Page on the Road: The Yardbirds Tour 1966

For this installment of Page on the Road, it's time to jump back in time a bit to 1966, and join Jimmy as he ventures out on the road with The Yardbirds for their first American tour.

Program for the Dick Clark Caravan of Stars Featuring The Yarbdirds (Upper Left Corner)

Shortly after signing on with the group in 1966, the band quickly departed for the shores of America for their first tour of the United States. Once on foreign soil, they linked up with the renowned "Dick Clark Caravan of Stars" touring act. The going for the group was quite rough, they spent one month on the caravan literally traveling from coast to coast. The tour management for the most part didn't make things much easier for the acts on the bill regarding them as basically pop paraphernalia to be used and discarded when no longer viable.

Jimmy would later recount his first date in America with The Yardbirds in an installment of "On This Day" on his website: " 05 Aug 1966, I played Dayton’s Auditorium with The Yardbirds.
This was the first date of any American tour for me, and on this day I played with The Yardbirds on bass. In fact, although having had two visits to the States prior to this, this was the first time I ever played a show there. The first date here in Minneapolis, Minnesota on the 5th of August was at Dayton’s Department Store, 8th Floor Auditorium and the surroundings felt quite surreal."

A typical night for the Yardbirds meant playing two four song sets between other various hot acts of the now, or fading lights hoping for a comeback. Generally, the group played for about 3,000 people per evening, then travelled 100 miles or more to the next stop on a bus cramped with their gear and other acts and do it all over again for thirty days, no break in between. Reflecting on it later, Jimmy would state, "It was the worst tour I'd ever been, as far as fatigue is concerned. We didn't know where we were or what we were doing."

Jeff Beck would echo Jimmy's sentiment in reflection later on, "The bus was supposed to have air-conditioning, but didn't seem to. And all the American groups on the bus played their guitars non-stop, and were always singing. Could you imagine? Cooped up on a stuffy bus with everyone around you singing Beatles songs in an American accent?

The frustration within the group itself began to amount, manifesting particularly in guitarist Jeff Beck, which even he in hindsight would admit, "I was quite messed up, at 21 I was really on my last legs. I just couldn't handle it." Jimmy would later relate a story that truly highlights Beck's state of mind at the time, "One time in the dressing room, Beck had his guitar up over his head, about to bring it down on Keith Relf, but instead smashed it to the floor. Relf looked at him with total astonishment, and Beck said 'why did you make me do that?'"

Thus it was that in the middle of the tour, after a stop in Texas, Beck departed for the airport claiming that he was ill, inflamed tonsils was the story he sold the rest of the group, and took off for parts unknown. Beck told his tour mates that he was off to seek treatment for his condition and was hopeful that he would be able to return to finish out the band's time on the caravan. However, after word got back that Beck was spotted cavorting around Los Angeles, the rest of The Yardbirds decided it was time to part ways with the temperamental Jeff Beck. Chris Dreja would remark simply, "Having two guitarists was no longer a great idea."

The band would go on to finish up their time on the caravan and high tail it back to England now just a four piece, and with Jimmy as their sole guitarist. A little over thirty years after the tour had finished, at The Yardbirds Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, Beck would playfully remark, "Somebody told me I should be proud tonight, but I'm not, because they kicked me out. They did! Fuck them!"