Rock Concerts.

[matrix]

With Raven mentioning "Pink Floyd" over at Retro tv took me back a bit ,i know music has been discussed a lot on the site , but hopefully this topic has not been posted before.

Does anyone want to share any concerts that they have been to?

Here is a starter.. this was a really good concert for me it was my first Pink Floyd concert.

Earls court was buzzing that night they did some older numbers (Careful with that Axe Eugine ,Set the controls for the heart of the sun ,One of these days etc).

Then they played Dark side of the moon Amazing stuff!

I also had some hair in those days quite long as well!

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

My most memorable gig event was in 1981, when the Damned played the Playhouse in Edinburgh. Aptly enough, the date was Friday 13th.

Sadly there was a lot of violence outside afterwards, with skinheads even using blades in at least one case [I witnessed the aftermath, it could have been me if I had happened to be in the wrong place. ]

I never ever returned to a rock event, but clearly they are not all the same atmosphere as this one was. Another time I saw the Damned at the Nite Klub in an 'afternoon matinee', and a small group of Livingston skins chased everyone else right up towards St James Centre. Watty Buchan [Edinburgh resident, and Mohican-sporting singer of Edinburgh punk band the Exploited] saw the approaching mob, and growled "the first person who runs gets their 'h*** k****** i*'. He was the first to take to his heels! That same afternoon, I also saw a guy in a Sid Vicious-like swastika T-shirt getting chained in the side of the face, and he was bleeding quite badly.

Edinburgh had a large punk contingent in them thar days, and all the major punk acts toured there regularly. There always seemed to be aggro outside afterwards, though, with the police milling around with meat-wagons and trained alsatian dogs.

One night I got caught up in a mob who were being chased along Princes Street, and I heard a cop shout:

'Stop! Or I'll set the dogs on you!'

I thought this was aimed at me, and I froze in my tracks: it turned out that the cop had seen someone else throw incriminating evidence [a penknife] into the grass by Princes Street Gardens: I always remember the police loading this guy into the van whilst one of the cops searched for the abandoned knife by torchlight.

Today I think you can get jailed for just carrying a knife: it was quite a serious thing back then as well.


Exciting times, actually, but quite dangerous as well.






me, in the boozy carefree days of around the same era:

[matrix]

I must say quite an unexpected exciting reply ISPY , makes mine sound quite boring!

I think with the punk scene concerts changed quite a lot , most of the concerts i went to were quite peaceful , although i remember someone pulled a knife on someone in the tube station after watching Hawkwind at the Roundhouse ,then there were the can fights at Reading festival ,not a good experience , a half full Jackpot flying over your head!

[stevezodiac]

After my marriage broke up a colleague who had his own Sonic Youth style band invited me along to gigs his band were called Sonica. We also saw Soundgarden, Smashing Pumpkins, Tool and Monster Magnet. I wasn't familiar with these bands so started going to see my own favourite bands on my own and saw Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, 60s bands Creation, The Animals and The Yardbirds and took my friends to see Bolt Thrower. We also saw Arthur Lee of Love doing a solo gig. But the gig I enjoyed most - and I had never heard a note of their music - was Amon Duul II. Even the drum solo was spellbinding. Before my marriage I was a mod so saw Madness, The Jam and Secret Affair as well as lesser known bands such as The Mods and Squire. I still have all my mod gear Ben Sherman and Brutus shirts, Sta Prest trousers and two tone suits. They no longer fit though.

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

Progressive Rock acts may have been more 'boring', matrix, but I bet they were a lot safer! I like most types of music 50s-90s but punk was the 'big' thing in my youth. Im mid-1978 I attended a free Rock Against Racism open-air event in a huge field on the outskirts of Edinburgh...this was very memorable, with imported Glaswegian punks with long hair, safety pins and dog-collars!

The Clash were meant to headline and everyone was waiting patiently, but one of the organizers came onstage and blurted :

'Joe Strummer's been been busted and arrested!' The Clash can't make it!'

[this turned out to be true I believe, but no-one 'bought it' at the time].


I wasn't a Clash fan first time around, so I wasn't too bothered, but the stage was targeted for a torrent of abuse , bottles and all sort of missiles.


I never did get to see the Clash, but a very memorable day nevertheless, thanks mostly to the Glaswegian punks standing near me issuing out sexist and other abuse to most of the supporting acts: these guys made such an impact they got a mention in the following week's 'Record Mirror'.


That festival was free, [Rock Against Racism was massive around '78] but prices to see acts were very reasonable back then, usually a few pounds at most. Today with sales of CDS sliding so badly, many acts have to charge a lot at gigs in order to make any sort of money [they often ran at a loss in the old days in the 'smaller' venues] ; my sister paid over 100 pounds per ticket to see Take That earlier this year, there's no way I'd pay that sort of cash to see any musical act.

[Niblet]

I attended several of the shows in Frank Zappa's run at the Hammersmith Odeon, 1978. What a line-up Zappa had at the time. He employed some tremendous drummers over the years, but none better than Terry Bozzio who was behind the kit on this tour. I have to admit that I smuggled a cassette recorder into one of those concerts, and for years I treasured that recording. Zappa died in 1993, but lots of material from his archive has been released in the years since, and in 2010 a 3-disc set compiled from those Hammersmith Concerts became available. That is one smoking recording, Bozzio throwing off astonishing fills all over the place.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hammersmith_Odeon_(album)

Also saw Billy Cobham in concert, another fantastic drummer.

