Conference marvin::uk_music

    Nik Kershaw at the Bristol Colston Hall. *blush* 1985 when I was 14
    
    
    Rich.

    Generation X - Ayr Pavillion  - I also was only 14 - they were 1hour
    late and pissed - this wasn't a bad thing 'cause they had a disco on
    before it which was much better than them - sham69,cockney rejects,
    uk subs ect. ect.
    
    	What a state I was - ripped up shirt kept together with chains and
    safety pins - cringe.
    
    
    

    Adam & the Ants at the Glasgow Apollo.  I was 11.  In retrospect, I'm
    glad my mum didn't let me paint a white stripe on my noe that night.
    
    
    Mark

    The UK Subs  Grangemouth Town Hall.......!!!

    Strangle Hold, Tomorrows Girls, Kicks,  Ah..!! its all coming back to
    me..!!   

    Since the Edgar Broughton Band has been mentioned, the reason I thought
    they were crap because there were no tunes, it was too loud and the
    drums were mixed painfully high. So, just like any other gig then. But
    I knew my mother wouldn't like it at all so it had to be good.
    
    This was about 1976 (pre-punk, certainly in Inverness) so I could also
    admire a sea of denim, taking its lead from the Status Quo's then
    current domination of the charts. So, just like any other gig then.
    
    Also I tried Guinness for the first time and have never since changed
    my opinion of the foul bitter muck. 
    
    When I went to Edinburgh a couple of years later was the time when I
    really started going to see bands properly, and that was a million
    times better especially given that the scene had woken up by then.
    
    
    Rod
    
    
    PS  I'm sure I have a track by Quintessence on an Island sampler from
    1970 called 'Bumpers', a valuable family heirloom (not) handed down to
    me by my elder sister.
                          

Errrmmmm. Mike Oldfield, 1979 (if my memory is still working ok), NEC. And
(unlike Mikef), you can't see my seat on the cover. Good gig for an 
impressionable 14 year old. For a while after that (a long while) I mainly
went to Prog Rock gigs. Sad really, but had one of my first drug experiences
at the Target in Reading in 1981 whilst seeing Twelfth Night (the band, not 
the play).

Enough true confessions for one day.

Balders

    
    Re : - Quintessence
    
    is this the same Quintessence that did a track called 'Dive Deep'?
    
    The first gig I actually paid to go to was 'Hawkwind' at the
    Victoria Halls in Hanley, Stoke-On-Trent, support provided by
    'Motorhead' (for obvious reasons, at the time). *Very* load, snd very
    sweaty - the first of 28 (so far) Hawkwind gigs I've seen.
    
    	BTW, I was 14 or 15 I think.
    
    Graham

> the first of 28 (so far) Hawkwind gigs I've seen.
    
    My God, now *there's* a true confession.

Not sure what my first gig was, either Hawkwind at St Albans or Motorhead
at the Hammersmith Odious.  Whichever it was, I remember being impressed
at the number of Triumphs and Nortons parked nearby, and at the ear-shredding
volume that the band played at.

Chris.

>>> the first of 28 (so far) Hawkwind gigs I've seen.
    
>>    My God, now *there's* a true confession.

    ..Rod, I've seen another band - The Johnny Waterhuose Blues Band - even
    more times than this, but it probably doesn't carry the same 'awe'
    rating %^)
    
    Graham (aka hippy-in-a-time-warp)

Motorhead
Brum Odeon (RIP)
Bomber Tour (I think)
Narrowly missed getting my head kicked in.

/g

    
    Hmmm, strange how Motorhead seem to feature quite prominently in this
    discussion !
    
    As another piece of useless trivia, the Bomber rig was built in the old
    smithy, just across the road from my local, in Leek.
    
    Graham 

    Oh dear...
    
    My first big gig was the Mike Oldfield show at the NEC in 1979.  I
    still have the program and the paper dart...
    
    After that, the first smaller show was Motorhead on the Bomber tour in
    Wolverhampton.  
    
    Have I now lost all of my credibility?
    
    Mikef

Medicine Head - the legendary Greyhound Croydon - age 14

Going back a few (?) more years, the first gig I can remember was Family at 
Newcastle Mayfair! This must have been 66-67 I suppose, but as well as the 
band being great (they played all their own instruments in those days!), the 
venue was good. A big dancehall with bars all round, and a balcony all round 
upstairs, so you could get close and bop or go up and watch.

