NEDS ATOMIC DUSTBIN - Wolverhampton Civic Hall - 17th December 1994

Bit of a random gig this one, we were not really into Ned's but knew a couple of their songs...  I am pretty sure this one was with Deano so we must have persueded one of our Dad's to drive us down to Wolves.  After doing a bit a research, it looks like this was a "one-off" hometown show not part of any tour.  I have no recollection of who the support band(s) might have been or even if we saw any of them!!

One thing I do remember though was that the Macc Lads were playing next door that same night at the Wulfrun and after the Ned's show we tried to see if we could catch the end of the Macc Lads but they were already done!

CARTER USM - Keele University Ballroom- 6th December 1994

We were back at Keele University once again for this Carter show.  They now had a drummer and were out promoting their new Worry Bomb CD.  These Animal Men were the support and I think they were pretty good from my recollection (they were a band I had heard of but didn't have any of their CDs).  I don't remember much about the Carter set except the whole drummer thing...  but I'm sure it was fun. 

The only other thing I remember was buying an white unofficial Carter "Post Historic Monsters" tour shirt outside leftover from the tour we saw them on the previous year...

THERAPY? - Liverpool Royal Court - 2nd December 1994

This one was my first ever show at the Royal Court in Liverpool and from what I remember it was a pretty good venue.  It was my fourth time seeing Therapy? and I think this one was with Colin and Ian.  Dig and Pet Lamb were the supports and we bought the Dig CD afterwards as they were pretty good.  I don't have any particular memory of the Therapy set but I'm pretty sure it was still pretty much a troublegum set.

The Royal Court in Liverpool

ELASTICA - Wolverhampton Wulfrun Hall - 27th October 1994

Elastica had just started to get big and I wanted to check them out.  I knew "Stutter" but not much more.  This was the last of my 4 shows in 4 nights and I was on my own for the this one having bought the ticket a couple of days earlier.  Support came from Blubber and the (then unknown) Ash from Ireland who went on to be huge.  I loved Ash and wrote off to join their fanclub after the shown athough I never got anything back and lost my money!!!

PRODIGY - Wolverhampton Civic Hall - 26th October 1994

 It was back to the Wolves Civic for the third time in three days to see the Prodigy.  This was before the Prodigy were massive so it was great to see them.  I loved the Jilted Generation CD and also had a live bootleg so I was excited about this show.  I went with my sister Kath (and one of her uni friends) and we had seats upstairs although we stood and danced for the whole Prodigy set.  Support was from N-Joi.

TERRORVISION - Wolverhampton Civic Hall - 25th October 1994

This Civic Hall show was sold out in advance (it had already been upsized from the Wulfron Hall) so I wasn't able to get a ticket from the box office so for the first time in my life I would have to go looking for a ticket from a ticket tout outside the venue.  I was on my own too so it was pretty daunting for me!  I got there pretty early and was being quoted really high prices.  I think I told one guy the most I could spend and after me hanging around for an hour or so that same guy came over and sold me a ticket for that price.  I think I even got inside in time to see all the bands!!

Support came from Baby Chaos and (German legends) Die Toten Hosen.  Baby Choas were a great band from Glasgow and I had a couple of their songs (Sperm and Superpowered) so I enjoyed seeing them.  Die Toten Hosen were a  real revalation to me - I had seen one of their songs on MTV (wunsch dir was) and couldn't wait to see this band who were so big in their native Germany playing as a support band.  I really enjoyed their show (and bought their greatest hits album when I got home) but their show in general didn't go down too well with the Wolverhampton crowd who didn't really get it!

By this time I had met up with my new friend Heather from the previous nights show and we chatted while we waited for Terrorvision to come on.  At that time I was not that familiar wth terrorvision (I became a big fan later on) so only knew a couple of songs but I do remember it being a really good show.

A review I kept of one of the other shows on the tour...

STONE TEMPLE PILOTS - Wolverhampton Civic Hall - 24th October 1994

My sister Kathryn was now studying at Wolverhampton University and I took advantage of this on my half term break. I went down to stay on her sofa for 4 days while I went to 4 shows.

