So, our recent 'interesting' gig watching The Lemonheads (see here) got me thinking about my other live music experiences over the years. There have been some truly great nights and a couple of real duffers in that time, with quite a few somewhere in between - you know, they were a really good night out, but have long since faded in the memory.
But this post is about those gigs at the extremes - the truly great and the fairly dismal gigs.
It Was The Worst Of Times!
Well, the first thing to say, is that there are probably only two gigs on the truly terrible list. Sure, there have been nights where other factors have tried to play a part in ruining a gig - getting stuck in traffic on the way, idiot people around you at the venue, or that time me and my mate Mike were trying to get out of Brighton, having watched OMD at The Dome. Could we find a main road that had any kind of meaningful signage on it? Could we heck.
Incredibly enough, both of these awful gigs were in Southampton! Coincidence? Bad luck? Who knows, but to be fair, only one of the two was down the the band. At some point, I will have to try and third gig there, to be sure it is not some city-based hoodoo!
For The Lemonheads experience, you can just click on the link at the top of the article, to understand the reasons why that one made the list.
To make me feel better - here is Into Your Arms being played live in a much better way than we saw it! https://youtu.be/H-Ba54GQDnI
For the other, we have to go way back in time - to September 1993. With good timing, about a week before I had to head back north for my final year at college, one of my favourite bands of the time, Smashing Pumpkins, were over for their Siamese Dream tour. So, with a couple of old school friends, we drove to Southampton for their gig at the Guildhall. They were supported by a bunch of oiks dressed in black playing some very downbeat tunes. That was The Verve, who apparently went on to make a bit of a name for themselves. We weren't all that impressed and it wasn't getting any better. We were realising that dreary support bands weren't going to be the only issue - the sound quality in the venue was poor. Well, actually it was atrocious and clearly not suitable for a loud rock band. The Pumpkins may actually have been really good, but the sound quality ruined it....
It Was The Best Of Times!
There have actually been quite a few memorable gigs along the way, for a number of different reasons, but I have just picked out a couple that sit fondly in my mind.
My first 'proper' gig was to see Big Country at Portsmouth Guildhall in February 1989. I was not yet 16 and still my parents allowed me to venture in alone!
I was there nice and early, I couldn't believe my luck, I could stand right by the stage. Those who have been to gigs might be smiling knowingly by now. Through the support band, I was having a pleasant old time, ten feet from the stage, right in the middle, with great view and great sound. It was only as Big Country came on, that my naivety was laid bare - the front ten rows or so started to move in a heaving mass from side to side, threatening to consume anyone who lost their footing. I quickly realised my error and got out to the side, a bit further back, out of breath and my gig innocence shattered. Still had a great view, but with less risk of death. They were, and possibly still are, the greatest live band I ever saw (I was lucky enough to see them three more times) - but this first one, is the one that lives longest.
Crowded House are great live for other reasons. Big Country stir up emotions and passion, Crowded House stimulate the brain, with their phenomenal songwriting and great playing. I first saw them whilst at college, in 1992 on the Woodface tour at the Manchester Apollo with my best mate Andrew. What really sticks in the mind from that show is not just the musical prowess (how they could flow from the song they were playing, into some random detour before seamlessly re-joining), but also the knack all three of them had for interacting with the audience. The between song, and occasionally mid-song, banter had the crowd in stitches - the late and wonderful Paul Hester in particular, had great comic timing.
For my other choice, I am going to go big. Very big. In 1990, they put on a massive charity show at the Knebworth estate, scenes of some of the rock gods of the 70s like Zeppelin and Queen, but also Robbie Williams.
The show was in aid of the Nordoff-Robbins music charity and every holder of their Silver Clef award had been invited to join in. And so, a bunch of us, seventeen and clueless, bought our tickets and headed up to leafy Hertfordshire.
£30 ticket - 12 hours of music - 125,000 people in the audience - we had never seen anything like it before! The line up was jaw dropping, even if you think that a couple of the bands in it, might not be to your taste. The Quo to get things up and running, Tears for Fears, Cliff and the Shadows, and we're barely past lunchtime!
Then, Robert Plant strides on, hair flowing in the wind, playing stuff from his Manic Nirvana album, but to end - well lets just bring Jimmy Page out and have half of Led Zeppelin on stage, finishing off with Rock n Roll... Then Genesis - that's not enough, they need Elton John as their special guest. Dire Straits couldn't manage alone, so invited Eric Clapton up to help them out.
Rock N Roll, Knebworth 1990: https://youtu.be/J7xv9fRKMQY
We get to Paul McCartney playing one of his typical career spanning set as darkness descends. I dare even the cynics amongst you, to stand among 125,000 people singing along to Hey Jude and not be moved to at least some degree! But a former Beatle still wasn't enough to headline the whole thing. Bring on - Pink Floyd and pretty much their full, way over the top lighting set. It was getting late, it was drizzling, people were starting to drift away, meaning we could get our young selves down really close to the stage for this last epic part of the show. Absolutely mesmerised - watching in awe and disbelief as Gilmour hit all the notes of all his solos perfectly, even as he and his fretboard were drenched in rain.
Comfortably Numb, Knebworth 1990: https://youtu.be/jMJYddhb2eE
The coda: it finished so late, by the time we got back to Waterloo station, we had long since missed the last train home. No mobile phones and no parents dropping everything after midnight to drive to London - so it was a chilly and uncomfortable end to an incredible day, trying to nap on the station concourse waiting for the 5.30am train home.
However, I just looked this up - £30 in 2022 money - is about £75! You probably couldn't get in the back row of Wembley Arena to see one band for that price now......
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