The Black Crowes - Town and Country Club 30 September 1991

Still one of my favourite bands, I first became aware of the Black Crowes when I saw the video for Jealous Again on Raw Power. I bought the album at the next Brighton Record fair and I've been a fan ever since. 

The ticket itself is nothing much to blog about, but look! The actual band logo as used on the first album! The special guests were Thee Hypnotics and my sister rode shotgun.

While the support band were on, my sister decided to faint. Luckily we were standing against the back wall underneath the mixing desk, so she just slid down the wall into a heap on the floor without doing herself any damage. I tried to carry her outside to get some fresh air. She probably weighed no more than eight stone (110 pounds) but have you ever tried to carry someone who's unconscious? It's not as easy as they make it look in the movies. We made it as far as the bar when she started to come round. This wasn't the first time she'd done this but it was the first time when I'd been around to see it. Scary. She recovered pretty quickly and we watched the rest of the show from near the back, just in case.

Little Angels - Town and Country Club, 13 March 1991

Little Angels 13 March 1991

Little Angels have recently re-formed for some live shows, so I thought I'd dig this one out. A fairly eye-catching / watering ticket design in three colours. Also another example of a font / logo being used for the band name that I have not seen used anywhere else.

I believe this tour was to promote the Young Gods album but can't be sure. The 'special guests' were Katmandu, a short lived group featuring Dave King, formerly of Fastway on vocals. I hadn't heard them before but was sufficiently moved to buy their CD, which I still have. 

For those that may not be aware of the band, Little Angels are a British rock band from Yorkshire that play a raucous classic rock with air raid siren vocals and an occasional horn section. What's not to love? I have to admit to being a sucker for horns used in rock music and there are some crackers on the Don't Prey for Me album - particularly Radical Your Lover which was co-written with the wonderful Dan Reed. Glorious stuff.

Anyway, all this rambling has probably prepared you for the usual cop out ending to one of these posts. I remember very little of the headliner's set, but I do remember thinking they were every bit as good live as on record. I wanted Bruce's 'Eat my Dust' Les Paul and Toby's corkscrew barnet. I also remember wishing I was as good looking as Michael Lee, the drummer at the time. Great musician, handsome bastard, gone too soon.

The Presidents of the United States of America - Brixton Academy, 8 July 1996

This is a ticket for one of only two gigs I have watched from the circle at the Brixton Academy.  On the one hand, the view is amazing and I get a seat.  On the other, it is so high up that I feel removed from the live gig experience.  Like watching it on TV only the band never look you in the eye.

PUSA were famous for five minutes in 1995/6 when they had hits with a handful of singles from their first album.  Lump and Peaches in particular are perfect slices of punky power pop.  I believe my sister organised this trip - it was certainly her that came with me.  I remember being hesitant because I'm always wary of going to see a band that has only released one album.  They'll only do 45 minutes, you know what you're going to hear and if you're lucky they might throw in a cover version for an encore.  I was persuaded however when it was announced that Kula Shaker were going to be the 'Special Guests'.  I know, I know, but I still really like some of the stuff off their first album.  And I like their version of 'Hush'.  Deal with it.

As for the gig?  I have only vague memories of sitting, I think, in the front row of the circle.  And that's about it.  Look, I promise I'll do one of these soon where I can remember something about the gig, OK?  Sheesh, get off my back already.

Peaches live at Pink Pop 1996

Pantera: Town and Country Club, 11 February 1993

Pantera 11-02-93

This ticket has the band name set out in a font I've not seen used on any album or T shirt. This is something that is reasonably common on my tickets and makes me wonder why they would do it. How much extra effort would it take to use the official recognisable band logo? Perhaps it's just a timing thing - the promoter wants the tickets printed and distributed before the band's management have supplied the appropriate artwork. Perhaps they just didn't think it was important. Who knows? Also note that the ticket shows the 'on the door' ticket price, which is odd. Pantera were incredibly popular amongst  metalheads at the time and the idea that they would not sell out a modest sized venue like the T&CC seems unduly pessimistic. I certainly don't remember there being much space.

Anyway, Toby came with me for this one. He had seen Pantera play at the Marquee the previous year. He told me how great the show had been; how venue security had clearly decided to take the night off; how crazy the mosh pit got; how he and another guy rescued someone from the floor and how Phil had encouraged people on to the stage and he had his first experience of stage diving. None of this adequately prepared me for the ferocity of this show. Pantera played with an intensity that scorched my eyeballs and welded them to the back of my skull. It was like staring into a furnace for an hour and a half. I can't write well enough to describe what it was like but by crikey they were good. And we had my favourite viewpoint at the T&CC too - downstairs on the bar level, at the front next to the mixing desk. It's perfect. You can see right across the top of the pit in front of you - the best view in the house and the best sound. All in all a top ten gig for sure.

