2020 – Page 7 – jimmysgigapedia.com

Preston Venue 12 – Polytechnic Part 2

Attached to the venue was a bar/nightclub called 42^nd Street which we smuggled into a few times despite being non-students.

On 31/05/92 I went to see the Cornish band the Family Cat. It was a hot summer which at that point of my life was nosebleed season for me. It was a late decision to go with a couple of friends. We met in the Continental and then got distracted walking into town by Jools Holland playing a set on Avenham Park.

In the pub before the gig, some punters were watching a Nigel Benn title fight on a little TV in a corner. We went in about 11pm and caught an unnamed support act who had one song titled ‘Kenneth Clarke is a Sad Man’.

The place was about half full and I saw a pal of mine called Warren Beasley in the audience. A couple of years after Warren tragically died from cancer at the age of 26.

Family Cat came on about 12.15. It never ceases to astound me looking back how late the sets were in those days, it would never or very rarely happen now. It was a nondescript gig and they played for about an hour.

In 1997 John Dewhurst, Uncle George, Gill and I went to see Billy Bragg. It was 6 days before the General Election, and it was patently obvious that after 18 years of Tory rule we were finally going to see a Labour government. As a result, he was on fire that night literally preaching to the converted and that enthusiasm created an anticipatory buzz in the crowd.

See the source image — Billy Bragg. Image Credit The Salt Lake Tribune

The charged atmosphere added to the lustre of ‘Ideaology’ and ‘New England’. A thoroughly enjoyable set.

The following week the expected landslide came to pass. I recall on the Friday morning Dominik Diamond opened his show on 5 Live by stating ‘he was proud of the British public’ earning him a reprimand for breaching the legendary BBC impartiality rules.

That evening George and I headed into town where I could partake in my first legal drink under Labour power at the sprightly age of 29 and we took full advantage ending the night in the legendary Raiders nightclub!

It was an enervating time and on a personal level it coincided with major life events of buying our first house and getting married before the 90’s were out. The time period was the Yin to the current Yang of the post Brexit Covid Britain we currently reside in.

My final gig there was to see Electric Six on 29/11/03. It was on a Friday night and the place was almost full. They were a six-piece band from Michigan and had just released their fine debut album ‘Fire’. They had shot to fame on the back of their two hit singles ‘Danger! High Voltage’ and especially ‘Gay Bar’ accompanied by a startlingly original video which resulted in me never looking at Abraham Lincoln in the same way!

I think they remain the band that I was most surprised by in relation to how unexpectedly good they were, they were as tight as a drum live. Dick Valentine was an utterly engaging lead singer complete with a French stick as a prop.

Little did I know when I started attending gigs that in my mid 30’s I would be joyously bopping round a moshpit with a hundred others bellowing ‘I have got something to put in you’!

Preston Venue 12 – Polytechnic Part 1

The University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN) was founded in 1992 but derived from humbler beginnings. In 1828 the nattily titled Institution for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge was established. Further iterations of Preston Polytechnic and Lancashire Polytechnic were in place prior to it becoming a fully-fledged university.

UCLAN has through a suite of unusual courses created a niche for itself and is now the 19^th largest in the UK in in terms of numbers, many of them foreign students. In my lifetime the University has spread its tentacles far and wide across town in relation to outbuildings and student accommodation.

In the Preston/Lancashire Polytechnic era, a music venue was introduced. It was a decent venue with a capacity of perhaps about 600. Beyond the dancefloor were large wooden blocks for group seating in a similar style to the block layout at the rear of the Deaf Institute. Above that, there was a viewing balcony.

I attended one non-music event there when a friend who was employed by the Poly obtained complimentary tickets for a group of us for a hospitality comedy event. The main act on that night was a pre-famous Peter Kay.

My first gig was Teenage Fanclub on 14/01/92. This was the year after ‘Bandwagonesque’ was released and a couple of years before my fave album of theirs ‘Grand Prix’ saw the light of day. There was a big group of us in attendance on a cold Tuesday night and after visiting the Lamb and Packet and the Variety we headed into the venue for a sold-out gig.

Dependant on which tome you perused at the time they had been touted as either the new Nirvana or the new Byrds. I would personally place them nearer the later categorisation with their West Coast sound and pleasing harmonies.

I watched the opening couple of tracks in the balcony before diving (not literally!) into the pit. The band did not seem fully engaged with them muttering after the first track ‘played a crap gig in Newcastle last night, hope we don’t do the same here’ which only served to dampen down expectations for the rest of the set!

I have seen them several times since and enjoyed them but due to a couple of deliberate false starts and lukewarm set they were disappointing that first time.

In May 2000 I went to see Asian Dub Foundation who were a melting pot of crossover influences including rap, dub, ragga and rock. It was one of the most unenthusiastic crowds I have ever witnessed and despite the bands best efforts the gig failed to ignite.

In 1995, an upcoming band called Radiohead booked the venue. I think the tour was supporting the imminent release of their second album ‘The Bends’. They were supported by Marian.

I didn’t know a lot of their stuff apart from the overplayed ‘Creep’ off their first album ‘Pablo Honey’. We watched the gig from the panoramic vantage of the balcony, and they were enjoyable, and Thom Yorke had a presence about him.

That said, I would not have predicted their stellar rise in the following couple of years and the fact that ‘The Bends’ and ‘OK Computer’ are periodically placed in pundits lists of Top 10 all-time albums!

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