Gigs - First/Worst, Best/Last, Missed/P#ssed

[Newbridge Wolf]

Its an old story and I haven't spoken to him for 20 years so definitely me!

 

[Boozad]

Not sure why I wasn't at that orbital gig, might well have been.

I had a similar experience to Leftfield, amazing both times at the Civic.

A lot of my mates were into rock at school, the early to mid 90s there seemed to be some great gigs going on at the Civic, the last time it was open I looked at the bands and I didn't recognise any of them.

Either I'm completely out of touch or its dropped of the scene, I know that most bands these days look to play much bigger venues at a much earlier stage in their career than they once did.

My mate had tickets for Nirvana at the Civic which they were due to play a couple of weeks before he topped himself, which is mental considering how big they were/are.

As a side story he sold the ticket for £10 as someone offered to take it off his hands after he died. A week later he saw they were going for well over £100

I was always at the Civic in the 90s, there were always good bands playing. Megadeth, Pantera, The Almighty, Slayer, Machine Head, Orbital, Chemical Brothers, The Wildhearts, you don’t get that level of band playing there any more. If I remember rightly it only used to be around £8 for a ticket as well in those days.

 

[Paul]

First - The Tubes Completion Backwards Principle 81/82 ish

Worst -Alison Moyet whilst trying to impress a girl, she sang flat all the way through it, it was excruciating
Also saw Alice Cooper in the 80's during his alcoholic phase, it wasn't good.

Best - Rainbow supported by Rose Tattoo at the Cattle shed in Stafford, now that was a venue !!

Last - Aristocrats at Oxford, absolutely stunning

Missed - Missed going to see Stevie Wonder a few years ago with my brother because I was away in Germany at the time !

Pissed - Why ??, yes get merry or in the mood but why pissed, I'm going to pay good money to see someone and then I'm going to pay more money to make sure I don't remember it ?

 

[broughtonwolf]

First - Hothouse Flowers / NEC 1990

Worst - either Van Morrison at Stratford RSC in early 2000's, gave the impression he couldn't be arsed to be there and mumbled his way through or The Pogues Christmas tour at Nottingham Ice Rink from late 2000s. Band were tight as always but Shane Macgowan was having one of his off days, shambolic.

Best - U2 at Slane Castle 2001 homecoming - wasn't expecting to go but was given a ticket the day before and were supported by Coldplay and RHCP
Faith No More at Rock im Park in Vienna 1993,

Last - technically was a Bluegrass festival in Madison Square Park, NY

Missed - kept meaning to go and see The Beat over the last few years, didn't and Ranking Roger now sadly passed away.

Pissed - Levellers @ Beautiful Days, pick a year, any year, spent way too much time in The Bimble Inn. Also Levellers/Dreadzone at Nottingham Rock City, or Levellers Acoustic at Conkers, Moira - think there might be a common denominator.

 

[Newbridge Wolf]

I was always at the Civic in the 90s, there were always good bands playing. Megadeth, Pantera, The Almighty, Slayer, Machine Head, Orbital, Chemical Brothers, The Wildhearts, you don’t get that level of band playing there any more. If I remember rightly it only used to be around £8 for a ticket as well in those days.

yeah it was a great time to be discovering live music. I cant remember the ticket prices but do remember baulking at either underworld or the Chemical brothers charging something like £12.50, that's not enough to get 2 drinks at most venues now

 

[Paul]

yeah it was a great time to be discovering live music. I cant remember the ticket prices but do remember baulking at either underworld or the Chemical brothers charging something like £12.50, that's not enough to get 2 drinks at most venues now

To be fair it's enough to get you parked at the NEC (I think)

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

First: D:Ream at the Civic in 1994. Don't even @ me.

Worst: Craig fucking David at the MEN in 2001. Absolute shite. Wasn't my choice, a short-lived girlfriend bought the tickets as a "surprise". As he only had one (wank) album at the time, to fill out the hour and a bit he'd do a song and then just repeat it in full. Fuming when I came out of there. Broke up with her that night.

Best: Got to be Oasis at Knebworth with support from the Bootleg Beatles, Ocean Colour Scene, the Manics, the Chemical Brothers (who were shit) and the Prodigy. Whatever you think of Oasis, that was iconic.

Last: Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott at Stockport last year. Went with our very own Kenny. Absolutely brilliant and would be in my top three.

Missed: Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott at the Palladium that I was supposed to go to a month ago. Fucking virus.

Pissed: I got absolutely ruined when I saw Franz Ferdinand in 2005. Was still good though.

