The first rock’n’roll weekender took place at the little seaside resort of Caister in March 1979.
Caister, ca 5 km north Great Yarmouth town centre, Hemsby a further 5 km north.
1979.Mar.2–4 1st International Rock n Roll Weekend Hop [Ray Campi]
1979.Nov.16–18 2nd INRNRWH [Johnny & hte Jailbirds, the Jets, the Shades, Sleepy La Beef, Billy Lee Riley, Johnny & the Roccos, Dynamite, Freddy Fingers Lee, Matchbox, Crazy Cavan, Flying Saucers]
Sissy Soo “I attended both of the 1979 featured Caister Rock n Roll weekends and the Bill Haley concert in London”
Steve Cantlow has assembled many screengrabs from the 1979 weekender featured in the Blue Suede Shoes film which was made about it.
1980.Mar.? 3rd INRNRWH [Charlie Feathers, the Blue Cats, the Rockin’ Shades, Crazy Cavan, Flash Cats]
1980.Oct.17–19 4th INRNRWH [Gina & the Rockin’ Rebels, Blue Cat Trio, the Cruisers, Jack Scott, Carl Perkins, the Polecats, the Shades, Black Jacks, Rhythm Hawks, the Riot Rockers]
1981.Mar.20 5th IRNRWH [Mac Curtis, Buzz & the Flyers (US), the Stargazers, the Polecats, Crazy Cavan, the Jets]
1981.Nov.6th
1982.Apr. 02-04 7th IRNRWH [Eddie Bond, Polecats, Crazy Cavan, Dave Travis Band]
1982 AUTUMN 8th
1983 SPRING 9th
1983 AUTUMN 10th
1984.April.22/May.?? 11th [Fireball XL5] = ? Last Caister was in 1984 according to David Buxton 9Facebook) who was there.
Kerrang Weekend Festival in Caister, Great Yarmouth UK on 14th Octover 1984
Kerrang Weekend Festival in Caister, Great Yarmouth UK on 14th Octover 1984

The flyer depicted a pair of blue suede shoes whence the film’s name
Bill Haley had 2 tours of Britain in 1979: 8–26 Mar & 16–26 Nov

(17–20 Nov Ldn The Venue (four nights on the trot) + 26 London’s Theatre Royal, Royal Variety Performance)
Commentator *drchilledair on Haley’s last british performance nov 1979
I never knew that Haley ever got his “live” sound to replicate his recorded “sound.” I saw him in the 50s and he had the dorky accordion and no attempt to replicate the tightly mic-ed bass. Here he has some sort of percussion to approximate the clicky clacky bass. And the accordion is gone with the wind. He comes off just great here. Close your eyes and it’s pretty close.
Peter Racippo 2014 YTcomment
Bill is not at is best here. He does not have the, “Wind” to complete verse’s on “Rock Around The Clock” and “See Later Alligator” is really cut short. Bill’s contribution to Rock and Roll is grossly overlooked which in this writer’s opinion is attributed to “IMAGE”. Some of the best ROCK and ROLL music was recorded by Bill between ’51 and ’54 however is largely forgotten and/or overlooked by Rock historian’s. I think if Bill looked like “Rick Nelson”, this would not be the case.

the Caister Soul Weekender first began in 1979,
Heavy metal weekenders by 1980s
Stefan Pfeifer interview
in www.rockabilly-rules.com/blog/stefan-pfeifer-rockabilly/
(6) Du kannst mit einer Zeitmaschine zu einem Ereignis in die Vergangenheit reisen, wohin würde die Reise gehen?
Ich wäre gerne 1979 in Caister (UK) gewesen, auf dem ersten “Rock and Roll Weekender” – wo die Dokumentation „blue suede shoes“ von der BBC aufgezeichnet wurde….
*
Jez Hyde, Chatham Ted, wrote this prescient piece:
Jan2017 (FBcomm)
The young TEDS in the 1950`s & 1970`s first started meeting in coffee shops & cafes ,as long as they had a jukebox that played rock`n`roll and where serving tea,coffee,sandwichs,burgers,etc, some also had a pool table, pinball machine, or a bit of space that you could dance in, a few had the 1950`s style seating & pictures of motorbikes,50`s cars,hot rods, or film stars, it was a place to meet your mates before going to that rock`n`roll do,the local dance or the pub it was also the place to meet before or after work and at the week end, you could show your mates that new suit or that new dance move, meet girls & if it was near your high st young people would see you having fun and where more likely to want to be a part of your style, these days most of us just go to the do`s & the pub so we do not meet young people,is it not time we went back to the cafe`s, not all the young people are 18+ and go to the pub…..????
Tom Hyde Coffee bars cafes with Juke Boxes no longer excist …Its expensive Coffe shops nowdays todays youngsters prefer sitting in McDonalds Burger king Wimpy texting and playing internet games
Tom Hyde Doubtful ..there will be no more than a handful of Teds left once the 70’s ones die off …most youngsters that I know who are on the scene are Rockabillies …dress code simple and cheap can be worn anywhere anytime ..Ted gear expensive and can only be worn on special occasions .
Jez Hyde they do not know we are out there tom that is why we do not see TEDS on the streets anymore we need to be seen ???
Tom Hyde They know !! lot of old and middle aged men reinacting their youth Teds will never be seen on the streets again only at selected gigs and weekenders
John Taylor What’s a cafe.?
Jez Hyde it is one of the place`s we started mate or do we give in to the rock a sillys
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