I was talking with an old friend the other day and we recalled the time Talking Heads came to Wellington, New Zealand, in 1979. My ONLY memories of that show are firstly that the band seemed really nervous, and secondly that someone in the audience yelled out “TINAAAA!!!” and Tina Weymouth looked slightly embarrassed. However my friend also recalled that she broke a string on her bass, and continued playing her bass parts on a guitar. I would have thought I’d remember that, being a musician myself. And thinking about it now – what band would do an international tour without either spare instruments or at least bass strings? (Mind you, bass strings rarely break).
Anyway it made me think about what I remember from concerts/gigs/shows I’ve seen in the past, and – I’ve noticed this before – often I remember very little, if anything, about them.
For example, Little Feat came to Wellington NZ in 1976. The only 2 things I remember are the giant cactuses on the stage, and the roadie who gave them all a towel as they walked off stage, and Kenny Gradney threw his back at him. I have no memory of the songs they played. Other people who were there have detailed recollections of the set list and so on.
Or, Led Zeppelin in Auckland NZ in 1972, the one thing I recall is Robert Plant saying “you’re all sitting down so we’ll sit down too” before the acoustic set. And I’ve since heard the bootleg and – wow, my memory is correct, that’s what he said.
Or, Frank Zappa, Auckland NZ January 1976. All I remember is FZ in a fireman’s helmet, and bass player Roy Estrada’s magnificent falsetto backing vocals.
The interesting, or tragic thing, is that I have no recollection of the musical details. And I’m a musician! I take notice of these things. But obviously don’t remember them.
And I should add the obvious comment – I was completely straight at all these events. I don’t smoke weed and never tried LSD (although I now know lots of people at those gigs did so). And while I do love a beer or a wine, back then there was no alcohol at gigs. Although I suppose people pre-loaded on flagons of DB lager before the show, or smuggled in something. I was a bit too innocent for all that.
So I’m interested in what you remember about gigs from the past. Not last week, but from decades ago, but possibly famous or formative gigs you went to
>>>>>>>
That’s partly the point though, if you can remember the gig then you weren’t really there.
In my mid to late teens I saw God knows how many bands at The Greyhound, Croydon and have no recollection of it. Not only that, I often did not know who I was going to see.
Could have been down to the jazz fags.
I saw The Sundays at the Kentish Town Forum (or Town & Country Club, as it was known back then).
The music was sublime, the band were obviously into it too, and I spent much of the gig listening with my eyes closed. Until someone in the audience shouted “Get yer tits out” and the spell was broken.
I might have been there – was Galaxie 500 the support?
That’s the one.
Turns out I know someone who knows someone who knows Harriet Wheeler. How’s that for dull?
I know Harriet – also her sisters Charlotte (married to high society lensman Nick Knight – I went to the wedding) and Emma, who worked for the T&C. David and Harriet are two of the funniest people I ever knew – not at all what you might expect.
So many coinkydinkies. And on a Sunday too! Harriet Wheeler’s name came up in conversation last night, as my wife struggled to remember the band behind ‘Here’s Where The Story Ends’. So we played the first album.
I saw them in Bristol in about 1990 and Galaxie 500 was the support.
One gig issue that bugs me is whether I ever saw The House of Love at Trefforest Polytechnic. I saw a few bands at the same venue and they’ve all kind of blurred into one. I have a mental image of an illuminated Guy Chadwick on stage, and a half-remembered sense of a buzz when they launched (or did they?) into Destroy the Heart. But there was another band called Levitation – with House of Love lead guitarist Terry Bickers (their first album was ace). I could be confusing it with them. I have no idea. It’s pretty hopeless actually.
I saw The House of Love support Loop at the LSE in 1987, and remember Guy Chadwick wearing a jacket, and being impressed by Terry Bickers: I presume they played “all the early hits” , but because at that stage I only knew Shine On, I can’t remember for sure.
@fentonsteve – did you get them out then?
No, he got them out later.
As long as he got them out by Friday.
….I’ll get me wardrobe
Hendrix/Pink Floyd at the Marquee in ’67; My second ever gig, and all I remember (apart from the shocking level of noise) is a girl in blackframe glasses next to me, and my sister’s boyfriend wearing an Arran knit sweater, which I thought weird. One of life’s formative experiences flushed down the U-bend of memory.
Is there a record for bass strings that have lasted the longest? I bought an ultra cheap bass guitar in 1990 (brand is “ZZ Top”!) – I rarely play it as I am not really a bassist, and I have never changed the strings in 30 years.
