That show was part of The Who's first North American tour, and it was set up when they were just having their first North American top 40 hit with "Happy Jack". So it definitely was a case of Herman's Hermits being the bigger act at the time, but yes, it certainly is very odd to see this in hindsight.

Herman's Hermits, even though they were more pop than rock had five number one hits and ten songs  in the top ten in Canada by the time they played at this concert.  The band was also more popular here than the states.

The Who sold albums more than singles but had a good hit in Canada in 1965 with My Generation which reached #3 but didn't do much in the US.  Happy Jack was #1 here in 1966 and #24 on Billboard. Their breakout hit in the US in 1967 could have been I Can See For Miles which came in at #9 on Billboard and #4 in Canada.  Blues Magoos was a US band from the Bronx and had a decent hit in 1966 with We Ain't Got Nothin Yet.

So in terms of popularity in 1967 the billing order for the concert would have been right.    

Last edited by paterson1 (April 28, 2023 2:20 pm)

mace wrote:

By today's standards, $5 sounds incredibly cheap to see the Beatles. To put that into perspective, I saw my first Leaf game in January 1963 against the then entrenched in last place Bruins [ They lost 5-2] We had centre ice Blues which were $5, Leaf tickets have never been inexpensive, so those $5 Beatle ticket prices would have been astronomical to see a band play for maybe 45 minutes. 20 songs at 2:30 each sounds about right. As for The Who, I Can See For Miles was their only North American Top 40 hit in the 60's. Top 40 listeners on this side of the Atlantic would have been relatively unfamiliar with the group then.

A long time ago, I was sent to New York City by CFTR to do a series of interviews. One of them was Sid Bernstein, the promoter who brought the Beatles to America by offering them a concert at Carnegie Hall - which impressed manager Brian Epstein. 

While I was there, he pulled out the ticket below from the famous Beatles Shea Stadium concert and gave it to me for reasons I still don't quite understand. To this day, I have no idea if it's real - wasn't that concert a complete sell-out? Would any intact tickets still exist? In any event, I still have it wrapped in carefully protected material just in case. And yes, as you can see, the ticket sold for only $5. 

Thank God there was no Ticketmaster back then!

RA, your sister was correct about the screaming crowd drowning out The Beatles. I still have my Maple Leaf Gardens ticket stub for the Sept 7/64 4PM show. Five bucks. The audio equipment of the times just was not adequate for huge venues and of course there were no large video screens, so the Beatles appeared very tiny on stage, even though my brother and I had seats on the floor.

The Hawk’s Nest was located upstairs at 331 Yonge Street; Ronnie Hawkins was associated with it, possibly as part owner. At the time the drinking age was 21, so he felt there was a good entertainment market for teenagers, and the Hawk’s Nest was an ideal location, featuring primarily R&B bands. I have a couple of actual “membership” cards for the place, along with other spots such as The Mynah Bird and Chez Monique’s in Yorkville, as well as a spot called the Gogue Inn. I played at the Hawk’s Nest once as well - we backed up 3 soul singers from Detroit called The Fabulous Peps, reminiscent of bands like the Temptations.

One of the entertainers at the Hawk’s Nest in your ad lists The Mandala, and George Oliver and his Children. This is confusing because in 1968 George was the lead singer for the Mandala (formerly The Rogues), a band heavily promoted by Rafael Markowitz, aka Randy Martin, who apparently called himself Randy Dandy for a while, a clown who performed in Buffalo. For some time The Mandala was probably the most exciting R&B/Soul band in Toronto, attracting crowds of screaming girls thanks to Randy’s heavy promotion. With the great Domenic Troiano on guitar, this band was a real powerhouse, and enjoyed one major record, “Opportunity,” with Dom playing a blistering solo.  After The Mandala had its run George later formed The Soul Crusade and then continued singing for some time. Dom went on for many years, playing with a number of well known bands, including Bush, The James Gang, a stint with The Guess Who, and had many other personal projects and recordings. He was such a talented musician.

The long history of music on Yonge Street is chronicled at the Friar’s Music Museum, located on the 2nd floor of the Shoppers Drug Mart at Yonge and Dundas, in the general area of the old clubs, including The Hawk’s Nest, le Coq D’Or, The Friars, etc. It was created thanks to many people, including writer Nicholas Jennings, as well as Duff Roman, to mention just two. No admission fee, and the display is well worth visiting. In fact there was (and hopefully still is) an old striped Mandala stage suit on display, and a vintage Fender Telecaster owned by Dom.

Wow, fascinating info from both of you. Thanks. I never realized the club scene was that vibrant, but I was way too young at that time to partake in it. A lot of them were gone by the time I aged into it. I'd heard about Yorkville in those days, but was never able to get there until after what made it great was gone. 

Randy Dandy was the name of a kids' show that aired on CHCH in the 60s. I'm guessing it would have had to be the same guy. Wasn't one I watched so I don't really remember it, But I never forgot the name. Oddly, when you do a search for "Randy Dandy" on the web, there's not much sign of him, except for one Facebook entry from the Hamilton Public Library.

Lorne wrote:

That show was part of The Who's first North American tour, and it was set up when they were just having their first North American top 40 hit with "Happy Jack". So it definitely was a case of Herman's Hermits being the bigger act at the time, but yes, it certainly is very odd to see this in hindsight.

The Who would headline at the very intimate Rockpile at 888 Yonge St. in 1969 with Kensington Market opening so they were still a long way from headlining a Toronto show in 1967.    


Here's poster from the web:

Last edited by SpinningWheel (April 28, 2023 1:58 pm)

The headline on RA's flyer..."ANOTHER SMASH SPECTACLAR SHOW!"

Maybe this is why typesetters joined blacksmiths on the unemployment line. 

Lorne wrote: "Olliver had indeed left Mandala to form his own group by 1968. From https://www.troianomusic.com/mandala.html:"

Thanks for the correction Lorne. Makes sense now.
On George’s site there’s a link to “Toronto’s Soul Scene” saying in part “After George left the Mandala he went on to form George Olliver and His Children which evolved into Natural Gas....”