Author: jimmyc1968

Blackburn King Georges Hall

Ten miles down the road from Preston via bus or rail lies the town of Blackburn. It is another old mill town and was home to the Matthew Brown and Thwaites breweries in 1980’s/1990’s and they dominated the ownership of the public houses in the area.

Situated central Blackburn is the famous old venue King Georges Hall. It is a Grade 2 listed building and was opened in 1921. David Bowie played there on his Ziggy Stardust tour in 1973 and it was a staple on the punk circuit. There are three halls, the Concert Hall (capacity 1800), Windsor Suite (750) and Blakeys Café Bar (500).

You may be surprised to hear I have attended all three venues, the most frequently attended being three appearances at the Windsor Suite. In 1986 I saw the Pogues and remember going to the Dun Horse pub before hands which left a lasting impression as a very odd Goth/Pagan pub, it would not have been out of place in the Wickerman film! The Pogues attracted the usual demented following and ‘Sally Maclannane’ was outstanding.

Later that year, I saw Jesus and Mary Chain supported by the Shop Assistants. The support band stole the show that night with their youthful C86 noisy shoegaze exuberance. They breezed on and their sonic single ‘Safety Net’ was delivered with aplomb and they also played a fine cover of ‘Ace of Spades’. Mary Chain were just not loud enough and were rather disappointing.

The legendary Shop Assistants. Image Credit Twitter

A few months after that on a monsoon like Thursday night I saw the Fall and they were decent with Brix Smith summarily taking the proverbial out of the audience and ‘Mr Pharmacist’ the best track.

I did once attend Blakeys Café Bar. This was to see a Battle of the Bands semi-final event around 1986 in which a couple of pals Warren Beesley and Mick Duffy’s band Purple Turtles were competing. There was an old double decker bus commissioned and we pottered over on that. We actually missed Purple Turtles on that occasion as we were ensconced in a boozer at that point due to my mate Rick’s fixation in finding the only Boddingtons pub in town. We caught the last three bands including the winners, a jazz band called Human Nature. The Turtles missed a top three slot so no qualification to the final.

I have attended the main Concert Hall twice with the sprung dance floor. My first attendance there in 1985 was to see Billy Bragg supported by Surfing Dave and Porky the Poet. It was sold out and they even opened the balconies that night. Billy was a solo performer at that point and was fabulous and I recall ‘Land of No Return’ and ‘Love Gets Dangerous’ being the highlights.

My final attendance was around 1995 to see Portishead. The smoking ban had not yet come into play but people weren’t smoking normal fags so even as a passive attendee it turned into a slightly blissed out experience. Lead singer Beth Gibbons was very nervous initially, but once confidence gained was soon belting it out and they turned out be very good live. I recall the four of us obtaining a dirt-cheap taxi home and a curry in the Dilshad in Preston completed a rather fine night. 

Portishead in concert. Image Credit you tube – Luigi Tesei

Definition of a Gig and a Venue?

If you are anything like me, I am sure you periodically cogitate on the meaningful questions in life such as: –

How did I get here?

Where does that highway go to?

What is your favourite flavour of bonbon? – For the record mine is Toffee (the white ones) though the Vimto ones run them close.

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I was struggling for an inspired picture this week, so I have selected a bag of bonbons for you! Image credit moresweets.co.uk

However as this is a musical related blog, today I am going to consider the two tricky conundrums, what is the definition of a gig and of a venue? This has sparked numerous debates with friends in many taprooms in many towns over the years and what follows are my thoughts on these vexing questions.

Looking at the Oxford English dictionary the definition of a gig is ‘a single performance by a musician or group of musicians, especially playing modern or pop music’.

In my early gig going days I was very rigid in my interpretation of a gig in that I had to be actively intending to attend a gig beforehand to add to the list and would not count any random walk up gigs e.g.  a band on in a boozer where I have gone for a cheeky libation. As time progressed, I gradually revised this opinion leading me to cast my memory back to recall earlier gigs which met this criterion, however I am sure I am still missing a few, which shall forever be known as the ‘lost’ gigs!

Does the gig have to be a certain length of time or number of songs? I don’t personally adopt this approach as to me any length of time playing on a stage constitutes a gig, thus applying the principle of a single performance outlined in the dictionary definition above.

An anecdote springs to mind here as a couple of years ago the annual lads trip ended up in Den Bosch via Eindhoven in Holland and unexpectedly there was a Jazz Festival in full flow. One of the lads Hughie at that stage was endeavouring to attend 50 gigs in his 50th year and his strict definition was that a gig had to constitute a full five songs. Now Jazz is one of the few genres I have never really embraced, a sentiment that was shared by the whole group but a gig geek like me does not turn away a gift horse of bonus gigs like that! Thus, we were stood beer in hand at one of the stages watching ‘Groupo Des Cargos’ whose fifth song was an absolutely epic opus with at least a couple of false endings. The roar that greeted the end of the song attracted very bemused looks from the band!

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One of the stages at the Den Bosch Jazz festival. Image credit denboschtips.com

Is there an argument to say a gig should only count if you pay? I again do not embrace this ethos as you would miss out on a plethora of fine bands in a variety of settings outside the accepted norm.

In relation to outdoor Festivals such as T in the Park, I would count as one gig and one venue as it is in an enclosed outdoor setting though may have several stages. I would always count bands individually so may have 20-30 listed over a whole weekend.

However, I apply a different principle to other wrist band events such as the Dot to Dot indoor festival which involve bespoke venues, so I have been known to undertake 20 gigs and conversely 20 venues at these events.

Now, this might be a controversial one. If I go a separate individual area in the same venue, I count these as individual venues. As an example, I once attended Chorlton Irish Club and there were bands playing in the upstairs bar, downstairs bar and a separate acoustic room at the front so three venues in total were counted.

If a venue is refurbished or changes its name, I will only count this as one venue as it is the same floor space just under a different moniker!

Now, over to you as I would be fascinated in your thoughts on my personal guidelines above and whether they mirror yours.