At the end of November I took my husband (for his 50th birthday present) to see Joan Armatrading playing 'her last major tour' at the Hexagon Theatre in Reading. She was much better than I'd been expecting, not in a slick, professional sort of way, some of her timing was a little haphazard, and she gleefully admitted three times that she'd forgotten how one of the songs started... but in the warmth of her personality, which filled the theatre in a reciprocal hug.... and her voice, of course, was and is amazing.
When we got home, or maybe the next day I wrote a post about the experience on FaceBook, and said that I'd put her in my all time top ten gig list. Which surprised me, because in my humble opinion, I've seen some good music gigs in my time.
Going back, I'd have to put my first ever gig in the top-ten because it was my first gig, but also because it was good. My mum took me and my sister to see Darts playing at Preston Guild Hall back in 1977 or '78. I'd have been about 12, my sister 10, and we both wore full circular skirts which my mum had made. The songs were in the charts at the time, and the deep-voiced Den Heggarty was the memorable star of the show with his acrobatic climbing of the theatre interior, like some urban orang-utan with a quiff, drainpipes and crepe sole shoes....
Chronologically, the next few bands I remember seeing would have been at Blackburn King George's Hall. Punk and NewWave were doing the rounds, and I was fortunate to see The Undertones, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Sham 69, and some others at this venue. My wisdom in deciding not to see The Police because I didn't think that they were any good, is still questionable.
Over at Preston Guild Hall I remember seeing Gary Numan drive around the stage in his wierd Sinclair C5 or something similar. He ticked my teenage angst boxes. Someone had to.
Time and friendship circles moved on, and in my all time top-ten I'd have to put the magnificent 'Eek-a-Mouse' a Jamaican Reggae performer who I saw with my friend SG in Bristol in around 1984 or so. I listened to John Peel's late night radio programmes a lot back then, so Eek-a-Mouse seemed the obvious thing to be doing that night.
The gig was in a de-consecrated church which still had its stained glass windows, and the early evening setting sun made the stage glow with a multitude of colours. You could have counted the white people in the audience on the fingers of two hands, and we were two of them, and girls to boot, but the atmosphere was good, if a little hazy, if you know what I mean. In fact I seem to remember that we tried and spectacularly failed to 'score some grass'. I'm fairly certain that instead of the weed we thought we were rolling into our poor excuse for a joint, we were actually rolling some weeds....
Anyhow, Eek-a-Mouse was electric, lithe and clad in black leather trousers and waistcoat, which accentuated his 6ft 6in lean frame. He was mesmeric, charming, and a little dangerous, and the audience and we two girls loved him. According to Wikipedia he's fallen from grace of late, serving time for felonies in USA which I won't go into here as this is not the time nor place.
So that's three of the top ten so far: Joan Armatrading, Darts and Eek-a-Mouse. More next time.
Kat :)
When we got home, or maybe the next day I wrote a post about the experience on FaceBook, and said that I'd put her in my all time top ten gig list. Which surprised me, because in my humble opinion, I've seen some good music gigs in my time.
Going back, I'd have to put my first ever gig in the top-ten because it was my first gig, but also because it was good. My mum took me and my sister to see Darts playing at Preston Guild Hall back in 1977 or '78. I'd have been about 12, my sister 10, and we both wore full circular skirts which my mum had made. The songs were in the charts at the time, and the deep-voiced Den Heggarty was the memorable star of the show with his acrobatic climbing of the theatre interior, like some urban orang-utan with a quiff, drainpipes and crepe sole shoes....
Chronologically, the next few bands I remember seeing would have been at Blackburn King George's Hall. Punk and NewWave were doing the rounds, and I was fortunate to see The Undertones, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Sham 69, and some others at this venue. My wisdom in deciding not to see The Police because I didn't think that they were any good, is still questionable.
Over at Preston Guild Hall I remember seeing Gary Numan drive around the stage in his wierd Sinclair C5 or something similar. He ticked my teenage angst boxes. Someone had to.
Time and friendship circles moved on, and in my all time top-ten I'd have to put the magnificent 'Eek-a-Mouse' a Jamaican Reggae performer who I saw with my friend SG in Bristol in around 1984 or so. I listened to John Peel's late night radio programmes a lot back then, so Eek-a-Mouse seemed the obvious thing to be doing that night.
The gig was in a de-consecrated church which still had its stained glass windows, and the early evening setting sun made the stage glow with a multitude of colours. You could have counted the white people in the audience on the fingers of two hands, and we were two of them, and girls to boot, but the atmosphere was good, if a little hazy, if you know what I mean. In fact I seem to remember that we tried and spectacularly failed to 'score some grass'. I'm fairly certain that instead of the weed we thought we were rolling into our poor excuse for a joint, we were actually rolling some weeds....
Anyhow, Eek-a-Mouse was electric, lithe and clad in black leather trousers and waistcoat, which accentuated his 6ft 6in lean frame. He was mesmeric, charming, and a little dangerous, and the audience and we two girls loved him. According to Wikipedia he's fallen from grace of late, serving time for felonies in USA which I won't go into here as this is not the time nor place.
So that's three of the top ten so far: Joan Armatrading, Darts and Eek-a-Mouse. More next time.
Kat :)
