This is a rare souvenir poster from a concert at Sheffield’s Top Rank which we just found in Simon’s loft; the venue was renamed Improvision for some club and concert evenings in the 70s.  And yes whoever did this poster couldn’t spell.  Amazingly we also saved a small press advert for the show out of the local evening paper which shows that admission was 75p (although it was a whole £1.00 on the door!).  There is no mention of a support band though I assume there was one.

For fans of guitarist Tony McPhee, this was the first chance to see him in Sheffield after his best known band The Groundhogs (albeit with the other original members having disappeared a couple of years prior) had split in 1976. McPhee was never a musicians to stay away from touring long, so he launched Terraplane, featuring Alan Fish on bass and Wilgar Campbell (from Rory Gallagher’s band) on drums, a classic power trio. The Improvision show took place in 1978. Of course punk music was peaking that year and hard rock was deemed old hat by most of the UK music press, but there was still enough of an audience to allow McPhee and other rockers to earn a living on tour, even though a few years prior to this he used to sell out the Sheffield City Hall.

Record label’s were also chasing punk, so Terraplane never got a recording deal and called it a day in 1979.  McPhee then formed another rock trio, Tony McPhee’s Turbo. I’m fairly sure they played a concert inside the Sheffield Polytechnic complex around 1980 and will try to find the ticket (it was the only rock concert I saw there, as the new Phoenix building had became the main Polytechnic concert venue by the end of 1978).

I don’t remember taking any photographs at this Improvision show. For one thing the stage was quite high, and with the audience all standing it was usually difficult to get near enough.  You could sometimes take shots from the balcony but often this was closed off to members of the public during concerts.  The place could take 2,500 people on a disco evening although I think it was restricted for live music events to nearer 2,000 though McPhee didn’t fill it. The venue was also an over-18s club due to the bar and you had to be a member to get in, generally you could not just walk up on the night. I never remember being a member, so maybe we got people to sign us in (Sheffield University had a similar policy for rock concerts).

If you remember anything about the show or this venue do get in touch.