Preston Clouds – Page 2 – jimmysgigapedia.com

Liverpool Venues 2 and 3

Liverpool has always been a challenge to access via the train network, so it has not been a regular haunt for gig attending. I must grudgingly concede that the many of the Northern trains are now being improved but the Liverpool routes appear to be at the bottom of the upgrading schedule.

I regularly commute to Liverpool with work thereby having to tolerate the inferior rolling stock. Recently I arrived at Lime Street for a return journey and was astonished to see a new Northern train waiting on the platform, with advanced accessories such as tables, though my joy was short-lived as I realised there were two trains on the platform and sighed when I saw my actual commute of Ivor the Engine was awaiting behind!

I have witnessed Jesus and Mary Chain nine times in total across the years ranging from that infamous show in Preston Clouds in 1985 through to a gig at Manchester Albert Hall a couple of months ago. Many of those shows have been chaotic but their gig at the Lomax takes the biscuit!

Gill, John Dewhurst, and I headed over on a Friday night in 1998, with Gill generously offering to be the designated driver. We scouted around a couple of boozers then headed over to the venue on Cumberland St, off Dale St in the city centre.

See the source image — An ultimately unsuccessful gathering to save the Lomax. Image Credit Liverpool Echo.

The club was a three floored iconic site for up-and-coming acts with a 300 capacity. Bands such as Radiohead and Muse had graced the stage there. It was also known as Foxys and it looks like the venue was permanently closed in 2015 following a police investigation where the owner was jailed for six years for openly selling cocaine on the premises.

It was an intimate venue, but the band were literally falling apart on stage exemplified by continuous acerbic exchanges between Jamie and William Reid and many false starts, Gill was ready to jump on stage and bang their heads together! It was a raggedy set with a far proportion off their latest album ‘Munki’.

The only song that really stood out for me on the night was a rousing version of ‘Reverence’ with its haunting screaming refrain ‘I Wanna Die Just Like Jesus Christ’. Based on that performance it was absolutely no surprise it transpired to be their final tour, prior to their reformation around ten years later.

On five occasions, I have attended gigs on my birthday, Neil Young on my 19^th birthday, Against Me on my 32^nd, an Alicante gig on my 50^th and a King St event on my 51^st. They have also generously allocated me an extra bank holiday this year the day after my birthday to attend a Lovely Eggs gig. Rumours that it is due to a Queen Jubilee event are patently untrue!

The fifth occurrence was on 02/06/11, my 43^rd birthday. Gill and I had booked a night in Liverpool and after visiting a restaurant in Liverpool One, we dived into a random pub called The Ship & Mitre on the way back to the hotel.

It was approaching last orders and we sat quietly in an alcove in the corner and were soon the last punters in the establishment. Then somewhat bizarrely and unprompted one of the bar staff grabbed an acoustic guitar and the other chap called Simon Cities provided the vocals. We watched three to four songs of their sea shanties to not appear impolite before taking our leave, requiring them to unlock the door for us, it was literally a bonus closed door gig!

A postscript is that the documenting of the JAMC gig completes all the gigs I attended in the 20^th century, however do not be too perturbed as there are veritable shedloads of 21^st century gigs yet to review!

Preston Venues 24 and 25

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 200^th 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!

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