When Town Rocked With Gown

One man who brought giants of the rock world to Lancaster has told his story in a new book. David Stocker went to meet him

TO stand in the Great Hall at Lancaster University is to stand in a place of ghosts. Ghosts that are invisible to all but those who were young between the years of 1969 and 1985, who were either studying at the University, or who lived locally. And these are no ordinary ghosts. They are the spirits of some of the greatest rock musicians and performers of the era, who, quite incredibly, beat a path to the Bailrigg campus in England’s far north-west.

As broadcaster and writer Andy Kershaw described them, the roster of artists who played there constituted a ‘Who’s Who’ of Rock ‘n’ Roll, among whose number were The Who, Paul McCartney, Dire Straits, Van Morrison, T Rex, Blondie, U2, Black Sabbath, Eric Clapton, Queen, Tina Turner, the Ramones, Duran Duran, Roxy Music, Slade and many more.

And behind this remarkable phenomenon was one special man, in the right place at the right time, an undergraduate-turned-impresario named Barry Lucas. Having recently retired from a second career in schoolteaching, Barry set about writing the definitive memoir of the time, with his ‘Boswell’ – rock fan Paul Tomlinson.

‘When Rock Went to College; Legends Live at Lancaster University 1969-85’ records this remarkable time in those years before stadiums and digitalisation, as seen from the perspective of the man who selected and booked the bands, and satisfied their whims, as might anyone wishing to appease the Gods of Rock.