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As well as the impressive line-up that played Frank Freeman's Dance Club in the town, there were plenty of top groups to see at the Town Hall.

The Rolling Stones played there - with the promoter apologising to fans for the admission price of 8/6d (42 1/2p), saying that "these fabulous artists charge fantastic fees". Despite the price, queues formed around the block to see The Stones perform.

The Who played there three times, a snip at 4/6 (22 1/2p), as did The Hollies. The Animals made a couple of appearances, as did many of the other top '60s groups and solo artists, including Cilla Black, The Spencer Davies Group (featuring a teenage Steve Winwood), The Kinks, Manfred Mann, The Small Faces, Gene Vincent, and The Yardbirds.

Donovan played an acoustic set there - largely because his amps and PA had gone walkies - and had the twin distractions of a crowd of screaming girls, and a group of hecklers shouting 'Dylan!'.

Even after the '60s beat boom was over, some unexpected acts played the Town Hall, on their way to superstardom.

You could have seen U2 (plus support of course) for 拢1.75!

Worcestershire music promoter and rock historian John Coombe, who has sadly passed away since contributing, shares his memories of the artists he saw in the town:

The Rolling Stones:

"The price was 8/6d and it was normally five bob, which is 25p in modern speak.

"People were absolutely disgusted and a lot of my mates didn't want to come.

"They'd say, 'I'm not paying that much money to see those long-haired lads,', but I thought they were well worth investigating, so I paid my 8/6d and came in."

"The place was absolutely packed, there were queues forming, and they were very, very popular and they broke the mould."

The Yardbirds:

"The Yardbirds with Eric Clapton on guitar were absolutely fantastic."

"They were very, very loud."

The Who:

"The Huskies supported The Who that night at the Town Hall here in Kidderminster.

"And when they brought in their feeble little bits of equipment in, The Who's roadie said, "Don't bother with those mate, use our stuff," so they all plugged into The Who's thing - it was so loud, it was horrendous.

"In fact, it was the worst sound they'd ever had."

UB40:

"The only time I ever made any real money was with UB40 that night. Most of the time, it was a loss.

"On a personal level, what I liked best is if I could set a show up, and go away and come back later in the evening and go to the bar, and I can look around and see four or five-hundred people here, and say 'I created this'.

"That was the kick I got out of it."

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