Simple Minds - Wembley Arena, 27 July 1989

Here's a gig I remember for  change. Not because it's one of my favourites. The boring ticket - courier font on generic stock - is about the best thing about it. 

This was the tour to promote the Street Fighting Years album, a disappointing affair that  contains the frankly dreadful chart topper Belfast Child. I had been persuaded to go by friends who had lent me their double live album. That had convinced me that they were more of a rock band live than in the studio. 

How hard they rocked was rendered completely moot by the utter shittyness of our seats. We were at the far end of the arena, about two thirds of the way up the back wall. The sound was dreadful and we were so far away that it could have been anyone on stage that night. There were no big screens. One to forget, ironically. The guests were The Silencers. Quite.

Madness - Finsbury Park 8 August 1992

My good friend Ivan likes Madness.  He REALLY likes Madness but was too young to see them live before they split up.  So when, in 1992, it was announced that they were going to re-form and stage the Madstock festival at Finsbury Park it was a given that he would be going.  It was his first opportunity to see them and I was enough of a fan of Madness to want to go too.  The real treat for me though would be seeing Ian Dury and the Blockheads.  Ivan decided that he would go to both the Saturday and the Sunday.  As the line up was the same for both days, I decided that just the Saturday would be enough for me.  Also on the bill were Flowered Up and Morrissey, I am and was a fan of neither of them. Morrissey in particular infuriates me.  I like some of the music he's made both solo and with The Smiths but find his every utterance designed to infuriate me.  He comes over as a cross between Alan Bennett and Dorothy Parker, without the wit of either, and appears to consider it great sport to torture interviewers, particularly those known to be fans.  A flat track bully.  Other opinions are available.

Come the day of the show, I was not well.  In fact knowing what I know now I should probably have been in hospital rather than driving two hours to stand in a park for another six before driving home again.  However I was young and stupid and didn't want to let my buddy down as he was counting on me for the lift - and I was keen to see the show if at all possible.  We drove up to Ivan's Uncle's house, where he would be staying the night, just around the corner from the venue, parked up and walked to the park.

Regular readers of this blog (are there any?) will not be surprised to hear that I remember little of the show itself.  Even the infamous Morrissey union jack incident didn't register at the time as I was in so much discomfort and spent a great deal of time sitting down.  My biggest regret though is that I don't remember any details of the one time I saw Ian Dury with the Blockheads.  I do remember that when Madness appeared, starting of course with One Step Beyond, the crowd went batshit crazy.  Even as far back as we were, everyone was dancing and the euphoria was infectious enough to raise this sick man off the floor and make him forget his worldly pains and worries for an hour or so.  

On day two, Morrissey decided not to return and was replaced by The Farm.

Keeping the customer serviced

My dentist is a lovely guy.  He looks a bit like Des Lynham, always has a calming word and every visit is a physically painless experience.  He is however now way too expensive to keep using, so I need to register with a NHS dentist.  

Being basically an idle bastard, I went to the practice literally around the corner from our house.  It's in a Victorian end of terrace house that's little more than a two up two down.  Reception is in what would normally be the front room and I was greeted by the receptionist, a girl in, I would say her early 20s.  I asked if they were taking new NHS patients and she said yes but the dentist was about to go on holiday for three weeks so he wouldn't be able to see me for a while.  I said that there was no rush and asked if I could get registered in the meantime.  Without leaving her chair, she twisted 90 degrees to her right, took a form from a letter rack and passed it to me saying "There you are, all done for you today."

I don't know where to look when people talk to me like that.  I really value good customer service and make a point of thanking people when they're helpful or do more than they strictly needed to.  But this type of customer service Newspeak just makes me cross. It adds nothing but is designed to give the appearance of having been super helpful.  I'm genuinely worried that people in service industries believe this is how customers want to be spoken to. 

There are of course many and various variants on this theme: the train announcements welcoming us onboard YOUR SouthEast train service to London Charing Cross; the call centre staff with their carefully scripted greetings, and the greeters at your local supermarket asking how you are and whether you found everything you were looking for today.  I'm sure you can think of others...