Tag: LCD Soundsystem

Preston Venue 52 Moor Park – Part 1

Somewhat remarkably I have arrived at the door of my 200th (and 201st) blog so I cogitated long and hard about to what to cover in this particular piece and eventually decided to write about what was arguably Preston’s biggest ever music event in terms of national exposure in my lifetime.    

On returning from a holiday in early 2007 we were informed that astonishingly the Radio 1 Big Weekend was to be held in the sleepy backwater of Preston in May 2007, and not only that but the venue chosen was Preston Moor Park, a ten-minute bumble from where I lived at that time. This event was Europe’s biggest free ticketed event, with 35k punters in attendance over the two days.

   Moor Park with an outdoor stage in approximately 1955. Image Credit flickr.com

Moor Park is Preston’s largest and oldest park. It was the site of the Battle of Preston in 1648 where there was a four-hour scrap between the New Model Army, commanded by Oliver Cromwell (commemorated in song by Elvis Costello) and the Royalist and the Scots. Horse racing was held there annually between 1736 and 1833, and there is still in place the stone that was the starting point for the races.

Also, in 1833 it was rebadged as Moor Park and the original Serpentine Lake and ‘Ladies Walk’ (Moor Park Avenue) remain to this day. Preston North End began their existence initially as a cricket club on the park before changing over to football and moving location onto the other side of Deepdale Road.

During the Great War, it was utilised as a hospital and in the Second World War as a prisoner of war camp. The observatory was installed in 1927 just before a rare occurrence of a total eclipse in that year.

Moor Park with Deepdale in the background. Image Credit blogpreston.co.uk

There was an open-air baths in existence there until the early 1970’s, just before my time though I do recall visiting the other open-air baths in Haslam Park across town before that closed, though from memory the water was brutally cold! I do also remember they had a decent pitch and putt golf course in the middle part of Moor Park in the 1980’s.  

The first challenge was to purloin a ticket for the Radio 1 shindig, and they did thankfully allocate a vast proportion to local postcodes. After submitting applications from several addresses (with prior agreement!) I was notified we had been allocated two tickets for the Sunday bill, though confirmation was only received ten days before the event. The tickets were free though that did not stop many greedy charlatans trying to sell them at hugely inflated prices, before thankfully the sites were shut down!

It was obviously broadcast live on Radio 1, and coverage was also available on BBC Three, with Edith Bowman, Jo Whiley and Chris Moyles amongst others in attendance. There was a huge encouragement for attendees to use public transport as there is very limited parking facilities in that area, two separate park and rides schemes were set up to assist in this venture.   

There were many Fringe events with local bands playing at the Mad Ferret, 53 Degrees, Bitter Suite, Kolor Bar and the Venue. They featured acts such as Jelly’s Last Jam, King Casanova, How’s My Pop and Redwings who had recently had a support slot with the Subways.

King Casanova playing Oxjam in Preston in 2007. Image Credit flickr.com

On the Saturday there was an exciting vibe as festival goers walked past the end of my road and I could hear the music from the bands in the distance. My pal Rick Clegg was in attendance and acts playing that day included Razorlight, Kasabian, The Gossip, Biffy Clyro, CSS, Scissor Sisters and LCD Soundsystem.

Manchester 74 Soup Kitchen – Part 2

I recall being sat in the Soup Kitchen bar in early 2017 when I knew that we would soon be relocating to Manchester, in the background I could hear the distinctive intro theme song to Marc Reilly’s 6 music show and for some odd reason that very event made the upcoming move feel infinitely more authentic!  

In Feb 2015 I unearthed a diamond when we saw Ex-Hex there, coincidentally my 550th gig. They are an all-female garage rock trio from Washington DC and had just released their terrific debut album ‘Rips’.  Uncle George’s reaction was priceless, he watched silently for the first three tracks and then spun round and exclaimed ‘where the hell did you find this lot Jim?’. The justification for his infectious enthusiasm was due to a compelling performance by the band, inciting memories of previous forbearers The Runaways and the Slits.

Ex-Hex. Image Credit The Daily Telegraph

They had supported the legendary Rocket from the Crypt and I also saw them on a later tour double billing with the Jacuzzi Boys. On this night they were supported by Princess, an arty American band who could be loosely labelled in the ‘math rock’ category.

The next band on the roster was The Cheatahs, who unusually had Canadian, American and German members but were based in London! I had first picked up on them via their excellent self-titled debut album evoking highly favourable comparisons to the seminal Sugar album ‘Copper Blue’. After releasing their second album, they sadly disbanded in 2016.

For the first half of the gig the sound was shambolic as it could not cope with their sonic attack. The second half was very enjoyable and perhaps their finest track ‘The Swan’ was especially glorious. They were supported by a Brighton psychedelic rock band called Novella.  

The Cheatahs. Image Credit Genius

In May 2016, Babeheaven were on the roster. The London duo produced introspective electronic pop music and finally issued their debut album in 2020 called ‘Home for Now’. Later that year I witnessed Trudy and the Romance, a three piece from Liverpool, previously they were simply called Trudy. They were perhaps best quantified in the country blues bracket. 

In February 2017 the weather gods did not smile on us as there was a huge storm that evening, but we just about managed to navigate into and out of Manchester on the infrequent trains left available. I am glad we did because Julia Jacklin was excellent with her uniquely soothing voice. She was brought up in the Blue Mountains outside Sydney in Australia which we have fortunately had a chance to visit. She deservingly now receives a lot of radio airplay.

I then saw Jakl (Hughie Gavin) who was a singer/songwriter from Margate. I have just read a story about him where his dad was hospitalised with a Covid coma, he wrote a specific song and played to him every day, his father woke up a week later and sang the melody of the song back to his son as it was the only thing he could recall when he was in the coma.

Next up was multi-instrumentalist Jacob Allen who was originally a bedroom recording artist from South London who plays under the stage name of Puma Blue. He was followed six months later by Fizzy Blood, an indie rock band from Leeds.

I made two further visits in 2019, the first being a six-piece synth band from Manchester called Mealtime. They were in the LCD Soundsystem mould and have been garnered quite a bit of media attention since then.

The second was a four-piece named Two Weeks in Nashville, whose sound leaned heavily into the 1970’s genre. Their moniker derived from an inspirational holiday they took in Tennessee’s capital city which reinvigorated their musical ambitions. My latest attendance was on 02/04/22 as part of the Fair Play Festival to see a local artist called Tyler Crude.