Tag: Teenage Fanclub

Nottingham Venues 1 to 3

The reason for my initial visit back in 1992 was that we on the Sugar trail. After seeing them in Leicester on the Friday, we had a Nottingham date with them on the Saturday night.  

Fiona was not in attendance at the gig as she had a family wedding. We chilled during the day and then headed to Steve and Steph’s to eat pizza and watch Ghostbusters. Steph was telling us about having a meeting and photo with Bob Mould in a record shop that afternoon.

We jumped on a bus and had a couple of beers in Jacey’s Bar and then headed into Nottingham Trent Polytechnic at 9.15pm just before the band hit the stage. It was a traditional Uni type venue and was the only time I visited there and looking now at the history it doesn’t display any gigs beyond mid-90’s, so I must have been at one at the latter ones. Nirvana and Teenage Fanclub played there in it’s heyday.

Steve was the coat monitor as the remaining three in the party headed to the front. The sound was instantly better than the previous night resulting in a huge moshpit which obviously I dived into, resulting in a stunning bruise on my ribs the next day!

They were thankfully one of these bands that juggled the setlist which always adds variety to the proceedings if you see them more than once on the same tour. Standouts were ‘A Good Idea’ and ‘Fortune Teller’. Five minutes after the set conclusion, Bob wandered past where we were standing.

My brother headed down to London the following night to catch them at the Town and Country Club and I caught them two weeks later at the Boardwalk in Manchester, so we completed pretty good coverage between us on that first tour.

My next musical jaunt was to Nottingham Rock City on 18/10/97 to see Spiritualised supported by Steephill Jack. It turned out to be my only visit to the Main Hall.

Nottingham Rock City. Image Credit Rock City

Rock City is a somewhat fated venue as two other scheduled gigs there didn’t happen for different reasons. One to see Kyuss (forerunners to Queens of the Stone Age) was missed due to illness and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club annoyingly cancelled their show on the day of the gig.

It has always been touted as a much-vaunted venue, but it seemed a fairly unremarkable place and the gig tended to wash over me as well as the chilled Spiritualised vibe didn’t have its tentacles out that night.

See the source image
Spiritualised live on stage. Image Credit giggingni.com

However, the fates turned in our favour as we headed out post-gig and discovered a band mid-set in the Nottingham Rock City Basement Hall. It took a second to recognise who was playing but soon realised it was those incendiary lovable South London scamps Snuff kicking up a storm!

They were jammed into a small hall with a monster sweaty moshpit. The 30 minutes we managed to catch was superb. The highlight was at that particular point in time they were bringing up local punters to the stage to guest vocal, perhaps selected via their fan club. The local talent absolutely nailed a terrific version of Snuff’s cover of ‘I Think Were Alone Now’.

This resulted in turning what had been a slightly tame gig into a very fun bonus encore!

Manchester Venue 5 – Academy 2 (Part 2)

Many of the pre-gig drinks meets for this venue were located in Jabez Clegg situated on the other side of Oxford Road however that pub closed around 10 years ago. It was swiftly replaced by the nearby Big Hands which is a slightly grubby, fabulously noisy venue with a fine jukebox where there is a tradition to play ‘Hells Bells’ prior to departing to the gig.

In 1995, Buffalo Tom hit town and I do find their soothing Americana is like putting an old pair of slippers on. A great live act.

The following year, we encountered a band who I thought were the best live band on the circuit at that point in time, namely Rocket From the Crypt. The first sight of them was then they roared onto stage and their effervescent lead singer Speedo uttered the bracing opening phrase ‘This is Motherfuckers God’s music’. They then lived up to that claim by producing a thunderous set. I saw them twice there that year and the second had about 10 of us in attendance.

Image result for rocket from the crypt pictures
Rocket from the Crypt live on stage. Image Credit mrteeth.reviews.com

This high was followed by a crushing disappointment when we went to see Screaming Trees. The main reason was the fact that lead singer Mark Lanegan had a damaged throat and only completed 4 songs before stomping off. The gig should have been cancelled and I recall Paul Bruzzese being understandingly vocal in his consternation. What made it worse was it was my one and only chance to witness them. I still treasure their ‘Dust’ album.

Screaming Trees ‘Dust’ Album cover. Image Credit norman.records.com

I have seen Billy Bragg there twice, one of those a couple of weeks ago when he played selected songs from his first three albums. I have also seen Wannadies, 3 Colours Red, And They Shall Know us by the Trail of the Dead, Mark Lanegan, Nine Black Alps, Ash and Yo La Tengo.

Mercury Rev in 1999 was an outstanding gig where their swirling sound was unique. When they left the stage the lights didn’t come in and there was no piped music for 10 minutes, despite that half the audience left leaving us stalwarts to enjoy an intimate encore. I saw them there again 9 years later.

I saw Bob Mould there twice and also captured Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Children of Bodom, And So I Watch From Afar, Dinosaur Jr and most recently Pup, a Canadian punk band.

Also, in 1999 Death in Vegas played and they had the noisiest bass I have ever encountered. I recall we were leaning on the side walls and they were literally vibrating! I saw them again 3 years later. Teenage Fanclub were also really enjoyable. I also have tickets for DIIV there next year. 

Now I have found that as I have got older, that it takes a lot more to impress me until Hold Steady stopped me in my tracks. The first gig in February 2007 was bloody brilliant as their intelligent sing along evangelical performance was utterly life affirming. Their subsequent performances in 2010 and 2014 were equally as impressive. Lead singer Craig Finn is a modern day bard and I like them a lot.