Best gig you've been to

I went to that gig Bob Mould gig at Brudenell- he was brilliant!

 

Reg Smithies is back in the band - or at least he was a couple of weeks ago at Holmfirth and in Manchester last year (and since around 2020). He did the artwork for the re-release of Strange Times and the forthcoming Fan & Bellows early recordings compilation.

 

Probably Arctic Monkeys at Old Trafford cricket ground in the summer of 2007.

It was as much the time in my life & the group of mates I was with. It felt like half of Barnsley were in that crowd.

The Coral, Supergrass, Amy Winehouse & a Japanese Beatles cover band supported.

 

I had the pleasure of Bob Mould too. The loudest gig I’ve ever been to!

 

Idles at Hull Adelphi straight out of COVID.

Arcade Fire at Scunny Baths (was tech manager there at the time and that's a career highlight)

 

Pixies at Scarborough Futurist Theatre, May 1991 (warm up gig for the Crystal Palace gig 2 weeks later)
Nirvana at Bradford Uni 1991
Sonic Youth & Pavement, Leeds T&C, Dec 1992
PJ Harvey at Hull Adelphi, April 1992
1 of many Wedding Present gigs, circa 90-93, to be honest they were all great back then.

 

Rhcp at Hyde park

 

At the time, I was seeing a girl who was a student at Scarborough. She had visited me at my parents many times and walked past the 4'x2' Doolittle poster on my bedroom door many times over the best part of two years. It was only after that gig that she said "Oh, Pixies. They played Scarborough the other week. I didn't realise you liked them!!!"

It didn't last much longer with her...!

And a reminder that tickets for the tour next year go on sale on Friday morning.

 

The Wedding Present - Leeds Coloseum (now O2 Academy). Filming of *PUNK, with a Wedding Present encore.
Any The Cure - cos they're the best all the time.
Stone Roses - Spike Island. Enough said.
Darling Buds - Leadmill. They sold Becks on draught
Transvision Vamp - Refectory Leeds uni. For the love of Wendy James.
Supergrass- Leeds O2 Academy. Last gig before Covid. It was rammed.

 

The Who at the Rainbow end of 1971. The opened the venue with three nights and had the Tiller Girls on stage. My the girlfriend had an aunt in the ticket office there so got to see quite a few bands. Including Mountain, Jethro Tull, Leon Russell with Eric Clapton, Family and a few others.
Happy days.

 

I was at that gig

 

Glastonbury, 2010, as England were playing Germany in the World Cup but we couldn’t get anywhere near either of the big screens showing the match. So we loaded up our backpacks with cans and went to watch Ray Davis on the Pyramid stage.
I have been to a LOT of gigs in my life but this was the only time that someone’s talent blew my socks off as he virtually performed a Kinks greatest hits set.
It’s a great feeling when something is so good it makes you cry happy tears.

 

It was mental for me. I think the biggest gig I’d been to before that was at the Citrus Rooms!

 

Boney M
Bingley Music Live (when it was still called Party in the Park)

 

Jealous.
Been to Toronto a few times, seen Rush a few times but never actually saw them in their home town.

First time in Toronto at 16 I was offered a ticket to see Queen. Turned it down thinking I'd get to see them at home one day. Regret it.

 

Deep Purple Sheffield City Hall 1973
Roxy Music Sheffield City Hall 1973
Lynyrd Skynyrd Sheffield City Hall 1975
Kiss Manchester Free Trade Hall 1976

 

Saw guns n oatcakes with my dad in the lonsbrough wmc in Bentley in the mid nineties. They were terrific - I was maybe 12 or 13. My dad succumbed to MS several years later at the age of 42; I didn’t know the same had happened to Steve Johnson. I believe he had moved to Donny in his later years.

As for best gigs - Oasis at the etihad (was called the city of Manchester then); more for the buzz and atmosphere than the quality of the actual gig though they were good - but better at Sheffield arena a few years before; the Manchester gig is so much more memorable though.

Madness at the Sheffield arena. Bloody excellent - Aswad were the support and they were good too.

The Killers on the Sam’s town tour.

Stereophonics just before Stuart Cable was sacked.

And - credibility shot - I’ve been to see Ed Sheeran twice at the kids request - he was absolutely mesmerising both times but in particular the first time, divide tour at the etihad - he had the whole crowd in the palm of his hands completely alone with a guitar and repeater pedal: unbelievable. Wouldn’t buy his music and wouldn’t rate him at all if I’d not seen him do his craft live. Just as good a few years later; took the girls to see him at Sunderland - he had some backing musicians for some of that - but the guy is a proper talent.

Notable mention as well to take that; took the Mrs to see them at the o2 - I’m not ashamed to say I thought they put on a proper good show with not a hint of backing track, recorded backing vocal or anything of the sort. Polished.

Worst gig? Westlife’s ‘last ever’ gig (it was until they got back together a few years later) at Croke Park. It was the Mrs’ childhood dream to see them in Dublin so to Dublin we went.

To be fair to them - they were actually ok. But the support acts (which numbered plenty, we were there from about 4pm til nearly midnight) were nearly all boybands of some description. Lawson. The Wanted. Jedward (who got as loud a scream as Westlife did and were every bit as bad as you’d expect). Some girl band that Kian Egan’s Mrs was in at the time. And a lad whose name escaped me did a few acoustic songs right at the start who was actually ok. I had to do nearly a full lap of the stadium to find a gents toilet that hadn’t been converted to a temporary ladies; the bar staff looked at me gone out when I asked for a Guinness as they had been selling mostly single serve rose wine bottles and pimms and lemonade premixed on tap. The longest afternoon and evening of my life; bored to tears, surrounded by hysterical women, mostly in their thirties but acting like lovesick teenagers, screaming and crying like their child had been murdered - followed by walking back into the city from the stadium, it was bloody dangerous and I’m amazed nobody fell and was hurt - narrow streets and best part of 90,000 people all going in one direction, recipe for disaster - it only dissipated when we got to the main road. Worse than any football crowd I’ve been in, terraces or otherwise; it was just about forgotten by the time we got back over the other side of the river and had a few sherbets on temple bar. Even the hotel I booked was ****. Expensive as it was right on temple bar but ****. Was built over the top of tgi fridays!

 

Saw INXS in Sydney in 85, when I was 13, caught the train with some lads from Wollongong and they bought me beers at the gig. Went with them to watch Australian Crawl too, which was equally as good, but Australian Crawl never did anything here. Saw Queen at Knebworth in 86 which was pretty special.

Best 2 gigs ever were watching a band nobody will have ever heard of: Anomaly Cacophony: Darton High School and The St George on Peel Street. 87 or possibly 88. I was 15 and they changed my life.

Others worth a mention are Pulp at The Phoenix Festival when they were in a tent with just me and a lass watching them (and a load of journalists) and Jarvis sang every song directly to us both, talked to us between tracks, and we were both pictured in the NME the following week. Also Pulp at The Duchess of York in Leeds later that year and The Leadmill the year after. Mary Chain at the Octagon in Sheff in 89 and Cud at Huddersfield the same year. Carter at the Academy in Manchester in 91 was 'kin mental. The Cure in St George's Hall in Bradford early 90s, a place so small you could touch Robert Smith. Curve when Toni Halliday took hold of my hand and sang the entire set straight into me. The 80s and early 90 were 'kin mint.

 

Me too!