My Gig History

Ah, a good gig, at times you just can’t beat decent live music. Oddly I’ve kept a list of every gig I’ve ever been to starting out way back in 1985 when I was a 4th year at school. I thought this would be a good opportunity to share. I aim to update this frequently, enjoy…

17th March 1985. The Smiths, supported by James at The Birmingham Hippodrome. My first ever gig, a bit pricey at £5! I’d seen James on The Old Grey Whistle Test a week before performing Hymn From A Village, (this was their current single at the time). I was struck by how loud everything was as I’d only listened to music in my bedroom before. The Smiths, (well Morrisey), seemed to have quite a few haters too, odd at their gig. I can clearly remember Morrisey leaning into the crowd, loose shirt cuff and daffodil in back pocket only for a skinhead to clearly try and smack him in the face, (he missed). Shakespeare’s Sister had been released the day before. Also impressed with Johnny Marr trashing the drums at the end, I was listening to a lot of punk at the time and I had The Smiths down as an indie pop band really. Only with time did I realise my first gig subjects would become a thing of near legend and to be honest I’m glad they have not reformed for any sort of cashback – comeback.

Rate 9 out of 10.

24th March 1985.

Frankie Goes To Hollywood, supported by The Promise, Birmingham Odeon, free.

I only went to this gig as a school mate had been misbehaving somehow on his paper round and his Mum forced him to give me his ticket as punishment. The band were massive at the time and to be honest it was fun. Support band were poor.

Rate 7 out of 10.

20th June, 1985, The Damned, supported by The Fuzztones and Doctor & The Medics. £4:50.

My favourite band at the time, and they still are a great band. Phantasmagoria tour. They’d become a bit poppy for my liking, but hey this was my first chance to see them realistically. Amazed they opened with Curtain Call as I knew it could have been 20 minutes long, fortunately they shortened it. Great to see live Neat Neat Neat, Love Song, etc. The intro to Smash It Up is one of live musics great moments, the way it builds is a joy and everyone smiles and bounces to it in anticipation. Good support bands too and a nice mix of older punks and new crowd. Shame no Captain Sensible in this line up after years of listening to his antics on bootleg live cassettes from Record Fairs.

Rate, 9 out of 10.

21st June – 23rd June Glastonbury 1985. £16.00.

Looking back i’m amazed I was allowed to go to this, with me still in the 4th year and all. A mates Dad was going to be there so it was ok! I hitched down with Jason Davies, Frankley, Stroud, Bath and then got a bus, hardly knew Jason at the time – but was to go on and become one of my best mates.

Arriving at Glastonbury The Boomtown Rats were on the Main Stage, but the scale of the event hit me straight away. Great to hear John Peel from my tent playing music on the Saturday morning from very early – before any bands came on – for the Second Stage, (before it became the NME Stage). I realised he was playing the LP Sound Of The Suburb’s and occasionally talking, really chuffed I had the same LP as Peel and I could predict to everyone in the tent listening what the next track was going to be! Nerdy maybe but I could tell my peers very quietly respected my musical knowledge.

I’ll only list the bands I actively saw the whole gig at festivals like Glastonbury not the bits you catch like Amazulu whom I watched a song, etc.

New Model Army. Main Stage. Band were getting quite a lot of interest at the time and were very good. Original line up, (bass player left). Odd to see a band who’d go on to be goth faves in broad afternoon daylight.

Rate 8 out of 10.

The Style Council. 22nd June (Saturday). I wasn’t previously that interested in Weller’s foray into pop soul but this was awesome festival stuff. Towards the end the stage was constantly invaded, (you could climb up onto the pyramid stage in ’85! I’ll never forget how ecstatic Matthew Whitehouse looked after this gig, (he loved the band before but this took it to a new stratosphere for him).

Rate 9 out of 10.

The Men They Couldn’t Hang. 23rd June (Sunday).

Donald Where’s Your Troosers and all.

Rate 7 out of 10.

Doctor & The Medics.

Spoke to lead singer when he pulled up in his van re The Damned gig i’d been to previously. This was before their surprise Number One single. Mole Catcher stood out and the lead singers tights split which Tom Ambler noticed and unfortunately pointed out to me.

Rate 8 out of 10.

Billy Bragg.

Can’t remember too much about this apart from a good vibe in the crowd.

Rate 6 out of 10.

Echo & The Bunnymen.

Previously i’d only heard the successful chart releases and didn’t own any of their records. Spectacular show and a very good end to my 1st Glastonbury.

Rate 9 out 10.

2oth September 1985, The Cure, supported by Hardcorps. NEC Arena. £6.50.

1st gig I went to on my own. I got there way too early, went straight from school only to sit and wait in Block M for ages. Support was not my kind of thing, probably a bit ahead of their time looking back, minimalist electronica.

When The Cure came on I somehow got to the very front following a rush with those who were not going to be stuck at the back. First time I ever bypassed Security which was a rush in itself.

Head On The Door Tour, The Cure had crossed over and this was just awesome for a 15 year old. They played for absolutely ages, career spanning set-list. A Forest was stunning, Killing An Arab was electric. One of them gigs where you do not mind “the new stuff” as it was all so good. I do not listen to The Cure that much these days – i’d say Seventeen Seconds is my favorite album.

Of note that my Mum picked me up in the car afterwards to find me covered in sweat and ecstatic and she just said “are you on drugs”, (I wasn’t). This was the only downer of the night – but I guess good to affirm the rock n’ roll generational thing.

Rate 10 out of 10.

19th October 1985, Siouxsie & The Banshees, support The Scientists, Birmingham Odeon. £5.50

Sneaked a camera into this gig. Security caught me taking a photo, looked at my camera, laughed – and handed it back to me. The photos were relatively expensive to develop at Boots and you couldn’t see a thing. Pocket money gone for that week.

The band were not that interested to be honest. Spellbound was the encore – which must be their best track, listening to the studio version of Spellbound I swear you can hear The Smiths being born in the guitar fade out.

Rate 7 out of 10.

22nd December 1985, The Damned, Hammersmith Palais, support The Burning, Twenty Flight Rockers, £4.50.

Some punk woman gave me a flyer in Oasis for this, coach and ticket was a tenner! Picked up the tickets from somewhere on Smallbrook Queensway above a shop. looking back it must have been an indie Record Company or something, really impressed with the framed Joy Division posters. I think they had signed The Burning.

I’d just turned 16 and was getting fairly worried that I may not get in re Over 18′s clearly stated on the ticket. I figured if I smoked I must be an adult – so I smoked in the queue. I can remember thinking “i’ll be a white man in Hammersmith Palais – if I get in!

Got in, phew. The Burning were half decent. Twenty Flight Rockers were really good, kinda borderline psycho-billy post punk fare. The Damned were cool and played Nasty and some stuff i’d yet to hear live by them. Again no Captain Sensible but a Damned gig at Xmas is a cool experience. Forgot my jacket from the cloakroom, realised this on the coach on the way back. Walked back from Brum freezing cold – but well worth it.

Rate 9 out of 10.

28th December 1985, Billy Bragg, Hank Wangford, Frank Chickens, Birmingham Odeon. Free.

A mate got me a ticket for Xmas, probably so they’d have someone to go with. Not really my kind of thing but half enjoyable all the same. This was around the time of but not part of the Red Wedge movement.

Rate 5 out of 10.

2nd March 1986. The Sisterhood, support from The Beat Devils, Twenty Flight Rockers. Powerhouse. Birmingham. £4.00.

The Sisters Of Mercy had just split up and both bands emerging from The split called themselves The Sisterhood. This was Wayne Hussey’s outfit that very shortly after changed their name to The Mission. Impressive musically. First impressions where a goth stark Led Zep sound. Crowd loved them. Noticed the emergence of purple mohawk, shaved at side, tied back hair fans, black skin tight jeans – who sat on their mates shoulders, topless, (blokes), worshipping – arms opened – some thing I could not see.

Both support bands were good too.

Rate 8 out of 10.

7th March 1986, Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, Mermaid, Birmingham. £2.00.