 

[Tyrannosaurus Dan]

First - Terrorvision at the Civic in 1994. An amazing first gig. Came home exhausted and drenched in sweat but loved every second of it.

Best - Probably Smashing Pumpkins at the NEC on the Mellon Collie tour. I'm not usually a fan of arena gigs but I was in the mosh pit at the front and it was an incredible gig. Billy Corgan was on top form and it was just one of those gigs where all the elements seemed to come together perfectly. The sound, the atmosphere, the songs - it was all just right and I had goosebumps through most of it and even got quite emotional through a couple of the songs.
There are a few other gigs that came close like The Offspring on the Smash tour (before they turned into a joke band, best mosh I've ever been in) The Levellers at the Civic in the mid 90s, Pearl Jam at the Reading Festival, Garbage at the Civic (because I was a bit obsessed with Shirley Manson at the time) and the first time I saw Sleater-Kinney. The Wildhearts were always really good too - they played for ages.

Worst - Probably also the Smashing Pumpkins. This time on the Machina tour. It was such a disappointment after the first time I saw them. Billy was in a terrible mood and it seemed like they really didn't want to be there.
Mentions also for Oasis who were so boring every time I saw them (and the gigs were always full of pissed up knob heads) and Ryan Adams when he ended the gig early due to the crowd talking through his set.

Last - I think it was Marilyn Manson at the Civic in 2018 but it's been that long since I've been to a gig that I can't remember!

Missed - Soul Asylum at the Civic. It would have been my first gig but my parents wouldn't let me go It was the Grave Dancers Union tour and it would have been ace.

Pissed - I've never really been that drunk at gigs. I prefer to remember them. I did get quite drunk at Terrorvision in 95. I ended up snogging this girl I'd fancied for ages but then blew it by leaving her and legging into the mosh pit as soon as the band came on!

 

[nimrod]

first: smiths first album tour. with a few mates from school. obviously a big buzz about them at the time so was a great atmosphere

worst: tough, prob most disappointing was band of horses. they have the epic track the funeral and a couple other decent tracks but generally bland and there were loads of annoying twats at that gig

best: probably the pixies surfer rosa tour, though doolittle was pretty good too. two great support bands as well, wofgang press and my bloody valentine! so many good ones though, i mean i remember the sisters back in the mid 80s were awesome but as a kid it seemed more of an 'event' than gigs i go to today. Orbital at glastonbury 94 was a great gig even if i was off my head

last: the telescopes. hoping for some throwback shoegaze and just got a turned up to 11 ear splitting wall of noise. total shite

missed: dunno about missed but i didn't bother seeing the buzzcocks when they returned and i probably should have done that

pissed: most gigs to a degree but not so much i can't appreciate what i'm seeing.

 

[Tyrannosaurus Dan]

I was always at the Civic in the 90s, there were always good bands playing. Megadeth, Pantera, The Almighty, Slayer, Machine Head, Orbital, Chemical Brothers, The Wildhearts, you don’t get that level of band playing there any more. If I remember rightly it only used to be around £8 for a ticket as well in those days.

The 90s was ace for gigs. All the best bands played at the Civic and like you say the ticket prices were really cheap. It felt like I was going to a different gig every month.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Aye, 90s Civic was great.

Tell you where else I miss, the Varsity. Upstairs in there was great for a wee gig with a local band. They might get nowhere in the end (in fact pretty sure none of them did) but always had a good time. Shame the service went to shite and the uni hoovered it up for no reason.

 

[Boozad]

Sure I paid £7.50 to see Megadeth supported by The Almighty and The Wildhearts. Mad value when you look at the prices of gigs these days.

 

[Tyrannosaurus Dan]

Yeah, I've played at the Varsity quite a few times. Never to an audience of more than about 20 people though!

 

[Boozad]

Aye, 90s Civic was great.

Tell you where else I miss, the Varsity. Upstairs in there was great for a wee gig with a local band. They might get nowhere in the end (in fact pretty sure none of them did) but always had a good time. Shame the service went to shite and the uni hoovered it up for no reason.

We got an album out

Great venue to play though, I loved doing gigs there. Never watched one though...

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

So I'll have my top three as:

1) Oasis and others at Knebworth, as mentioned (seems I got the better half of the deal, sorry Tone)
2) Ash and Feeder in Hamburg, 2001
3) Paul & Jacqui in Stockport, 2019

Bottom three:

1) Craig David MEN 2001 as mentioned, I don't think I can talk about it any more as I'm in a decent mood and it's making me furious again
2) The Bravery, no idea why I agreed to go, they had literally one ok song
3) The Thrills in 2003, mate if you can't be arsed then don't turn up

Harsh to leave the Manics out of the top three as I've seen them at least five times and they've been brilliant every time but this is hardcore stuff.

