Tag: Slade

Milestones Part 1 – Gigs

This week I am launching another new strand relating to the significant milestones I have achieved in my gig-going life thus far and this initial article concentrates solely on the gig numbers. I previously elucidated my interpretation of what constitutes a gig at some length in a blog that I drafted back in the mists of time named ‘Definition of a Gig and a Venue?’  

Thus, I won’t repeat my cogitations from there but will suffice myself with saying that as the years have progressed, my qualifying criteria of a ‘gig’ has softened immensely to allow more gigs to gain entry to the Jimmy Archives. Therefore, as long as I witness someone on a stage nowadays playing music, they can be counted!  

Everyone has a first gig and my contribution to that grand compendium was Slade at Lancaster University back in December 1983. My 50th was to see Wonderstuff and Darlings Buds at the fabulous Manchester International 1 and the 100th was Dinosaur Jr at Manchester Academy 2.

Darling Buds. Image Credit thenewvinylvillain.com

As I have got older, I seem to be attending an increasing number of events and the overall numbers have skyrocketed as a result, so much so that after a few cheeky gigs in Lanzarote, it became apparent that my next show at Manchester Gorilla on 13/05/22 would be my 1000th gig.

I am not going to list all my landmark gigs, but I will pick out some highlights, thus my 250th was my one ear splitting foray to watch My Bloody Valentine at Manchester Apollo on their comeback tour. I don’t think I am unique in saying that this was the loudest show I have ever attended, and I personally have a very high bar in that regard. I know a few readers on here saw their recent shows, but I decreed once was enough mainly because I have never worn ear plugs to gigs, probably to my own detriment, but I am too far down that path to change now!

My 500th was Cymbals down in the basement of Leeds Wardrobe with the 800th being the terrific Belly at Manchester Ritz, Tanya Donelly still having a terrific voice. Number 900 was Helicon at Manchester Peer Hat.

Since then, I have rattled upwards even further with Snuff being number 1200 at Manchester Breadshed, 1300 was Public Service Broadcasting at Manchester Albert Hall. I have also recently gone past the 1500 figure which was at a new venue so I will cover that one in a future article.  

Inadvertently, but somewhat appropriately on the night there was a proper gathering at my ‘chiliad’ (had to look that one up!) and chiliagon is also apparently a term for 1000-sided polygon, now thinking about it I cannot visualise the scale of that diagram and how that might look. Anyway, returning from my digression, Gill and I met Marcus initially for a cold one in the Lass O Gowrie.   

There was then a little breakdown in communication, but we managed to catch up with Tris in the Gorilla bar attached to the venue where she had run into a former colleague Andy and his friend Paul who were also attending the gig. Thankfully Tris had clocked that it was an early show starting at 8.30 so a quick drink, photo shoot and a scoot round to the entrance was in order.

Pre-gig team photo with L-R Tris, Andy, myself, Paul, Marcus and Gill. Image Credit kind anonymous punter.

We accessed the venue, and I was a little giddy as my usual reticence gave way to informing a couple of random punters that this was my 1000th show, either being met with ‘well done, that is a fine achievement’ or on the converse side total bemusement!

The band that night was Mattiel who constitute of singer/songwriter Atina Mattiel Brown and guitarist Jonah Swilley and originated from Atlanta, Georgia in 2015. Mattiel Brown was raised on a self-sustaining farm in a rural setting, which was apparently quite an isolated existence, and she threw herself with gusto into visual arts, which fed into her subsequent music creation.

When we saw them they were promoting their fine third album ‘Georgia Gothic’ and they had strengthened out the band with the addition of a bassist and a drummer, and they produced an enjoyable slab of garage rock. The downside was that the gig was over by 9.45pm and one couldn’t fail to notice many punters being caught out by the early show. I was almost craving gig 1001 to follow it but instead we headed to the hostelry, ending the evening in the Peveril of the Peak. 

Mattiel. Image Credit ATO Records.

Touching briefly on gigs attended with other people, I have individually attended over 500 gigs with both Gill and Uncle George and just under 300 with John Dewhurst. Also, Uncle G, John and I (The three stooges) have very recently just gone past 250 shows together.

Lancaster Venue 2 – The Sugarhouse

Following our relocation from Preston to Manchester the place I miss visiting the most locally is Lancaster. It lies 20 miles north of Preston and it has a refreshing olde world feel to it with the obligatory castle on the hill.

The train station sits squarely on the West Coast main line so a Virgin, or now an Avanti express can complete that journey in under 15 minutes. Even if the last train was cancelled and morphed into a bus, we regularly managed to sweet talk the coach driver into dropping us off prior to Preston town centre as the route took us within 200 yards of our house at Withytrees.

We lived nearby the commencement of the Lancaster canal so a group of us in 2005 once cycled all the way through to Lancaster and due to the winding route of the waterway the trip was extended by an additional 10 miles.  

Once we arrived, we ensconced ourselves in the Merchants pub near the station and were instantly distracted by the first 50 over cricket match of the legendary Ashes summer which was on TV, so we muttered the immortal words ‘should we just watch the end of this….’. Three hours later two hazy looking cyclists were weaving their way home through the quietest possible Preston back streets! 

That epic cycle ride was on the same day as the Live 8 concert so with a large TV dinner I immersed myself into the concert though what I caught was poor fare and the standout act for me was the old troopers Roxy Music.

There is a plethora of fine hostelries In Lancaster including some on the canal and also a couple facing the River Lune. Another one of note is the Sun Inn which is the home of the Lancaster Brewery where they serve a scope of beers, namely Blonde, Red, Amber, Black and IPA, always a tricky choice! There is also a terrific gastro food pub called the Borough on Dalton Square and a small Chinese restaurant called Fortune Star near there where we have finished a few evenings before booking a taxi home.

See the source image
The Borough pub on Dalton Square. Image Credit dineclub.co.uk

Lancaster is the home of the legendary Lovely Eggs and they are fiercely proud of their town and play home gigs as and when they can. They have recorded a lot of their material at Lancaster Music Co-Op and have been recently fighting against its potential closure.

There is now a reasonably established festival called the Highest Point festival held in in May each year on the 54-acre Williamson Park on the far side of town, though I have not visited yet. They attract a reasonable line up with Richard Ashcroft announced already as a headliner for the 2022 version.

Now the more observant of you will recall my first ever gig being Slade at Lancaster University in 1983, so what was my second Lancaster venue I hear you ask, well that would be 20 years later in the Sugarhouse. The venue is situated on the site of the original sugar house in Lancaster founded in 1861, on Sugarhouse Alley near the Borough pub. The name is currently subject to review as it has a clear connotation with the slave trade.

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Lancaster Sugarhouse. Image Credit Flickr.

The building was originally leased to Lancaster University Students union by Mitchells Brewery in 1982 and has been a nightclub for nigh on 40 years where they have regular club nights and sporadic gigs. I recall the gig was a challenge to organise due to ticket issues and people pulling out and it is also clashed with a potential Snow Patrol gig at Preston Mill.

The band we saw was the Thrills from Dublin. I had picked up on them via their platinum debut album “So Much for the City” and their atmospheric single “One Horse Town”. The album had a sunny Sixties Californian vibe, obviously influenced by the bands 4-month sabbatical to San Diego just prior to the recording.

They had some good moments with three of four standout tracks, but the sound was a tad low, admittedly a common grouse of mine! My overriding memory was of their exceptionally tall guitarist who seemed to have a predilection for a very low set microphone resulting in regular crouching when providing backing vocals.