Tag: Mogwai

London Eighth and Ninth Trip

As you may have gleaned from my previous blogs, my favourite ever live band is Mogwai. I was fortunate to catch them at a very early stage in their career though I did miss them play at Preston Adelphi in 1997 as I had only just become aware of them. Around that time, I heard Ithica 27/9 off their debut album Ten Rapid and I knew I was smitten for life as I had been searching for that band who would not baulk at the edge of the sonic cliff but were deliriously happy to spring off into the noisy abyss!

My first viewing was at Manchester Roadhouse in 1998 and bar a promo event at Sankeys Soup the following year that I didn’t hear about I have seen every one of their subsequent Manchester dates, which sits currently on 11 in the fair city alone with two more scheduled this year. This will bring my overall attendances up to 36.   

Mogwai live on stage. Image Credit BBC.

They have had a very gradual rise in profile, which in some ways I have been eternally glad about as it has resulted in them never or very rarely progressing to play soulless arenas. Their soundtracks for Zidane and the Returned TV series in the 2010’s eventually led through to their remarkable achievement of a No 1 album in 2021.  

Prior to such infamy, the 15th time I saw them in September 2006 was their biggest gig thus far as they were playing the iconic London Royal Albert Hall. Thus, on that Friday I left work at lunchtime and walked over to Preston train station. En route I bought a student rag mag from a chap who I struck up conversation with when he commented on my band T-shirt.

On arrival in the smoke, we headed over to Holborn and had a leisurely afternoon in a boozer watching the Ryder Cup, we then caught the tube to High Street Kensington tube station. In a pub near the station, we saw the Mogwai boys themselves but left them to their own devices.

PNE were live on TV that night and I did a quick scouting mission to a nearby pub where I identified they weren’t showing the footy, but I did see comedian Helen Lederer enjoying a teatime drink. We subsequently walked down Kensington Road alongside Hyde Park to the venue.  I have always viewed the highly distinctive Royal Albert Hall as the musical Wembley, so I was very excited to attend.

The initial germination of the idea to build the hall was devised at the Great Exhibition of 1851 and it was officially opened in 1871. It is held in trust by the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no government funding. It has staged the proms since 1941 and there are events held there all year round and it has a capacity of 5272.

Royal Albert Hall. Image Credit Classic FM.

I respected and thoroughly enjoyed the old-fashioned values of tannoy announcements providing a countdown to the performance. We were sat to the right of the stage on the front row of the balcony which provided an excellent vantage point, though it was a tad alarming nipping to the loo mid performance in the dark as it was only a low barrier preventing a significant fall.

It was self-evident that this was a huge event for the band as they had their families in attendance and at two hours remains the longest ever show I have seen them play. They finished their main set with ‘2 Rights Make 1 Wrong’ and ‘Glasgow Mega Snake’ and then on their second encore played their 20-minute opus ‘My Father, My King’. Subsequently they didn’t play this outro track for many years, but they have rebooted it on recent tours.

Three years later, Gill and I were in the same Kensington area and I became aware of a mini festival taking place. So, in the grounds of the nearby London Imperial College we sat in the sunshine and witnessed a set by the Fabulous Boogie Boys.  They were a seven-piece band led by Sarah Warren and the other six members donned in red zoot suits, they played an entertaining set of lively covers of relatively obscure tracks from the 1940s/1950’s.

Preston Venue 41 New Continental – Part 3

Another considerable component contributing to the New Continental’s continuing rebirth was the building of the Preston Guild Wheel in 2012 which runs right past the pub. One of the Preston’s finest ever inventions, the Wheel is a 21-mile dual cycle and walking route around the city, with perhaps 15 miles of it on off-road tracks and river pathways, though its introduction didn’t save another riverside pub the Shaws Arms from going bust.

Me and my pal Steve Banister used to regularly cycle the route after work in the summer before retiring for a well-deserved refreshment in our usual seats in the Conty. The issue that then presented itself was that I had to cycle home and there were some vicious little hills contained within that three-mile journey! My personal best for completion was 1 hour 34 minutes achieved when I was cycling regularly and I have once walked the Wheel in its entirety, a trek of around seven hours.

In August 2013, Wire visited the venue. Formed in London in 1976, they have been cited as hugely influential of subsequent heavyweight acts Big Black, Minutemen and Sonic Youth. In my view, they produced intelligent complex music, and I thoroughly enjoyed them.  

Wire. Image Credit beardedgentlemenmusic.com

Six months later I saw the female fronted art punk band from Amsterdam called Labasheeda, they were supported by India Mill, an interesting band from the local town of Darwen.

In March 2015, I had my first experience of the remarkable Lovely Eggs, the slightly demented two piece from Lancaster. I had previously seen Holly Ross at the Adelphi in Preston when she was in a band called Angelica. It was a very sparse crowd in comparison to them now playing Manchester Apollo. They were quirky and terrific fun; my personal highlight was ‘Have You Ever Heard a Digital Accordion?’ which also has the accolade of having ‘Beef Bourguignon’ as a rhyming couplet! They were supported by Zvilnik.

There was a novel event in February 2017 that piqued Gill and mine’s interest by showcasing an 80’s indie triple bill. First up were The Suncharms from Sheffield who were formed in 1989, recorded a couple of EP’s and undertook the obligatory Peel session before disbanded in 1993. They reformed in 2016 before finally after a very extended gestation period released their debut album in 2021.  

The Suncharms. Image Credit wordpress.com

The middle act was The Chesterf!elds, formed in 1984 in Yeovil. Their debut vinyl release was a joint flexi disc with legendary and much missed Shop Assistants, by heck even just the mention of a flexi disc takes me back! Their members had interplay with bands of that era such as Loft and Blue Aeroplanes. They split in 1989 but were reformed in 2014 following a comeback set at a C86 event at the 92 Club in London. They remain active and have recently issued a new album and played the Talleyrand down the road from me in Levenshulme recently, but I wasn’t available to attend.

The third band was the Orchids, who sprung up from Glasgow in 1985 and their early recordings were on the famous Sarah Records based in Bristol. The label was primarily a C-86 hotbed with other like-minded artists Field Mice and Sunny Day in Glasgow being on their roster. Despite a brief hiatus at the end of the 90’s they remain in play and have recorded new material this year. It was a fine night of indie jingle-jangle with my personal favourite being the Suncharms.  

Later that year I saw a double bill containing White Hills who are a psych rock band from New York, I had seen them before but didn’t enjoy their set as much on this occasion. Also on the bill were a band called Cavalier Song. It was a chaotic end to the night involving cancelled taxis resulting in an absolute soaking when we had to trog back into town through the park.

Since the move to Manchester, I was unsure whether I would have an opportunity to attend the Conty again, but a slot opened in November 22. The previous night to my attendance the noisy monkeys Part Chimp played there who I had seen supporting Mogwai at Amsterdam Melkweg nineteen years earlier.   

On the day of the gig, I watched PNE lose 4-2 to Millwall prior to a chippy tea and a couple of beers before heading down to the venue. It was a punk event and I saw a few old stalwarts down there. On the bill were the P45’s from Blackpool, Preston’s Pike, and the headliners 999 from London with their most famous track ‘Homicide’.   

This unexpected attendance allowed me to reach another random stat landmark. It ensured the Conty became the 20th venue where I have attended at least 10 gigs, with Deaf Institute scheduled to become the 21st venue next year meeting this accolade.