Reading used to have an identical venue, until Rank decided they'd rather have 
Bingo than music fans.

grahame

    
    Newtown Neurotics in Stratford, London. I think it was 1983 but I maybe 
    wrong. Support band that night were future Indie stars 'The Men they
    Couldn't Hang' who played a set of cover versions (Rawhide, Bleitzkrieg
    Bop etc.)
    
    Andy

	Iron Maiden, featuring Paul Di'anno, ably supported by Praying Mantis
	playing at the ancestral home of rock, Bracknell Sports Centre.
	
	This was back when the Maiden boys were riding the crest of the wave
	that was the NWOBHM. (Answers on a postcard).

	Ian Fuego.
	

NWOBHM = New Wave Of British Heavy Metal ?

Balders

    New Wave Of B****y Heavy Metal ????

    
    Argent in a seedy little Liverpool nightclub, name escapes me, in 1970.
    Rod Argent was just about holding his head up at the time. 
    
    rgds
    
    Des.

    Funny you should mention Argent, Des - they were the second band I saw,
    very early in 1971, supporting Elton John at the Hemel Hempstead
    Pavilion, all for 70p. This was just before EJ had a hit with 'Your
    Song', and some time before Argent a) had a hit, and b) went totally
    gonzo prog-rock.
    
    Bob

    Around 79 / 80, but I can't remember if it was:
    
    The Tourists (remember Annie Lennox's gobbing back at the audience!)
    at The Hexagon, 
      
    The Teardrop Explodes @ Reading Top Rank
    
    Simple Minds @ Reading Top Rank
    
    or
    
    The Police in the Tent @ Tooting Bec Common!!
    
    Debs

    
    	re-1 - that was a real bummer for me - missing Teardrop Explodes -=
    wouldn't let me in to Tiffany's in Glasgow saying I wasn't 18 - I
    wasn't but I'd only been in Tiffany's about 5times before - couldn't
    even get a refund!
    
    
    					Start

    X-Ray Spex
    Birmingham Odeon
    1978
    Can't remember a thing about it, except that `it was good'.
                                                     
    Phil Gill.

    re: .13 
    
    >My first big gig was the Mike Oldfield show at the NEC in 1979.  I
    >still have the program and the paper dart...
    
    I was there too.  You can see the people I went with on the cover
    photo.  I've moved away from the area and met one of my neighbours who
    was there aswell.  It's either a small world or there were a lot of
    people there.
    
    I think my first concert was Rainbow at the Staffordshire Agricultural
    Ground (or something like that) in 1978 when they did have the rainbow.
    
    Trevor

    >Staffordshire Agricultural Ground 
    
    Bingley hall!  what a venue - dodge the cowpats, hay bales, in a
    cowshed in the middle of nowhere that most people can't get to!  I saw
    Mike Oldfield here also...
    
    Mikef

    
    >>Staffordshire Agricultural Ground/Bingley Hall
    
    You lucky gits...all I got to do there was write up me finals at
    college, just a day or two after an agricultural show (i.e. cows and
    pigs pi$$ing everywhere!)...they never could persuade us it was
    rainwater.
    
    First gig - All About Eve, Aston Villa Leisure Centre.
    
    Chris.

    	My first "gig" ???
    
    	I'm too embarassed to say too much, but, I'll give you a clue.
    
    	It was the stars of a very popular US TV show that was shown here
    in the UK in 1979ish. They played at the Playhouse in Edinburgh. The
    only other thing I'll say is that most of the cast wore legwarmers and
    the guy on keyboards was called Bruno.  .....Get the picture????
    
    	My get out clause was that I ws only 9 years old and my parents
    took me because my sister wanted to go.
    
    
    							ROD.
    

    Well Rod,  	You're gonna live forever,
    		You're gonna learn how to fly HIGH!
    
    
    Rich.

    Yes, you got it right !!!!!!
    
    	The worst thing of all is that I enjoyed the show.
    
    
    						ROD.
    

    I once took my little sister to see Animal Quackers in concert at the
    Hexagon. Does that count?

    Or was it Crackers? I can never remember.