My first Mermaid experience, (sounds odd that – the venue that is). An dilapidated pub on the Stratford Road, promoter Darren Russell, made the most of the large upstairs room. Was to become, from my perspective, an unlikely legendary venue.

They saved the track Chance, until last, (Peel played this a lot at the time – still sounds fresh today). Two Quid!!!

Rate 8 out of 10.

23rd March 1986, Husker Du, support Wild Flowers, Powerhouse, Birmingham. £4.00.

The bouncer asked me my age and date of birth on the door. I hadn’t expected this, despite being 16 at the time. I gave my date of birth as 1966 just to be safe – he let go of my arm for a brief second and I ran in as he called, so your 21 then…eh!

No budget stage show, Husker Du just had a light bulb, like they were playing in a studio or something. I only had Land Speed Record and didn’t know any songs they played but they were incredible. They must have played Diane and I was yet to hear it – on record. Massively influential band. No Husker Du, No Pixies, No Nirvana – it’s that simple.

Rate 9 out of 10.

7th April King Kurt, Portland Club, support The Highliners, Edgbaston, Birmingham. £3.50.

What a show, King Kurt just had a massive food fight and cut the crowds hair, well some of ‘em, for a good 20 minutes before they started playing any tracks. Wreckin’, there’s a lost dance for you. Went with Neil Hattersley, a legend in his own right. Classic gig – great fun.

Rate 9 out of 10.

15th May 1986, Guana Batz, support from Phantom Zone, Barrel Organ, Birmingham. £3.50.

More wreckin’. Another fantastic gig, if not a tad too violent, unfortunately. The Ramones were playing The Odeon on the same night, this had a knock on effect with attendance, maybe. Unfortunately the singer said “fuck The Ramones”, and the most punk looking bloke in the crowd was glassed probably as a result of this.

Rate 8 out of 10.

30th May 1986. The Cramps, support from Stingrays, Birmingham Odeon. £5.00.

Of note that after The Ramones recent gig at this venue a cage was put down the front to stop pogo-ing, etc. A mate who’d been to The Ramones gig said a lot of chairs were ripped out.

The Cramps were good but played a woefully short set. Lux Interior was totally off his face and got a bit GG Allin in his antics. Probably played for 40 minutes – no encore leaving the fans chanting “wankers”. Still a legendary band and good while it lasted.

Rate 7 out of 10.

Glastonbury 1986, £16.00.

That Petrol Emotion, 20th June 1986. ok, erm that’s it…

Rate 6 out of 10.

The Pogues. 2oth June 1986. Cider from the Cider Bus and The Pogues at Glastonbury, quality. Love the way they sound like they’re struggling but are actually very musically competent.

Rate 8 out of 10.

The Cure. 21st June 1986. A perfect band to headline this once great festival. Youth, energy, The Cure and Glastonbury, didn’t get much better than this…

Rate 9 out of 10.

Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians. 22nd June 1986.

Brenda’s Iron Sledge – need I say anymore..

Terry & Gerry, support The Dead Men, The Contraz, Birmingham University, 27th June 1986. £2.00.

The day I left school. Last exam, etc. Which gave this and being among so many mates at the time such a great vibe. Alternative Skiffle ! I remeber being a bit concerned at the rash on Gerry’s arm onstage. Fitting to visit a university on my last day at school for the 1st time. Both support bands were good too.

Rate 8 out of 10.

Mermaid Overdrive Imminent!

14th July 1986 Napalm Death, Culture Shock, Generic, Chumbawama, Mermaid, Birmingham, £1.50.

£1.50!

Chumbawamba were getting their track Revolution played heavily by John Peel at the time. Sounded very Crass-like and nothing like Tubthumping. Meanwhile in support Justin Broaderick’s incarnation of Napalm Death, (the best line up, Mick Harris had just joined) had jaws hitting the glass covered floorboards. This gig for me paved the way for what was the a new UK hardcore movement. Napalm Death convinced me – like the Pistols must have earlier influenced others – that I could and infact should – also be in a band. Fastix, here we come!

Rate 8 out of 10.

The Damned, 10th Anniversary, Finsbury Park, support, Pete Shelley, The Fall, New Model Army, 27th July 1986, £6.50.

I was wearing A Dead Kennedys Halloween T Shirt and got some unwanted attention from a right wing shaven headed dude, fortunately nothing other than very mean stares happened. I’m guessing the stares related to their Nazi Punks Fuck Off track. Fortunately our paths didn’t cross again inside the gig / tent. Good to see Pete Shelley. The Fall with Brix Smith was ultracool too – even though i’m not a massive fan of their music – a unique band then – and still today. New Model Army had more purple tied back mohawks in raptures and were to be fair quite good.

The Damned had Sensible – this was enough for me – legendary showman – great crowd rapport. Great gig Full Stop.

Rate 9 out of 10.

4th August 1986, Guana Batz, support Sunset Boys, Barrel Organ, £2.50.

Much better vibe than the previous Guana Batz Barrel Organ gig. Bit more energetic too. Checked shirts – messed up flat tops and elbows ahoy

Rate 8 out of 10.

12th October 1986, New Model Army, support L’amourder, Powerhouse, Birmingham. £4.00

More from the Smalltown Englishmen but with a better set-list

Rate 8 out of 10.

27th October 1986, The Damned, support Blue In Heaven, The Missing, Birmingham Odeon, £5.00

More Damned minus Sensible, but with Elouise – d’oh.

Rate 8 out of 10.

OK time for bed, will update this soon, got to get to 2009! Hope this is a fun read, you’ll get to find out my best gig ever (not posted yet) with some twists and turns in taste along the way, catch you all soon. Charlie.

Back

18th November, 1986, Guana Batz support The Lost Boys, Barrel Organ £2.00

More wreckin’

Rate 8 out of 10.

22nd November, 1986, Conflict, Mermaid, Birmingham, £2.00.

The Ungovernable Force in full effect, very shouty, angry post punk fare. The band were getting increasing attention at the time and fitted playing the Mermaid like a glove.

9 out of 10.

23rd November 1986, The Mission, support Rose Of Avalanche, Powerhouse, Birmingham, £4.00.

The Mission were getting big, quick, and their 1st 2 EP’s were decent goth fare. Not as good as the defunct Sisters Of Mercy who were to reform in a new guise aided by Jim Steinman.

Rate 8 out of 10.

16th December 1986, The Pogues, Support The Light, Powerhouse, Birmingham, £6.00.

Almost died at this gig, seriously. Gig full of very drunk Celtic fans for some reason! I fell on the floor and could not get up, I was sober – but too many bodies and i’d totally lost my footing, after 4 minutes or so it became a big worry would I ever get up. Eventually someone trod on me and realised I needed help and pulled me thank – thank you that unknown person! Spent the rest of the gig watching from upstairs, wimp! Great show though and like The Damned – The Pogues at Xmas was a joy.

9 out of 10.

Cadbury College 6th Form Xmas Gig, 18th December 1986, 40p.

Dead Men, College New Model Army wannabees were actually quite good.

Rate : 6 out of 10.

Blackout, why didn’t I have one before they played, awful.

Rate 2 out of 10.

Stillborn, why weren’t they…

Rate 1 out of 10.

Eyes, possibly the worst band ever, but to make them worse, they were very full of themselves, Howard Jones meets Bon Jovi – except with no actual talent at all.

Rate 0 out of 10.

Broken Heart, a bit better, still the whole thing was only 40 p.

Rate 4 out of 10.

28th December 1986, Ice Babies, Barrel Organ support Dead Men, Contraz, Nigel The Spoon.

Main band had just been signed but were not that great, glam / trash rock that didn’t hold together too well.

The 3 support bands were good with Nigel The Spoon eccentrically standing out as the best of the bunch.

Rate 5 out of 10.

18th January 1987, Motherfuckers From Mars, Mermaid, Birmingham, £1:50.

OK back to some quality! Great band looked the part too, post Discharge fare, the band vanished, never heard of them again, awesome name…

Rate 7 out of 10.

7th February 1987, Anti-Sect, support from Hellbastard, Mermaid Birmingham, £1.75.

