Entertainment For Lively Minds
Before they were famous
Posted by stevegell on 21 January 2012 - 11:17pm.
Just reading through stuff here and my mind drifted to bands I saw before they became big. The best one was Roxy Music, at The George Hotel in Burslem-Stoke-on-Trent, Bryan Ferry was pinning up album covers to advertise their first about to be released album....so I nicked one and he gave me a dirty look. Another good one was Cockney Rebel at Manchester Uni....30p to get in.
- More from stevegell.
- Login or register to post comments
-
The George Hotel
the one on Swan Square ? Well I never,bit before my time to be fair.
The George...
....was a great Sunday night venue, lots of great bands on there for a short while. A local group called The Alan Bown set were very good, as were The Climax Chigago Blues Band. Then every now and again bands like Roxy Music turned up - I remember it was packed that night with people trying to climb in through windows. I used to play the records in-between bands at a blues club in nearby Leek, and a band came over one week fresh from the recording studio and asked me to put on their new acetate ...it was a maxi single...4 tracks...it was the one they had out before whiskey in the jar ....they were Thin lizzy, and Phil Lynett was a great bloke...wanted to listen to my Bob Dylan bootlegs all night, which made him my sort of guy.
Only two for me.
Fairground Attraction supporting Deacon Blue in about 1988. What a fine, fine voice Eddie Reader has.
And at the Southampton Gaumont. 1983. Supporting Kiss. They were very good. Good-looking singer and a lead guitarist with some chops. One of the lads at school said they'd be huge. We thought he could have a point.
Bon Jovi..
All this for 30 new pence...
January 31st, 1971 (when I was 14-and-a-half), Newcastle City Hall. This pic has all the info... I draw your attention to the band at the bottom of the bill.
Also amazing to recall that before Fog on the Tyne, Lindisfarne could be second on a bill in Newcastle. What a great band they were.
I saw the same tour
but at the Lyceum, London. Total surprise as we weren't sure who was on that night and just took a chance.
Ah, but Brian that was when....
...Lindisfarne's songs were being written by some non entity called Alan Hall, as the press blurb confirms.
It was only when Alan Hull got involved that the magic happened.
Def Leppard
Wombwell Reform WMC in the late seventies (I worked behind the bar), drummer was almost refused entry because he was underage. Booked to play the friday night and got snowed in so they left their gear and played the saturday night. They were selling copies of their first ever single, I didn't bother because I wasn't very impressed, it fetches £250-£350 these days.
Sheffield University
At the end of every academic year it was traditional for the Ents Committee to blow the budget and a final day of music and drinking ensued. It was a free event and many local bands performed. They kindly provided a free bar for social secretaries and record company reps from nearby establishments to talk shop and, lets not be coy, get totally rat-arsed.
One of the years I was invited Def Leppard were a local turn apparently. I think I may have spotted them but, as the bar was in a different part of the building, someone would have had to carry me kicking and screaming from the free booze and food. I missed a lot of bands like that.
"I think I may have spotted them..."
See what you did there? eh, eh?
Former work colleague
has a video taken at his son's 21st birthday party at a local social club. Typical affair with disco, pie & peas plus a band that went by the rubbish name of Take That. Wonder what happened to them?
The Pogues
supporting Elvis Costello. Exceptionally ugly singer bashing himself on the head with a tin tray; strange mixture of folk and punk - thought they were awful. Never would have believed they would be so big or produce some great material.
The Cranberries
My mate saw The Cranberries in a club in Aberdeen about a year before they hit the big time. He spent ages drinking with them in their dressing room afterwards and said they were absolutely lovely.
Talk Talk
supporting Duran Duran approx '81. Knew they were going to be pop stars, didn't see the route to minimalist genius. Also Proclaimers supporting Housemartins at Liverpool Playhouse (87/88?) - the audience attitude went from 'who are these shouty speccy idiots' to 'these are fantastic' in about a song and a half.
The Jam
Maybury Youth Club, Woking.
Although to be fair they were fairly well know and it was a homecoming gig for us locals.
in the nicest possible way..
.. bastard !
Never
Don't think I've ever seen a band in a support or a crappy club gig before they became known. I've seen a few bands lower down on the bill at festivals, but normally if they're on the main stage they've at least got a deal and have even released a few things.
