Tag: Wonderstuff

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.

Preston Venue 26 – 53 Degrees Club Part 2

I recall one particular gig at Preston 53 Degrees Club where I was endeavouring to read the set times which were located behind a white line at the side of the stage. This generated an increasingly fraught exchange with an over-officious bouncer who insisted I ask him to have a look as I could not possibly cross the white line. I felt like that mischievous character in Monsters Inc!

In early 2008 I saw another band with a big reputation namely the Courteeners. They were formed in the Manchester area with the lead singer and songwriter Liam Fray being a previous Salford University alumnus. They were three months shy of releasing their gold selling debut again ‘St Jude’. They regretfully didn’t cut it for me as despite some good moments they fell into the ‘lad rock’ category.

October 2008 saw my next visit to see Dirty Pretty Things. They had formed after the breakup of the London band the Libertines and featured Carl Barat and the drummer Gary Powell from said band and had also recruited Didz Hammond from Cooper Temple Clause. They had announced they were going to split 2 days before the gig so we as a result we caught them on their final tour.   

In February 2009 the infamous John Cooper Clarke was in town which coincidentally was mine and my good pal John Dewhurst’s 100th gig together. He was good fun and was cognisant of the location as he humorously embellished his act with anti-Blackpool gags!

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John Cooper Clarke. Image Credit The Daily Telegraph.

Eighteen months later I saw Ash, who I have seen numerous times, but this was the first time in Preston. They had built up a commendable back catalogue by that point and they were very enjoyable.        

Later that year I saw the old timers Wedding Present, a mere 22 years since I had first seen them. They as ever ploughed their C86 sounds to good effect.

There followed a three-year gap before I saw the punk stalwarts Ruts DC who unlike many of their counterparts still hold their relevance. They formed initially in London Town in 1977 and produce a reggae-influenced punk sound. They were originally titled as the Ruts before adding DC to their moniker.

They were in good form and their two mainstay hits ‘Babylon’s Burning’ and ‘In a Rut’ went down a storm. They were supported by Burnley’s Not Sensibles.

 

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Ruts DC on stage. Image Credit Sunderland Echo.

A big local gig occurred on 19/10/13 when my mate Jez Catlow’s band Deadwood Dog performed their first headline gig there. I know it was a big moment for Preston’s finest bouzouki infused punk rock band and they were in tip top form. They were supported by their erstwhile supporter, the singer Dan Donnelly from Belfast who has performed as a live musician for Joy Zipper, the Levellers and Wonderstuff.  I saw them there again the following year supported by Matt Gallagher.  

In mid-2014 I saw Wolf Alice for the second time having witnessed a gobsmackingly good performance from them at the Deaf Institute the year before. They were still good value with their star quality evident but overall not quite as sharp that night, but it is somewhat tricky firing yourself up in front of a half full inactive audience on a cold Tuesday night in Preston!

Completing a full circle from their inaugural performance in 2005 The Subways made a return to the club venue in 2015. They produced their usual energetic performance. 

When the main venue downstairs closed in 2015, they continued to have sporadic performances upstairs which included my final visit on 21/04/17 to see Electric Six. They were as ever good clean fun but not in the same league as their astonishingly good performance when I saw them for the first time at the old University venue in 2003.