A ten-minute train ride (or 25 minutes if it is a Northern bone rattler) from Preston lies the town of Wigan where they are partial to an odd pie or two! I have a lot of time for Wiganers as I have always found them to be down to earth fair minded folk. There is a plethora of bars in the town centre with a renowned strip of bars for the younger clientele down King St.
When North End were at their lowest ebb at the bottom of the old Fourth Division, I took part in a sponsored walk to Wigan’s old Springfield Park ground (17 miles) to raise money for the club. Thankfully it stayed dry en-route but in typical fashion it was a followed by a woeful game and the obligatory defeat.
Wigan has not been a regular gig going place for me, only racking up 4 gigs in total across the years. My first gig was on a Friday night 11/09/87. Whilst listening to John Peel a couple of nights before I became aware of a gig at Wigan Den.
A little bit of detective work was required to locate the venue and it turned out to be on Melverley St very near the famous old Northern Soul venue at Wigan Casino and the bus station. NOFX, Pitchshifter and Frank Sidebottom graced the venue around that time.
We headed in about 9pm and it was a social club layout with bands on one side containing a small stage, a little bar and a pool table. First up was Fflapps with a female lead vocalist, they left little impression on me.
They were followed by Electro Hippies, a decent 3-piece trashcore band from the Wigan area who had a degree of comedic value within their set by playing a one second song called ‘Mega Armageddon Part 4’ in a similar vein to the ‘All’ track penned by the Descendants. The band were short lived and split in 1989.
There was a limited choice of alcohol beverages in the establishment and I was endeavouring to drink a can of Kestrel Super Strength 1084 which was too close to liquid ethanol for my liking. The main band was Anhrefn from Welshpool who sang in Welsh for the full set. The driving force was Rhys Mwyn who set up his own record label to ensure their songs were heard, he went off to manage Catatonia for their first two singles.
It was 20 years before my next appearance at Wigan Tavern on Mesnes Street on 15/02/08. It was about 10 minutes walk from the station with the venue above a pub. The support was the Sugars and the main act was the Von Bondies from Detroit who emerged at the same time as the White Stripes. I recall it was a high stage and they were thumpingly loud and thoroughly enjoyable. It was all very smooth sailing transport wise as the end of their set coincided with us making the last train home at midnight.
Returning to Wigan a couple of years later after a trip to Southport we located a Thai restaurant which I belatedly realised was on the site of the Tavern venue and our table was on the old stage!
My third trip was to see Honeyblood at the Museum of Life on 06/05/17 which was part of the Library sponsored gigs initiative. It was located at the bottom of King St and was a cracking setting. They are a two-piece female Glaswegian combo. I thought prior to the gig based on recorded output that they may be a tad one dimensional, but they proved me wrong on that point as they were excellent and had good stage personas.
https://www.wigan.gov.uk/Resident/Museums-archives/Museum-of-Wigan-Life/index.aspx
My final trip on 28/07/17 was to see Bad Manners at the Old Courts, again nearby the station. It was a very rainy Friday night (not in Soho!). Capacity was probably about 250 and was a decent venue. They were good and lead singer Buster Bloodvessel was as mad cap as ever. There was certainly some dodgy but enthusiastic ska dancing from our crew!