I seem to recall a bassist friend claiming a few years ago he hadn’t changed a string on any of his 3 basses in ten years.
Can anyone really tell the difference? It always makes me chuckle when I see bassists falling down the gear rabbit hole, like it makes a difference. It’s like bagpipes and banjos: they all sound the same.
Two of his basses, an early ’60s Fender Precision and an early ’80s Music Man Stingray, are worth decent amounts of money and rarely get played, never get used on gigs now. They are his pension fund. His gigging bass these days is a custom-made fretless.
Another couple of bassists I know, one in a local funk band and another leaning more towards jazz appear to have a few different basses each.
I’ve sort-of seen Curtis Mayfield.
It was at some GLC No Nukes type all-day event at Crystal Palace in about 1983. I was ten years old and spent the day cheerfully sitting on the grass reading, er, When the Wind Blows. Weird kid.
I’d say I should have been down the front, but there was a big fuck-off pond in front of the stage so it wasn’t an option.
The bass player in my old band used to boast of being present at The Stones in the Park. But the sound must have been a bit muffled, because he was in utero at the time.
Not necessarily. Perhaps his mum didn’t have any knickers on.
Or she was one of those Sixties chicks you always see on documentary footage of these events, dancing around very badly in the buff for the convenience of sweaty middle-aged cameramen.
Mind you this was England, so she was probably wearing a cardigan and a duffle coat.
He’s right – the sound was muffled.
You were in there too, @mikethep?
I was at the Stones In The Park gig and a few other Blackhill Enterprises free Hyde Park gigs prior to that. Blind Faith, (Peter Green’s) Fleetwood Mac & Pink Floyd also seen. I think Roy Harper played at every single one.
I saw Jefferson Airplane, supported by Fairport Convention, play a poorly-attended free gig at Parliament Hill Fields one rainy afternoon. This was pre-motorway-crash Fairport with Sandy Denny and Ian Matthews sharing vocals. Jefferson Airplane were in town for a double header at The Roundhouse with The Doors which I couldn’t afford a ticket for. Luckily for me and the few others who were willing to stand in the rain, those Airplane hippies wanted to do a free gig while they were over here. Paul Kantner got pissed off with his specs getting steamed up, took them off and flung them into the audience at one point.
If it wasn’t Roy Harper it was Quintessence.
I was at the Roundhouse. Apparently I *could* afford it!
I was at the crystal Palace Curtis Mayfield show. I was 22 years old, ferociously stoned, and my buzz was being bummered by some 10 year old pissing around. Now it all becomes obvious…
Sorry to bummer your buzz, Uncle Vince… reading aloud from a book about nuclear apocalypse was probably a bit of a downer. Should have brung me Dandy annual instead.
I was in Gibraltar in 1969 when JohnandYoko flew in to get married. I can’t remember a darn thing about it and I have a sharp memory of that time.
Oh, that’s “near Spain” as John helpfully informed us.
Rock on.
Reading, 1975. Wonderful bill, but I can only remember odd bits here and there. 18 years old and at my first festival, uncertain what I was off my face on, but hindsight tells me I must have been. So do I remember any of the headliners, Yes, Hawkwind and, um, Supertramp? Nope. I can remember Ozark Mountain Daredevils (not as good as I had told everyone they would be), Caravan (excellent, I think, possibly muddled with the live tracks on the Canterbury Tales compilation) and Joan Armatrading (then just a Peel favourite and a bit dull). I can remember Gary Holtons’ doc martens in Heavy Metal Kids, I can remember Jesus was there, and lots of people shouting Wally, the two confusingly unconnected. I remember my feet being washed by a trendy (pervy?) vicar. That’s about it.
I was there too, @retropath2 – still only 17. My one clear memory – I’ve written of this here before – is the glory of Dr Feelgood (still one of the best sets I’ve ever witnessed) followed by the horror of Hawkwind.
I also vaguely remember the HMKs’ version of Bye Bye Baby (good fuckin’ bye), and finding Supertramp horribly dull.
Ahh, I thought I had seen the Feelgoods more than the once, having caught the Naughty Rhythms tour the year before. Still can’t picture them there, mind. I have a slight flashback of shiny suits, tho, from hard wearing, not sequins, and can’t imagine many others dressed thus up to play.
Double bill of Lush and The Pale Saints at the Norwich Arts Centre,1990. The scene that celebrated itself in a disused church hall. Maybe I had too many pints of Adnams Broadside in The Basketmakers beforehand, but I can’t remember the gig at all well despite liking both groups, which is embarrassing.
