Has anyone ever seen Amy Winehouse? I loved her music but her gigs always looked an utter shambles.
Before she was massively famous (just started to get a bit of notoriety) my mate's band played the Dublin castle and a bunch of us went to watch. She was there propping up the bar and we dared my mate to say 'ere - you're that Katie Melua, aren't you?' She wasn't happy. Lucky she never glasses him, really. She was absolutely tiny - looked about four foot ten.
Has anyone ever seen Amy Winehouse? I loved her music but her gigs always looked an utter shambles.
Before she was massively famous (just started to get a bit of notoriety) my mate's band played the Dublin castle and a bunch of us went to watch. She was there propping up the bar and we dared my mate to say 'ere - you're that Katie Melua, aren't you?' She wasn't happy. Lucky she never glasses him, really. She was absolutely tiny - looked about four foot ten.
Saw her @ the IOW Festival in 2007...She was alright, nothing spectacular.
Two threads. One man. Best gig John Martyn 1982 with Danny Thompson. Glasgow somewhere. Mesmeric. Worst gig. 1983. John Martyn. Glasgow somewhere. Walked (that’s exaggerating) on stage. Sat on a stool. Said something like “shlweempthdnb”. Fell off stool. Crawled offstage. Announcement “sorry folks Mr Martyn is unwell”. Legend. RIP big Muff.
Not because of the music, but Destination Docklands the open air concert put on by Jean-Michel Jarre in Beckton in October 1988 will chiefly be remembered for the freezing rain that fell that evening!
I remember that. We was at an Acid House warehouse do up the river. Which I’m sure was a lot better
Out of interest which acid party was it?
Pretty sure it was called Apocolypse Now. One off ted type rave do. We were pretty early at the table my lot so by then we were already a year in. I was a member of Shoom and Spectrum, went to Boys Own, Future, Kazoo, etc years ago, still pop out to things a couple of times a year (Faith, Boys Own)
Genesis did an apocalypse now at the time so it was probably that , the bloke didn’t have much cash but got a load of cargo nets cheap from an army surplus. if you’ve not already read it have a look out for “class of 88” by Wayne Anthony, it should bring back some memories for you judging by your old haunts
Yes read it mate. Not a bad book to be fair. I’ve got them all. Jane Bussmans once in a lifetime being the best I feel.
Is 'Do I do' by Stevie Wonder your favourite song?
HaHa most definitely not, as a teen I loved a lot of motown stuff & although I've seen him live twice there's only a couple of his songs that I've really liked.
Someone mentioned Van Morrison. I've seen him three times and should've learnt my lesson the first time. Always never better than mediocre, mumbling through songs with his back to the audience.
22nd November 1976. I was the college social secretary and had been tempted into booking the Sex Pistols and the Clash on their first tour out of London. The bands arrived late afternoon an hour or so after the rented pa system we had booked for them from Birmingham. They looked exactly as I had suspected and whilst they were setting up I chatted with the sound crew who were somewhat stunned by the fact that the sex pistols could not tune their own instruments or drums. The evening attracted about a half capacity into the venue, even though the prices on the door were cheaper than most events. As I recall it, the sound check with the Clash went fine, but the Pistols had no idea what to do and were loud but dreadful. The night went well with a few skirmishes in the bars and the Clash were fine at the time. The Pistols played no differentiated chords, had variable timing which resulted in the sound engineer holding up his hands in horror and some attendees leaving. Malcolm McLaren insisted on payment immediately after the gig and then demanded a percentage of the door on top. He later lied to the media about not being paid and also told the media that we had "40 fascist bouncers" who had beaten the bands up. (I had increased the security on the night from five to six people).
This was at a time when the usual student union fodder was bands from the pre punk era (Renaissance, Curved Air, Lindisfarne, Man, Ronnie Lane's Slim Chance, Osibisa, Canned Heat and the Flying Burrito Brothers).
On checking the demographic of the attendees we found that about 10 people had shown their union card to get in on a discount and the majority came from the town, which from a commercial point of view helped, so despite the experience with McLaren we persevered and booked other punk bands including the excellent Eddie and the Hot Rods.
The Pistols was not my favourite gig of all time and probably the worst, although ELO at the 02 was a live event that almost persuaded me to abandon live music.
I did walk out of a Status Quo gig at Hammersmith after 5 songs that all sounded the same. I don’t mind one or two of their numbers but I couldn’t eat a whole one.
dodgy, after the main 2 had left. awful. dodgy in fact
That brings back a memory, I saw them at the Adelphi in Hull after Nigel had left and it was BAD, the whole dynamic and sound had completely changed. I saw them in 1996 at Brixton Academy and surprisingly, it was one of the most memorable gigs I've been to.
Another example, Queen! I got a free ticket to see them at the o2 a few years back. Amazing back catalogue, but how can you have Queen without Freddie?
dodgy, after the main 2 had left. awful. dodgy in fact
Bit of a Trigger's broom situation when bands do this. How much is a band the band when such key personnel leave. Oasis without both Gallaghers aren't really Oasis, Guns n Roses without Slash aren't GNR etc
I think @Terry Naylor got me tickets for this one but Neil Diamond at the 02 sent me to sleep. The place only came to life at the end when he sang Sweet Caroline. Highlight of the night for me was a pissed up lady who tried to get to her seat carrying a beer and a portion of chips. When she got to her seat, she fell backwards and surfaced five rows further down. She was still clutching her beer glass and chip container. The people she surfed over were adorning the beer and chips. She got ejected .... and no, it wasn’t @Curb_It 😂😂
I did walk out of a Status Quo gig at Hammersmith after 5 songs that all sounded the same. I don’t mind one or two of their numbers but I couldn’t eat a whole one.
Makes me wonder why you went, was it under duress Being a long time fan of Quo myself, always a great show, and yes being a fan does help when going to any gig.
Oh god, Kanye at Glastonbury that same year as The Who. Played all of his new terrible album first to suck the life out of the crowd... best bit was when he got up on a crane for (maybe) Touch the Sky but didn't salvage it.
I think that plank comedian interrupted a bit of it but I didn't really notice.
The Tweenies at the O2 (I think) back in the 2000s.
And an Elvis tribute at Wembley Arena with him on a big screen and a band playing the music on stage. Couldn’t get pissed beforehand as we were delayed and hated every sodding minute of it.
Musically not the worst but way up there as most disappointing: Ocean Colour Scene - Simon Fowler the worst offender, phoned in both performances I've seen, no interaction with the audience, straight from one song to the next, no interaction at all with his bandmates, barely any interaction let alone chemistry between the other 3/4, Craddock seemed to enjoy throwing a few shapes as he churned out his Jimmy-Page-lite repertoire but none of them so much as moved from position one. Bizarre as OCS were clearly preaching to the converted on both occasions, big audiences of noisy singing devotees. Had the misfortune to catch a Simon Fowler solo set, when he was peddling some dreary derivative folk songs. Many of those in attendance called out for an OCS tune or two, SF heard them fine but ignored til introducing his final song when he grunted ''I'm not doing any of that'' result being he rightly walked off to near silence as all present headed swiftly to the bars.
Zodiac Mindwarp & The Love Reaction, admittedly an acquired taste at the best of times but I've seen countless gigs over the decades, in venues large, small, tiny and they've done what they do brilliantly. Met frontman Zodiac (Mark) and guitarist Cobalt (Geoff) several times and they've been excellent company, if inexhaustibly thirsty for all manner of intoxicants. Nights in the pub with those two ought to be memorable, if difficult to remember, if you catch my drift. Sadly last time at a festival Zod/Mark appeared to be significantly ahem 'unwell', he mumbled halfheartedly through 5 or 6 tracks with Geoff and the rhythm section exchanging panicked stares, meanwhile the bulk of the crowd bailed to the bars. Geoff Jack and Bruno soldiered on, singing lots more BV's than usual and doing their best to put on a show for the assembled throng. Came time for the one big hit "Prime Mover" a song they've played at every show for 33 years and Zodiac gawped blankly at Cobalt clueless as to what was happening. Cobalt/Geoff's not blessed with a tremendous singing voice but he gave it his all as the lumbering fuckwit to his left mumbled incoherence. Zodiac's alcohol and chemical haze appeared to clear as his compadrés left the stage and the deluded old junky insisted they do their scheduled encore - to an audience by then of about 6. For a band and character very much about parody, sad to see him deteriorate into a shambling parody himself.
Only time I've seen the Pogues, the band was on fine form but Shane at the time was a hugely bloated embarrassment. Hard to watch. I had no illusions that he could ever actually sing. But this time, he was helped to a chair for alternate songs, rasped something unintelligible and drank/spilled god knows what from an ice bucket sized vessel. Quite why the rest of the band put up with him was beyond me, they did fine without him. Safe to say it wasn't a performance worthy of their headline slot at Guilfest.
Saw Mark Bolan in his Tyrannosaurus Rex guise in a Beckenham pub. Very pretty to look at but every song seemed to sound the same, with his sheep-like voice, so I left after about half an hour.
We saw Roberta Flack at the Blue Note Club in New York. It was such a great evening,helped along by excess alcohol but we were right beside the stage, couldn’t have been better.
Saw RF when she came to Wellington and things couldn’t have been more different. She was 45 minutes late on stage, slow handclap from the audience. She had a filthy cold and kept a handkerchief beside her on the piano. Totally forgettable as good concerts go.
