Kitchen Garden Café, Kings Heath, Birmingham
Sunday, 29th March 2026
With concerts, even for bands I am just taking a random punt at seeing, out of curiosity, I can usually get a good idea of what to expect by a few visits to Youtube. However, when it comes to ‘an audience with’ type event they can be hit and miss affairs. Most are fun, interesting and revelatory but, on occasion, even with the massive names, they can be self-indulgent and akin to listening to paint dry. After all, I am happy that someone is a good guitarist, but when they spend what seems like an eternity talking about the note sequences or major to minor chord changes it leaves me wondering if I have time to nip to the bar and be back before they starts being interesting again.
It is with such historical concerns that I approached the Bev Bevan evening, after all he might be a rock legend, having played in such bands as ELO, Black Sabbath and the Move. And currently playing in the band The Quill (although not the Swedish Metal band that have used the same name!) As legacies go they don’t get much better than Bev’s. But thankfully my initial concerns about the enjoyment of the evening were soon blown away.
The venue was a small back room of a café/bar that help probably fewer than 100 people, so it was snug but comfortable and this added to the enjoyment.
The premise was to have Des Tong, of Sad Café, talk with Bev Bevan, and a few specially invited guests, as they discuss key locations in Birmingham that were part of the city’s rich musical heritage. After all there are not many places that could claim such a rich catalogue of bands, or musicians, that came from the area. Ranging from Robert Plant, The Moody Blues through to Joan Armatrading and UB40.
Even though I am part Brummie I have not spent much time in the place and my only real memory of it was of a less than impressive Bull Ring shopping centre in the late 1970’s. So any street names or venues could easily have left me cold and made the whole thing feel parochial but thankfully each street reference seemed to be dripping in musical history that revolved around the early careers of such people as a young Steve Winwood when he was still a choirboy, a session drummer for touring blues legends such as B B King and Muddy Waters and before he met Spencer Davis or even comedian Jasper Carrott who used to work in the same shop as Bev.
There were far too many locations, and corresponding anecdotes to be detailed here but a couple of highlights involved an early conversation with a certain Davy Jones, who was playing in Birmingham with his band The Lower Third who gave them advice as to what to do if they wanted to become massive. It seemed to work as The Move was subsequently formed and the rest, as they say, was history. That Davy seemed to be a nice guy, and I wonder whatever happened to him.
Another fun story was how Bev got married and had Tony Iommi as his best man. For someone who had been on stage and performed to millions he came across as a nervous wreck when if came speaking to a few people. It just goes to show that even legends have their own comfort zones that they do not like leaving.
A key location that was discussed was The Crown pub. Not a name that meant anything to me and is currently derelict but, to any Black Sabbath fan it is their Cavern Club. The place they began in and, without it, the band and all that were to be inspired by them, might never have happened. The owners want to pull it down and build flats while others, who are against such cultural vandalism, want it to be reopened as a going concern and have big name bands play there in the same way that the Liverpool venue, and whole area, milks the Beatles legend. It would be a massive boost to the area and city.
And, as if Bev and Des were not enough, there were guest slots for the singer Cissy Stone, The Move historian and archivist Martin Kinch and fellow Quill member and wife of Bev Bevan, Joy Strachan-Brain, who all embellished on the rich history of Birmingham music.
I am not sure that the show would have worked if it had been on the road and placed anywhere outside of the city, but I truly enjoyed it and have asked Des Tong to let me know if another such event is organised as the long trip to the West Midlands was well worth it.
LINKS
Des Tong – Website | Facebook | YouTube
Bev Bevan – Website | Facebook
Cherry Blossom Clinic – Facebook Group (The Move, Roy Wood, ELO, Wizzard and related)