Hellbastard were cool but Anti-Sect who I’d never heard were incredible. Venue was in near pitch black-ness with a mob of fans and that doom laden sound. Metal and punk in the form of thrash was going on at the time but this was the ultimate underground version. Outstanding anti-commercial dirge. The gigs were much better than their records – somehow the did not transfer well to record. Into The Void EP is the one to dig out…

Rate 9 out of 10.

14th February 1987 Dumpys Rusty Nuts support from Goats Don’t Shave, Mermaid, Birmingham. £2:50.

Everyone must see Dumpys live at some point – it’s the Law! Fun live band – possibly made more enjoyable by The Mermaids lethal home made cider – that was practically free.

7 out of 10.

21st February 1987 Civilised Society support from Electro Hippies, Mermaid, Birmingham. £1:50.

Cider, fanzine sellers, obscure records to buy in the makeshift foyer, someone asleep covered in sick only to awake to ask you for a fag – The Mermaid.

Both bands were well received, support act were to get quite big – quite soon. John Peel had latched onto this scene and was starting to give the bands coverage and sessions.

Rate 7 out of 10.

22nd February 1987 New Model Army support Rough Charm, Powerhouse, Birmingham. £4:50.

I was not a massive fan of NMA but would always go and see the live as they were a great live band at the time. Looking back i think this must have been Ghost Of Cain era.

Rate 8 out of 10.

27th February 1987 Annihilator support Napalm Death, Mermaid, Free.

My mates and I had worked out if you wait for a bit the bloke on the door leaves after he’d taken enough money – and you could walk in for free.

Rate 7 out of 10.

Please check out the vid, (not from the actual gig but reflective – exactly – of what this gig was like

28th February 1987 BGK Mermaid. Free.

I think they came from Belgium or Holland? – no one seemed to have heard of them but the Mermaid was rammed for this. I think the band enjoyed tis gig as much as the crowd. Again they do not transfer that well to recorded sound..

Rate 9 out of 10.

7th March 1987 The Kybas St. Agnes Hall. Moseley. 25 p.

I won’t dwell too much on this one but great memories of the local psycho-billy crew putting on their own show by hiring the local church hall. They were actually good too and did a cool cover of Brand New Cadillac.

The 1st time I ever went to a studio to jam we had the last hour of a Kybas rehersal and they were a cool bunch…

Rate 6 out of 10.

12th March 1987 The Cult Birmingham Odeon. £6:00.

They’d just released Love Removal machine and were looking to attract a heavy rock crowd. The Cult put on a great live show – and this was a cool time to see them with their older stuff mixing well with the Electric set.

13th March 1987 The Cult Birmingham Odeon. £6:00.

Enjoyed the previous nights gig so much I enquired if there were any returned tickets for the sold out follow up. I got lucky.

Rate for both shows 9 out of 10.

27th March 1987 Gaye Bykers On Acid Mermaid. £1:00.

Got there just as they came onstage, bartered our way in for a quid each. I had only seen a clip of the Bykers on The Old Grey Whistle Test. OK, they haven’t stood the test of time that well but at the time they were a total breath of fresh air. Mutant Grebo at its very best. They looked like they’d come from another planet and sounded freakin’ awesome. Great mix of punk, space rock, hip-hop sensibility and awesome characters. The music press was picking up on them too, (Sounds was better than the NME back then). Everythang’s Groovy, Nosedive Karma, Delerium, TV Cabbage et al. Killer gig – and a band for the then new generation – really made others look 2nd rate at the time.

9 out of 10.

28th March 1987 Anti-Sect Mermaid. £1:00.

Again going in group of 6 we got in for a quid each – just before the band came on – great way to see more bands on a limited budget and the promoter didn’t seem to mind either. More dark post Discharge cross over underground wickedness from Anti-Sect who had a big scene following.

As I write this Crass Upright Citizen has shuffled its way onto my iTunes – how fitting.

Rate 8 out of 10.

11th April 1987. Macc Lads Mermaid. 50p.

More cheap gigs. Bit violent and not really sure about some of their comedy but a half decent gig all the same.

Rate 5 out of 10.

17th April 1987. Oi Polloi support from A.O.A. Mermaid. Free.

No one on the door for this gig. The name suggests Oi Polloi are right wing – but fortunately they weren’t, both bands put on a good show. More classic Mermaid fare.

Rate 8 out of 10.

19th April 1987. Slayer support Malice. Birmingham Odeon. £5:50.

Slayer Easter Sunday Reign In Blood Tour – think about it…. How fitting.

Reign In Blood is a perfect album – not a note of it is out of place, it’s practically an unintended concept album, it might need a trained ear – but hell – its Vivaldi from Hell performing some new kind of wonder speed metal. Rick Rubin’s production has never been so crystal clear.

A masterpiece.

One of the best albums of all time and the irony of it being on Easter Sunday – the band picked up on this too. Too freakin’ awesome for words so i’ll stop writing…

Rate 9 out of 10.

and look at Araya go in this one…

Upside down cross in front of a wall of Marshall amps – somehow with no Spinal Tap parody – how’d they manage that!

25th Mermaid The Stupids The Mermaid. £2:00.

OK paid full price for this one – £2:00!

With me owning Retard Picnic and having the 1st LP on tape I was would know half the tracks. Mindblowing speed skate stuff. You really got the feel The Stupids could crossover to big success but it never came. Tommy Stupid was one of the most miserable blokes you could ever talk to but when they got on the stage they blew everyone in attendance away. Incredibly fast but still holding a tune. Constant stage diving / speaker diving and an ultra cool fanbase. when the bloke who ran Oasis records stall AND Ivor where in attendance you knew you were  onto someting. One of the best gigs ive ever seen (not the best ever – i’ll get to that). Run out of superlatives…

Rate 10 out of 10.

2nd May 1987 Warfare Mermaid. £1:25.

Actually can’t remember anything about this gig – but in my old notes it gets…

Rate 6 out of 10.

9th May 1987. U.K. Subs. Mermaid. £2.00.

As I write this the U.K. Subs are playing The O2 Academy in Brum so they must be bigger now than they were then. Charlie Harper was old back in ’87! Party In Paris and many other classics.

Rate : 9 out of 10.

20th May 1987 Gaye Bykers On Acid Mermaid. £2:00.

They dedicated the 1st track to Cabbage (band I was in at the time). Had a chat with the band and my mates after the show about the fact that they were getting too big for the venue. Fantastic gig from a band on the verge of something much bigger if they got it right. Everyone loved the Bykers. Much better that Pop Will Eat Itself and Crazyhead who the press were lumping together at the time.

Rate : 10 out of 10.

28th May 1987 Gaye Bykers On Acid support Death Trash, Midnight Choir, The Janitors Nottingham Garage. £2:50.

The Bykers were so good I travelled to Nottingham to see ‘em again.

John Peel was there and many people were giving him tapes and chatting to him – I was a bit too awestruck to  bring myself to talk to him – a big regret now.

The Janitors were largely known as Mary Mary (GBOA) often wore a Janitors T-Shirt, they were OK but nothing special. Other 2 support acts were good. At this gig I brought the Surf Bastard T Shirt – arguably the best T Shirt I’ve ever owned. Only after the gig did me and Alan and mate of mine realise we had nowhere to stay and no money – just a return coach ticket so we walked around Nottingham all night. Youth and stupidity personified!

Rate 9 out of 10.

29th May 1987 AC Temple Mermaid. Free.

They were getting some Sonic Youth comparisons in the music press but I was not impressed.

Free though.

Rate 3 out of 10.

30th May 1987 Here & Now. Mermaid. £1:00.

The promoter was a big fan of this band and they were a big billing – but again not my kind of thing.

Rate : 5 out of 10.

3rd June 1987. Guana Batz. Mermaid. £2:00.

Guana Batz – not at the Barrel shocker!

Rate 8 out of 10.

13th June 1987 Amebix. Mermaid. £2:00.

Now this was a big pull. Arguably not as good as Anti-Sect but much bigger. It’s just struck me how many gigs I used to go to…

Rate 9 out of 10.

