray and the north-east and all the artists of the era."
A Facebook page for Bonici, The Bands – The Two Red Shoes Story can be found here.
David's planned Elgin Museum exhibition on Albert Bonici was also waylaid by the pandemic closures. However, a video created to allow remote access to the museum's 2020 displays can be viewed here:
