HELMET - Wolverhampton Wulfrun - 19th June 1994

This was our first visit to the Wulfrun which is the smaller venue in the Woverhampton Civic Hall building.  This one was me, Ian and possibly Deano with the fact that Kerbdog were supporting being a significant attraction in coming to this gig.

Understand were the opening act - don't remember too much about them apart from that they were hardcore metal.  Kerbdog were on next and I have to assume they were as good as ever (I really don't remember!).  Helmet were a band that we were all very familiar with - unsung is still one of my favorite songs.  From what I remember it was a great show.  I think Ian got thrown out of the gig for excessive crowdsurfing near the end too.  I also remeber trying to get my CD signed by Kerbdog but security would not let us through.

COMPULSION - Liverpool Lomax - 27th May 1994

I went to this one at Liverpool's intimate Lomax venue with my Dad, Ian and Colin.  We had really got into Compulsion since we saw them supporting the Manics a few months back.  I think we had already started playing some Compusion tunes in our band. I had signed up to the Compulsion mailing list and there had been a mailout that said bring this card to a compulsion show on this tour and you could exchange it for a compulsion 7" single....  so I brought along the card and sure enough i got the 'Eating' single in return which is still one of my favorite Compulsion songs.

The show was pretty full if I recall.  Done Lying Down were the support band and they were great.  I bought their CD a few days later and I still play it today.  'Just a Misdermeanor' and 'Dissent' became songs our band would later learn and play. 

When Compulsion came on the place was nuts with a great energy.  We danced for the whole set and if I  recall, the guys from Done Lying Down were in the pit too!

Here is the entry for this show from the Done Lying Down tour diary.....


May27th, 94, The Lomax, Liverpool.
Compulsion, DLD.
J: “Calm down., Calm down”. We started having a really good time w/Compulsion. DLD/Compulsion football game(they won) Jack Plug got a black eye slamming w/Compulsion. Glenn got bruised knees, AliMac went crowd surfing. Joey up to the top balcony.
Sid did a good Snoop Doggy Dog impression....it was pretty fun. Sound was good. Crowd was good. Rider w/beer but we had to buy our own burgers. Someone ate James’s burger.

So I guess that backs up my memory that they were in the pit with us!!


During the show my Dad (who obviously did not join us up front) was sweet talking someone in the Compulsion crew and told them I was a big fan and had some CDs to sign and I ended up getting a backstage pass.  So when the show was done I ended up going up to the Compulsion dressing room.  On the way up the stairs I passed a very drunk lead singer of Done Lying Down but I shook his hand and told him how cool I thought their set was.  In the dressing room I introduced myself to Compulsion and had a good chat and got some stuff signed.  When I mentioned that we had seen them at the Manics show it was they that lead singer JosephMary gave me his Manics tour backstage pass.  I thanked them profusely (which was probably totally uncool!) and went back downstairs to meet Dad, Ian and Col. 

I wrote a letter to Kerrang about my night and it got publised a few weeks later under the title "Compulsion Obsession".  I mentioned that to Compulsion when we met them a few years later and they remembered seeing the letter and thinking it was cool.

The Lomax in 2011 - it closed as a music venue in 2000

 

THERAPY? - Paris, Le Bataclan - 30th March 1994

I was on holiday in Paris with my family and I had found out that the Therapy? tour was going to be passing through France while we were there.  After some pleading with Mum & Dad they agreed to take me to the show at the Paris Bataclan.  We headed down to the venue at lunchtime on the day of the show to buy some tickets and picked up 2 tickets for me and my sister Kathryn (Mum & Dad were going to occupy themselves outside the gig for a few hours).  Coming out of the box office we saw the Therapy? tour bus and just as we walked past Andy Cairns (lead singer of Therapy?) walked out.  I said hi and shook his hand and we got talking about us being on holiday and that I had been to see them a few weeks earlier.  He asked if we had bought tickets already but when we said yes he told us to sell them on the door because he would put our names on the guest list!  I had my picture taken with Andy and then we were on our way.

A few hours later, we were back for the show and sure enough there were 4 guest passes waiting for us at the door.  We sold our two tickets at the door to two very grateful girls (the show was now sold out).  Support came from Canadian band the Doughboys although I don't really remember their set and then Therapy? came on to play a set relatively similar to the one I saw in Wolverhampton.

1. Intro 2. Stop It You're Killing Me 3. Trigger Inside 4. Potato Junkie 5. Die Laughing 6. Opal Mantra 7. Accelerator 8. Hellbelly 9. Unbeliever 10. Teethgrinder 11. Brainsaw 12. Femtex 13. Turn 14. Isolation 15. Knives 16. Screamager 17. C.C. Rider 18. Nowhere 19. Lunacy Booth

After the show, we waited around in the venue using our after show passes until Andy and Michael (bassist) came out to chat and sign autographs for us.  Unfortunately Fyfe (drummer) was not feeling well so we didn't see him.  We hung around for a short while and then headed for home.

THERAPY? - Wolverhampton Civic Hall - 2nd March 1994

A big group of us went down to Woverhampton for this one.  Therapy? had really started to become big with the release of Troublegum and by that time I knew most of their songs.

Support came from Credit to the Nation and Kerbdog (who Deano and Ian had seen a few weeks earlier so we were into them too). 

I remember crowdsurfing during Credit to the Nation and then again during the Therapy? set.  Unfortunately I got my first taste of over zealous security when I got thrown out of the venue with a few songs left for surfing too many times.  This was a little embarressing as my Dad was outside waiting to pick us up.  Fortunately Colin (Strawson) was also outside having been kicked out for the same reason (as was my future uni friend Chaff although I wasn't to find this out until years later!!).


1. Stop It, You're Killing Me 2. Trigger Inside 3. Opal Mantra 4. Die Laughing 5. Tethgrinder 6. Brainsaw 7. Femtex 8. Turn 9. Innocent X 10. Unbeliever 11. Accelerator 12. Hellbelly 13. Isolation 14. Screamager 15. Nausea 16. Nowhere 17. Lunacy Booth

MANIC STREET PREACHERS - Liverpool University - 3rd February 1994

This show stands out for me for a couple of reasons....  it was here that I crowdsurfed for the first time and it was also my introduction to Compulsion who were to become one of my favourite bands.  It was me and Ian Lee for this one and I think it was Ian's Dad that drove us the hour or so over to Liverpool.  This is the only show we ever saw at Liverpool uni but it was a good one. 

Eve's Plum were the first band on and I really enjoyed them (I bought their album Envy shortly afterwards).  The lead singer is american and she certainly has a unique voice.   Next on were Compulsion and they blew me away.  Absolutely hooked from the start by the onstage energy.  Headliners the Manic Street Preachers were supporting the Gold Against the Soul album and from everything I remember it was a good show.  Close to the end, both Ian and myself built up the courage to go for a crowd surf over the front barrier.

I bought an unofficial (maroon) tour t-shirt on the street outside which I wore for years...

...and I also managed to get a all access laminate from this tour when Josephmary (lead singer of Compulsion) gave me his when I met them several months later.

THERAPY? - Keele University - 6th December 1993

We went to this show because Touche was into one of the Therapy? singles so we went along trusting his good taste.  I remember Lizzie Spedding was there too but I'm not sure who else.  The gig was in the Ballroom at the student union but I'm pretty sure we were too young at 15 to be hitting the bar.  I remember the gig was packed and that my Dad turned up and came into the show before the end (as he was picking us up) just in time to hear Potato Junkie.  Support came from Cop Shoot Cop who I remember nothing about.  Therapy became one one my favourite bands who I have seen many many times since.

CARTER USM - Wolverhampton Civic Hall - 12th October 1993

About a month after out first gig, we were back in Wolves for the Carter USM show.  I'm not even sure who was with me but I've got to think it was Touche and maybe Deano or Ian...  I am absolutely positive that the support was Blink (who I remember buying a CD single of at the time) and Sultans of Ping FC (do I hear "where's me jumper"?) and I think it may also have been a (pre-fame) Cornershop.  Again, no idea what was played by Carter but I'm sure we had a great time.

SMASHING PUMPKINS - Wolverhampton Civic Hall - Sep 11th 1993

This was my first ever concert without parental oversight.  It was my friend Touche (David Johnson) that encouraged me to go and it was his Dad who got the tickets and drove us the hour or so down to Wolverhampton and picked us up afterwards.  I didn't know much about the Pumpkins beforehand but I had bought the Siamese Dream CD and had taken it with me on holiday with Mum & Dad to try to learn some of the songs.

 I went to the show with Touche and Becky Kidman and had a great time.  I remember jumping around (and probably totally looking like a 15 year old at his first rock concert) to the support band The Verve, who unknown to me at the time, were to go on to become huge.

When the Smashing Pumpkins came on it was a whole new world - my first crush in the pit, crowdsurfers coming overhead and the energy and buzz of the live show.  I don't remember too much about the songs themselves but it left me wanting more live gigs and made me a Smashing Pumpkins fan for life.

Shows with my Dad prior to 1993

I have no specific memories of these shows but I will endevour to research this with my Dad to see what he has to fill in the blanks here!!!

One musical memory that sticks out is going to the Radio One Roadshow in Eastbourne while we were on holiday one summer (I think it was summer1992).  In an unusual departure from all the pop bands normally on those shows, I got to see a few songs from two bands who I thought were pretty cool at that time, Jesus Jones and the Little Angels (who I remember performing their hit "Too Much, Too Young").

Jesus Jones

Jesus Jones

Me with the lead singer of the Little Angels (Toby Jepson)





Little Angels bassist Mark Plunkett

My Music History

I am writing this blog to create a record of all the live music I have seen over the years.

I guess I was always destined to like music and going to live shows seeing as my Dad took me along with him to see his favorite bands from a very young age.  This was mainly bands from the 60s and 70s that my Dad grew up with - I remember shows by Bobby Vee, The Searchers, Albert Lee, Sonny Curtis and several more. 

I started going to concerts for 'my' bands in 1993 with my first concert being the Smashing Pumpkins at Wolverhampton Civic Hall.  My gig going has continued steadily since then taking me through university and then moves around the UK followed in 2004 by a move to the USA.  Obviously as a thirty-something family man I can no longer go to more than a handful of shows each year but the great memories from all my 200+ gigs over the year are still strong.

My aim here is to write a post for each show I have been to and include any tickets, photos, posters or anything else that associates with that show.  I will only include concerts where an admission has been charged as these are the ones that I have kept a record of over the years.  I have been to many more pub shows (and I may make passing reference to them as I go through this blog) but I have only vague recollections of who I have seen and when and where!