18th June Glastonbury ’87. Free. Just walked in! (you could do that in the eighties).

Crazyhead. They played on Stage 2 on the Thursday – before the event had started in proper. They were good and Porkbeast, the bass player had mud chucked at him through the whole set.

Rate : 7 out of 10

19th June Glastonbury ’87. Husker Du.

Husker Du. Main Stage. Friday afternoon. They played Warehouse, (Their last LP) in chronological order. By the time they got to You Can Live At Home (the last  - and – best track) I was dumbstruck how great they were. Why did R.E.M. get massive and Husker du go relatively unrecognised? (despite both being on WEA). I think this was their last U.K. show.

Rate 9 out of 10.

New Order Glastonbury ’87.

I’d always loved New Order. Blue Monday woke up my love of music. I can remember hearing Blue Monday and thinking “what the hell is THAT”. It’s a perfect track. Of course New order very rarely play Blue Monday and this was no exception. But they did play Sister Ray which Joy Division had covered. An awesome end to the Friday at Glastonbury, i’ve never seen new Order live again and it was cool to see such an awesome band at such an awesome event.

Rate 10 out of 10.

Time for bed, i’ll update this soon, thanks for reading, feel free to comment, Thanks Charlie.

I’ll correct some of the grammatical errors soon – got a bit carried away with this last night…

Right where was I?

20th June 1987, Elvis Costello, Glastonbury ’87. Rate : 7 out of 10.

Main Stage, he played a solo set and everyone thought that was the end – but then he brought on The Attractions and played for another hour or so. Not a massive fan but very good all the same.

21st June 1987, Trouble Funk, Glastonbury ’87 : 7 out of 10.

Good gig. You could tell rap was going to explode big style and this band put on a great show despite most of the audience not knowing their material.

Pop Will Eat Itself, Glastonbury ’87. Rate : 6 out of 10.

I have a pathological hatred of this band. Grebo Guru’s indeed! Mood not helped by the fact I had to get a lift back and miss Gaye Bykers On Acid so I could sit my Sociology exam the next morning – I got an E, (the Grade that is!).

18th July 1987, English Dogs, Mermaid, £1:50. Rate : 8 out of 10.

Good to finally see this band albeit that they were tailoring their new material for the thrash / crossover scene.

25th July 1987, Anti-Sect, Mermaid, £1:75. Rate : 9 out of 10.

Not massively different to their previous gigs but fantastic all the same.

8th August 1987, Oi Polloi, Mermaid, Free. Rate :

Erm – ditto.

15th August 1987, The Stupids, Mermaid, £2:00. Rate 10 out of 10.

Absolutely Awesome gig. Got the feeling the band would break into a much bigger scene but it never happened. Very fast, very tuneful, ultimate UK Skatecore band. Post Retard Picnic but before their slight dip in quality. Superb.

21st August 1987, The Meteors, Mermaid, Free. Rate 7 out of 10.

I can vividly recall sitting on the wall outside the gig with Sam Davies and Ben Riley drinking Old English cider waiting for Darren Russell to leave the door so we could get in for free. Fortunately he left the door just as they came on.

I’d always held The Meteors in high regard and they’ve got some great records, (Stampede). Somehow they attracted quite a violent audience and you’d have to pick your spot to dance to them or you could end up in casualty. There was a MASSIVE psychobilly wreckin’ to them – kind of like a flat-top Giant Haystacks. Probably more people were watching him than the band – he looked like a end of level – no end of game Boss Monster from an arcade game that you might play in Dayvilles!

12th September 1987 Amebix, Mermaid, £2:00.

Another must see Amebix set. They really were underground legends at the time. Listened to their LP’s recently but they don’t hold up that well to the test of time. Great Gig though.

31st October 1987, D.R.I. support from Holy Terror, Mermaid, £3:50.

£3:5o for a Mermaid Gig! This was D.R.I. though who at the time were very much the underground band of the moment. Looking back this was a pivotal point where thrash and punk really did merge gloriously. Crossover was the LP they were touring and this was a true crossover point, new metal crowd mixing well with the existing punks and army combat and student crowd. It seemed Darren Russells’ promotions were outgrowing the venue which was RAMMED.

Holy Terror were a great support act and got the kind of reaction many headliners previously did.

D.R.I. played in scenes of total fun chaos. CONSTANT stage – diving. I’ll never forget the sight of Alan James jumping of a wobbling P.A. speaker only to massively wind himself. The audince acted like cartoon characters by which I mean they acted like they were immune to any pain.

D.R.I. had a big influence on the band I was in myself (their first 2 albums) where a song over a minute was deemed a near crime. Great singer – with a unique – spit out the lyrics – style. Check the video from the same year below.

Quality.

Rate 9 out of 10.

Damn, why couldn’t this have been my dissertation!

17th October 1987, U.K. Subs, Mermaid, £2:00.

As I said earlier, Charlie Harper was old THEN! Great band with some cracking tracks, Party In Paris is my personal fave U.K. Subs track – just beats the more doom laden Warhead… just!

Rate 8 out of 10.

21st October 1987, Irish Centre, Digbeth, Gaye Bykers On Acid support from The Janitors and Blood Uncles. £4:00.

G.B.O.A. did need a bigger venue for their Drill Your Own Hole tour. The album was a bit of a let down after the 2 E.P.’s but the bykers live is a great thing.

The Janitors who G.B.O.A. championed were not that great. Blood Uncles had MCA record label backing but were useless, they played a cover of Prince’s Let’s Go Crazy which they released as a (flop) single.

All said and done you still  got the feeling G.B.O.A. could break into a much bigger scene, hmmm. Great Live Band.

Rate 9 out of 10.

25th October 1987, The Ramones support Sex Gods, Flesh For Lulu, Hummingbird, Birmingham. £6:00.

First time I got to see The Ramones and they did not (unlike the support acts) diss-a-point! The dance floor was like a who’s who of everyone from college, gigs, record shops, etc and The Ramones live are like no other band. Yes their better days were behind them and Joey had adopted a slurring vocal style unlike the earlier tuneful vocal on say It’s Alive – but hey i’m not complaining. They were touring the Halfway To Sanity LP which although nothing on their very early material is a Great LP.

Total Legends…

C’mon Gabba Gabba…

Rate : (how could it not be) 10 out of 10.

27th October, 1987, The Stupids support from The Varmits, Bad Beach, Burberries, Birmingham. £3:00.

Odd venue for this awesome band. There was a Hit Man & Her style night club after with suited clubbers waiting for that to start whilst The Stupids were on. Needless to say they Really did not know what the hell was going on. Good to expose this material to people who’s probably listened to Club Tropicana on the way to the venue. Not that i’m knocking Wham, Bad Boys is kinda okay (DHSS!).

Both support acts were fantastic. One a violin hardcore outfit, (yes violin) the other a true hardcore outfit.

The Stupids on that circular stage in the middle of a bright room looked very odd. for the first 2 tracks the crowd just looked at each other not knowing how to express themselves to the relentless speed tune skate backdrop. Then it began. Upside down bodies, mayhem, circular stage diving, Hitman and her types mouth wide-open. If one person binned a Stock Aitkin & Waterman record after inadvertently seeing this gig then… RESULT!

Rate 10 out of 10.

7th November, 1987, Gaye Bykers On Acid support Bomb Party, Blood Uncles, Coventry Poly. £4:00.

Pretty much the same as the Irish Centre gig. Of note that Bomb Party were quite good and my mates and I were noticeably more mashed for this.

Rate 9 out of 10.

10th November, 1987, Anthrax support from Testament, Powerhouse, Birmingham. £6:00.

Hmm, slight risk of turing into a mettaler! Resisted of course!

Anthrax loved the venue and played for ages, they kept coming back to play more stuff. Somehow you just know when a band will come back on… and on… and on…

They put on a great show and Among The Living is their finest LP.

Rate 9 out of 10.

12th December Attitude Adjustment support from Napalm Death and Bad Blood, Mermaid, Birmingham. £2:00.

Okay, back to The Mermaid. Needless to say Napalm Death back in support slot. they were gaining a lot a fans at the time and this set Attitude up nicely with the place ready to explode.

Attitude Adjustment (what happened to them) were an American crossover act with the emphasis more on the punk than the metal. They had a decent message / vibe and put on one hell of a show and were very well received.

Of note fans grabbing the mic at the end ranting that Billy Milano (S.O.D. / M.O.D.) was a racist, etc. The band (Attitude) looked bemused by this but it kind of reflected that the scene was changing and the audience wanted to distance themselves from the recently released M.O.D. album and its lyrical content.

After a quick look on You Tube just, Attitude Adjustment are still going! However the best video is this faithful cover of Grey World (one of their best tracks). This cover has just 21 views at time of writing but looks and feels pretty much like the gig i’ve just reviewed.

Rate 9 out of 10.

8th January 1988, Conflict, Mermaid, £1:50.

More from the Ungovernable Force who too were getting very big possibly due to Crass folding a while ago and this being the next best thing.

I got a copy of The Ungovenrable Force again about a month ago (2009) and it holds up well and is far more musically acomplished than I remembered.

Conflict – The Mermaid – Hand in glove stuff…

Rate 9 out of 10.

15th January 1988, John Cooper Clarke, Mermaid. £1:50.

1988! Jeez that was some 1987! Something a tad different at The Mermaid. The original punk poet. Watch out Mike Skinner he’s still about. Beasley St is sublime. Please check the video, fantastic lyrical imagery.

Practically every line out does the last. Real genius. “Sweethearts are physically sick – every time they kiss”. by the time the guitar break hits at the end your back of neck hairs should be up…

damn, I just watched this twice back-to-back… (watches again).

Rate 9 out of 10.

19th March 1988, The Mission support Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, Hummingbird, Birmingham. £6:00.

Tower Of Strength was the single at the time and saw the band get to arguably their biggest as in sales, fanbase, etc. Good choice of support act but The Mission were getting a touch out of my range at this point. Still half decent though.

Rate 7 out of 10.

Ok folks time for a break. I’ve had a look at my old A4 review list from when I saw all these bands and some incredible gigs are on their way. Hope to update blog when I can over Xmas / New Year. Cerebral Fix become the new Napalm Death, Nirvana make an entrance and the best gig ever is fairly near (but who will that be?).

Merry Xmas.

Right, back on it…

10th April 1988, hardcore alldayer, Hummingbird, Birmingham, £4:00.

Darren Russells’ most ambitious gig project to date. Incredible value at £4:00.

Intense Degree. Almost UniversityCore this band. Good, lively, fun take on Britcore.

Rate 6 out of 10.

Decadence Within. Cool band name, good live act.

Rate 7 out of 10.

ABS. Time for bands with just letters in their names to take the stage!

Rate 5 out of 10.

HDQ. Told you! Actually HDQ were very good.

Rate 7 out of 10.

Mottek. Kind of like a German Motorhead with female lead singer / bass player, quite unique and very heavy – if not a tad too metally for the crowd.

Rate 7 out of 10.

The Stupids. Now The Stupids were excited about the next band to come on – kinda championing them before they came on. They put on a cool show but the venue was perhaps too big for the scenes of mayhem that usually came with a Stupids gig.

Rate 9 out of 10.

Hard-On’s.

Ok, here we go… The Hard On’s are an incredible live act. Practically no one had ever seen them, heard them or heard of them. From Australia they are like AC/DC meets The Stooges meets The Ramones and Kiss head on in a hardcore meltdown – on 30 cans of Red Bull – each!

For the first track people stood and watched – looking at the band, each other and wondering how to express themselves.

Incredible energy poured from the band. A 3 piece with the vocals shared between all – but mainly by the drummer. Harmonic, yet heavy, blistering speed, building riffs that sear off into acid wah-wah guitar breaks that make you want to stage dive off The Rotunda. Yep – they are that good!

With The Stupids too watching from the side of the stage, nodding and wooping, The Hard On’s were getting a lot of respect fast and more people gathered at the front.

The Hummingbird was a relatively big venue so the upside down people thing was less of an option – but would have been fitting for this sonic Aussie speedathon.

The crowd gathered at the front did something i’d never seen before or since. they started to conga, checked shirts tied around waist. Clearly people didn’t know the material but when the guitar lead off into a CryBaby induced assault the mayhem broke out.

Total joy, the band beaming as much as the watching Stupids and the mob at the front. I’d never enjoyed a band so much when i’d heard none of their material previously.

Damn, when were they playing again!

Rate 10 out of 10.

Scream. Scream headlined. A lesser known Dave Grohl was on sticks. Scream were a good comedown from the unexpected brilliance of The Hard-Ons. The lead singer gave an emotive mini speach on how the music affected peoples life decisions, hairstyle and attitude, in a positive manner. A strong end to a great alldayer.

Rate 9 out of 10.

1st May 1988 Cerebral Fix support from Driven To Distraction.  Barrel Organ. £1.00.

The support band had Rob, a guy from college, on drums and they were a good metal based punk outfit.

Cerebral Fix, from Brum, were very good. Great mix of characters in the band and a great Britcore sound. Highlight of all their gigs was when Paul from The John Merrick Experience did a very crazy art style dance. The band did some underground videos you could pick up which were a cool splatgore / britcore crossover (sadly not on YouTube as of yet).

Rate 8 out of 10.

4th May 1988 Bolthrower support from Cerebral Fix. Pirhanas. Birmingham. £1.00.

Less than a week later I thought i’d check out Cerebral Fix again. Didn’t like the main band much but Cerebral Fix were getting a following already and Britcore was taking off. At the time 2000AD featured a cover with names of Britcore bands drawn on. The scene was going off in a new direction.

Rate 7 out of 10.

11th June 1988. Hard-On’s support from Cerebral Fix and Bolthrower. Fulham Greyhound London. £4.00.

Okay Dear Reader this is it, arguably the best gig ever, not just attended by me but EVER! Damn – i’m pouring a glass of wine and sticking on a Hard-On’s CD just to write this…(if you get one of their albums get Dickcheese)…

Cerebral Fix put on a coach from Birmingham, great to travel down with the band and many familiar faces – the people you only see at ultra-cool gigs, etc.

Very good weather, really sunny in the day. Just hung about in London for a few hours on arrival. I remember going to Sainsburys and gettting a bottle of cider with my mate Alan James. I think we were unwittingly close to Rough Trade Record Shop at some point but did not see it. We did however bump into Stevie Snacks who’d just joined The Stupids, again too dumbstruck to talk to him but just nudged each other mumbling “it’s Stevie Snacks!”

Perfect Venue. Ideal size.

Bolthrower were awful – but somehow this added to the experience. Cerebral Fix as always put on a good show. Many semi-famous scene people were in attendance.

The venue was sweltering. When the Hard-On’s came on stage the place blew apart. I’ve never seen anything like it. I’m guessing – like me – many had caught the band once or twice before and had wisely invested in their back catalogue. Knowing the material added to the explosion. Tracks like “Made To Love You” build as if designed for this gig and when the track goes apeshit so did the WHOLE venue. Scenes of total mayhem. Perefect pop-punk-hardcore crossover that can appeal to a wider audience than say Napalm Death, etc. Bubblegum Ramones / Kiss (but more hardcore) on speeed! (was that an extra e – well they deserve it!)

About 20 minutes into the set I had to go the basins in the loo to pour water all over my head. The venue was metaphorically on fire. In the loo a bouncer – complete with black trademark crombie was doing the same. As we silently (mens toilet etiquette) looked at each other covered in water the look on his face said it all – as in “what the hell’s going on out there!

Back in the venue the Hard-On’s played for another 45 minutes or so and it was the gig of a lifetime, albeit one blur of tune-fest chaos.

I saw the Hard-On’s much later (1999 – i’ll get to that in 10,000 words or so!) and afterwards like many others spoke to Keish, Blackie and Ray from the band. Everyone then (1999) was STILL going on about the Fulham Greyhound gig. really words cannot put this gig in perspective, but hey i’ve tried, hope my enthusiasm can convey some of this. It’d be great to get some comments from some who attended to verify all this babble.

I’ll shut up now.

Rate 10 out of 10. (Does this thing go up to 11?)

The video i’ve included below is much much later with a new drummer and does not capture really what the band were like but it’s the only video of Made To Love You I can find. Really try and image this track being played to a rammed Fulham Greyhound at the bands peak (18 years or so before this vid). Still worth a look.

Revisiting this the day after writing THAT review I thought i’d add this vid too. This was the next release after the Fulham Greyhound Classic Gig and has guest vocal from Henry Rollins.

4th July 1988 Napalm Death support from Cerebral Fix. Kaleidoscope. Birmingham. £2:50.

With The Mermaid now not a venue Darren Russel moved his gigs to Kaleidoscope which is now Flares (or was) by The Futurist cinema.

Great underground (literally) venue. Good to see Brum talent from these 2 bands emerging at the forefront of the Britcore scene.

Yet again Cerebral Fix put on a very entertaining show.

Napalm Death had come into their own. If only their new material from 2nd LP From Enslavement To Obliteration had gone off in a more experimental direction (like Swans) they could have been something really special. Still an incredible live band all the same. at this stage they were incredibly tight musically and deserved their place as the leaders of the UK Hardcore scene.

Rate 9 out of 10.

10th July 1988. Ripcord support from Carcass and Bolthrower. Barrel Organ. £1:50.

Carcass were Bill Steer from Napalm Death’s other band with a strong emphasis in horror/operation core! The drummer looked like a young insane mad scientist. A bit like they guy from Re-Animator (the movie). They were well received and a welcome sideshow from Napalm Death.

Why I dislike Bolthrower so much I cannot put into words – but who needs Dungeons & Dragons Britcore? Not Me! I’m sure they mean well and beat The Reynolds Girls handsdown but hmmm.

Ripcord, from Ipswich were one of the first bands to introduce irony and comedy into the UK hardcore scene. A welcome distraction from the usual nuclear war / multi-national corporation bashing which was becoming somewhat standard.

Rate 8 out of 10.

25th July 1988. Cerebral Fix. Barrel Organ. Free.

Free Gig. Cerebral Fix. Of course i’d be there!

Rate 9 out of 10.

15th August 1988. Electro Hippies support from Genital Deformities and Bolthrower. Kaleidoscope. £2:50.

Yep there’s no escaping Bolthrower (sure i’m spelling that wrong). Genital Deformities were good. Electro Hippies were coming into their own and were now getting an awful lot of John Peel exposure and had put out recently one of his favorite sessions ever featuring the endearing Sheep (check it out below).

Rate 9 out of 10.

26th August 1988. Reading Festival. (Friday only). £15:00.

The Lover Speaks.

Can’t remember even watching them but in my old notes they get a…

Rate 2 out of 10.

The Wonder Stuff.

My impressions of my 1st Reading Festival was “this is no Glastonbury”. But, hey it was cool all the same. I liked some of the Syd Barrett – esque Wonder Stuff early material but they did nosedive quite alarmingly.

Rate 7 out of 10.

Ghost Dance.

Goth fare. Ok too.

Rate 7 out of 10.

Godfathers.

The band had quite a lot of respect. Hard to pigeon hole too. Worth checking out come of their material from this era.

Rate 8 out of 10.

Fields Of The Nephilim.

Undecided on them. They had one really good track but ’twas a fleeting thing.

Rate 6 out of 10.

Ramones.

There were 2 main stages side-by-side so the next band could pretty much go straight on. Good idea really. Except the organisers hadn’t taken into account that Ramones fans (well some of them) would urinate in empty cider bottles and throw them (with no lids on) at their nearby Nephilim fans. Gross but kinda fun!

Ramones were again excellent and fitted a big festival oddly well. Joey still sang in that slurred style which was a shame as he did have a great voice when he was interested. All the same this has to get…

Rate 10 out of 10.

Iggy Pop.

Cool to see the lizard showman at last and he put on a great show. Couldn’t help feel the music pre-dated me a tad though.

Rate 9 out of 10.

14th September 1988. Slayer support from Nuclear Assault. Hummingbird Birmingham. £6:00.

South of Heaven tour. You cannot beat Reign In Blood but arguably South Of Heaven was a very good attempt. The NME reviewed it at the time as “the true black album” which was a fitting sentiment.

Good to see Dan Linekar and the legend that is “Hang The Pope” live. A strong support slot.

Slayer were good but the Hummingbird can have poor sound for some reason. The band were as enthusiastic as ever. I’ve got a ticket to see them in 2010 and haven’t seen them since this 1988 gig.

Rate 9 out of 10.

29th September 1988. Metallica support from Danzig. N.E.C. £8:50

Fantastic to see Danzig with his stripped bare rock outfit. You either find them laughable or actually very dark and menacing. The set up on stage was incredibly minimal. Strangely respectable that they left the Misfits material alone and just played the (then new) self titled album.

Metallica in contrast had one of the most lavish stage sets i’d yet seen. Great to see fans trying to decide if the stage set falling apart was staged or not (it was).

Odd to see a young fan mime out the whole of the track “One” on an invisible air guitar and to see him burst out crying at the guitar solo!

It didn’t have that effect on me but although I believe Master Of Puppets to be the bands pinnacle it was cool to see them at again arguably their peak.

Rate 9 out of 10.

27th September 1988. Dr & The Crippens support from Jailcell Recipies and Cerebral Fix. Kaleidoscope. £2:50.

Both support acts were decent but Dr & The Crippens really stole the show. Again John Peel was supporting the band a lot and they honoured him with the track “Peelybackwards”. Very funny UK Hardcore outfit and their first 2 albums (only 2 albums?) are well worth checking out.

Highlight of the show was non music related though. The lead singer / guitarist threw what looked like a joke bomb into the moshpit halfway into the set. A guy in the crowd (Dave) caught it and held onto it laughing as it smouldered away. The band then looked a bit worried, stopped playing and shouted into the mic “it’s a real bomb!” Were they joking? Erm no. Dave put it down and it blew up leaving smoke in the centre of the mosh pit. Not a real bomb obviously but you wouldn’t want to be holding onto it when it went off!

Rate 9 out of 10.

8th November 1988. Napalm Death support from Cancer, Godflesh. Kaleidoscope. £3.00

Okay readers. I’m going to change the rating so each band gets their own for this one. You’ll see why.

Cancer were pretty average, nothing new and a name that really isn’t that funny.

Rate 3 out of 10.

I’m really pretty sure this was Godflesh’s first ever gig.

Justin Broaderick deserves an awful lot of respect for his industrial hardcore aural art.

Two guys and a drum machine but Carter USM they were not!

Incredibly heavy sound. A bit of a marmite effect. You either got it or you didn’t. I did and the band with their awesome heavy hypnotic sound drew you in like no other. The true sound of the inner city. Very dark imagery. Check out their 1st 2 LP’s…really do!

They owe some of their sound to Swans and Big Black but made it unique enough to be their own. “Don’t hold me back – this is my own hell”. How can 2 people make such a heavy powerful concentrated sound?

Rate 10 out of 10.

Napalm Death. As I commented earlier, if only Napalm went the way of Godflesh. This was a turing point for me where napalm went down hill. Although still very good the band appeared a bit directionless and fractured (as in tension in the band?), still…

Rate 9 out of 10.

12th December. D.R.I. support from Gang Green and The Exploited. Goldwyns. Birmingham. £5:00.

First on Gang Green a worthy ACDC esque beer fuelled hardcore US outfit. Bass player had his leg in plaster but that didn’t stop them rocking out bigtime. Fantastic riffery – very fast with it.

Rate 9 out of 10.

Next up the 2nd wave UK punksters The Exploited. Great to see them live for the 1st time. they put on a good anthemic show but you couldn’t help think the US hardcore scene had the edge. Of note a mate talked to Wattie briefly after the show. Wattie was played the fruit machine and my mate said “Punks Not Dead eh Wattie” to which he replied with a grunt “Uh”. Oh well, no illusions shattered there then!

Rate 8 out of 10.

