Tag: Bob Dylan

Preston Venues 8 and 9

Just behind Preston prison, on Ribbleton Lane was the Preston TUC Club (also known as the Ribdale Club). It was a scruffy slightly battered venue with a decent sized gig room on the left-hand side of the building.

My first visit was in 1985 on a Thursday night with the band in question being the Food Scientists. They had some truly suspect barbecued beans with baked potatoes on sale which I really should not have purchased. The band were instantly forgettable and did a short set allowing me to jump on the 11.15 bus home.

My other visit was on another Thursday 10/12/87 to see Chumbawumba. Astonishingly there were five gigs on in Preston that night, a true tsunami of music and a feat possibly never repeated. They included Tank at the Guild Hall and Frank Sidebottom at London Road Labour Club, I cannot recall the other two events.

There was a group of us out and we also ran into Tony Dewhurst in the Greyhound prior to them going to the Frank Sidebottom gig. I headed to the other gig on my lonesome before catching up with John Dewhurst inside the venue.

We witnessed a couple of supports prior to the main band coming on at 10.30. This was prior to their ‘Tubthumping’ 15 minutes of fame period. There was about 10 of them in the band and they very interactive, anarchic and overtly political, creating a vibrant moshpit.

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Chumbawumba promo pic. Image Credit last.fm

They did one song in the style of Dylan’s ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’ with the discarding of the placards and encored with an acapella version of ‘The Diggers’ for which Billy Bragg had previously performed a cover. They played about an hour set and were good fun overall.

Couple of years later I missed a Snuff gig there as I was recovering from a tonsillectomy. I can find no records there of any gigs into the 90’s so assuming the music part of the venue closed around then.

Down by the River (not the Neil Young track!) in Preston lie the linked Parks, Miller and Avenham Park. The latter has a natural bowl effect and we used to partake in the local tradition of rolling eggs down the hill on Easter Monday.  

Avenham Park on an Easter Monday (before my time!). Image Credit Blog Preston.

There used to be an old stage at the foot of the slope, which was utilised during the Preston Guild events which take place every 20 years (in place since 1179) and this venue was used extensively in the 1992 event. The stage has long now and there is a café and tourist information where it once stood.

I saw four different gigs there over the years. The first being a short impromptu one when traversing the park on the way to another gig in town after a couple of bevies in the Continental pub. This was on 31/05/92 and we caught a portion of Jools Holland and Rhythm and Blues band’s set.

I witnessed two local bands events, the first in July 2000 witnessing Lorane, Bridge and Cujo and the second was on 26/07/03 to see sets by Gotukola, Free Parking, Idiom Lifeline and Neocoma.   

Between 1994 and 1996 Gill and I lived on a flat off Fishergate Hill which was 5 minutes-walk from the park and remarkably a free Heineken Festival was scheduled to take place there.

We headed down on a Saturday in June 1994 and were chatting to a couple of friends whilst a young bunch of upstarts from South Manchester called Oasis were playing in the tent about 100 yards away – I can claim I heard them at least!

We now live within 5 minutes’ walk to where the Gallagher boys grew up and the record shop they frequented and my pal Marcus lives opposite the house where the Definitely Maybe album cover picture was taken

I am sure I saw more than one band that day but did not record the details so the only one I definitely clocked was a superb set from Boo Radleys. The fact that I could witness such a fine band for free on my doorstep was a rare boon. Their best track was ‘Lazarus’.  

The festival continued the following year but with a significantly more commercial slant with Spice Girls playing. I decided to swerve that one and reminisce on the previous year’s show!

I appreciate this is a first world problem, but today marks 100 days since my last gig, my longest gap between gigs since 1994. I am hoping and praying that all these venues, especially the smaller ones  survive the pandemic.

Manchester Venues 9 to 12

There was a legendary gig etched in folklore in the heady red-hot summer of 1976 at the Lesser Free Trade Hall where the Sex Pistols apparently influenced many members of the audience to head out and form their own bands. Bob Dylan also played there twice in the mid 60’s, one of those performances inciting the ‘Judas’ shout on the back of him committing the heinous crime of going ‘electric’. In 2004 the venue stopped all performances and was converted into a hotel.

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Flyer from Sex Pistols gig in 1976. Image credit herestheartwork.co.uk

My one and only foray was there on 21/05/89, just shy of my 21st birthday to see the 10000 Maniacs. George drove over and it was a busy sporting night as we listened to Lancashire CC losing a cup quarter final to Worcestershire on the radio on the way over and Blackburn were playing Crystal Palace in a play-off match before being undone in the second leg by the forward line of Wright and Bright! Additionally, Barry McGuigan was fighting Jim McDonnell at the G-Mex next to the venue, for which touts were trying to foist tickets on us. He lost that night and it subsequently turned out to be his final bout.

We visited the Friendship Inn in Prestwich and parked up near the Boardwalk. The venue was quite a classical site and was all seated and despite my best efforts we could not get anywhere nearer the stage. Maniacs were in great form and the best tracks were off their opus ‘In My Tribe’ especially ‘Hey Jack Kerouac’, ‘Don’t Talk’, What’s the Matter Here’ and a fabulous encore of ‘Verdi Cries’. A very fine gig.

Referencing the G-Mex Conference Centre above leads to recollections of my one gig there. I have visited the G-Mex several times on work events and it used to be the location of Manchester Central station. They also now have a huge annual beer festival there. Contemporary update is that as I write this they are currently converting the venue to an emergency hospital to assist in the fight against the Covid 19 pandemic.  

My one visit was in 1993 to see Madness. Gill was undertaking a Paediatric Nursing course at that stage and lodging at Hope Hospital (now Salford Royal). The tram network running past there was only a twinkle in the developer’s eye at that stage. Locally we used to periodically frequent the disreputable Inn of Good Hope (coined locally as Good Grope!) and visit a fabulous Chinese restaurant about 100 yards from the hospital grounds which was utilised around that time for a scene in Coronation Street involving Des Barnes.

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Inn of Good Hope, Eccles Road, Salford in 1990. Image credit flickr.

Gill had got pally with a lass on her course who had settled in Monton so we headed with Liz and Clive into the metropolis that night for some nutty boy action. The venue was cavernous and rather soulless and was probably at best half full. As you would expect Madness were good fun, but I struggled to connect with it that night, perhaps due to the impersonality of the venue.

On the corner of Princes St and Portland St there is a faux Irish Bar called Scruffy Murphy’s where around 1993 I saw a lad called Seamus perform acoustically.

As referenced previously Chinatown has always been a central hub for us pre and post gigs and we used to periodically visit the Chinese Jazz Restaurant. On one visit there was an inhouse band playing whilst we were devouring our supper and I recall George requesting a tune, but for the life of me I cannot recall what it was!