    
    	I just remembered - honest 
    	
    		I think this beats them all -
    
    	I was on holiday in America with my sister - I had just gotten a
    tape of Nevermind The Bollocks and Inflammible Material and took it
    with me - was listening to it and the family we were staying came up
    and told us they had a special treat for us - 
    
    
    				Tickets to see 
    
    
    
    
    
    			The Osmonds 
    
    
    	AGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

    The Adventures at the Cliff's Paviliion in Southend, 1985.  They 
    were supporting Tears for Fears. Oh this is embarrassing... I used
    to like Bananarama (well I was only a teenager!), the lead singer
    of the Adventures was seeing one of Bananarama... hence the link.
    They were an Irish band, from Belfast, mainly poppy tunes... I used
    to write to one of the singers, Gerard "Spud" Murphy. He phoned me 
    one night and gave me an hours' notice to get down to the Pavillion
    and I could get in on the guestlist. Great gig, if you liked that
    sort of music of course. Never saw TFF, spent the time in the bar
    with the Adventures, getting drunk and kissing Spud (who actually
    didn't look like a potato!). Hmm, good kisser if I remember rightly. 
    Now, where are my photos?
    
    Goldy.

    Kindly repost this in the brand new "Hob-nobbing and Snogging With The
    Stars" topic, coming to a conference near you soon!
    
    Bob

    How could I possibly forget... 
    
    my first gig was of course ABBA at Wembley in 1978!
    
    Debs
    

    
    Hmmm, embarrassing this one, Yes in 1978.
    
    I was 13 and a school friend had two tickets, another friend couldn't
    go, etc., etc., ... that's my story and I'm sticking to it!
    
    One of the best gigs I've been to was Elvis Costello at Hammersmith
    Palais (1982?) when the support was The Men They Couldn't Hang and The
    Pogues (complete with Shane in 'banging-the-beer-tray-on-the-head'
    mode!) who were both relatively unknown at the time.
    
    Maybe another topic here, support bands seen by noters who've gone on to 
    greater things? 
    
    Steve.
    
    

    First gig was Johnny O'Keeffe (who's he?) at Kingsgrove High in 1973, 
    I think. 
    One of the first real gigs was 'Mental As Anything' at Sydney Uni
    around 1979. The support band was INXS. I thought the lead singer was
    up himself in 1979 and still do. The rythym guitarist looked alright,
    looked pretty casual, wouldn't have a clue if the same one's still in
    the band.
    
    Ica

    I don't think they have gigs any more at the Lyceum. I went there once,
    aged about 15, for an all-nighter headlined by, ahem, Uriah Heep.....
    
    Bob
    
    p.s. wasn't the Bob Marley & the Wailers 'Live' lp recorded at the
    Lyceum?

the Lyceum is all boarded up. It was owned by George walker, but I think
somebody has just bought it so, unless they want to develop the site, I 
would hope that one day it will return to being a theatre/venue.

Stuart

    
    Genesis (with Peter Gabriel)....Usher Hall Edinburgh.
     "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway" tour.
    
    
    Derek.

    
    How's about the Big Three, Fourmost, Gene Vincent (and many more) at
    the Victoria Rooms, Bristol in the early 60s?
    
    Re: .1 .. played the Colston Hall once - Hank Marvin reckons it's got
    the best acoustics of any UK concert hall.
    
    (Am I *really* that old .. ?)
    
    8-)
    

    >How's about the Big Three, Fourmost, Gene Vincent (and many more) at
    >the Victoria Rooms, Bristol in the early 60s?
    
    Wow! Not bad at all for a first gig - I hope you've hung on to the
    ticket stubs! 
    
    Did you get to see many other sixties beat groups?
    
    Dom
    

    
    Re: .45
    
    At that time (for a period of a couple of years) the Victoria Rooms was
    the place to go on a Saturday night in Bristol. The 'big' names of the
    period all (well, most) played there at one time or another - Hollies,
    Mersey Beats, Searchers, etc. etc. - sometimes supported by a local
    band(s) (played the Vic Rooms a few times too!), but sometimes the
    whole evening had a local flavour. 
    
    The Corn Exchange was another good venue too .. I recall supporting
    Geno Washington and the Ram Jam Band there one time .. a close harmony
    group called 'Candy Choir' was on the bill too - absolutely brill!
    Knocked the Trems version of Silence is Golden into a cocked hat!
    
    Years later, I stumbled across the Ram Jam Band's bassist - one, Rick
    Parsons - working as a Traffic Clerk in Hewlett Packard's freight
    operation at Heathrow ..
    
    Remember Johnny Rivers and the Castaways (or was it Danny Rivers ..)?
    No matter, they became Harmony Grass and had a couple of medium hits
    before disappearing from view. Supported them at the Blue Lagoon
    Ballroom in Newquay one time ..
    
    Ahh .. happy days.
                 

    First gig was Slade at the Winter Gardens, Bournemouth, in 1973. I was
    either 12 or 13. Two weeks later I went to see Yes at the same venue.
    Then, as now, I preferred Slade.
    
