Slade at De Vliegermolen A Classic 1973 Live Take Me Bak Ome Performance
On a spring night in March nineteen seventy three Slade took the stage at De Vliegermolen in Voorburg Netherlands as part of a tour that followed their breakout success in Britain and beyond. Among the standout moments from this concert was a live rendition of Take Me Bak Ome, a song that had already marked a major milestone for the British rock group earlier the previous year. The performance circulates today through archival footage and remains significant both for its historical context and its raw portrayal of Slade’s live energy.
Take Me Bak Ome was originally released in May nineteen seventy two as a standalone single written by lead vocalist Noddy Holder and bassist Jim Lea and produced by Chas Chandler. It became Slade’s second number one single on the United Kingdom charts and stayed in the listings for thirteen weeks, earning a Silver certification that year. The track was later included on the band’s retrospective compilation Sladest, which gathered many of their key hits from that era.
The song itself captures Slade’s evolving sound in the early seventies. It was deliberately crafted to reflect the group’s live presence and unpolished rock appeal. Critics and band members alike described it as grounded in the energy of their performances and driven by a straightforward, earthy attitude that translated powerfully on stage. Guitarist Dave Hill once described Take Me Bak Ome as a “live, earth-dirt song”, capturing the spontaneous force behind the band’s approach.
At De Vliegermolen, Prepare Me Bak Ome sat naturally within a set that also included major hits like Coz I Luv You and Cum On Feel The Noize. That night in Voorburg was part of Slade’s presence on the continent where their popularity was rapidly growing, and the performance displays the band in confident form with Noddy Holder’s distinctive voice pushing forward and the tight rhythm section of Lea and Don Powell driving the groove.
Unlike studio recordings that often undergo multiple takes and fine tuning, the live setting at De Vliegermolen provided a snapshot of Slade’s chemistry in motion. The musicians’ interaction and crowd response underline why Take Me Bak Ome was a number one hit and why it became a staple in their live repertoire. The song’s appeal lies not just in its chart success but in the way it translated the band’s working class rock spirit into anthemic form.
More than half a century later, the live footage of Slade performing Take Me Bak Ome in Voorburg remains an important document of the band’s ascent. It showcases a group forging a direct connection with audiences through unfiltered rock and roll momentum and the unmistakable presence of one of the United Kingdom’s most enduring acts of the seventies.