I have frequented Old Trafford a few times in its original incarnation as a cricket venue. My first visit was in 1983 when I was very fortunate as a 15-year-old to attend the World Cup semi-final with my dad where England were playing India. The times were so different then as we just wandered up and got straight into the ground through a cash turnstile.
The match was a sell out on a gobsmackingly hot day and as a result we were lamping drinks down to rehydrate. My dad offered me a beer which is the first proper ale I can recall partaking. Due to the heat I gulped down as if it was Vimto resulting in being somewhat hazy for the next couple of hours.
Despite England having a promising opening partnership they summarily collapsed and lost the match by 7 wickets.
The following year we tried but failed to get in to a one-day game versus West Indies and missed out on the mercurial Viv Richards plundering an infamous 189 not out.
I attended other test matches including Day 2 of the Ashes test in the famous 2005 series after which we mercilessly ribbed a couple of placid Aussies in a nearby pub.
We have also stayed at the Old Trafford Lodge a couple of times, once to attend a family wedding in 2007 on the day England beat Australia in the Rugby World Cup quarter final.
Round about the turn of the century Old Trafford decided to utilise the venue for an annual batch of summer concerts, for a period badging it as the Mood Festival.
I was excited to note that REM were booked to play on 13/07/03 following on from their fine Glastonbury headline performance the previous month.
It was another staggeringly hot Sunday afternoon as the five of us in attendance melted on the train on the journey over. We decided to frequent the bars on Deansgate locks, in the first bar we visited the local celebrity Tony H Wilson was rather intoxicated but like a trooper he recovered to be in fine shape on Granada Reports the following day.
At the venue they had a very commendable beer voucher process which kept the queues down.
The support acts were Badly Drawn Boy and Idlewild as we sweltered in the tropical weather watching from the pitch. Michael Stipe was in mischievous mood as he likened the one cloud in the sky to Badly Drawn Boy. Did that suggest he wasn’t enamoured with one of the support acts?
I recall him apologising for being American due to the Gulf War, perhaps he was also prescient of a future muppet becoming President. Though pots and kettles spring to mind here with Boris the Spider in power on our shores!
I had grown up with REM as I discovered them when I was 16 and they were magnificent that night with ‘Strange Currencies’ and ‘End of the World’ verging on being transcendental. They were arguably at the peak of their powers and fuelled by the ale, weather and the terrific music I was over zealously dancing away. It remains one of my Top 10 gigs.
We circumnavigated the metro and the crowds successfully by going the wrong way for one stop and then returning into town.
We saw them there 2 years later but whilst still being decent it was not in the same league as the first attendance. They had also foolishly moved away from vouchers to a first come first serve resulting in waiting in a devilishly long queue which covered a fair portion of Feeder’s support set, thankfully the beer hut was located to the side of the stage. My pal Algarve Ray timed it well as I was at the top end of the queue when he unexpectedly appeared so I could add his order to mine.
My one other attendance was to see the Pixies for the first time in 15 years on their comeback tour in 2004. It was a grey rainy day, but Pixies served to brighten the mood with me bouncing around in the oldest moshpit I have ever encountered with ‘Where is My Mind’ being the highlight.
We caught the initial portion of the Stereophonics headline set before heading off the site. We were distracted en route by unusual activity occurring in the DJ tent where there have been a friendly coup and the DJ was only being allowed to play Pixies tracks. The opening notes of each new Pixies song resulted in rapturous applause, it was quite a sight.
We had just had time for a cheeky one in Thirsty Scholar prior to the train and wouldn’t you just know it on our entry to the pub they were playing a Pixies song!