The Reunions

October 1970 - During the summer of 1970, Reginald Leach, now working as the assistant road manager of Herman's Hermits, happened to meet Ian and Stan Webb's Chicken Shack, as they had both booked their bands in the Brighton Beach Summer Festival. After some initial reluctance, the boys began speaking again.

Reggie was putting the finishing touches on an outdoor tour of the UK with some big-name bands such as the Spencer Davis Group, The Yardbirds, and The Hollies that would start in the fall. His goal was to put together a "super tour" of bands that had hits in the mid-1960s. Reggie thought The Dover Souls should be part of the lineup. 

As a show of good faith, Reggie offered cold, hard cash—₤20,000—if Ian could put the band back together. This was more money than they'd made off royalties in the last three years combined.  Despite his misgivings regarding Leach’s character, Ian eagerly accepted the offer, promising he would contact Anthony, Nigel and George to see if they were interested.

While Nigel and George embraced the idea immediately, Anthony initially declined. He was still angry over the fist fight and break-up. But Ian was insistent. After thinking it over and realizing he, too, could use the money, Anthony changed his mind and agreed to join the tour. He flew to England for the first time in almost four years to practice with his band mates.

As soon as the lads got back together the same old tensions began to appear. Outwardly, Nigel, Ian and George said they held no animosity toward Anthony, but subconsciously they still resented the fact that he got the lion’s share of the limelight during the heady days of their past success. A roadie with the tour, Dennis “Dink” McGraff, recalled the band arguing at a sound check, "I remember thinking to myself, 'These blokes just don't like each other'."

On Sunday October 4, 1970, the opening night of the tour at Hyde Park in London, the Souls were scheduled to appear following The Hollies.

The three-song set went off well and the lads got a decent ovation. Later that night, after getting very drunk, Anthony backed Ian's wife, Susanne, into a corner and attacked her. Ian and Nigel broke it up and it was written off as a drunken mistake.

However, this was the beginning of the end—again—for The Dover Souls.

They made it to the sixth stop on the tour, October 4, 1970 in Milton Keynes at the National Bowl, before disaster struck. George, who up until then had been on good behavior, overdosed on sleeping pills and had to be rushed to hospital the morning of the performance. At the emergency room, Ian and Anthony got into an row that led to yet another fist fight.  Ian broke two of his fingers. The Dover Souls were forced to withdraw from the tour and Anthony returned to California. 

As for the ₤20,000 Leach offered them to reunite, they never saw a penny.  Reggie denied that he’d ever made the offer, testifying in a subsequent deposition, “What promoter would be daft enough to offer that kind of quid to a bunch of pillocks like The Souls?”

July 1975 - In May of 1975, Ian was contacted by Scott Muni, a disc jockey at New York rock and roll radio station WNEW. He wanted to book The Dover Souls to be part of The British Invasion Part II, a giant 60s British rock revival that was being planned for July 3 & 4, 1975 at Madison Square Gardens. Some of the other bands scheduled to play were The Dave Clark Five, Herman's Hermits, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Peter and Gordon and John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. WNEW, acting as the promoter, offered the lads a substantial booking fee and a percentage of royalties from the live album that would be released following the shows.

Ian called Anthony in California and spoke to him for the first time since their infamous 1970 brawl in the Milton Keyes emergency room.

Anthony agreed but only if it was one show, that he would not be required to practice with the band, and that he would not join them until they took the stage. Ian thought it was crazy not to practice; they hadn't played together for almost 5 years, but he nevertheless agreed to Anthony’s terms.

Ian, Nigel and George landed at JFK airport in New York on July 1, 1975. After a cursory check of their bags in Customs, Nigel and George were arrested on charges of smuggling drugs with the intent to distribute. George had a quarter pound of marijuana hidden in one of his drums and had surreptitiously stowed over three-hundred unprescribed pills in Nigel’s guitar case.

The appearance at Madison Square Gardens was lost.

Nigel was later cleared of all charges and released after spending three weeks in jail. George, however, spent six months fighting the charges before getting them dropped on a technicality (George's attorney's argued that the drugs were placed in his drum kit by a roadie, and the U.S. Government couldn't prove otherwise). George was deported to England on December 28, 1975, and banned from returning to the United States.

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