Most Memorable Concert/Gig

[stevet]

Thought it would be interesting to find out peoples thoughts on concerts they saw throughout this Period.
Mine, well a few i guess :
My very first (out of Southend) was Public Image at the Rainbow on Boxing Day 1978. Saw Arsenal beat WBA 1-0 in the afternoon, then PIL in evening, then slept outside Liverpool St Station. Great Concert.

Some other memorable ones would include New Order early London gigs, Echo and Bunnymen at WOMAD, Siouxie and Banchees at Chelmsford Chancellor Hall and The Clash (although a skinhead knicked my tonic jacket!!)., at The Roxy in Harlsden.

Locally some great local bands, remember a few Anorexic Dread Concerts that were memorable, and The Leepers.

And of course King Kurt at the Toothbrush !!

Steve Thorogood

[andiprey]

The one`s that stick in my mind are Generation x at the queens hotel, Buzzthingys in Chelmsford andthefirst Damned gig at Crocs where Rat set fire to his drums. Also s.l.f. at the southend tec that I only just made in time after being arested at the Queens road squat when the police closed it down. After a good hosing down in the cells and a cup of tea I got there in time to hear The Fingers soundcheck with Tommy gun. Speedball and The Chords in Westcliff was another great night, but best of all was The Jam at The Rainbow in79 where the whole place was awash with Southend punks and mods.The gig was recorded that night and released as The Jam live.

[stevet]

The good thing about this site it brings back memories that time (and illicit substances) have dulled !! Bloody hell yeah, S.L. F remember that , and think i was at that Jam concert, only went to one and it was like a Southend Social Night so must have been that one !!
Also remember a few early Depeche Mode concerts.......one at the Toothbrush was televised i seem to recall !!

[stevet]

Does anyone recall the Buzzcocks re-union gig at Cliffs Pavilion (i think)/ Remember being there, remember loads of faces, but not sure when it was ??

[graham]

many many good gigs, not least of which was my first ever, Thin Lizzy on the Jailbreak tour back in 1976 as mentioned elsewhere, but probably the best of all was Crass & Poison Girls at the labour Hall in Witham in 1981. It was at the end of some peace/CND march through a park in Basildon or Chelmsford, and we got heckled by some NF skinheads, so I was a bit worried that they'd be at the gig, as Crass had a reputation at that time of always attracting 'bother', but it was fine. A brilliant night out, and I got a lift home from The Nihilist Corps (hey whatever happened to them???) and Jacko Parkinson and had ringing ears for about a week afterwards...

I saw Crass many times afterwards, and there was never any trouble at any of their gigs that i went to.

[steve]

Stiff Little Fingers, Essential Logic, Robert Rental and the Normal at Southend College of Techology 1979 (?). The Synx and the Icons 1980 at Zero Six. The Get at the same venue in 1981. The Damned at Croc's in 1979

[gary]

Scamps had a few memorable gigs. The Ruts played there shortly after "In a Rut" came and gave a fantastic performance even though there was only a handful of people there. I also remember strolling into a Sta Prest gig there and as we were walking up the stairs hearing Tenpole tudor launch into a set, appearing unbilled as the third band. It turned out that the Kingston siblings were having a joint gig - the Mo-dettes were second on the bill. Tenpole Tudor returned shortly after to headline.

[foggy]

i rember going to hammyodeain to see the sranglers,when the band walked off cos too many security guards in front of the crowd ,when they moved there was a fxxkin great riot,wat a laff, the next days concert was cancelled

[foggy]

who went to the brush or was it crocs when the purple helmets played there?they included jj burnell dave greenfield,of the stranglers ,who else was in the band ,i missed it but remember my good pal woodsey (god rest his sole )going and saying about it, r.i.p. woodsey

[Planet Mondo]

My personal Faves would be

The damned at Crocs sept and Boxing day 83 - God knows how many people were in there, but it was well over capacity.
Fortunatley I was right down the front, and got some fantastic photos, which I'll be submitting shortly, I did get covered in greenies while taking them tho'

Hanoi Rocks Dec 83 - I didn't fancy it at first but it was somewhere to go on my 18th. They were incredible and blew the roof off.

And Adam and the Ants at Chelmsford Odeon (1980) is worth a mention cos of the massive bundle at the front.


Flesh for Lulu (85) and Zodiac Mindwarp (86) - at the toothbrush were top nights , but I was in the support band for both gigs so that helps

[daveidol]

My first punk gig was SLF at Southend Tech.. Gave me a bloody nose and a desperate need to play guitar.
Most memorable gig was The Stray Cats at Shrimpers.. Blew my mind! The place was packed solid with rockabilly's and punk rockers (who suspended fighting for the evening). I think everyone in the place was blown away, they were the hottest, rockin'est thing on the planet.. They had all the energy of the punk bands, they looked fantastic, AND they could really play.

[graham]

Yeah I was at the Stray Cats as well, it were a brilliant night! I saw them a little while later at Birmingham University as well, when they had started to get well known, but to me thye had somewhat lost that 'edge' that they had at the Shrimpers... Starting to get complacent? Or maybe just not as on form that night???

[gary]

SLF and Stray Cats were both fantastic gigs. Stray Cats were supported by a young mod group called seventeen who later changed their name to The Alarm.

Key moments of the SLF gig were the taunting of the NF by Jake Burns but then Jake Burns throwing a tantrum during the encore of Running Bear when the over exuberant audience jumped on stage and started dancing. Burns quit the stage saying they would never play Southend again! They did, of course, playing the Cliffs Pavilion a few years later.

[donnap]

funny to discover that most of us that visit this site must have been at pretty much the same things during 79 - me too for SLF, Robert Rental, Essential Logic, Wreckless Eric at the Tech - tho most of us must have been about 15 at the time . . . And indeed the Jam at the Rainbow, I remember the tube stations were all shut down (how poetic) then the one we managed to get on kept stopping in pitch dark and was just filled with parkas and assorted Southenders . . . also recall Sham 69 at the Electric Ballroom with the Cimerons in the times when you couldnt even go in with bootlaces yet they still managed to stab someone . . also recall a Fall gig at the Lyceum and a freebie summer bash at Finsbury Park with the Damned and a few years later (well out the area some good stuff going on in Manchester Platt Fields where you could see the Fall almost weekly. And finally and maybe a tad more obscurely Michael Clark (yes the Ballet Rambert star) doing his Fall stuff at the manchester College of Music - that was just the most astonishing thing I have ever seen - the costumes, the music the dancing just electric.

[gary]

I saw the Fall/Michael Clark show at Sadlers Wells which was pretty strange. Also saw The Residents Cube E show there. Was The Fall gig that you saw at the Lyceum the one with the Membranes supporting? I was a huge fan of the Membranes and even got them to play at the Grand. I got quite friendly with them too and one time they played at the Marquee with the Three Johns, they helped me get in free, carrying in equipment, and I hid in the dressing room until the punters started being let in.

Around 1980 the Lyceum used to do 4-5 band packages of mainly upcoming bands on Sunday nights, which threw up some interesting combinations such as Bauhaus supporting Gary Glitter. Probably the strangest gig, though, was Slade supported by U2 and Discharge!