Author: jimmyc1968

Liverpool Venues 2 and 3

Liverpool has always been a challenge to access via the train network, so it has not been a regular haunt for gig attending. I must grudgingly concede that the many of the Northern trains are now being improved but the Liverpool routes appear to be at the bottom of the upgrading schedule.

I regularly commute to Liverpool with work thereby having to tolerate the inferior rolling stock. Recently I arrived at Lime Street for a return journey and was astonished to see a new Northern train waiting on the platform, with advanced accessories such as tables, though my joy was short-lived as I realised there were two trains on the platform and sighed when I saw my actual commute of Ivor the Engine was awaiting behind!

I have witnessed Jesus and Mary Chain nine times in total across the years ranging from that infamous show in Preston Clouds in 1985 through to a gig at Manchester Albert Hall a couple of months ago. Many of those shows have been chaotic but their gig at the Lomax takes the biscuit!

Gill, John Dewhurst, and I headed over on a Friday night in 1998, with Gill generously offering to be the designated driver. We scouted around a couple of boozers then headed over to the venue on Cumberland St, off Dale St in the city centre.

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An ultimately unsuccessful gathering to save the Lomax. Image Credit Liverpool Echo.

The club was a three floored iconic site for up-and-coming acts with a 300 capacity. Bands such as Radiohead and Muse had graced the stage there.  It was also known as Foxys and it looks like the venue was permanently closed in 2015 following a police investigation where the owner was jailed for six years for openly selling cocaine on the premises.

It was an intimate venue, but the band were literally falling apart on stage exemplified by continuous acerbic exchanges between Jamie and William Reid and many false starts, Gill was ready to jump on stage and bang their heads together! It was a raggedy set with a far proportion off their latest album ‘Munki’.

The only song that really stood out for me on the night was a rousing version of ‘Reverence’ with its haunting screaming refrain ‘I Wanna Die Just Like Jesus Christ’. Based on that performance it was absolutely no surprise it transpired to be their final tour, prior to their reformation around ten years later.

On five occasions, I have attended gigs on my birthday, Neil Young on my 19th birthday, Against Me on my 32nd, an Alicante gig on my 50th and a King St event on my 51st. They have also generously allocated me an extra bank holiday this year the day after my birthday to attend a Lovely Eggs gig. Rumours that it is due to a Queen Jubilee event are patently untrue!

The fifth occurrence was on 02/06/11, my 43rd birthday. Gill and I had booked a night in Liverpool and after visiting a restaurant in Liverpool One, we dived into a random pub called The Ship & Mitre on the way back to the hotel.

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The Ship & Mitre. Image Credit Liverpool Echo.

It was approaching last orders and we sat quietly in an alcove in the corner and were soon the last punters in the establishment. Then somewhat bizarrely and unprompted one of the bar staff grabbed an acoustic guitar and the other chap called Simon Cities provided the vocals. We watched three to four songs of their sea shanties to not appear impolite before taking our leave, requiring them to unlock the door for us, it was literally a bonus closed door gig!

A postscript is that the documenting of the JAMC gig completes all the gigs I attended in the 20th century, however do not be too perturbed as there are veritable shedloads of 21st century gigs yet to review!

Warrington Festival 2021

This is a particularly exciting blog for me to pen as is it is the first one that involves attending gigs after the fateful March 2020 date. This was not quite my first post pandemic gig but details the first festival I attended when we were allowed to do so again! This year’s Warrington Festival was pushed back from its original date to 04/09/21 but despite the autumnal date the weather gods smiled on us.

I had looked at the Warrington event previously, but this year Marcus and I decided to make an appearance to catch the Saturday bill. Transport options were weighed up because as you know I never drive to a gig and the most feasible was train there and taxi back.

The local train was fine but the Manchester to Warrington leg was extremely busy resulting in us being jammed in between carriages with a worrying lack of mask compliance. It was a huge culture shock and felt more claustrophobic than normal due to the COVID connotations. It was such a welcome relief when the door finally opened at Warrington Central station.

Warrington is a place I have rarely visited despite it being handily placed on the West Coast main line and I always link it geographically with the shopping hell that is IKEA. I can only recall one distinctly average night out years ago and my abiding memory was the plethora of Greenall Whitley pubs!

We sallied over to the venue of Victoria Park, about a 15-minute walk from the station. En route, we grabbed a comfort break in a Wetherspoons hostelry, though no supporting drink was purchased as a protest against their rather shameless Pandemic approach to their staff. As we departed, we noticed there was a Green Day covers band playing at an outdoor stage in an adjacent pub Postern Gate, we listened to one of their jaunty tunes, then headed onwards.

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Warrington Postern Gate. Image Credit tripadvisor.co.uk

On arrival to the site and due to my permanently guilty expression I was obviously subject to a full search, bringing back memories of regularly being refused entry to nightclubs when I was younger! It was a busy site, but it was very well proportioned with three stages at good distances from each other.

We spent much of our time at the Big Top stage. The first band we witnessed was the Big Moon, an all-female 4-piece from London who have previously supported the Pixies on tour. They cut a gentle engaging presence and when they played a Fatboy Slim cover they nearly had me in floods of tears. It wasn’t that track, it could have been any song, it was the realisation at that point that I was back doing something I love after the horrendous period we have all been through. I managed to recalibrate, have a slurp of my overpriced beer and everything was back on an even keel!

Continuing the maudlin theme because as I pen this article, I have just heard of Mark Lanegan’s untimely death at the age of 57. I must say this one has hit me hard, with the same resonance of Grant Hart’s passing, as I was a huge fan of Screaming Trees. I have read his brutal unflinching autobiography detailing his troubled soul and addictions and was fortunate to see him live four times. However, his legacy will live on with his utterly unique vocal delivery and stellar albums such as Dust and Bubblegum. 

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The idiosyncratic Mr Lanegan. Image Credit malapu-pro.com

The next band was the much-vaunted Murder Capital, the post punk group from Dublin. They didn’t quite cut if for me as their music was somewhat dour and directionless, I much prefer their city counterparts Fontaines DC. They were followed by the Gang of Youths from Sydney, Australia. I had been privy to some of their material beforehand and placed them firmly in the Triffids bracket thereby having decent expectations. They had their moments, but the lead singer David Le’aupepe loved himself a little too much, not even in a semi-ironic way!

We grabbed some food and began chatting to a young engaging couple from Stoke. A worrying aspect of the conversation was that they had no firm plan of how they were going to travel home at the end of the day, I wonder where they are now!

The Viola Beach stage was the next port of call where we had earlier seen Lona. The headliners were the Orielles from Halifax and despite their main vocalist Esme Dee Hand-Halford losing her voice early in the show their slightly wonky intelligent sound was as enjoyable as ever.

As we had walked round to the entrance earlier, we had heard the unmistakable summer sounds of the Coral on the Main Stage drifting over the perimeter fence. We caught a smidge of Sam Fender and the days special guest Jake Bugg.    

The main headliners were James and we headed down closer to the front and caught most of their set before heading off to our taxi rendezvous. The traffic on the Warrington streets was chaotic and as a result we were relieved to eventually find our ride. Unfortunately, he then made a wrong turn and diverted us down the M60 instead of the correct M56 route adding an extra 20 miles to the journey. Fair play to him, he took it on the chin and no extra fee was incurred and I subsequently arrived home around midnight.