Now for D.R.I. who had a massive influence on how my own band would sound. They put on a great show but the majority of the crowd were to be honest not too interested.

Rate 8 out of 10.

21st December 1988. G.B.H. Kaleidoscope. £3:00.

On paper, this should have been great, but the reality is I cannot remember this gig (not due to alcohol or anything – I just can’t remember it at all).

So I guess I’ll just give you rate I have from my old notes.

Rate 5 out of 10.

29th January 1989. Dr & The Crippens support from Force Fed and Intense Degree. Barrel Organ. £2:50.

Okay, into ’89 we go.

Force Fed were an awesome, seldom heard of UK Hardcore outfit. I’m not sure if they even put out a record (guess they must have). What you did get from this bands show was a feeling it was totally genuine and they really were trying to craft something all of their own.

Rate 9 out of 10.

Intense Degree were perhaps proof that the new wave of Britcore was losing its edge. they were okay but really nothing new offered.

Rate 5 out of 10.

Dr & the Crippens who too had that Britcore sound had an irresistable humour and the show was so much fun I have to rate them at…

Rate 9 out of 10.

19th February 1989. Doom support from Concrete Sox. Barrel Organ. £2:50.

Concrete Sox were one of them bands namechecked a lot but i’d yet to see them. They put on a good show but again maybe offering not much new.

Rate 7 out of 10.

Doom who I was kicking myself for not seeing at the Moseley Dance Centre Alldayer previously did offer a (unsurprisingly) Doom laden take on hardcore. Again the band had a lot of respect at the time and their take on a Black Sabbath classic was both a great live moment and a cool nod to the Brummie legends.

Rate 8 out of 10.

19th February 1989. H.R. Kaleidoscope. £3:50.

H.R. featured members of the totally legendary Bad Brains. From the make up of the audience it was fairly clear everyone expected some hardcore but it never came. The band played dub only for the whole show. They had everyones attention and put on a wicked show. When they came back to play an encore the fever pitch had been racked up and if only they then had played a Bad Brains classic (Pay To Cum?) the place would have erupted – but it was not to be. The encore was another dub track. Still this was a great gig and kinda cool to see a band sticking to their plan.

Rate 9 out of 10.

12th March 1989. Live Skull. Barrel Organ. Birmingham. Free.

I can’t remember even going to this or anything about the band / show. All the same in my old notes it gets…

Rate 6 out of 10.

13th March 1989. Gaye Bykers On Acid support Thee Hypnotics. Goldwyns. Birmingham. £5:00.

The Hypnotics were a very good Stooges / MC5 style outfit. I pretty sure the singer died and they did come across live as a very authentic full on rock n’ roll debauchery band.

Rate 7 out of 10.

Looking back I think this was the Bykers “Rad Dude” era / tour. They also seemed to be experimenting a but with dance sensibilities. Quite a departure. I bought I bootleg video off one of the band (Robber?) which featured the drummer doing a crap, erm, nice!

Rate 9 out of 10.

19th April 1989. White Motel. Turks Head. Birmingham. £1:00.

Of note this was the first gig that one of my closer circle of mates did (as in the first gig any of us got whilst all practicing in several bands at the time.)

It was an experimental music club downstairs at a small pub on the outskirts of the City Centre.

There was a support act but i’ve forgotten the name and it was one man messing around with a radio. A tad bizarre but he seemed into it.

White Motel forgot or didn’t have a bass and Findlay McGhee ended up playing an organ / bass hybrid thing and didn’t look to happy about this.

I stood watching with Tom Amblers Step-Dad as the lead singer lay on the floor breaking down screaming into a mega-phone. Not an awesome sight but well done to them for getting through their 1st gig.

Rate 4 out of 10.

At this point can I give a big shoutout to drownedinsound and createdinbirmingham for the extra traffic to this blog. I set it up just to get this out of my system but the hits have gone through the roof. Cheers guys. Many updates on the way…

30th April 1989. Hummingbird Alldayer. Hummingbird. Birmingham. £6:00.

Senseless Things.

Decent live show from this band with a cool power pop punk sensibility.

Rate 8 out of 10.

Snuff.

Snuff had a lot of scene respect but I didn’t think they were actually all that great at all.

Rate 6 out of 10.

Mega City Four.

A band with a great name but again nothing too amazing here.

Rate 6 out of 10.

Godflesh.

Awesome live band during this period. Not too much interest from the crowd but as I previously suggested those that GOT what they were doing got it bigtime. Incredible live experience.

Rate 9 out of 10.

Head Of David.

Somewhat like an older skool Godflesh. Decent but nothing to shout about.

Rate 6 out of 10.

World Domination Enterprises.

Perhaps getting too many plaudits for their actual sound / show.

Rate 5 out of 10.

Gaye Bykers On Acid.

A noticeable dip here from the Bykers. They hadn’t fulfilled their early promise and this was the worst show I seen by them despite their headline slot.

Rate 7 out of 10.

3rd May 1989. Extereme Noise Terror. Barrel Organ. Birmingham. £2:50.

Big surprise here. I acknowledged ENT as a UK Hardcore scene band who were getting John Peel exposure. What I didn’t expect was such an awesome show.

They were totally on it for the whole show. An outstanding performance full of genuine venom.

There was a gig defining moment between tracks there was an incredible feedback jam. This ended with the beginning of the track Murder and it was “hairs on back of the neck” time. The singer turned and faced the very near audience and just screamed the lyric in such a manner many were blown away.

Rate 9 out of 10.

10th May 1989. Mudhoney. Barrel Organ. Birmingham. £3:50.

Superfuzz Bigmuff was out and had favorable reviews in both NME and Sounds. Noticeable change in the make-up of the audience as in a bit more Uni-friendly. Cool gathering. The EP (Superfuzz Bigmuff) is a great record that i’d recommend to anyone. Arguably their best release. Great acid, post punk sound that was to go on and be labelled as Grunge.

The band were amazed when they namechecked Ozzy and went on about Black Sabbath at the apathy this got from the majority of the crowd who appeared to not know or not care about Sabbath at all.

A worthy…

Rate 9 out of 10.

12th May 1989

Period Pains & The Pungent Smells, Cabbage, Green Motel. Kingswood Road Party. Free.

Right. A bit of self-indulgence here. Cabbage, the band I was in. this is our first gig. The venue was a post Moseley pub party.

Period Pains & The Pungent Smells played some standard punk material.

Rate 5 out of 10.

Cabbage played as the chaos descended. Someone put the window through as we played. Not sure if this was a mark or respect or a massive mark of disprespect. Probably the latter (if you owned the house). Cool to get our 1st gig out of the way even if the police turned up as we were on.

Rate 6 out of 10.

Green Motel.

Next up a jam between members of Cabbage and White Motel, fun fun fun…

Rate 5 out of 10.

16th June 1989. Glastonbury ’89. Free.

Again hitched and walked in for free. How times change.

The Pixies.

Friday afternoon and The Pixies at Glastonbury. A cool experience. A bit like my Smiths review at the off of this blog I didn’t realise how much the band would go on to mean – but again it was a great show.

Rate 9 out of 10.

The above video is of that era but not the Glasto show. I love how Kim deal gets lost in the music about 2:10 in. That’s what it’s all about – eh folks?

The Wonderstuff.

Quite something to think The Wonderstuff played after The Pixies, hmm. Actually they were quite decent at Glastonbury and took to the main stage well.

Rate 8 out of 10.

17th June 1989. Glastonbury (Saturday).

Hothouse Flowers.

Not a huge fan of this band. A folkier U2 anyone? Nah, me neither…

Rate 6 out of 10.

18th June 1989. Glastonbury (Sunday).

The Waterboys.

There’s so much to see and do at Glastonbury that it’s not too surprising that I only watched 4 bands entire sets. Raves at milk floats. Detective Aliens in stilts. Spotting Napalm Death and S.O.B. walking around (they weren’t playing). The Cider Bus…

The Waterboys were again well suited to the festival and again although in no way a fan i’d give them…

Rate 8 out of 10.

19th June 1989. S.O.B. support from Napalm Death. Kaleidoscope. Birmingham. £3:00.

