“Guitar” (CC BY-SA 2.0) by Яick Harris
It might sound like an unlikely combination; on one hand, we have power chords ringing out, virtuoso guitar solos, and epic encores. On the other, we have the stereotypical image of murmuring halls with lines of people scouring over their bingo cards, hanging on the bingo caller’s every word, hoping that this will be their lucky day.
It’s not that gambling and music don’t go together, because they do. Think of songs like “The Gambler” by country legend Kenny Rogers, and “Ace of Spades” from a band that always rocked just that bit harder than most, Motorhead. But bingo? Surely not!
Actually, it is the case, in a number of ways.
Firstly, there are the rock stars who love nothing more than to settle down with a good game of bingo as a way to unwind from the pressures of life on the road or endless hours in the recording studio. Some may indulge their passion and play bingo in the back of the tour bus with a wide range of games available with some truly rock star-sized jackpots. Others are far more up-front about it.
“Mick Jagger cor 02” (CC BY 2.0) by Luiz Fernando Reis MMF
Take Mick Jagger, for example. It turns out that he gets real satisfaction from putting on lavish party nights at many of his luxurious homes all around the world. It’s not known whether the other Stones are quite as keen on bingo as Mick, but he certainly favors it over the “tumbling dice” of craps or the “wild horses” of a day at the Epsom Derby.
Another hard rocking fan of bingo is the U2 frontman Bono. Before achieving fame, success, and fortune, he worked in a Dublin bingo hall serving drinks as the players dibbed. This has left him with a lifelong passion for the game — apparently, he also insists that bingo is played at many of his celebrity-studded parties!
Then there’s the incomparable Sharon Osbourne. One-time manager of husband Ozzy, she loves bingo so much that she once even set up her own online site before moving on to become a TV personality and frequent judge on a wide range of reality and talent shows.
As well as links with the stars themselves, there are also a number of venues up and down the country that have combined bingo with rock. One of the most famous of these is the Empire Palace in Edinburgh. From the 1960s until the 1990s, the location was a very popular hall by day, but come the evening, the tables and chairs would be cleared away to create an iconic music venue. Among the huge names who performed there were David Bowie, Elton John, Slade, and even Ozzy’s old band Black Sabbath. Back in the day, most ticket prices were no more than £1, around the cost of many bingo games today.
So, next time you dismiss bingo as the gambling equivalent of popping on a cardigan and slippers, think again. If it’s good enough for some of the true giants of rock, it’s good enough for anyone.