Hmm. Scratching of head. Possibly The Auteurs at the Bull And Gate in 1992. But they were never what I'd describe as massive anyway. Oooh, KT Tunstall at the Kashmir Club turn of the millenium. Think it might have been her first London gig. Nearly forgot about that one. That's it though, nearly 30 years of gig-going and that's it.
Yea verily
I've probably blathered on about this before, but plenty of pre-fame performances at the Kashmir Klub, including KT Tunstall. Also saw the following there, not that any of them are superstars, but they've all had some success: Imogen Heap, Lucie Silvas, Ben & Jason, Ed Harcourt, Ben Christophers (who should have been HUGE), Nerina Pallot, and probably many others.
Elsewhere, I saw the Bangles at Exeter University just before their first hit (Manic Monday) - they were terrific. Divine Comedy, just after their first album, I think, certainly pre-hits. They were supporting Tori Amos, and I never imagined I'd come to love them as much as I do.
Duran Duran ...
... supporting Hazel O'Connor. Southern Death Cult supporting Bauhaus, Bob Dylan supporting Van Morrison er hang on ...
Talking Heads
Supporting The Ramones. Dire Straits supporting Talking Heads. The Jam supporting The Stranglers. Tom Petty supporting Nils Lofgrin. Elvis Costello supporting Rockpile. All for free!
I would have paid good money to see Roxy Music when they supported David Bowie though.
I'd have paid good money for that one as well
......best support act I ever saw was Billy Preston....he got an encore...and The Rolling Stones had to wait a bit to come on....they were great as well.
I'd have paid good money for that one as well
......best support act I ever saw was Billy Preston....he got an encore...and The Rolling Stones had to wait a bit to come on....they were great as well.
Big Country
Their first gig ever at the Pittencrieff Ballroom in Dunfermline.... they were very good. They had a keyboard player at that point who was hooked after a few gigs, by the name of Peter Wishart who went on to find fame of a kind with Runrig, and is now an MSP or somesuchlike.
Also in the days when the Glasgow Fair Holiday Fortnight was a big social occassion here in The Wee Toon I saw Hamish Stuart with a band called Dream Police, Brian Robertson with Frenzy and best of all, TearGas before they morphed into The Sensational Alex Harvey Band.
Black Eyed Peas supporting Macy Gray
Don't remember much about them, but they were a three- piece (pre Fergie).
Macy was memorable as she had her backing band dressed in bearskin hats - they must have been boiling.
Also (and this was at the Bournemouth International Centre) she decided to cover Melanie's "Brand New Key". Percentage of punters at BIC who knew Brand New Key to sing along to - 2%. Percentage who could sing along to Brand New Combine Harvester - 98%...
Hot Hot Heat's support band
At the Wedgewood Rooms in Portsmouth, our local fleapit of choice. Seasoned gig goers, we were chatting in the bar whilst the support band went through the motions. Gradual feeling that this lot were actually not bad, and so we wandered through to see their last few songs. And they were fantastic. "We'll have to keep an ear out for them - what were they called?" "Franz Ferdinand..."
Embra gigs
Saw Big Country too- upstairs at the Fringe Club during the Edinburgh Festival. Thought they were pretty average and left after a few songs to check out the other halls that had comedians in them.
Sure I mentioned this in another thread, but I also saw The Police support Alberto Y Los Trios Paranoias at Tiffany's. They made little impact on my memory.
One of the first gigs I went to was headlined by Writing on the Wall, a "Pict-Rock" act fronted by the impressive orchestra pit-leaping Linnie Paterson. Earlier on we had to get through the out of place cabaret act that was the pink and white-suited early incarnation of the Bay City Rollers. To be fair they were already well-known in Edinburgh.
My mate's band, Mimi Dragonhead supported Pulp in 1990.
Islington Powerhaus.
Before the gig, I chatted with Jarvis in the bogs. He was putting in his contact lenses and we discussed the new Happy Mondays album .
When a teenager in Aberdeen...
... went to see Black Sabbath on their tenth anniversary world tour ... they had some unknown American mob playing support ... Van Halen ... i got their autographs on the tour programme after the gig (i was 15)
Alex Van Halen just signed his name but Edward added 'AwwwRite', Michael Anthony added 'Yeah!!!' and David Lee Roth drew a little star under his signature
Kate Rusby
in folk clubs
was brilliant.