Posted on January 18th, 2008 by Andy
Not really a “Top” 6 but just some gigs that are popping into my head as I write…I’ll try and avoid the obvious Galaxie 500 (and related) gigs here and pick out ones that were memorable not necessarily for the obvious reason of being utterly brilliant…
Terry Bickers
uploaded by BuriedBones
Levitation @ The Tufnell Park Dome - 14th May 1993
For a while during 1993 I lived in a bed-sit in Northfields. The place was a tip and I spent as much of my time as possible not being there. The only good thing was that the guy who lived in the room next to mine had overheard the music I was listening to and befriended me - he and I went to quite a few gigs together over the months until I moved in with Hazel. One night he banged on the door and said he was going to a gig and would I like to come and because being “out” was infinitely preferable to being “in” I said “yes” without even knowing what it was. We arrived and got in through some shenanigans that seemed to involve us being on the guestlist (even though I’m pretty certain we weren’t). Levitation, or more specifically Terry Bickers, were music inkies darlings and so Bickers on-stage quitting of the band was exciting - the quotes on Wikipedia are probably true (I’d guess they come from a recorded source) but my memory (which is not to be relied on) has him calling the rest of the band, or maybe the audience “wankers” before he left the stage.
Gary Glitter @ The Guildford Civic Hall - 198?
I was rather reluctant to mention this - not just because of Mr Glitter’s subsequent demise but mostly because it was not the sort of music I ever really liked and certainly didn’t care about in the 80s. I went because a bunch of mates were going and it was local and we had nothing better to do. The gig however was memorable for the punch up between two blokes that pretty much lasted the whole of the show. It started in the bar before Gary Glitter took the stage and they punched shit out of each other down the stairs into the stalls and through to the encore - occasionally they’d be pulled apart but within minutes the audience would part to reveal them blattering each other senseless again. Glitter tried to make it stop with pleas from the stage but I think they were just enjoying themselves too much. I don’t recall if the fight carried on afterwards…maybe they’re still punching each other in Guildford pubs of a Saturday night…
The Primitives
uploaded by leica_al
The Primitives @ The Borderline - (probably) 1992
Ken loved The Primitives, I sometimes wondered if the “love” was based a bit more on an infatuation with Tracy Tracy, but they sometimes made some very sweet pop music. This was the last time we saw them (and may have been the last time anyone saw them) the gig was tired, beset by sound problems and ultimately saw the guitarist just leave the stage mid-song leaving the rest of the band to struggle through to the end of the show.
Motorhead @ The Hackney Speedway Stadium - July 1982
This was (as I recall) the first London gig that Motorhead did with Brian Robertson and as if the short hair and fancy guitar work wasn’t enough to alienate the hardcore fans he took to the stage in a pair of very short and very shiny shorts.
Miracle Legion @ The Powerhaus - 1989
Ken was a huge Miracle Legion fan but I’d never heard of them so when we turned up at the Powerhaus in 1989 and found it packed to the rafters I was a little taken aback - how can a band I’ve never heard of be quite so popular among the hip and trendy indie kids of London. When the support act came on stage things became clear. I wasn’t really paying attention when they started but looked up and did a comedy double-take - probably a double-double-take…that looked like Kim Deal…and Tanya Donnelly on the stage…and sounded like them. The Breeders had just finished their first record in Scotland and snuck in this secret gig on their way through London…it was clearly not that much of a secret…except to me. The crowd thinned considerably after The Breeders had finished…
Hypnotist
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Thousand Yard Stare @ The T&C2 - 1992
Brian played one of their very few gigs and were second on a bill that included a hypnotist. The Brian set was punctuated by some lad shouting and shoving and trying to get backstage to punch the hypnotist because his mates were laughing at him for his on-stage antics while under hypnosis. Brian sharing a bill with Thousand Yard Stare and a hypntotist probably counts as being memorable for the sheer inappropriateness of it…that the hypnotist almost got beaten up just for doing his job (if his job is making floppy haired indie-kids look silly) was just a bonus…
