Tag: Six by Seven

Gigs Abroad – Part 1

I have been very fortunate to visit many foreign climes and witnessed many bands abroad but many of them have been of the on the hoof low quality holiday threshold. In that regard, my first gig abroad was at Majorca Santa Ponsa Square in 1997. In a rather quaint environment of a bandstand in the centre of a tourist square we saw a rather inferior Beatles tribute, but as with many of these gigs the compensation was the glorious sun and a beer in an ice-cold frosted tankard!

However, the second gig is in stark contrast to the first and at a completely different level. In September 1998, I married my ever supportive long-standing girlfriend Gill and we headed off for a few days to Dublin for our honeymoon.

It was a place we had always yearned to visit, and we thoroughly enjoyed our sojourn and we caught the city at a good time as we were in advance of it becoming a stag do destination and subsequent stratospheric prices. It is a very walkable destination and we embraced that approach dually soaking up the culture and visiting many hostelries and rather proudly we did not visit the same venue twice. We also found some fine restaurants dotted around the metropolis.

We headed out on the Dart (the local train) to visit interesting areas on the outskirts either side of the city, passing Ireland’s rugby mecca Lansdowne Road and walking on the pristine sands of Killiney Beach. I really found an affinity with this vibrant cosmopolitan city.

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The Dublin Dart. Image Credit TripSavvy

When I had booked the vacation, I thought it would be worthwhile identifying if there were any likely looking gigs that week and identified one at the Dublin Mean Fiddler. Fortuitously the venue was near the hotel and I recall in a pub next door to the venue on Wexford Road they were having a tribute night to Gene Clark, the founding member of the Byrds, who penned timeless tunes such as ‘Eight Miles High’ and ‘I’ll Feel a Whole Lot Better’.

I had previously visited the sister venue Harlesden Mean Fiddler in 1987 watching the troubadour Townes Van Zandt. The Dublin branch opened in 1995, subsequently closing in 1999 to reboot itself as a new venue called the Village which is still going strong.

It was a small cosy venue with a downstairs bar and an upstairs venue. We arrived quite early allowing us to grab a seat at a table on a gantry overlooking the stage. At that point, it was the first gig I had observed purely in a seated position. The venue capacity is 550 and it was probably about half full that night. The support band was the Nottingham band Six by Seven who were touring on the back of their debut album ‘The Things We Make’, they created a fine racket with the standout track being ‘Something Wild’ and I would badge their performance in the ‘earnest’ category!

The headline act was the underrated Delgado’s from Motherwell who were uniquely named after Tour de France winner Pedro Delgado. They set up their own record label Chemical Underground which initially signed up a very young Mogwai and Arab Strap. They were fronted by the enigmatic Emma Pollard and they cut an engaging entertaining presence.

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The Delgado’s. Image Credit ohmyrockness.com

After the gig, we headed out to the downstairs late bar and gained entry despite my comedy fall at the bottom of the steps due in part to imbibing several bottles of Becks!      

Preston Venues 18-20 Adelphi – Part 2

I have attended 11 gigs at the Adelphi placing it at No 14 on the most visited venue list. The first band I saw there were Circus from Burnley in 1995 and they were in the Inspiral Carpets mould and they were terrific fun with a hyperactive humorous lead singer.

That night signalled a fundamental sea change in relation to how I defined a gig. Before that evening I had only ever counted gigs where I had a prior intention to attend but this was a walk-in gig and we caught virtually the full set causing me to re-evaluate and count those types of gigs going forward.

The following year a lass from work Andrea informed me her mates band were playing that night and I tagged along probably no doubt prior to heading to Raiders nightclub, I cannot recall the name of the unremarkable band.

I then saw John Robb’s motley crew Goldblade who were supported by Presley. It was the first time I had witnessed them and was slightly startled but impressed by their high-octane performance. I recall them bounding across speaker stacks which is a no mean achievement in such a small venue.

In 1998 I saw local band Formula One supporting Nottingham’s Six by Seven. The main band were a dour bunch though their somewhat suffocating music had merit. They were in an extremely truculent mood perhaps expecting more crowd interaction. The lead singer stormed off at the end of the set and threw down the mic stand in a fit of pique and apparently narrowly missed Nick Godkin of this parish!

Gill sister’s boyfriend at the time was a drummer in a couple of bands and his latest one Heavy Fluid Addicts played there. I preferred his later band as this one was a bit grungy for my tastes. They were supported by Die Sect.

At the tail end of 1998 the Glasgow miserabilists Arab Strap were in town and they were magnificent, readily included in my Top 5 gigs in Preston list. They didn’t hit the stage in a packed venue until about 10.15pm. They comprise of Aidan Moffat with his laconic tales of drinking and loves lost supplemented by Malcolm Middleton behind him with lashings of atmospheric guitar work. At about 10.55 Aidan began muttering darkly they only had time for one more prior to the 11pm curfew so proceeded belligerently to play a superbly noisy twenty-minute outro track!    

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Arab Strap on stage. Image Credit BBC.

Following that I saw a trio bill of local bands Formula One, Iota and Karma. Two of the original members of Galaxie 500, badged as Damon and Naomi played at the tail end of 98. It was very much a loungecore setting with seating and hushed audience where anyone coughing sounded loud alongside the dreamy acoustic music, they were a tad twee for my tastes.

In July 99, I saw Angelica, an all-girl punk band from Lancaster featuring Holly Ross on vocals who later with her husband formed the Lovely Eggs. I had picked up on them via their fine album ‘The End of a Beautiful Career’ with the two cracking singles ‘Why Did you let my Kitten Die’ and ‘Bring Back Her Head’, two tracks combining sultry vocals with astonishingly dark lyrics! Unfortunately, they had a shocker that night with sound problems and false starts and they stormed off hallway through the set. They were supported by LoFi Radio.

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Angelica promo picture. Image Credit You Tube Dee Raz

There then followed a hiatus at the venue for around a decade due I think to their PA being stolen. My final two gigs there were to see Midnight Landing, a ska band formed at Kendal college in 2012 and to see Bingo Boy in 2012.  

One night in 2014 in the corner of the Adelphi Main Bar I saw an acoustic act called Chris and Josh playing.

In May 2015, North End blew promotion on the final day, before subsequently and triumphantly breaking their 26 year play off hoodoo by battering Swindon 4-0 at Wembley.  We sought solace in the Adelphi Beer Garden where a band called Drinking Whiskey were performing.