Friday 7 August 2009

From Iron Maiden to the Only Ones in just 21 years ...

I still have in my possession tickets for pretty much every major gig I've been to. A few are signed (Tigertailz at the Astoria; Enuff Znuff at the Bristol Bierkeller; Bobby Conn at the Garage) - I do have a tendency to talk to anyone and everyone at gigs, particularly towards the end of the night (can't think why ...).

I seem to have lost a few from the mid-90s (although to be fair I don't think I went to many), and there are numerous gaps where venues didn't issue tickets. So I only have one Redd Kross ticket - for the Marquee - but I can think of at least four other occasions that I went to see them - twice at the Powerhouse, once at the Subterannea (both long-closed London venues) and once at the Fleece & Firkin in Bristol.

Going back through these tickets leads to the inevitable thoughts of 'which was the best gig?'. And as ever there's no easy answer.

Iron Maiden at Oxford Apollo (1986) has potential, but then it was the first proper gig I went to and so immediately scores high. The New York Dolls at the Royal Festival Hall, (2004) Hanoi Rocks at Camden Palace (2002) and the Only Ones at Shepherd's Bush Empire (2007) all benefit from being gigs by bands that I never thought would happen (and some would argue given the line-ups involved technically never did).

Oddly Black Grape at Cardiff University in 1995 is another I have fond memories of - the audience and the band seemed to feed off each other in a way I'd not witnessed before (there could have been a lot of Ecstasy involved though - not on my part I hasten to add). The way Ryder, Bez and co dealt with their power being tripped due to general overheating within the venue - and the need to call in the Fire Brigade before switching it back on -merely added to the night.

So I'll be going back through these gigs over the coming months - I need something to ensure I focus a bit more on this blog! Two months without a proper post really isn't good enough ....

2 comments:

Michael said...

I think you have a good excuse for not posting in a while.

DGW said...

Michael - good to see you! Hope all's well. Must get over to the Big Takeover sometime and steal some of your recommendations ....

http://www.bigtakeover.com/author/Michael+Toland/