Entertainment For Lively Minds
Dunstable Rocks...
Chipping my way through Nick Kent's 'Apathy' I've just hit the scene where Bowie takes to the road with Iggy Pop in a Hinge and Bracket style arrangment. But, I was unexpectedly struck by what a three point turn in the history of rock the opening show is ...
Iggy cutting loose from The Stooges and making his live debut as a solo act.
Ditching his fidgety Motor-City riffing for Eastern European angst, clang and occasional cabaret crooner vocals - thereby creating a ready made template for future new-wavers.
Face of the decade, Bowie casting himself as a supporting actor (on keyboards) to Ig's lead role. And, backed by the band that later underscored Bowie's Berlin trilogy
And which venue played host to this heavy-hitting, heady event - the Friars in Aylesbury! Dig around and about and you'll other provincial outposts acting as unlikely landmarks for rock and pops powerhouse moments..
Oxford Town Hall - Bowie's electric blow-job rendered forever by Mick Rock
Ivanhoes Huddersfield - Sex Pistols last UK date (with Sid Vicious) played here..
Sevenoaks - Antique shop where John Lennon bagged the Victorian circus poster, inspiring the Fabs Mr Kite tune.
There must be other regional seats back-dropping iconic moments (perhaps in your home town) that can be flagged and added to an atlas - mapping the Lower-League Locations of Rock
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AYLESBURY
Aylesbury is my town of birth , and Friars was where I did my teenage band watching .
Its only in retrospect that I realise how fortunate this was , because within a couple of years saw - amongst others -Ramones (supported by Talking Heads for £1.50 ), The Clash , Jam ,Kid Creole ,Magazine ,Buzzcocks,Can ,Stranglers, Gang of Four, Costello, Ian Dury , Slits,Specials .
Friars was one of the few near London venues that dared to host punk bands during the GLC bans .It was also one of the few places willing to book Sham 69 at all due to their somewhat unsavoury following .
Now , while Sham may be musically hopeless , I reckon they were pretty good live and their Friars set circa 1979 included one of Jimmy Purseys tearful farewell speeches (He did this a lot at the time as concerts were often descending into shambolic brawls )Highly memorable and they ended with a storming "If the Kids are United".
Great days
At the height of his fame ...
... Scott Walker played a residency at Batley Frontier Club.
Is that the kind of thing you were after, Mondo?
That's exactly it
Nice Work Smithy
Mock not
..Dunstable - I remember visiting there a few years ago and they'd published a book on all the bands that played at the town hall in the 60s - pretty much everyone who was anyone - I remember the Beatles, Stones, Yardbirds, Walker Bros, Hendrix, the Who, Jethro Tull - amazing but true.
I also know the Watford Town Hall concert hall has amongst the best acoustics in Europe and they still record major orchestras there.
Belfast
I believe the Ulster Hall in Belfast was the venue for the first public airing of Stairway to Heaven by The Led Zeppelin.
I was there!
I was at that gig. I was never a big Zep fan and I went to see what all the fuss was about. I thought they were bloody awful, ring rusty and crap sound. I got the distinct impression that they thought Northern Ireland in those days was so rock starved that the audience would swallow any old rubbish and say thank you for it. My mate and I got fed up with it and left well before the end which probably means we missed the first outing of Stairway to Heaven
I should point out that ours was a fairly lone viewpoint. They went down a storm. Still rubbish though ;)
Music Stations
Dartford - where Mick met Keith
The ones where: Long John Baldry heard Rod the Mod honking and
Paul Simon was inspired to write Homeward Bound
Accept "Substitute"
This is easy. The greatest live album of them all was recorded in a provincial university dining hall in front of 300 people.
Nay Pax
The capacity of the Refectory was at least 2000 and the biggest student union venue on the circuit at it's peak. The Stones also played there and I saw Queen, Lynyrd Skynyrd & Santana in my time. Not on the same bill 'appen. We don't talk about the David Essex debacle or David Bowie refusing to walk the distance from the dressing room to the stage (2 miles possibly).
Ah yes
But The Who played in the lesser refectory...
Riley Smith?
Not so.
http://www.leeds.ac.uk/news/article/646/live_at_leeds-again
Erdington
Home of Mothers, venue for some of the the live bits of Floyd's Ummagumma. Also the venue for Traffic's first ever gig.
Erdington, as big a dump today as it's always been.