January 22, 1972 - Rexmania

New Musical Express

AT the Boston Gliderdrome on Saturday, T. Rex turned the musical clock back to the early sixties. In scenes of hysteria and confusion unparalleled since the days of Beatlemania, thirty- three people fainted and one girl was taken to hospital after falling off the balcony in her excitement. Extra police were drafted in to cope with the crowd of more than five thousand including some from as far as Cardiff and Lon- don. Here NME's James Johnson sets the scene.

by early evening there is a queue four deep outside the hall. And mostly they're all small girls.

Many have "Marc" scribbled on their arms in shakey biro and hold torn, tattered pictures of Bolan between hot, sticky fingers. Some are al- ready a little over-excited and just a little tearful. The rea- son behind it all is T. Rex are in town, playing tonight and everybody knows it's going to be the biggest night out for months.

It's the archetypal Saturday night out of the old tradition that has been enacted in palais and dance halls throughout the country for years.

there's But this Saturday share tension in the air. have been erected around the stage, bouncers nervously sip cans of beer trying to look tough for the chicks and television crew try to act cool hampered all the time by people jostling for a good position.

Gradually the excitement mounts. The dancing gets a little more hectic, a T. Rex record is played and draws a few screams until finally the D-J starts the chant "We Want T. Rex Want T. Rex." --- We

But, of course, they don't appear. They know how to delay the impact. So the chant carries on, people move a little closer to the stage until finally there they are Rex - T. with Bolan poker- faced striding on last.

All hell breaks loose. The screaming is deafening. Girls get crushed or faint.

After the initial chaos dies down Bolan makes a little speech about how it's their first gig since the States, they're glad to be back, and, yeah, we're gonna have a good time.

Then they break into it. The jumping T. Rex beat, each number simple and direct but the beat coming over loud and clear and undeniably all their own.

Bolan stands out front pouting to the front-line of out-stretched hands trying to touch anything connected with the group, Micky Finn frighteningly stone-faced rushes across the stage whipping the crowd up into all kinds of frenzies while the bassist and drummer plug away expressionlessly churning out the rhythm.

"Hot Love," "Get It On " and "Jeepster" expectedly get the best reception but it's just the whole scene that was so completely amazing. Like it or not, Marc Bolan has be- comes the only true rock star of the seventies.

Maybe T. Rex have sold out to their original head audience, maybe with the simplest of lyrics their music has little to offer on aesthetic terms. But now, the group are cap- able of drawing a huge audience and leaving them completely devastated.

The "scream scene " is what rock culture was built on. Why should it be any less valid now?