5 best gigs

[Mr Stevens]

I've made some soup, my daughter's still in bed and I've got nothing to do except reminisce about a time when I could go out. To that end, added to the fact that there appear to be some involved on here who have a musical background, I am going to list my five favourite gigs. In no particular order, they are:-

Elvis Costello and the Imposters. Colston Hall. Bristol.  Probably 1982.

This was the tour to promote the Imperial Bedroom album and, if I remember, the NME had written Elvis off in a bizarre interpretation of his decision to include "Don't let me be misunderstood". This was the first time I'd seen Costello without Bruce Thomas. My main recollection of this is being in the second row and Elvis seemed to be staring at me as I was reluctant to sing along with the aforementioned song. I ended up mouthing it.


Slow Twitch Fibres and Kevin Brown. Walcott Village Hall. Bath. Summer of 1981.

STF were a Bath/Bristol band with Andy Davis of Stackridge and Pete Brandt. They were very good but the evening had particular resonance because my Dad died a couple of months before and it was the first night since his death that I had an evening out where I could put recent events out of my mind for a couple of hours.


Half Man Half Biscuit. Picturedome. Holmfirth. 2019

I had seen this lot a couple of times in the 80's but had forgotten them until Simon Mayo played "For What is Chatteris" and my interest was rekindled. From sounding somewhat like a scratch band in the early days, albeit with great lyrics, they had turned into a very tight band with great lyrics. Nigel Blackwell is a genius because he can write songs that you feel you could have written but obviously couldn't.


Billy Joel.  Dominion Theatre. London. 1978

Any credibility I had, which wasn't much, might disappear with this selection but, in the early days, he was an outstanding singer/songwriter and the first couple of albums were first rate. Really good band as well.


Clint Black. Mean Fiddler Harlesden. 1990.

This was part of one of the best weekends I have had.
Friday. This gig
Saturday. Wimbledon dogs
Sunday. Mate's party in Rotherhithe, the highlight of which was another mate making a mess in his trousers.
Monday. Play-off final against Sunderland.

Clint Black is a country artist who made one brilliant album. What folowed from him came nowhere near to hitting those heights but this as quite early in his career and the Mean Fiddler was one of my favourite venues.


I'm going to have some soup now.

[suttonred]

Xtc at The Hexagon Reading. Either 79 or 80. I was completely deaf for a week after.

Stiff Little Fingers. Bracknell 80 or 81. Awesome awsomeness

Rolling Stones Wembley late 80's. Went to watch us at Selhurst park in the afternoon, then this in the evening. What day. (i think we lost 1-0 but not sure if it was against Palace or Charlton.

The Cure xenith Paris 1992.  Me an the now wife went with the Cure fan club coach, which had several Robert Smith lookalikes.

The Pogues Brixton academy 07 or 08 Most energetic i've been to on and off the stage.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Audrey]

Black Widow - Neeld Hall, Chippenham

Roxy Music - Neeld Hall, Chippenham

Judas Priest - Devizes Corn Exchange

Hawkwind - Devizes Corn Exchange

Queen - Knebworth

Used to get some real good gigs in Wiltshire. Special mention to The Sensational Alex Harvey Band at the Neeld Hall and also Tom Robinson at Golddiggers

[Mr Stevens]

If I remember, Judas Priest were at the Corn Exchange so often, it was almost a residency.

[The Artist Formerly Known as Audrey]

Yeah, quite often. Just like Barclay James Harvest in Chippenham.

[JBZ]

Judas Priest - Newport Centre, March 91.

[JBZ]

King's X - Colston Hall, 89. Supporting Anthrax

[mexico red]

1. Pixies - Bristol Studio. it was the doolittle tour, I had seen them previously but this stood out head and shoulders for the energy, the excitement and that fucking voice.

2. Arrested Development - Birmingham Hummingbird, who says hip hop gigs are shit. This was just a party. full on good vibes.

3. The Specials - Brixton Academy . the reunion tour. from the dj building up the atmosphere with dexys geno to a packed academy letting nearly 40 years of waiting for this moment just explode in a reaction i have never witnessed at a gig. The building  was shaking. It was simply breathtaking.

4. Oasis - various. I was lucky enough to be working on their first tour and it was a joy to watch as an almost beatlemania like cocoon, built around them. It grew on a daily scale. Every gig became madder. Noel being punched by a fan in Newcastle and everyone piling in the crowd- live on Radio 1. Nottingham rock city debuting a song called live forever which sounded an instant classic. The excitement around them was like nothing Ive ever witnessed.

5. Lenny Kravitz - Glastonbury. Dont like him. Dont like the pyramid stage. Was wandering by with my mate as you do at Glastonbury and stopped to listen and potentially take the piss. He was bloody brilliant. The musicians in his band were obviously some of the best players in the world. It was jaw droppingly good.

Honorable mentions to Teenage Fanclub, Paul Weller, The Stone Roses, Ocean Colour scene, Madness, Brakes, Georgie Fame. The sugarcubes and The Strokes. Plus saw adele in a room above a pub in Brighton years ago, not into her music but by christ she can sing

[4D]

Yeah, quite often. Just like Barclay James Harvest in Chippenham.

They did Chip? My mate really liked them, they were very popular in Germany.

Fave gig was The Cure at Birmingham NEC in 1987.
Fields of the Nephilim in Bath Pavilion in 1988 was loud 

[Saxondale]

I was at that Pixies one as well Mex.  Excellent.  You must have seen me.  I was the one with long girly curly hair baggy jeans and round glasses.  Looking very like the singer of Cud.

