Gigs I remember
Having made Lionel jealous on the BBC board by referring to the two times I saw The Smiths, I suddenly realised I've actually been to a relatively small number of gigs. I thought I'd let Lionel see just how few I've seen.
Thin Lizzy - Bourne Corn Exchange 1970 something
Gary Glitter - ditto
Motorhead - Cambridge Corn Exchange 1979 and 1980
X Ray Specs/The Members - Cambridge Corn Exchange
The Soft Boys - about half a dozen times around Cambridge. The same goes for less famous Cambridge bands, Device, Autopilot and Hazzard.
Katrina and the Waves - The Great Northern, Cambridge
Wang Chung - I can't remember what the place was called but it was a poxy little disco underneath the Great Northern in Cambridge.
The Undertones - Cambridge Corn Exchange 1978 and Brixton Ace 1982 (their last gig I believe)
Spider far too many times - and that's an embarrassing confession.
The Vapours - Cambridge Corn Exchange - Can't remember the year but Turning Japanese was in the charts.
The Smiths - twice North East London Polytechnic
The Cure - I think it was Brixton Academy
The Dead Kennedys/The Redskins - 1982 Brixton Ace
The Fall/Danse Society plus a bunch of bands I never heard of - The Lyceum 1983
Nico/God's Toys - The Venue 1983 (this one was scary because someone I later realised was Dennis Nielsen tried to pick me up)
Redskins/Abacush/Billy Bragg/Benjamin Zephaniah and lots more at one of Ken Livingstone's fairwell gigs, South Bank 1983
Lloyd Langton Band (ex Hawkwind) - an impromptu gig outside the Royal Festival Hall
Cream - first reunion 1978 East of England Showground Alwalton Peterborough.
Rubella Ballet - Chicken Shack Club, East London (to be fair, I was the doorman for this gig so I didn't really get to see much).
The Thrashing Doves - ULU
There are some more I've seen (eg, the Adverts/TV Smith's Explorers, Stranglers, Tom Robinson Band but I can't remember where or when).
There are also some I've known but never seen. Jeremy Valentine of The Cortinas and Richard Fairbrass of Right Said Fred were both in my class for the first year of my degree course. John Hegley of the Popticians was a regular in the King Edward VII pub in Stratford at the same time as me, as were AR Kane/MARRS (of "Pump Up da Volume" fame) and Green from Scritti Pollitti.
There you go, that's it Lionel. Pretty much all the gigs I've been to... not an impressive total, I'm sure you'll agree.
Thin Lizzy - Bourne Corn Exchange 1970 something
Gary Glitter - ditto
Motorhead - Cambridge Corn Exchange 1979 and 1980
X Ray Specs/The Members - Cambridge Corn Exchange
The Soft Boys - about half a dozen times around Cambridge. The same goes for less famous Cambridge bands, Device, Autopilot and Hazzard.
Katrina and the Waves - The Great Northern, Cambridge
Wang Chung - I can't remember what the place was called but it was a poxy little disco underneath the Great Northern in Cambridge.
The Undertones - Cambridge Corn Exchange 1978 and Brixton Ace 1982 (their last gig I believe)
Spider far too many times - and that's an embarrassing confession.
The Vapours - Cambridge Corn Exchange - Can't remember the year but Turning Japanese was in the charts.
The Smiths - twice North East London Polytechnic
The Cure - I think it was Brixton Academy
The Dead Kennedys/The Redskins - 1982 Brixton Ace
The Fall/Danse Society plus a bunch of bands I never heard of - The Lyceum 1983
Nico/God's Toys - The Venue 1983 (this one was scary because someone I later realised was Dennis Nielsen tried to pick me up)
Redskins/Abacush/Billy Bragg/Benjamin Zephaniah and lots more at one of Ken Livingstone's fairwell gigs, South Bank 1983
Lloyd Langton Band (ex Hawkwind) - an impromptu gig outside the Royal Festival Hall
Cream - first reunion 1978 East of England Showground Alwalton Peterborough.
Rubella Ballet - Chicken Shack Club, East London (to be fair, I was the doorman for this gig so I didn't really get to see much).