I was there as well, @Pessoa – but it’s a deconsecrated church, not a church hall.
I dimly recall Lush, but couldn’t have told you who else was playing.
@nigelthebald , fast becoming the Zelig of the AW….
🤣 @retropath2
Good times: on the other hand, I saw Galaxie 500 in the same ex-church in 1989 and remember it very vividly ( especially the lovely guitar solo in Snowstorm; the first time I heard someone dare to play with a wah-wah pedal).
I saw Pink Floyd at Reading University in 1969, where my sister was a student. I know this happened, but all I remember is my sister roasting a chicken to eat before the gig and me wondering if we were going to die.
I’ve mentioned this before, but according to the Warwick student newspaper the band I was in at the time supported Pink Floyd some time in 1967. I have no memory of this either.
Was your band The Jimi Hendrix Experience? I think I might have seen you.
That’s it!
I think I saw Talking Heads around the same time at the Birmingham Odeon. Jonathan Richman was the support. I don’t remember them being much good – certainly they didn’t have the same level of excitement as the Stop Making Sense tour or later David Byrne gigs or Tom Tom Club gigs for that matter.
In fact a lot of the early gigs I remember were for reasons other than the music. The Caravan drummer throwing up into a bucket mid number. Hatfield and the north with about maybe 150 people at Birmingham Town Hall for the start of their gig, less than 20 two songs in. Mahavishnu Orchestra in their white robes meditating before starting their gig. Captain Beefheart playing a matineee gig on a Saturday afternoon and being scary just with his stage presence. Ritchie Blackmore smashing his guitar on stage during a strobe drenched solo in middle of Child in Time.
I think I might have been there for the Captain – this was the Clear Spot tour? I remember the gig surprisingly clearly, including him forgetting the words to Golden Birdies, which the audience gleefully helped him with.
I think you are right. I thought Clear Spot was much later than it was but with a release date of 1972 that would put it exactly around the time I remember 1972 or 1973.
What I would give to see him now with the Magic Band.
An entire crowd of patchouli-drenched heads chanting in unison:
“Renowned throughout the bone-knob land”
That, people, is entertainment.
It was the way the audience intoned “Webcor, Webcor” at the end, like a church amen, that really broke everyone up. Blindingly great gig. Beautiful, clear sound, astonishingly tight playing, and the Captain giving it his considerable gob-iron large.
Did he have a mullet?
That’s the important thing.
I know we are all supposed to worship the Trout, but the two Spot albums are where it’s at for me.
I’m pretty sure he wore a hat, but this was the mullet (not trout) era. Guitarist wore a cape. The Spotlight Kid album got a sensational remaster make-over recently-ish – I don’t normally care for these exercises, but it worked wonders here.
I saw Talking Heads at Birmingham Odeon in 1979. I thought they were brilliant. Very edgy.
I was at Manchester University from 1986 to 1990 and (according to friends) we saw most the bands that went on to rule the Britpop decade – Stone Roses, Oasis, etc etc. Thing is, I can’t remember seeing any of them – I do remember seeing River City People at one of the Balls though…..
I saw Stone Roses at Spike Island. I remember it very clearly. Unlike the sound, which was shit. So bad, I couldn’t distinguish one song from another.
I also remember the long trudge to the venue. The long queue to get in as security confiscated all food and drink. The mud. The stinking, horrible grease on offer at ridiculously inflated prices inside. The mud. The dreadful sound. The longer trudge to get out. The mud.
The Mud would have improved it no end. Les Gray was a much better singer than Ian Brown.
(not saying much)
Tiger Feet would have been a bit of a squelch.
Ian could only sing Flat Tiger Feet.
I’ll get me XXXXL dayglo t-shirt
Last time I was at The Sage in Gateshead they were selling coasters with Gig posters printed on them. One was Eric Clapton at Newcastle City Hall in Nov 1978. “I was at that” I tell my better half. Then on a closer look, “No I wasn’t, as it says the support was Muddy Waters. I am 100% certain that I never saw him live”. Get home, check diary, and apparently I was at that gig. I remember Eric playing with a small line up, although I don’t remember him being as poor as my diary says. And Muddy, of whom my diary says “He was very good. Band, not so good, so gig not great”? No memory whatsoever
As a corollary to this proposition, I vividly remember gigs I never went to. I swear I saw Parliament supporting Earth, Wind and Fire at Birmingham Odeon. No such gig exists.