[mexico red]

I was at that Pixies one as well Mex.  Excellent.  You must have seen me.  I was the one with long girly curly hair baggy jeans and round glasses.  Looking very like the singer of Cud.

Second song was debaser. His roar nearly took the roof off!

[BoA Vagabond]

No particular order of brilliance
First gig Killing Joke Exeter 1985. Great band but also two girls snogging in the queue in front of me was a welcome eye-opener to this schoolboy.

Blur in Melbourne 2015 at the Rod Lever. First day in Oz. Wow! Much better than I ever dreamt they would be.

Frank Turner at Beautiful days fest in 2012. Dancing to Long live the queen with daughter on my shoulders.

Hillsborough benefit at the Royal Court in Liverpool 1989. Headline The Mission who were joined by Mick Jones and The Mighty Wah. The La's supported, who I thought were good, but they left after throwing a bit of a tantrum as they weren't feeling the love. Best bit was the spontaneous rendition of You'll never walk alone. Spine-tingling and not a dry eye.

Every New Model Army gig I have ever been to. 30+ (light-weight in comparison to the hard-core) but will go with Stoke nightclub 2008-ish. The club must have got its numbers wrong as there was no room so consequently the whole place was moving. Brilliant band. Can't recommend them enough.

Honourable mention to The Smiths, The Cure, The Damned, Paul Weller, Levellers, Madness and Suede.

[Kinky Tom]

Oasis at Knebworth was special, was my first proper gig and as a 16 year old, as Mex said earlier, the mania around them, and in particular that weekend was something I've not seen personally, before or since.  Saw them 4 more times, Wembley, Sheffield Arena and MK Bowl (in the pit both days).

The Darkness at Nottingham Rock City was an absolute blast, just so much fun.

Saw Robbie at MK and Knebworth (in the pit for the latter).  I get if you want to write him off but he's such a great entertainer and I'm glad I got to see him in his 'prime'.

Arctic Monkeys at Pukkelpop in 2006 was probably better than the Old Trafford CG gig the following year, about 20,000 people packed in as close as we could get at a reasonably small festival in Belgium, it was pissing it down, it was only about 18:00 I imagine but it was so tight, one person jumped, we all did...

An artist called LP who I had gotten into played a festival near where I am in France a couple of summers ago, found out she was there after we'd already got tickets, just an incredible vocalist.  Headliner was Jamiroquai who probably wore his worst hat to date but was brilliant, somewhat nostalgic, fun.

Oasis at Knebworth tops the lot for so many reasons, the rest are just mentions of gigs I've enjoyed for various reasons, oh Brian Wilson, Glastonbury 2005 was good too.

Disappointing gigs include:

Stereophonics at Donnington Park in 2001, musically sound enough but pretty boring entertainment wise. 

Counting Crows, 2003, Sheffield - Saw them at V2002 and Adam Duritz was on such good form, courted the crowd majestically and had us in the palm of his hand, their own gig the following year he seemed like he couldn't care.  Alanis at V2002 was amazing now I think of it.

Rolling Stones, London Stadium, 2018.  Only time I've seen them live, just a shame it was so late on, still good and I had a great time but made me jealous that I'd not been around to see them in their pomp.  Florence was terrific though.

Wishlist:

Anything with Alfie Boe singing live, as a singer myself (not professionally but I did sing in a few competitions, national and international when I was younger and do now still love to sing) I would love to hear him in the flesh, he's breathtaking.

Cliché as it is these days I'd love to see Ed Sheeran live too, again, like Robbie I get if you don't like him but I'd like to see him at least once.

Oasis NHS charity gig - make it happen.  I hardly listen to any Oasis anymore, but (see aforementioned) back when they were big they were nearly as important to me as STFC, if there was a gig in England I did everything I could to get to it.

Prodigy, as amazing as Oasis were at Knebworth I had to make do with The Manics (who were pretty good tbh) as the lead support act on Sunday instead of Prodigy on Saturday, would have loved to have been there 24 hours earlier.

[Quagmire]

In no particular order.

Kasabian - Motorpoint Cardiff 2017

Miles Kane - Komedia Bath 2013

Stone Roses - Ethiad Manchester 2016

Liam Gallagher - Motorpoint Cardiff 2019

Foals - 02 Bristol - 2013

[Wobbly Bob]

The Go-Betweens – London Astoria, 2003.
Vastly underrated Australian band. Also saw them at Shepherds Bush in 2005.
Co-founder Grant McLennan sadly passed away the following year.

Magazine – The Forum, Kentish Town, 2009.
Missed them first time around between 79-81, so a great feeling to get to see them live.

The Fall – Indigo at the 02, 2011.
Often hit and miss, but the planets were in alignment for this one.

Siouxsie – Royal Festival Hall, 2013.
Had to take out Southbank Centre membership to get a ticket.
Then wondered what’s she going to do.
Played Kaleidoscope in its entirety, that’s what.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Motorpoint Arena, Nottingham, 2017.
It’s big arenas for them these days, but this was like they were in the living room, bit of a tight squeeze with seven of them mind.

Killing Joke, New Model Army, The Damned, Suede, Pixies, Primal Scream, Inspiral Carpets, SLF and all things Kirk Brandon have never disappointed over the years.
Might have rubbed shoulders with BoA Vagabond at a few of them by the look of it.