That last blog talked about rather unfortunate gigs, in a feeble attempt to avoid answering the "What was the best of those gigs?" question.
What is that makes a gig so great?
The artist(s), because in some cases the gig might be great because of the line up (Live Aid anyone?) not just because of the headliners.
Quality of performance. It probably isn't possible to qualify as a 'best gig' if the main act stinks up the joint.
Level of expectancy. One of the gigs I'm going to talk about wasn't my idea to go to.
Context and history. What was happening at the time, and what's happened since.
I've picked out six acts, but will only talk about 5 gigs. I've seen Elvis Costello quite a few times now. Double figures probably. He's been my go-to guy ever since I first saw him in Birmingham at his Xmas show in 1980 (Elvis, Rockpile, UB40, Squeeze, Madness, Selector and hosted by John Cooper Clarke). I went up to see him at Lancaster Uni in 1984 (?), photographed the gig and somehow we ended up in the dressing room talking with him and the Attractions. The autographed ticket I have from that event is one of my treasured musical possessions.
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Last time I described a gig at an empty Manchester Poly Students Union. This one was not empty. In fact we carried on queueing outside even after the bouncers told us it was full. The same night Echo and the Bunnymen were on at the Uni SU and that's who I wanted to see, but was outvoted.
We stayed outside in the cold night air pleading with the bouncers who, after the queue had dwindled enough, relented and let us in. As you might guess the place was rammed, and we were all there to see The Dead Kennedys. They were a tight US punk band - ours tended to to be musical troglodytes with plenty of piss and vinegar, the US versions tended to be a bit more musically accomplished but less arsey - and had had some notoriety when the family of John F and Robert Kennedy tried to get them to change the bands name. Of their fast and furious singles my clear favourite is California Uber Alles, their other notable singles included Kill The Poor and Holiday in Cambodia. The band was very tight guitar/bass/drums with maniacal Jello Biafra taking up the crooning duties. I remember he wore jeans, no shirt and was quite happy to smear himself in the gob projected up by the Mancunian music lovers. Great, tight, loud band, excitable crowd crammed in like Tokyo commuters, expctation not high having wanted to see Echo. Very good.
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The second on this list was a fairly new band from Ireland called U2. It was October 1981 and they were promoting their first LP, October (ironic, eh?). This was another case of being encouraged to go and see them rather than having picked to see them myself. The venue was Maxwell Hall, at Salford Uni and was organised by the Students Union. The support acts (that I remember very little of) were the UKs very own Comsat Angels, and from the US, Wall of Voodoo. The singer in Wall of Voodoo was a guy named Stan Ridgeway who had a minor hit with a song called Camouflage a few years later (which I somewhat dig). After the entree came the main course, and by crikey did they kick ass. The Maxwell Hall had a basement so the floor wasn't solid, and all night you could feel it bounce as Bono and the lads took us through their repertoire. It was exciting, Bono engaged with the audience exhorting us to jump and bounce. The venue was small (capacity of 1200) and we were packed in.
I have this weird psychological thing about bands that I like them when they're small, and can turn my back on them when they hit the big time. I kind of like the Barenaked Ladies because they're great but never seem to have hit the Arena-time audiences that, say, U2 have. I turned against U2 in the late 80's and get rather sniffy about them playing to huge audiences around the world. I wouldn't pay to see them in an arena, but would if they played the Maxwell hall again. Setting my subsequent (slightly weird) dislike of them, this was a belting gig.
Not Salford.
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I've talked about the Young Marble Giants gig in a previous blog. A quiet, unassuming trio from South Wales playing at Rafters. Capacity 700 with a low ceiling, this was an ideal venue. We sat enthralled while they played their album, and then while they played some of it over as they had no encore.
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In the late 1970's we moved from Manchester to the commuter town of Wilmslow. The family next door had four (?) children, and I became friends with one son who was about my age. Much to my delight, it turned out that his older sister was working behind the bar at the Apollo.
