The Almighty: Town and Country Club 2 July 1990

Capital Radio Coca Cola Music Festival presents The Almighty and special guests. Just look at the perspective on that logo. Powerful stuff in a 'look what I did on my Commodore 64' kind of way, I'm sure you'll agree.

I have no recollection of the special guests. The fact that I had ticket number 004 should give you an idea of how poorly attended this show was. I distinctly remember there being plenty of elbow room, but not much else about the show.

Toby and I went along on the strength of their first album Blood Fire and Love, which had come out the previous year. It's one of the albums I had on vinyl but never replaced on CD, so before writing this I went back to Spotify to remind myself what they sound like. I remember really loving that album and yet I have not listened to these tracks in probably almost 20 years. Hearing it again now, it's nothing remarkable but they had some catchy riff-heavy songs with sing along choruses. I'm surprised they don't get more airplay on Planet Rock. Ricky Warwick's gravelly voice is pretty cool if you can get past the mid-Atlantic accent, and he's doing alright for himself these days singing with the reformed Thin Lizzy and more recently the Black Star Riders. Drummer Stumpy Munroe is possibly less in demand. Classic Rock reported in February that the band were going to release some new material this year to mark their 25th anniversary.

Slayer - Brixton Academy 9 November 1994

I can't claim to have ever been a huge fan of Slayer. I own several albums, all early ones, but I have to be in a particular mood to listen to their music. And even then, I really only like the hits: Dead Skin Mask; Seasons in The Abyss; South of Heaven; War Ensemble etc. There is however no denying their place in rock history as one of The Big Four of thrash metal and the influence they have had on those who followed.

When we were running Lard Records, Slayer were a big seller. Partly because they were enormously popular amongst metalheads around the world - oh yeah, we were international baby! - but also because they put out some fantastic limited edition releases of their singles and albums. The blood pack version of the Seasons in the Abyss cd; the red vinyl 7" in the cut out cross with chains version of Criminally Insane. The blood splattered white vinyl version of Live Undead. All highly collectable.

Toby had always been more of a fan than me but I was interested enough to tag along for this. It definitely helped that Machine Head were supporting as I was really enjoying their first album Burn My Eyes. A shame then, that we arrived too late to see Machine Head. Slayer, however were brutal. I cannot remember much about what they played, but from the information on the ticket we can assume they were promoting the Divine Intervention album, but I do remember the crushing intensity with which they played. I remember wondering how the hell they could play so fast and so not miss a note. Paul Bostaph's double bass drums hit with the ferocity and accuracy of a heavyweight boxer working the speed ball. Tom Araya must gargle bleach and have slinkys where his neck muscles should be. Kerry King stalked the stage covered in studs and tattoos looking like the meanest mofo in the room, his fingers a blur. Jeff Hanneman looked like a tougher David St Hubbins but played like a demon. They were immense.

Of course it occurred to me to write this when it was announced that Hanneman had died. Of course I didn't get round to it. Kind of sobering though when musicians your age start dying. Both Hanneman and Adam Yauch were the same age as me.

REM / Blur: The National Bowl, Milton Keynes 29 July 1995

This was REM's 'Monster' tour, which is not one of my favourite albums of theirs but it does include the peerless 'What's the Frequency Kenneth'. That would make it on to any 'best of' compilation I'd ever do. Blur were the special guests and were at the very height of their Britpopularity. The "other groups" were Magnapop and Belly. 

REM were and are one of the GLW's favourite bands so we decide to make the trip to Milton Keynes to see them for the first time. It was a gloriously sunny day, so of course venue security were taking everyone's drinks off them at the door, except for unopened 'tetrapak' type boxes of juice. Inside I seem to remember some bizarre token-exchange system for the beer tent that meant having to queue twice and small cartons of Happy Shopper orange juice costing £1 a time. Result, 60,000 hot, dehydrated, pissed off people. Well done everyone.

Naturally I remember nothing of the first two on the bill. Blur were fantastic, perhaps better even than when we had seen them at Glastonbury the previous year. REM's set was incredibly atmospheric with black and white rear projection and lots of slow tempo numbers. Magnificent, despite the best efforts of the organisers.

I had the genius idea* that we should kip in the car after the show because it would probably take hours to get out of the car park. After about half an hour of that the GLW said, quite rightly, 'this is a stupid idea' and got into the driving seat. We were out of the car park in no time. About half an hour down the road, she got stopped by the police for speeding but managed to flutter her eyelashes sufficiently to get herself out of a ticket.


*stupid idea

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.