Actually I've never seen Pulp live, that's a regret.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Sure I paid £7.50 to see Megadeth supported by The Almighty and The Wildhearts. Mad value when you look at the prices of gigs these days.

I think Slayer / Nuclear Assault in 88 was something like £6 at the Hammy O. Metallica the next month on Damaged Justice was about a tenner.

It was six quid to stand on the South Bank around 1990/1991 as I remember.

 

[Jinky]

First: Incubus, Brand New & Hundred Reasons, Birmingham NEC, 2004.
Was superb. I went to watch them in Cardiff a couple of days later too. Firmly set me on my way of being a gig lover. I've seen Incubus live over 15 times now...

Worst: I went to watch Lostprophets (yeah, lets move on quickly...) in Wolverhampton and they were supported by a young Bring Me The Horizon, who delivered about 10 songs of literally Oli Sykes screaming at the top of his lungs non-stop for 45 mins or so. It was horrible. Fairly sure my ears were ringing for a few days after. Needless to say, we spent our time at the back of the venue drinking pints of watered down lager.

Best: Any of the Incubus gigs would be an easy answer, but I'll go for Ben Kenney (the bass player of Incubus) who played a solo show in Birmingham Academy 3 in 2013. There was about 10 people in the crowd and he absolutely smashed it. Was amazing getting up so close to watch the show - he is one talented bloke. And then to make it even more memorable, he came out in to the crowd at the end so I had a good chat with him, a photo and we even shared a beer.

Last: The Kooks, Oxford Academy. Unfortunately the gigs had to take a back-seat last year as all my time was spent with my dad in his last few months. After losing him in September, I vowed to do some "fun" things in 2020, so had about 6 x gigs lined up to go to this year... but Coronavirus has unfortunately put pay to every single one of them. I'm hoping for more luck in 2021!

Missed: There are a few bands that are still going that I'd have liked to have seen live during the peak of their popularity/talent and with their original line ups. Blink 182 in their Enema of the State days. Red Hot Chili Peppers in the Californication era. I'd have like to have seen Linkin' Park live.

Pissed: I generally don't get too pissed as I prefer to enjoy the atmosphere and experience - and to actually remember the gig. But there was one only a year or so ago where I went to watch Alien Ant Farm (performing Anthology in it's entirety - which coincidentally is a hugely UNDERRATED album, amirite @Bear?) with Banjo. My son had just been born. I'd been surviving on next to no sleep for a few weeks and had all this stuff going on with my dad so hadn't slept much anyway. We hit the two pint lager's quite hard during the gig (I nearly got started on by some freak who I said looked like Ruben Neves and he thought I was taking the piss), we went on to a cocktail bar after and I fell asleep in the toilet cubicle. All I remember is about 15 mins later Banjo knocking on the door shouting "come on mate" - I got a taxi home shortly after :icon_lol:

 

[Kenny]

Actually I've never seen Pulp live, that's a regret.

My first ever gig was Pulp - 2 days after he waved his arse in front of Jacko at the Brit Awards.

Worst - Its going to be one of the ones I went to because I am a nice Husband....Hard choice between Michael Buble and Take That...will go for Take That as I really do not like the stuff they did when the first appeared on the scene and those tunes were half the concert.

Best - Ah man..I was blown away the first time I saw Ben Folds and Heaton and Abbott are always on it but will probably go with REM at the Millenium Stadium

Last - The Blizzards in a tiny Irish Bar in Hammersmith

Missed - Will forever be gutted I missed out on Tickets for REM in Milton Keynes. The supports act were amazing that weekend with Sleeper, Blur & Radiohead amongst them

 

[Jinky]

Missed - Green Day. Probably the only band I've ever really been into that I haven't seen live.

I saw them at MK bowl. It was a day event, they were supported by Hard-Fi, Jimmy Eat World & Taking Back Sunday. It was just after American Idiot had been released and the whole day was superb.

Sorry to rub it in :icon_lol:

They're still touring, so there's still time for you to see them.

 

[Tyrannosaurus Dan]

I saw them at MK bowl. It was a day event, they were supported by Hard-Fi, Jimmy Eat World & Taking Back Sunday. It was just after American Idiot had been released and the whole day was superb.

Sorry to rub it in :icon_lol:

They're still touring, so there's still time for you to see them.

I was at that gig too. I agree, it was a great day out.