When I left school in 1984, I undertook a one-year course to purloin some more further O’Levels at Newman College based in Winckley Square. I had somewhat to my detriment but to endless fun discovered pubs by this stage and regularly visited Lou’s Longbar in town on a Thursday night as they were somewhat lax in applying the normal age 18 criteria. A further essential part of the social calendar was to attend the legendary college do’s which took place 3 times that year. The very boozy events took place at Clouds nightclub on a Monday night.
At that time, there was a sister establishment in Preston called Tuson College based on St Vincent’s Road in Fulwood. They also held a college do in the same week on a Wednesday and these took place at Brooks Nightclub on Church Street. Rick Clegg and I managed to complete a 100% attendance record at all 6 functions in our college year but on those double do weeks we were extremely jaded come Thursday morning!
Brooks nightclub was based in the former Ritz cinema and was originally Scamps Discotheque and has since gone through various incarnations namely Arabellas, the Place and Aqualenium. Under that latter guise I attended one gig there on 16/05/02.
I discovered the existence of this hometown gig in a slightly unusual way. Thus, 19 days before I was leaving a And They Shall Know Us By the Trail of Dead gig in Manchester and local luminary John Robb was holding court by the exit door and outlining an upcoming Goldblade gig in Preston.
Calls were made in the morning to gather interest resulting in a group of us, including the enigmatic Matty Allen, gathering in the Black Horse on the gig night prior to heading onto the venue.
As it was a nightclub gig it turned into a very late one and many drinks were imbibed. Goldblade were supported by local band Onset. On a very small stage the main act commenced their performance close to 1am with Action Record’s Gordon Gibson in attendance. I do not think John Robb was enamoured with the sound system resulting in a fit of pique and the microphone being hurled down after a chaotic and very noisy truncated set!
Action Records located on Church Street is one of those rare but utterly essential independent record stores. It started out as a stall on Blackpool Market before moving to its current location in 1979 and is still run by the indefatigable and Stranraer’s finest Gordon Gibson. I have been going in there since the early 80’s and remember Saturday afternoons delving into the vinyl boxes on the shop floor and unearthing and buying obscure gems such as Dumptruck and Squirrel Bait from my YTS money.
They have developed their own record label recording output from acts such as the Boo Radleys. They have been a fierce advocate of record store day and have had many in store gigs including performances from Dirty Pretty Things, Bastille, Billy Bragg and a show from a young Muse in 1999.
On the night of 23/10/05 I was out watching Nine Black Alps in Manchester, coincidentally my 200th gig, and Magic Numbers were playing at the venue next door, and I heard on the grapevine they were undertaking an in store set the next day. So, the following lunchtime I gathered in a busy shop with Algarve Ray in attendance to watch a short set from a jaded looking Magic Numbers who hail from West London but model themselves on the 60’s Californian sound. They provided a soothing soundtrack within the confines of a somewhat unusual setting!
I was at Action Record when Muse played and they were magnificent. Now they’re playing stadiums. I also saw Angelica there whose lead singer Holly now fronts the punk tastic duo The Lovely Eggs. I ventured over when The Magic Numbers played but alas I was too late and the place was full. However I saw them play a brilliant set at 53 Degrees which was just under 3 hours and TMN’s Michelle Stobart was superb playing her own show at The Ferret. I was fortunate to speak to her before and after her set and she was personable, charming and down to earth.
Goldblade are an amazing live act. They even played Preston’s The Adelphi.
The tuesdays in between the 2 college do’s were a blessing mate. Brooks was ‘The Place’ in the late 80s where me and ‘Er Indoors’ first ‘courted. Amazingly we discovered a couple of years ago that it was also the first date for her (and Dave Keane’s) mum and dad – Pat and Jim (the Ritz).