The Ardwick Apollo was opened in 1938 by Margaret Lockwood as a multi-purpose cinema and variety theatre. It stopped showing films on the 1970s and was probably the largest venue in Manchester at the time (places like MEN Arena and G-Mex hadn't opened) and still has concerts on today. During a short period she managed to get us access to The Two Tone Tour, Buzzcocks (supported by Joy Division), Concert 3 (I can't remember offhand who that was), and The Jam.
The Jam was another concert that I hadn't sought out and bought tickets for, but was very very pleased when we scooted on the bus to see it. The concert was in support of their Setting Sons album so would have been late 79, early 80. Although he'd (Paul Weller) never do it, I would pay good money to see the Jam play live again. It's hard to imagine how three blokes (guitar/bass/drums) could play so loud. Because we didn't have proper tickets, once in the Apollo we had to stick to the circle. I can attest to the engineering that must have gone into the construction of the Ardwick Apollo circle as the entire upstairs audience bounced and jumped and shouted. Rammed to the gunwales, a really tight, top musical band at the top of their game.
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The Factory. Pic by Kevin Cummins
The final on my list was at the Factory in Hulme. This was the venue opened and run by Tony Wilson in the late 70's. The building already had a name - The Russell Club - and Wilson and his mates used the venue to host various 'new wave' acts. It was in an area which to softy middle class boys like me, was very scary, although to be fair I never saw anything that supported that theory. Sure, you'd be accosted by scrotes asking to lend 10p, but nothing wildly violent. Then again, I didn't go that much. It was a small venue with a capacity of about 800.
In a previous blog I talked about going to a record shop in Stockport to buy a Nick Lowe LP. Well that same shop was where I bought "B-52s" by the B-52s (including a free single) in 1979.
It was well different to the sort of thing I'd bought before. Guitar/drums and three singers (Cindy, Fred and Kate) who various filled in on keyboards, bass, cowbells and toy telephone. They were from Athens, GA, and had a kitchy aesthetic. Very danceable. Silly.
On 28th July 1979, the B-52's played the Factory and I was there. The place was heaving, the band played their music, we danced, we sang, we cheered, and I have a very strong memory of moisture running down the walls. It was epic. At the end of the gig, and as the audience cleared, I asked one of the roadies if I might have a drumstick as a souvenir. That's how I have one of Keith Stickland's drumsticks in my office at home.
There is something quite nerdy about being able to say your saw a big band when they were still wee. If that's the case then the U2 one would win hands down, but actually I favour this B-52s gig and, if pushed, would plump for it as my best all time. Early performance by a band still doing it 37 years later, great performance, full and fully engaged audience, legendary venue.
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Some other memories of gigs.
Walking through lakes of urine in the mens toilets at the Mayflower Club in Manchester while at the same time being scared, as the band - Mo-Dettes - were rumoured to have a skinhead following.
Getting backstage at the OMD gig and being given a badge by one of the band and discussing the sleeve design of Electricity, their first single.
The fuse blowing during the Selector set at the Two Tone tour and them trying to perform accapella versions of their songs while they waited for a fix
The Stranglers gig at the Apollo, where they had strippers come on and dance when they performed Nice and Sleazy, and the gig ending early when some audience members climbed on the PA stack and it fell over.
The Cure gig, at which there were no bands to support the main act, but instead a couple of animated films, only one I still remember, called Ubu Roi. Nice and arty.
Slim Gaillard, a jazz musician who I saw at the Band on the Wall. I ended up standing next to him in the gents having a wee, and lurked outside to get a pic when he came out. I took my camera to this gig, with a flash, and when I took the first shot, he stopped playing (aaaaaaaagh), came over to where we were sitting and posed. Later on during the gig he kept asking, "Where's my friend the photographer?".
Julian Cope was the lead singer and bass player with Teardrop Explodes and was famous for being a little eccentric. The band came out, and I noticed a tall wooden stool on the stage. On the stool was a bowl, and in the bowl were some wet leaves of lettuce. During the gig, Cope would take a leaf of lettuce, shake the water off it and toss it gently into the crowd.
Do you remember Gordon the Moron (from Jilted John)? There was a bloke called Gordon the Moron and he bummed a cigarette from me in exchange for him showing me the naked lady painted on the lining of his tie.
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