Whilst talking about live gigs back in the day, did anyone on here see Gregory Isaacs at The Lyceum in ‘82. If so, was his ‘Live In London’ elpee a recording of that show?
Pretty sure I saw Gregory at the Lyceum then, & fairly certain a little later at the Academy. I wasn’t aware of a specific live in London album, but it could be from either show. I regret I can’t honestly remember much about either gig.
I have photographic recall of some gigs but was talking to an old pal the other week who reminded me of going to several gigs together that I can’t remember at all. I can’t for the life of me even remember what they were now, either.
Saw The Who play an awesome Christmas gig (1976) at the Hammersmith Odeon, Roger donning a ‘George Davies is Innocent’ T shirt. Went for a pee as the the last chords windmilled to an end and then came back to stand at the back of the stalls as the crowd bayed for an encore. I tell people that Keith Moon appeared beside me in a motorcycle helmet shouting “Rubbish!” at his band mates before disappearing and rejoining them for said encore. I’ve no idea if that really happened or if I read about it, probably in the NME?
I remember not being able to hear The Rolling Stones cos of all them girls screaming. I remember Geno Washington bathed in sweat. I remember the girl with big bazookas running Pink Floyd’s light show. I remember Billy Connolly joing The Incredible String Band on stage. I remember Bob Dylan’s microphone stopping working during his acoustic set but nothing at all when The Band joined in. I remember Johnny Winter sitting next to me before joining Traffic on stage. I remember Elvis Costello shouting “Stop spitting you fuckers”. I remember falling in love with Kate Rusby in Hebden Bridge. I remember being too scared to enter The Lyceum to watch Bob Marley & The Wailers. I remember my arse going numb watching Brooce play in a Roman amphitheatre in Orange. But flashes, that’s all I remember from the hundreds of concerts I’ve seen these past hundred years. Flashes…
I bet you don’t remember a single tune off the last Taylor Swift album, though but.
Not Robinson Crusoe on that one.
I’ve only been to one gig where girls screamed the whole way through it, and that was a-Ha at Sheffield City Hall in about 1986. I was on duty with the St. John Ambulance and fortunately I was upstairs where it was a bit more sedate, so I didn’t have any hysterical girls to deal with. I could still hear the band though, but being well into my Beatles obsession at the time I was just imagining what it must have been like 20 years or so earlier when they played there. My mum was there, but she can’t remember much about it. I was insanely jealous. Then a couple of years later I moved to Liverpool and started dating a local lass and her mum was a regular at the Cavern. I was born 20 years (or so) too late.
We’re all born too late for something!
I went to see Ted Nugent at the Hammersmith Odeon and have no recollection of it, mind you I know who I went with and I think every time I saw this bloke we got utterly annihilated which would explain it.
Can’t remember Nugent?
Narrow escape, @Twang 😜
If you’re too annihilated, you’re too old.
(This is an excellent Nuge joke, trust me)
Ver Tull in Brighton at the tender age of 16. It was the first time I had seen drugs being taken so openly – both the crowd and the audience.
And the LAs at Villiers Hall Ball, Uni of Leicester in Summer 92. I got on stage with them I am reliably informed.
An old friend of mine who has a memory like an elephant frequently reminds me of places and gigs Ive been to of which I have either no or very little memory. Of the very early gigs I went to, invariably at Sheffield City Hall, I just have brief snapshots and vignettes in my head. My first gig Genesis/Lindisfarne/VDGG – I was sitting half way back on the left in the stalls; Deep Purple in the balcony which was literally shaking as we jumped around in our greatcoats and stack heels; rushing to front of stage at ELP standing in front of Greg Lakes carpet; sitting very close to one of the quadrophonic speakers in the circle for the Floyds Dark Side of The Moon (also on that bill the somewhat crazed Ron Geesin supported – at one point he turned to the audience and said ‘People think Im mad, Im not Im madder!’)
@Mousey I have a decent collection of old ticket stubs from 1972 to about 1980 when they were no longer pinned to a board. there were quite a few I have no recollection of having attended. The Birds of Fire hitmaker with his Shakti band for starters.
I saw Little Feat on the same tour- Lpowell’s searing slide is my sole memory. Led Zep, vivvidly remember the opener Immigrant Song and the acoustic set. On that Zappa tour you refer to it was Frank and the poodle – the poodle bites, the poodle chews it. Napoleon Brock Murphy’s vocals and Frank’s soloing are still in the memory bank.
