In October 1987 my brother and I headed off on a sally to London and attended a flurry of gigs in a similar vein to Mr Heaton Hibs comment on London First trip. We travelled down by train on Saturday 24th October and swiftly dropped the bags at our lodgings, the Calvados Hotel in Victoria. We then scarpered off to take part in an Anti-Apartheid rally with 75,000 other participants. On arrival at the final destination of the march at Hyde Park, where Rolling Stones once played a famous free concert in 1969. There were various speakers but also a short enjoyable set from the Bhundu Boys.
That evening we headed up to Harlesden, an Irish enclave in North West London. There was some fine Guinness on tap in the pubs, one had about 20 pints already half pulled in preparation for the incoming orders. Our terminus was the Mean Fiddler, a honky tonk venue run by Vince Power, who went on run the Leeds/Reading festivals. It was opened in 1982 taking over from a dubious drinking club run by boxer Terry Downes, the venue subsequently closed in 2002.
It is was a fabulous venue with very laid-back country music booming out. We saw Townes Van Zandt there who was significantly inebriated but was enjoyable nonetheless and played to 11.25pm. He was support to the Dave Kelly Band, but we had to leave before then to catch the last tube which managed to get us to within a mile walk of the digs.
We had a gig free day on the Sunday. On the Monday afternoon we had a double bill of movies watching The Untouchables and then Rivers Edge featuring Dennis Hopper and a very young Keanu Reeves. We headed into Camden later that day to visit Camden Dingwalls. The venue first opened in June 1973 and was home to Blondie’s first ever UK gig and remains a venue to this day, in fact I was in the bar there for a cheeky beer about a year ago and it is significantly more gentrified nowadays.
It was a £1.50 entrance fee and was a bit of a battered venue in those days. I recall purchasing a scooby snack of some fine cheese salad butties. The first band were Brilliant Corners who were pure pop music and they were superb. I recall them playing ‘Brian Rix’ and the excellent ‘Delilah Sands’, I still own the 12-inch version. They were supporting the Happy Mondays who weren’t great and I was never really a fan, but 12 months later they were huge…
The original plan for the Tuesday was to see Michelle Shocked but it was a Mexican Restaurant gig so we hunted down an alternative gig. After visiting the Forbidden Planet comic store, we travelled over to Angel Tube station. We visited a couple of hostelries on what was a windswept night and then headed over to City University on Northampton Square. The venue was on the second floor of the University, full of long corridors. The first band was Raw Herbs who were somewhat appropriately very studenty but enjoyable. Corn Dollies were on second, Janice Long reportedly a fan, who had to cut their set to 30 minutes to meet the 11pm curfew. Both were East London bands.
The City University venue is nearby the Lexington, a venue twice in recent times I have tried to attend, both without success, but I am nothing but perseverant so I will get there eventually.
By our last day in London on the Wednesday we were proper jaded. We bought tickets for our farewell gig from a ticket outlet in Camden at lunchtime and then went to view Blue Velvet, a surreal David Lynch movie. A stock take at the digs revealed we had £15.50 in the coffers thus funds were running perilously low. Off to Kentish Tube we weaved heading into the Town and Country Club at 10pm to see the Bhundu Boys again. The venue had that name between 1985 and 1993 and is now badged the O2 Forum.
I do recall a bloke at the bar offering to buy us a round, thinking back now he probably thought I was a waif and stray who he may be able to take advantage of. More fool him as I gratefully accepted the beers and strode back off to the sprung dancefloor.
It was an excellent venue with winding steps leading up to packed balconies with a responsive audience dancing and swaying away to the Zimbabwean vibes. I managed to get within four rows of the front and they were excellent with the lead singer tipping his hat after every tune. We had earlier won on the bandit so we could rather decadently buy a Chinese each, some fags for my brother and have £3 left in our pocket!
Some evocative names of bands and venues of the era there, Jimmy
Happy Mondays – I was keener on them than you I think but they could be terribly hit-or-miss live. The first time I saw them was supporting James at the Ritz in 1988 and I thought they were really good. They had a bit of football hooligan swagger to them but could really nail that indie / funk crossover sound that a lot of bands were trying for at the time. Subsequent encounters were less inspiring and the last appearance I witnessed in about ’91 was really sloppy with Shaun trying to read lyrics from a bit of tatty A4 paper.
Townes Van Zandt – I don’t think I would’ve known who he was in 1987 so hats off for checking him out. A tortured artist if ever there was one.
Michelle Shocked – Haven’t heard her name in years! She was a real music press darling at one stage. I wonder if she still plays
Brilliant Corners – They were one of those bands that seemed to feature on John Peel every night but if you had asked me to name a song by them I wouldn’t have had a clue.
You were a waif and stray.