This was towards the end of singer Lee Dorian’s stint. Wisely and a respectful gesture Napalm let S.O.B. headline. Venue rammed for this. Peel playing both bands at the time on his must listen to radio show.

Napalm Death put on a great show and were very popular at the time.

Rate 9 out of 10.

S.O.B. were a Japanese hardcore outfit. Very fast material that held a tune and this was a great double header gig.

Rate 9 out of 10.

20th June 1989. Suicidal Tendencies support M.O.D. Irish Centre. Birmingham. £6:50.

Method Of Destruction featuring Mr. Questionable Lyrics Billy Milano himself. A bit like Snoop Doggy Dogg Milano’s lyrical content rather than the music was the issue for many. At least it brought to the front a healthy (anti) censorship debate.

For the music only…

Rate 5 out of 10.

Suicidal Tendencies deserved respect for their 1st LP but the Join The Army material saw the band dip alarmingly. A good show with an enthusiastic crowd though salvages a…

Rate 8 out of 10.

Cabbage. Coach & Horses. Birmingham. Free.

Next up my own band. We didn’t stick around after our support slot and it was cool to get our first proper gig under our belts. Our songs consist of 30 second odd long tracks influenced by D.R.I. Ramones, Dead Kennedys, Misfits et al. Tracks like “Please Don’t Cut My Hair Again Mommy” went down better than I thought with the small crowd.

A bit self indulgent but if I can i’d rate it at…

Rate 7 out of 10.

8th September 1989. Force Fed support from Kings Of Oblivion and Doom. Coach & Horses. Birmingham. £1:50.

This run down Balsall Heath venue had the potential to be the new Mermaid but it wasn’t to be. Good effort though by promoters Roddy and that guy from Pram.

Doom put on a good show and I was a bit surprises they were the first band on.

Rate 7 out of 10.

I cannot remember a thing about Kings Of Oblivion so i’ll just give you the rate from my old notes…

Rate 7 out of 10.

Force Fed were a great band and in my notes reach a respectable…

Rate 8 out of 10.

7th October 1989. Ramones. Hummingbird. Birmingham. £9:00.

Looking back £9:00 is quite a price rise – but hey this is the Ramones – right!

Rate 9 out of 10.

8th October 1989. Hard Ons support from Bomb Disneyland. Edwards No:8. £3:50

A day after the Ramones live the Hard Ons – doesn’t get much better than that!

Not sure why but the gig was in the very small room downstairs at Eddies. Bomb Disneyland were okay and i’m not sure they’d get away with that name in the present day.

Rate 5 out of 10.

The Hard Ons looked as if they’d left their amps in Australia or something and used the smallest amps i’ve ever seen at a gig. I’m talking bedroom size practice amps here. However that still could not stop the energy this band generate at live shows. At one point people were stage diving off the bar and reaching the stage. Absolutely fantastic stuff – damn they were an outstanding live band.

Rate 10 out of 10.

19th November 1989. Fugazi support Visions Of Change. Edwards No:8. Birmingham. £3:00.

Upstairs at eddies (1st Floor) for this one.

Of note that Visions Of Change had serial stage diver and hardcore gig enthusiast legend Ivor on drums. Pretty decent they were to.

Rate 7 out of 10.

Fugazi kind of took things to the next level. Genuine. Talented. Legends. I had the 1st 2 E.P’s on vinyl and new that material inside out. However the moment of brilliance hit hard when they played the as yet unheard Blueprint. Gobsmacking track. You could sense the whole rammed venue take in that track. usually when you hear a new song at a gig you can be like yeah what’s this but in Blueprint you could see the band were very special – the track bursts with emotion and if you have not heard it buy or d’load Repeater (LP) NOW…

Rate 10 out of 10.

22nd November 1989. Mudhoney support from The Membranes. Edwards No:8. Birmingham. £5:00.

Off note the Happy Mondays played The Hummingbird on this same night. On the 50 Bus on the way into the City Centre you could tell at a glance who was going to which gig with ease. Good vibe.

The Membranes were okay and the venue was rammed and sweltering on this Winter evening.

Rate 5 out of 10 (Membranes).

Mudhoney were spectacular. Real punk / noise crossover with delicious wah cry baby effects only bettered by the Hard Ons. Odd mix of dirty and clean sound. I hate the word Grunge but you can see why it worked.

Venue in chaos. Oxygen levels low. A superb gig and probably my favorite Sub-Pop moment.

Rate 10 out of 10.

5th December 1989. Loop support Lush. Irish Centre. Birmingham. £6:00.

Lush were your very standard indie sound but if you scratched beneath the surface there is some dark material waiting.

Rate 6 out of 10.

I can remember Public Enemy’s It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back being played before Loop took to the stage. maybe I read too much into stuff but this was a fittingly unfitting intro and a sign of more crossover in general. The PE LP was pretty much glued to my turntable at this point.

Loop are a decent band, heavy psych riffery if not a tad modern back then.

Collision was getting a lot of spinning at clubs like The Sensateria back then and was the moment of the set.

Rate 8 out of 10.

20th  December 1989. Filthkick support from Make Them Die Slowly, Space Junkies, Cabbage. Red Lion (Balsall Heath). Birmingham. Free.

Cabbage’s tour of Balsall Heath continues…

turned out this was our last gig for 20 years. I think my suggestion we do a track like Prince’s Batdance didn’t go down to well with the other 2! Of note the drum kit I used was set up for a left handed drummer. Darren (Bass) didn’t play any notes he just stood on stage waggling his tongue! Possibly my favorite Cabbage gig at this point and we got an equal look of bemusement and approval from the small gathering.

Rate 7 out of 10.

Space Junkies featuring John Greaves on vocals were a decent Hawkwind meets punk band and he was a good front man.

Rate 7 out of 10.

I think Make Them Die Slowly featured Nik Napalm (I could be wrong) took there name from a video nasty known better by another name (Cannibal Holocaust?). Decent hardcore dreadrockery and a notch above Cabbage maybe.

Rate 8 out of 10.

Filthkick featured some hardcore Brummie scenesters and too put on a strong show.

Rate 8 out of 10.

28th February 1990. Loop support World Domination Enterprises, Godflesh. Irish Centre. £6:00.

Into the 90′s we go.

Godflesh were a fantastic live band. Mesmerising.

Rate 9 out of 10.

WDE not so great or different to their recent show.

Rate 3 out 0f 10.

Loop again put on a good show. Cool heavy psych and modern sounding at the time too.

Rate 9 out of 10.

21st March 1990. Public Enemy support 3rd Bass. Hummingbird. Birmingham. £7:50.

A bit of a departure here. I was listening to the 1st two Public Enemy albums an awful lot at the time and they were very fresh back then. It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back is in my Top Ten albums of all time a rightly so I think.

3rd Bass were an interesting support band. A Jewish New York rap out fit trio from the Def Jam stable.

Rate 6 out of 10.

Public Enemy had it all back then. Incredible band dynamics and characters. A hard hitting clear message and in Flavor Flav the Ultimate Joker in the pack. Complete with the S1W’s this was a visual and musical spectacular arguably at the bands peak. A totally different crwod to previous gigs i’d attended but they were just as up for this as most of the hardcore bands i’d seen. There was a brief moment when Chuck D jumped up and down and it jogged on Terminator X’s decks and some of the vocal skipped too. I watched to see if they were miming after this but apparently not.

There was a ridiculous moment when Flavor Flav used an S1W as a ladder (the S1W stood motionless like a Century Guard). Flavor got on the huge speakers and rapped freestyle as the ladies chucked their knickers at him. It was kind of like a Black Panthers meets Tom Jones moment and a showman at his best.

After the first two albums they lost some momentum. Fear Of A Black Planet gets a lot of plaudits but I do not rate it that highly. I think their 3rd best LP is There’s A Poison Going on from 1999 which has some powerful gloomy moments.

Anyway…

Rate 10 out of 10.

From here i’m changing the format so each new gig update is a new entry. Shame to lose the top down order but hopefully this works better for browsers, RSS, etc.