Yes at Wembley on the 90125 tour: no support, they showed Roadrunner cartoons instead.
Tull, Hammersmith Odeon, Crest of a Knave tour: Martin Allcock putting coal into a fake boiler to power his keyboards. Wembley, 25 years of…. Anderson being wheeled on stage in a wheelchair by a busty “comedy” nurse.
10,000 Maniacs, Town and Country 1990 ish: standing by the control booth when I see a small figure, dressed like a bag lady, walking towards the box. She goes inside and hands over the carrier bag she is holding to one of the crew and on her way out, she looks at me and I see that it’s Natalie Merchant. Realising I’d clocked her she held my eye for a moment then scurried away. I didn’t make a fuss. Unusually, I can’t remember who I went to the gig with.
Donnington 1980: The huge side drapes which replicated the first two Rainbow album covers. They were prizes in a competition in Sounds after the gig.
Donnington 1981: Slade throwing bog rolls into the crowd. Blue `Oyster Cult being shit, AC/DC having a huge “Hell’s Bell” lowered onto the stage and Johnson striking it. It seems a bit Spinal Tap now.
I don’t remember much about the music at most gigs I’ve been to. I think it’s not so strange given most acts look the same throughout the performance. You need something exceptional to happen or to be different. I remember Neil Young starting a great show a few years ago just on his own with a piano singing After The Goldrush, a memorable, powerful, poignant start, especially since it was my first Neil concert and I am a fairly big fan. Thereafter the songs with the band are harder to identify but the encore of Rockin’ In The Freeworld remains imprinted on my mind. Just as you thought it had ended, it started up again, which was a good thing BTW.
Then Nick Cave. There were sound problems for Warren, they had to revert to Nick on piano doing Ship Song, which is a favourite of my wife’s and he hadn’t planned to do it. Then coming into the audience for Weeping Song, getting us to do the fast clapping thing. It was rather magical and exciting even though he repeated the same trick at every show. Likewise getting the audience up on the stage at the end, singing with him for Pushing The Sky Away. I’m not a great Cave fan, I own no records of his, but I’d say he is hard to beat as a live performer. He shows how it should be done so that it’s unforgettable.
This is a thread about what you remember of gigs right?
Seen him since start of the Bad Seeds – Blixa and Barry and Mick…. menacing ,shirt off, junked out, stalking the stage at small clubs in Melbourne, swinging his boot at heads at the edge of the stage – a far cry from holding their hands as he sang.
OK
I saw The Birthday Party and they were much as you describe, Junior. I also remember blood. No deliberate self harm as such, but an over exuberance that meant fat lips, grazed knuckles and scraped knees were inevitable. As for the music, all I can say is wild and loud. I couldn’t even begin to document a set list.
Not music, but I saw Bill Hicks at Northumbria Uni many years ago. I don’t remember any of it, which is odd because I wasn’t drinking.
Bet he was.
Well I have to say this is interesting.
I thought it was just me, not remembering anything about supposedly (in hindsight) “important” gigs I went to. And y’all in the UK heard a lot more than me, down under in New Zealand.
So many of us don’t remember the music. I mean I don’t expect everyone to remember “how well the drummer played” or “was he better on the album” or “the lead singer forgot the words to the third verse”, except some people (usually musicians) DO remember these details.
So therefore it’s all about the occasion isn’t it – the time of our lives. Of course.
It’s interesting that music defines those times though. We remember the event, and in retrospect it takes on a huge importance that it didn’t have at the time.
Which I suppose is not uncommon. I remember my parents talking about VE Day and other crucial events and their whole thing was about – well, I’d just finished my university degree, or, I’d just met this nice person and so on.
C’est la vie…
Nirvana’s 1991 Reading Festival set. I looked up from reading my newspaper when they played one that sounded a bit like the Pixies. Mostly I was waiting for Chapterhouse and Dinosaur Jr. to come on.
They headlined the following year. I thought they were crap and went to watch the Rockingbirds in the big tent instead.
I was riding my bike around the Rec at Naphill, in Buckinghamshire, when a van pulled up outside the village hall and a hairy bunch climbed out and started unloading gear. The bit I remember clearly is that the van had a poster on the side, for a concert by David Bowie. I knew about Bowie because my next door neighbour, a lot older than seven-year-old me, played me his records. They went into the hall and I guess I rode off. Naphill’s not all that far from Aylesbury where the Ziggy Stardust tour started in January ’72. I’ve always wondered…
Nah. Those Bowie posters were everywhere. My dog had one.