Some people think ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’ is Slade’s only hit, but we had 40 other hits and were around a long time. But that song is a good legacy to have and puts a smile on people’s faces. There isn’t a day that goes by when somebody doesn’t shout ‘ IT’S CHRISSSSTMASS!’ at me, and it probably happens 50 times a day during December! But I appreciate people’s love for it. It was the best day’s work we ever did.”

Alive! At Readingthe third unreleased full live set, captures the band delivering a sensational live performance to over 80,000 people. The Donington show is something I don’t have to imagine, as I was there. That was the first time I saw Slade live. I have been going to gigs for 45 years, and I tell Dave I still can’t think of a crowd reaction bigger than that one for a band. As Dave Hill told MetalTalk’s Ian Sutherland, in the early days before success, Slade always had a thing about the show. “We always had to think about playing live,” Dave says. “We learned a lot of songs by other people, and we travelled a lot in the sixties. I think we formed in 1966 and were called The N’Betweens then, and there was just certain magic about the thought of us playing live. We always concentrated on performing well but also touring a lot.” Dave Hill, Slade. Photo: Barry Plummer Filename D:\#cdr\#wav+flac\#new\Slade - All The World Is A Stage\cd 2\10. Slade - You'll Never Walk Alone.wav

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From 2 January we’ll be featuring significant albums reviewed 2003-2023 in our featured album sequences as part of GRTR!@20

That was a total accident,” Holder says with a laugh. “But after that album came out and was so successful, I had to do the same thing every night. If I didn’t then the fans would go berserk.”

Filename D:\#cdr\#wav+flac\#new\Slade - All The World Is A Stage\cd 4\13. Slade - Get Down And Get With It.wav Gene Simmons from Kiss says Slade was an influence on them. “I think they used to put Slade Alive on to get them in the mood,” Dave says. “They’ve always been very complimentary about us. A lot of bands liked us. I remember Bruce Springsteen coming to see us as well. According to your 1999 autobiography Noddy Holder: Who’s Crazee Now?, how much did a man in Frankfurt once pay you to defecate on a plate of glass above him?

From their time as The N’Betweens in the sixties through their days of mega success, the wilderness years that followed and their eighties resurgence, the foundation of who they were on a stage was what carried them through. Filename D:\#cdr\#wav+flac\#new\Slade - All The World Is A Stage\cd 5\11. Slade - Let The Good Times Roll.wav We weren’t known as a big live act, but that was another one of these opportunities. There were all sorts of bands on it, and it was raining. But when we went on it stopped raining and we went down an absolute storm. Some recordings don’t sound that good because the mix is not quite right, but these do. It’s having control over it sometimes, you know. The last time the four members were in a room together was many years ago for a business meeting,” says Holder. “It was like we had split up the day before, not twenty years earlier. Big money was on offer for an eighteen-month world tour, but nobody was willing to compromise. I would never, ever go through that again.”

Companies, etc.

Filename D:\#cdr\#wav+flac\#new\Slade - All The World Is A Stage\cd 3\10. Slade - Born To Be Wild.wav