Tag: Mogwai

Other British Gigs 3 and 4

I managed to catch Mogwai three times in the 2006 calendar year as I saw them in Edinburgh and London. The third strand of that trilogy was the last date of a short British tour which took place at Sheffield Plug on 07/04/06. My attendance of the event was in doubt until the last minute as I was a tad under the weather, but generally nothing would stand in my way of attending Mogwai gigs!

Thus, a train was boarded by Uncle George and I on the Friday afternoon via Manchester into Sheffield. John Dewhurst was not in attendance as the birth of his son Joe was imminent, frighteningly Joe is now aged 16 and just about to commence his first apprenticeship.

It was my virgin trip into the steel city, and I have always aspired one day to attend the World Snooker at the Crucible Theatre. Linked to that, I have a pal called Dave Dyson whose one of his claims to fame is that he was in attendance in 1983 when Cliff Thorburn famously made the first televised 147 break at the World Championships.

We had a quick foray into the bookies as it was Ladies Day at the Grand National meeting and we found a 33-1 winner which set us up in good stead for the day. We had a mulch around a couple of pubs before heading over to the venue located on 14-16 Matilda Street.

The club first opened in 2005 and modelled itself as a live music and club night venue opening to 6am at the weekends. Local luminaries Arctic Monkeys and the Prodigy have played there. It was also an award winner in the Club Bar None Awards in 2014.

The venue subsequently closed just before the pandemic struck. However, there are green shoots of recovery evident as the record shop Record Junkee, which sits opposite, are planning to reopen the establishment under the name Network and reinstate gigs and club nights there.  There are also plans for a bowling alley, drinking and dining area to be located in the original Plug car park.

The Sheffield Plug. Image Credit sheffieldhistory.co.uk

I recall the venue being down in the basement and it contained a very low roof in the style of the old International 1 in Manchester. As a result, it was the loudest Mogwai performance I have ever witnessed, and they do set a very high bar in that regard. There were literally people with hands over their ears at certain points during the set.     

The bands choice of the last three tracks contributed to this cacophony, being namely ‘2 Rights Make 1 Wrong’, We’re No Here’ and ‘Mogwai Fear Satan’.  We spent the return journey on the Saturday, trying without success to identify the winner of the National that afternoon.

On one weekend when I was visiting my brother in Nottingham in July 2008, he mentioned there was a festival that a friend’s band was participating in on the Sunday. So, I agreed to provide a lift there for him as it was on my route of travelling back to Preston.

The event was the Belper Music Festival though I can find scant details when I searched, so I don’t know whether it was only in existence for a short period of time. It took place on the narrow streets of the town and as it encompassed a bonus new venue I obviously had to stick around and watch a couple of acts! Thus, on a small stage on the main drag I saw two local bands, namely Moscow Straits and the Re-enactments.

Two postscripts from me if I may, I have just heard the brutally sad news of Mimi Parker of Low’s untimely death from evil ovarian cancer. I shall always the treasure the few times I saw them live and the heavenly harmonies they created. We shall always have ‘Just Like Christmas’, which is our Christmas present opening song on Christmas morning.

Mimi Parker of Low. Image Credit www.acclaimedmusic.net

The other element is that I have finally reached 100k words in my blog, a future book at some stage methinks. What was the profound 100,000th word I hear you say? Could it be ‘the’ or ‘but’? Well, it actually somewhat appropriately turned out to be ‘Manchester’!

Liverpool Venue 4 – L2

On the November 2001 Mogwai British tour there were rather unusually for them no Manchester dates scheduled, thus plans were hatched to watch them in Wolverhampton and the following week in Liverpool. So, on Friday 09/11/01 we boarded the Northern Ivor the Engine express to Liverpool Lime Street.

John Dewhurst and I deposited our overnights bags at our accommodation and proceeded to have a sally around a few Liverpool bars with Uncle George joining up with us later after he had finished his work shift. When meandering down Matthew Street I unexpectedly heard the hollering of my name, which always throws you when you are out of town. The source of the shouting was a mate from Preston called Pete Lester whose latest band Bridge were playing the famous Cavern that very evening.

We joined him for a bevy in the said venue, whilst perusing the tiny old stage where the young Beatles played, before checking out the back room where a more modern stage had now been erected.  In the final pub before the gig, we were subject to some barracking from a group of Everton fans regarding our status as Preston fans. In retrospect, this all seemed highly ironic when six months later they came to poach our young manager, David Moyes!

Liverpool Cavern. Image Credit thousandwonders.net

The venue that night was Liverpool L2, situated on Hotham Street.It latterly changed its name to Carling Academy and then O2 Academy. There are two halls with respective capacities of 1200 and 500 and I am not sure which one we attended, but more likely to be the smaller one at that point of Mogwai’s career. The venue had a decent pedigree as within the couple of years preceding my visit Mercury Rev, Moby, Flaming Lips, Travis and Muse supported by Coldplay graced the stage there.

My brother was also in attendance at the gig whilst visiting friends in Southport and was aiming to surprise me, but we ended up missed it each other!

I have given this some thought and stand by the assertion that this remains my favourite ever Mogwai performance. It wasn’t the noisiest I have seen them as that would be surpassed by Glasgow and Sheffield gigs, but it was the fact that the sound was so crystal even the quiet elements were loud. It was further assisted by an excellent relaxed venue and their choice of set list and as ever at that stage they finished with their twenty minute ‘hymn’, ‘My Father My King’.

Post-gig, we considered going to the cavernous Krazyhouse nightclub, but deferred on that option, subsequently visiting the club for my only appearance a couple of years later.  Our preferred alternate was to purloin some supper in China Town.

Liverpool Krazyhouse nightclub. Image Credit Liverpool Echo

When walking back to our hotel, a young chap pulled up in a car next to us. It became instantly obvious he was stoned up to the eyeballs and was babbling incoherently to us before driving off. We allowed him a very safe distance before we set off again!   

Our digs were the Campanile hotel on the docks, a somewhat dubious establishment, where we got very little sleep due to the noise levels of other residents. So, the morning dawned finding us hungover and dehydrated, a trio of bumbling nodders traversing back to the station.

On arrival, our dilapidated states were not helped by the fire alarm going off and an evangelist punter who approached us and coined phrases such as ‘you can’t be a winner if you are a sinner’. I had no energy to compose a cutting riposte and thankfully my withering look served to keep him at bay!    

When we landed back in Preston, we refuelled with a couple of pints and a homemade curry in the Welly pub on Glovers Court before heading home for some much-needed sleep.