On a slightly different topic, but continuing the sad litany of music-related violence, the first gig I ever played (I was a drummer, you might have guessed ) ended in a punch up. It was in a pub, and after we had played our set and were carting the gear out to the van, some patrons of said drinking establishment laid into our vocalist and severely gashed his thumb with a broken glass.

Act who I wish I had seen in concert: Ian Dury

[stevezodiac]

I was a big punk rock fan even though I was a mod. Talking of Glasgow makes me think of The Exploited. I sold all my 200 odd punk singles last year to a dealer for reasons of space and I will be replacing them with cd versions where possible. Have started with the Adverts, Buzzcocks, Discharge and Eater so seem to be inadvertently doing it alphabetically except I also picked up Rattus Norvegicus by the Stranglers.

[matrix]

It is interesting to read the different experiences and tastes that some members had or still have with music.

Music plays a big part in peoples lives ,when listening to a certain song it can transport you straight back to a certain time in your life.

I stopped going to concerts towards the late seventies , and as mentioned would not pay the prices that are asked today just to fund an ageing rockers retirement!

I never did get into hard core Punk , but i did like some of the milder punk bands ,i also agree Ian Dury and the blockheads are very talented and would have been a good concert to go to.

My favourite musical era has to be the Eighties , with bands like (Duran Duran , Spandau Ballet ,Simple Minds and many more , that bring back so many great memories.

Peace Man :

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

The 80s had some good sound technology I thought, Matrix, and the charts were still well worth following at that stage, right through that decade. I never liked that acid house rave stuff around 1988 though.

Back in the punk days, I'd never have believed that many of the punk acts would still have been recording or touring 35 years later: John Lydon, the Damned, Siouxsie, the Stranglers etc etc are still performing, although a lot of them have put on considerable beef and ample girth! Even the Exploited are still going [of sorts].

Even these tickets for 'APOR' [Ageing Punk Orientated Rock] are not that cheap-----around the 35 quid mark.

The memorabilia lark is a real rip-off , with e-bay prices for vintage flyers, t-shirts and posters etc commanding ridiculous sums.

[matrix]

I agree ISPY about the sound tech of the 80s ,they just seemed to get so much right ,not just the New Romantic bands , but also the likes of Peter Gabriel with Sledgehammer ,and Games without frontiers ,check his Milan concerts out on you tube , for someone still performing.

Regarding punk bands still performing its a wonder they are still in one piece ,what with all the head banging , spitting ,and vomiting , on each other , plus stabbing each other with safety pins ,infection control would not have been a strong point at those concerts!!

If you dont mind me saying so ISPY , looking at your photo you must have been one of the best dressed ,well mannered punk rockers to hit the streets!

[tony ingram]

Marillion. the Clutching at Straws tour, 1987. I saw them twice. The sheer energy was incredible, and at one point, when Steve Rothery went into a lengthy guitar solo, Fish ran off stage and turned up in the front rows of the audience handing out rum & cokes from a tray (I was just too far back to stand a chance at getting one, typically). Great band.

[paw broon]

This is good stuff as I'm always curious about other musical tastes and what bands people have seen. My experiences go back to the 60's, when lots of big and not so big groups turned up in Glasgw and Edinburgh. With some friends, I saw Taste a few times at the Place in Edinburgh. And in Glasgow we saw The Rolling Stones with (Mick Taylor)at Greens and John Mayall (with Mick Taylor and Henry Lowther) - obviously I've got this the wrong way round as Taylor left Mayall and went to the Stones, at The Maryland where I also saw Muddy Waters.
( I played at the Maryland once as part of a 4 pce. when we had delusions of grandeur - we weren't really that good. We supported NSU, a band some of you older folk might remember - a trio who played hard blues and rock. They released at least one album).
I also saw Deep Purple; King Crimson (despite the racket, I fell asleep);Stone the Crows; and, one of the great nights of the musical part of my life, Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac, quite simply unforgettably exciting and moving.
The Groundhogs were great and incredibly loud.
Dinner's ready so I'll have to stop. Great fun.

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

Matrix: I was a bit of a fake back then, as I never really dressed like a punk rocker, as seen in the contemporary photo above-----most of my mates did, and most of them done the pogo-dance and the 'dying fly' [or 'deid flea' as it was known in Scotland.]


The 'dying fly' consisted of the 'dancer' hurling himself direct to the floor, and wriggling about on his back [I emphasise the term 'his' as I never once saw a female punk do this, not once] like a mental patient-----I never actually had the courage to actually go through with this, I was always just watching in the wings.

After the punk 'interlude' at the local disco, it was back to the Bee Gees and Saturday Night Fever for everyone else!

[ISPYSHHHGUY]

Paw Broon: believe it or not, the Beatles played Aberdeen Beach Ballroom [in 1962 I think ] just before they secured a recording contract---maybe it was the Scottish tour with 'Johnny Gentle', but I ain't absolutely sure.


Apperantly the four moptops were booed offstage in Aberdeen, which probably tells you more about the musical appreciation of Aberdonians!

[NP]

Paw Broon: believe it or not, the Beatles played Aberdeen Beach Ballroom [in 1962 I think ] just before they secured a recording contract---maybe it was the Scottish tour with 'Johnny Gentle', but I ain't absolutely sure.

It was Jan 1963, just before their second single was released. And a particularly cold day. The Johnny Gentle Tour was more Northerly than even Aberdeen, playing much smaller venues and it was in spring 1960,way before their recording deal, in fact, before they had a permanent drummer, before they first went to Hamburg, and before they were even called The Beatles..