David Cassidy on the Web
We're not rivals
June 17, 2005
By Gordon Barr, The Evening Chronicle
David Cassidy is back in Newcastle next week. Entertainments Editor Gordon Barr chatted exclusively to him.
Back In the 70s, if you liked David Cassidy you hated the Osmonds. It was a case of never the twain should meet - until now.
Come Wednesday, Newcastle's Metro Radio Arena will be packed with Cassidy and Osmonds fans - and a few Rollers and David Essex followers too!
The Once In A Lifetime tour rolls into Toon - with the aforementioned acts all taking to the stage in the same show - something unheard of when they were at their peak.
Cassidy jets into Britain on Monday, but when we talk he's in New York contemplating a milestone in his career.
"I'm pretty excited about the tour. I've never played with other acts before in my entire life - never once," he reveals.
"So for the first show I am probably going to try and watch all the other acts.
"For fans it is going to be amazing. It'll be interesting to see all those people who years ago had all this rivalry going on - the fans I am talking about here - now just enjoying the nostalgia.
"I think everyone will get a great reaction from the audience, no matter who were their favourites in the 70s.
"I never viewed anybody as a rival. I was so preoccupied with my own career. So I never saw it. The fans did, though.
"Oddly enough, I never met the Osmonds during that time.
"I've met Donny more recently and we got on well. We talked about the old days and how it was a different experience for us. He was a teenager. I was in my early 20s.
"He was happy with the screaming teenagers, but I was in a different place. I was more interested in an older fan base. It was very odd at the time."
All four acts - the Rollers are now Les McKeown's 70s Bay City Rollers - were huge in Britain 30 years ago. "David and the Rollers had a couple of hits in the US but I don't think either broke America in the way The Osmonds and myself did in Britain," says Cassidy.
"Very few acts have managed to do that in the States. But those who did went on to be huge - the Beatles, the Stones, Rod Stewart, Elton, Sting.
"I do remember the tartan thing with the Rollers. That was weird!"
So what can the fans expect on Wednesday? "It's all hits. I will do about 10 minutes of acoustic as well, a couple of my hits in there and one or two songs I haven't played before. I couldn't do two and a half hours night after night. This is going to be great, a much better schedule for me and I'm able to play to a larger audience.
"And the family are coming with me. My son Beau will join me on stage at some point on the tour. He's in a band, I'm going to living a rock and roll existence with him, I can tell.
"I can't really give him advice about pitfalls and suchlike. He's his own person and has a wonderful spirit."
After the tour, Cassidy will fly back to the States to indulge in his next big love, horses.
"I breed racehorses so I will be spending a lot of time going to races all over America. Then I'll go back to touring. But I am touring less. I want to spend more time with my family," he says.
