Ten miles down the road from Preston via bus or rail lies the town of Blackburn. It is another old mill town and was home to the Matthew Brown and Thwaites breweries in 1980’s/1990’s and they dominated the ownership of the public houses in the area.
Situated central Blackburn is the famous old venue King Georges Hall. It is a Grade 2 listed building and was opened in 1921. David Bowie played there on his Ziggy Stardust tour in 1973 and it was a staple on the punk circuit. There are three halls, the Concert Hall (capacity 1800), Windsor Suite (750) and Blakeys Café Bar (500).
You may be surprised to hear I have attended all three venues, the most frequently attended being three appearances at the Windsor Suite. In 1986 I saw the Pogues and remember going to the Dun Horse pub before hands which left a lasting impression as a very odd Goth/Pagan pub, it would not have been out of place in the Wickerman film! The Pogues attracted the usual demented following and ‘Sally Maclannane’ was outstanding.
Later that year, I saw Jesus and Mary Chain supported by the Shop Assistants. The support band stole the show that night with their youthful C86 noisy shoegaze exuberance. They breezed on and their sonic single ‘Safety Net’ was delivered with aplomb and they also played a fine cover of ‘Ace of Spades’. Mary Chain were just not loud enough and were rather disappointing.
A few months after that on a monsoon like Thursday night I saw the Fall and they were decent with Brix Smith summarily taking the proverbial out of the audience and ‘Mr Pharmacist’ the best track.
I did once attend Blakeys Café Bar. This was to see a Battle of the Bands semi-final event around 1986 in which a couple of pals Warren Beesley and Mick Duffy’s band Purple Turtles were competing. There was an old double decker bus commissioned and we pottered over on that. We actually missed Purple Turtles on that occasion as we were ensconced in a boozer at that point due to my mate Rick’s fixation in finding the only Boddingtons pub in town. We caught the last three bands including the winners, a jazz band called Human Nature. The Turtles missed a top three slot so no qualification to the final.
I have attended the main Concert Hall twice with the sprung dance floor. My first attendance there in 1985 was to see Billy Bragg supported by Surfing Dave and Porky the Poet. It was sold out and they even opened the balconies that night. Billy was a solo performer at that point and was fabulous and I recall ‘Land of No Return’ and ‘Love Gets Dangerous’ being the highlights.
My final attendance was around 1995 to see Portishead. The smoking ban had not yet come into play but people weren’t smoking normal fags so even as a passive attendee it turned into a slightly blissed out experience. Lead singer Beth Gibbons was very nervous initially, but once confidence gained was soon belting it out and they turned out be very good live. I recall the four of us obtaining a dirt-cheap taxi home and a curry in the Dilshad in Preston completed a rather fine night.