    (Last gig I saw at the Lyceum, parenthetically, was the Undertones last
    mainland gig before playing at some festival in Dublin and bowing out
    forever. They also used to do great regional nights and whole day gigs
    at the Lyceum.  I remember the Higsons, Animal Nightlife and a heap of
    others from Norwich playing one very druggy Sunday afternoon in 1983.
    Just a week after seeing Dexy's Midnight Runners at the same place
    [Take me to the Bridge!], which must have been about the same time as I
    saw the Ramones there. Ian Dury used to do great New Year's Eve gigs at
    the Lyceum, too, ... cont. p96)
    
    Piers
    
    

    1987 : Magnum at the Manchester Apollo, when I was 14.  Most notable
    gig I suppose was Motley Crue's last UK gig before they split up in
    1990.
    
    
    Russell

>    1987 :  when I was 14. 

My god, that's depressing.

>    gig I suppose was Motley Crue's last UK gig before they split up in
>    1990.

Not my first gig, but I did see this lot at the Hammy Odium around 1985.  I
was most impressed with their casual disregard for personal safety
considering the amount of pyrotechnical gear they were using indoors.

Support were Cheap Trick, now there's a band who've been around long
enough to know how to put on a damned good show with guitar, bass, drums
and that's it.

Guy

    
    >either 12 or 13. Two weeks later I went to see Yes at the same venue.
    >Then, as now, I preferred Slade.
    
    My God, that's depressing.
    

Status Quo! at Newport, when I was about 13 yrs old.

Wow!  that feels so great to let it off my chest!

re.           <<< Note 1231.50 by COPCLU::SANDGREN "Keep it simple" >>>

    
   > >either 12 or 13. Two weeks later I went to see Yes at the same venue.
   > >Then, as now, I preferred Slade.
    
   >                    -< then you also prefer...Sweet? >-
    
    Yes, actually -- I really do hate Yes that much. On the other hand I'd
    still rather put my head in boiling chip fat than listen to a Slade or
    a Sweet record now. I know -- I've tried both.
    
    Piers

   >>                    -< then you also prefer...Sweet? >-
    
   > Yes, actually -- I really do hate Yes that much. On the other hand I'd
   > still rather put my head in boiling chip fat than listen to a Slade or
   > a Sweet record now. I know -- I've tried both.

	OK, now we are talking...

	Poul

    The Police w/ Fashion at the Hollywood Palladium in 1979; I was 15.

    My brother took me `cause his friend couldn't go.  I'm sure he was
    embarrassed to be with his younger sister at such a cool place. 
    Everyone was dressed in late `70's punk regalia - dyed hair & safety
    pins.  I looked completely lame - that changed soon after.
    
    I fell in love with Sting that night.  (He had hair then, you know.)
    
    -Vicki

The first band I saw live were

Little Stephen & his Disciples (Of sin/soul???)

But that was overshadowed some 30 minutes later when Thin Lizzy got going.

I am of course talking Reading Rock 1983, and like most Reading inhabitants I
managed to get in without paying.



The first gig I actually paid to see was:

Ultravox at The Nottingham Royal centre June 4 1984 on their Set Movements tour.

					^^^^^^^^^^^
					|||||||||||

				God my heads full of useless junk!!! :-)

Al

    The Beat in May 1981 at the Cornwall Coliseum, St. Austell. I was 14,
    and 6 inches shorter than everyone else. Luckily everybody was
    dancing/bouncing up and down , so I went up when everyone else went
    down so I could see !  Excellent gig.
    
    Supported by a band of girlies, some ex the bodysnatchers, eventually
    released a version of the clapping song in'82. 
    
    
	Euan

>    Supported by a band of girlies, some ex the bodysnatchers, eventually
>    released a version of the clapping song in'82. 

That was Iko Iko by the Belle Stars (I think).  The drummer works in
our office here and would probably not appreciate being referred to
as a "girlie".

/guy

    Somehow I had a feeling putting the word 'girlie' in would get me in
    trouble ! Whoops, and apologies, it's probably too late to mention that
    they were pretty good live when I saw them as it would sound
    patronising now, but they were,,, and it does...
    
    
    	Euan

Sorry, -.2 wasn't intended as a rebuke - I'm just feeling a little
humour impaired after new year (strange, everything has tasted of
scotch for 4 days now).

These days the said drummer strikes terror into the hearts of mere
engineers with her merciless red pen :-)

/g

    So who can name all the Belle Stars?