One fantastic initiative that has appeared in the last 17 years (since 2005) is the award winning Get it Loud in Libraries and Lancaster Library was at the forefront, if not the first to undertake this commendable pursuit. The concept being rather simple to see high quality artists in the unusual intimate surroundings of the local library.
Many heavyweight performers have embraced this ethos as an antidote to playing soulless stadium venues. Many libraries have joined the roster including Coventry, Birkenhead, Barrow and Blackpool. Some of the names who have appeared are Florence and the Machine, Idles and Ellie Goulding. I also recall at Lancaster specifically that Frank Turner and Adele have graced the venue. I had attended one library gig before at Finsbury in February 89 to see Peggy Seeger and Ewan McColl and one after in 2017 to see Honeyblood at Wigan Museum of Life (which was actually a library).
Lancaster Library resides in the northwest corner of Market Square, where in 1745 Bonnie Prince Charlie was proclaimed regent by the Jacobite Army. This library enterprise first caught my attention 263 years later in 2008 when Robert Forster was booked for a Lancaster slot.
Robert being one half of the co-writing team alongside Grant McLennan in the enigmatic 1980’s Australian band the Go-Betweens. The gig took place in the front portion of the building and once you got used to the quirky setting, he was very enjoyable. There was an intermission allowing us to scamper over to the nearby John O Gaunt pub, and I recall Algarve Ray had also headed over from the gig and we discussed my recent holiday in the Algarve!
The next visit in 2011 was a double header with a difference as there were two gigs scheduled, one on the Saturday night and the other on Sunday afternoon. Due to the highly opportune synchronicity Gill and I decided to grab a cheap room for the night at the Best Western Hotel near the station.
I met Gill after the PNE match, and we caught a train over, and I recall watching Crawley losing narrowly to Man Utd in the FA Cup 5th round when we were getting changed at the hotel. We grabbed some tea at the 1725 Tapas restaurant on the opposite end of Market Square.
In the intervening three years they had created a stage in the larger room of the library to aid an increased capacity. The act that evening was a band from Ohio called Mona, whose driving force was Nick Brown, the band being named after his grandmother. I had seen them on Jools Holland, and I thought they had the look of a young Glasvegas about them.
They had just won the BBC Sound of 2011 poll though not yet released their debut album. They garnered some stadium support slots later that year with Kings of Leon and the sound was arguably in the same bracket. On the night the lead singer had a decent set of pipes, and I enjoyed their set.
The following day, we decided to grab some Sunday lunch and a couple of aperitifs at the Borough gastropub before the 3pm gig. Yuck were a London band that were releasing their self-titled debut album the very next day. They were firmly in the grunge bracket and created a fine racket though I think a night-time gig in a more unkempt venue would have been a better fit for them. They subsequently split in 2015 and were supported that afternoon by emo band Pegasus Bridge.
My final visit there was on Monday 09/07/12 to see Low and a group of us pottered over to watch them. They were still most certainly in their usual soft hushed vein prior to the shift to their more recent guitar led material. One of the crew left halfway through as he found it all too maudlin, but I thought they were in fine form and the venue played to their strengths.
On arrival back in Preston we had a flier at the Vic and Station before someone foolishly suggested we take advantage of the Old Dog down in Church Street which during the week stayed open until 4am. I finally toppled out of said establishment at 2.50am, my one and only visit to the late bar. Thankfully I had booked Tuesday as leave, but it took me quite a while to beginning functioning the next day!
I was with you at that Low gig Jimmy. I recognised your Uncle George from the train station on the ticket counter. Top bloke. Wish him all the best from me. A certain Dave Keane was there too but I’m not sure he enjoyed the recital. In fact he may have walked out before it ended.