The Thrashing Doves - ULU
There are some more I've seen (eg, the Adverts/TV Smith's Explorers, Stranglers, Tom Robinson Band but I can't remember where or when).
There are also some I've known but never seen. Jeremy Valentine of The Cortinas and Richard Fairbrass of Right Said Fred were both in my class for the first year of my degree course. John Hegley of the Popticians was a regular in the King Edward VII pub in Stratford at the same time as me, as were AR Kane/MARRS (of "Pump Up da Volume" fame) and Green from Scritti Pollitti.
There you go, that's it Lionel. Pretty much all the gigs I've been to... not an impressive total, I'm sure you'll agree.
posted by ur.alcuin@googlemail.com at 4:48 AM
8 Comments:
Oh and how can I forget the New Model Army (far too many times) and the Meteors (twice at North East London Poly).
Oh yes, and Patti Smith, December 2003 at St Martin's Church Denmark Street.
In my teens I went to see Iron Maiden at the Hammersmith Odeon. They were very good. I've seen Megadeth there too. I also saw Metallica at Wenbley Arena. I was a bit of a metaller in those days.
Nowadays, I usually go to a music festival during mid-summer. They usually have Finnish bands there that you would never have heard of. But a couple of years back they had The Roots, which were absolutely brilliant live.
Well Finn, given that the only Finnish Band I've ever heard of is the Leningrad Cowboys, you're probably right.
I have been to the Cambridge folk festival a couple of times but with the exception of John Cooper Clarke and Eliza Carty, I can't remember anybody I saw there.
I also went to the Pink Pop Festival in Rotterdam once but, while I might have wanted to brag about seeing Lauryn Hill or the Urban Sound Collective, the embarrassment of having seen Alanis Morrisette more than offset the bragability factor.
Good list Alcuin; it's amde me think back. I used to go at least once a month to the Marquee on Wardour Street before it started to decline. Also many other venues Hammersmith Palais and Odeon especially (Jam and Undertones respectively were the highlights) Also Squeeze at Lewisham with The Police as support (new band)...wow, I'll have to rack my brains and sort a list...memories!!!
Ah, I always regretted never seeing the Jam, Span. I did go to a party with them once, except they were Animal Magnet by then (after Paul Weller had left) and for all I find it hard to get into The Style Council, I have to admit the Jam needed Paul Weller more than he needed them.
"I have to admit the Jam needed Paul Weller more than he needed them."...definitely...and he told them exactly that!
Actually, yes, you're probably right but I had forgotten what name they were under at that time.
What do I remember about the Gig?
Well, I turned up early and went to a nearby pub full of New Zealanders before going on to the gig, I was wearing red bondage pants and a red baseball jacket with all the team insignia removed.
On the way in, the blokie searching the punters found my copy of Mad Magazine, which I'd finished with and said he could have. I also had a copy of Dante's Inferno in my pocket.
A beautiful woman came up to me in the gig and drunkenly whispered "I saw you in the pub" but I wasn't quick enough to respond before she lurched off (that could have been a life-changing moment).
Later at the same gig, a man tried to pick me up. That could also have been a "life-changing" (or ENDING) moment because I later recognised Dennis Nielsen as him.
The gig itself. Nico joined "I" or whoever they were on the Harmonium toward the end of their set. (They definitely played the SONG "God's Toys").
During her own performance she was extremely pissed off that people kept talking as if they weren't listening. She did an okay set, including stuff from the Doors, David Bowie and later Lou Reed as well as her own stuff.
Afterward, I went with a couple of mates to an all-night Indian Cafe to get something to eat. There was no night bus to Leytonstone for some reason so we ended up getting one to Forest Road in Walthamstow and walking home from the Bell.
I'm surprised by how much I can remember.
O, I've tried checking up to supplement my memory. I've found the gig I went to, which was 19 January 1983, at the Venue but I don't think it can have been either God's Toys or I. Apparently it was the Invisible Girls, who I'd only heard of as a backing band for both John Cooper Clark and Pauline Penetration. Sorry about that, I must be getting senile in my old age.
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