The first one was the Stone Temple Pilots at the Wolves Civic.  I have a feeling that Deano came to this with me and them went back home but I can't be 100% sure.

Support came from the instantly forgettable Redd Kross (although apparently they have been around since the early 80s). The venue was packed though and I know I spent the whole STP set down near the front.  I had just started getting into them and loved the new 'Purple' album so I really enjoyed this one. 

The setlist was 1.Vasoline 2.Silvergun Superman 3.Crackerman 4.Lounge Fly 5.Meatplow 6.Still Remains 7.Gypsy Davy 8.Pretty Penny 9.Creep 10.Andy Warhol (Bowie Cover) 11.Army Ants 12.Big Empty 13.Interstate Love Song 14.Plush 15.Unglued ... 16.Dead and Bloated 17.Sex Type Thing.

 I remember that 3 or four songs in the middle including Pretty Penny were part of an acoustic set.  Also during the show I got chatting to a girl (Heather) who would also be coming to the Terrorvision show the following night too so we arranged to meet up.

The White Swan - Nantwich

By 1994 we had started going to pubs and our venue of choice in Nantwich was the White Swan on Pillory Street.  There were bands on every week and we saw some great ones over the 3 years or so that we were regulars.  Some of the bands we saw, such as Oblivion, were people we knew from college while others ,such as Insanity Beach and Typhoid Mary, were older local bands.  We would see some of these bands several times over the years.  We got on really well with the landlord and landlady (and I went to college with their daughter) and had a great few years going there.  Sadly, it is no longer a pub and after being closed for a little while became a restaurant.

MANIC STREET PREACHERS - Wolverhampton Civic Hall - 8th October 1994

This was going to be the second time I had seen the Manics, this time in support of their "Holy Bible" album.

For the second show in a row I saw Dub War, who were the opening band, and Sleeper were the main support.  I knew quite a few Sleeper songs but I honestly don't remember anything special about their set.

The Manics were one of my favourite bands at the time and the show was great.  Guitarist Richie was to go missing and never be seen again just a few months after this show. I am pretty sure I went with Touche to this one but I don't know who else.

POP WILL EAT ITSELF - Stoke Victoria Hall - 1st October 1994

This was out first visit to the Victoria Hall in Hanley and it was another good turn out from the lads.  While I wanted to see PWEI, the big attraction for us was that Compulsion were one of the support acts.

Other support came from the always fantastic Dub War (complete with air raid siren) and Blaggers ITA.  The only thing I remember about the Blaggers set was that someone kept shouting "what does ITA stand for" which the answer is "in the area".

Compulsion's set was as good as ever - we knew all the songs by now.  Ian got onto the stage to do a stage dive but (despite impressively clearing security and the gap between stage and pit) the crowd parted and let him hit the ground - not cool!

PWEI were supporting their "Dos Dedos Mis Amigos" album which I owned and there were great songs on it (including lead single Ich Bin ein Auslander) that led to an enjoyable show. 

Review from the Manchester show the following day...

PANTERA - Manchester Apollo - 14th September 1994

I went to this show with Colin and Ian and it was our first visit to the famed Manchester Apollo.  The single most thing that I remember about this show is that the venue was fully seated (I assume they thought making the show a standing show would be too rough!) and we ended up watching the show standing on our seats!
DOWNSET were the support and they were pretty good and PANTERA were good too.  I wasn't massively into Pantera at the time but Far Beyond Driven had some great tunes on it which I knew really well.

PRONG - Wolverhampton Wulfrun Hall - Wed 22nd June 1994

Going to this show was pretty much a last minute decision.  We know nothing about Prong except their latest single and that Kerrang said it would be good.  Support came from the excellent Life of Agony (whose River Runs Red album I bought after the show) and The Obsessed (who I honestly don't remember and we may not even have been in the venue in time for them!).  Looking at my ticket I see that Ian's Dad bought it so I must have been at the gig with Ian at least!!