The year’s-end release of Five Live Yardbirds coincided with The Yardbirds’ most prestigious outing yet — a place on the bill for The Beatles’ Christmas concerts at the Hammersmith Odeon. Backstage, The Yardbirds came face to face with their immediate future, in the form of a quietly spoken young Mancunian named Graham Gouldman, who had written a song he thought they might like. ►