Another vote for Van Morrison, at Newmarket. Like he couldn't be arsed. The Stones at Wembley in '95. Not even close to expectations, they had to sit down for half of it and let the backing band play most of it. The lead singer was ok. ZZ Top, Wembley Arena. Out of time, out of tune, presumably out of their minds. Hawkwind, Cliffs Pavillion, Southend. Nik Turner played over the entire set. Left early. Gay Bikers on Acid, Finsbury Park, late eighties. I suppose it was always going to be bad but morbid curiosity got the better of us.
Re. Jean-Michel Jarre. I was in the vicinity, mooching about, trying to find a vantage point. Desolation. No vantage point. A faint sound. Lots of rain. Disappointment Docklands.
Oddly enough I did the same, saw the lasers very clearly but the sound was a bit muffled.....cant remember exactly where we were now, just remember going by motorbike so we could park easily and skiddle around until we found somewhere reasonably satisfactory.
Comments
Dreadful.
Mike Skinner's voice went before he got through the second song of his The Streets set at Reading once, that was ridiculous.
The evening attracted about a half capacity into the venue, even though the prices on the door were cheaper than most events. As I recall it, the sound check with the Clash went fine, but the Pistols had no idea what to do and were loud but dreadful.
The night went well with a few skirmishes in the bars and the Clash were fine at the time.
The Pistols played no differentiated chords, had variable timing which resulted in the sound engineer holding up his hands in horror and some attendees leaving.
Malcolm McLaren insisted on payment immediately after the gig and then demanded a percentage of the door on top. He later lied to the media about not being paid and also told the media that we had "40 fascist bouncers" who had beaten the bands up. (I had increased the security on the night from five to six people).
This was at a time when the usual student union fodder was bands from the pre punk era (Renaissance, Curved Air, Lindisfarne, Man, Ronnie Lane's Slim Chance, Osibisa, Canned Heat and the Flying Burrito Brothers).
On checking the demographic of the attendees we found that about 10 people had shown their union card to get in on a discount and the majority came from the town, which from a commercial point of view helped, so despite the experience with McLaren we persevered and booked other punk bands including the excellent Eddie and the Hot Rods.
The Pistols was not my favourite gig of all time and probably the worst, although ELO at the 02 was a live event that almost persuaded me to abandon live music.
He was never invited back by the Entertainment Committee!
Another example, Queen! I got a free ticket to see them at the o2 a few years back.
Amazing back catalogue, but how can you have Queen without Freddie?
Bit of a Trigger's broom situation when bands do this. How much is a band the band when such key personnel leave. Oasis without both Gallaghers aren't really Oasis, Guns n Roses without Slash aren't GNR etc
Being a long time fan of Quo myself, always a great show,
and yes being a fan does help when going to any gig.
I think that plank comedian interrupted a bit of it but I didn't really notice.
And an Elvis tribute at Wembley Arena with him on a big screen and a band playing the music on stage. Couldn’t get pissed beforehand as we were delayed and hated every sodding minute of it.
Zodiac Mindwarp & The Love Reaction, admittedly an acquired taste at the best of times but I've seen countless gigs over the decades, in venues large, small, tiny and they've done what they do brilliantly. Met frontman Zodiac (Mark) and guitarist Cobalt (Geoff) several times and they've been excellent company, if inexhaustibly thirsty for all manner of intoxicants. Nights in the pub with those two ought to be memorable, if difficult to remember, if you catch my drift.
Sadly last time at a festival Zod/Mark appeared to be significantly ahem 'unwell', he mumbled halfheartedly through 5 or 6 tracks with Geoff and the rhythm section exchanging panicked stares, meanwhile the bulk of the crowd bailed to the bars. Geoff Jack and Bruno soldiered on, singing lots more BV's than usual and doing their best to put on a show for the assembled throng. Came time for the one big hit "Prime Mover" a song they've played at every show for 33 years and Zodiac gawped blankly at Cobalt clueless as to what was happening. Cobalt/Geoff's not blessed with a tremendous singing voice but he gave it his all as the lumbering fuckwit to his left mumbled incoherence. Zodiac's alcohol and chemical haze appeared to clear as his compadrés left the stage and the deluded old junky insisted they do their scheduled encore - to an audience by then of about 6. For a band and character very much about parody, sad to see him deteriorate into a shambling parody himself.
Only time I've seen the Pogues, the band was on fine form but Shane at the time was a hugely bloated embarrassment. Hard to watch. I had no illusions that he could ever actually sing. But this time, he was helped to a chair for alternate songs, rasped something unintelligible and drank/spilled god knows what from an ice bucket sized vessel. Quite why the rest of the band put up with him was beyond me, they did fine without him. Safe to say it wasn't a performance worthy of their headline slot at Guilfest.
Saw RF when she came to Wellington and things couldn’t have been more different. She was 45 minutes late on stage, slow handclap from the audience. She had a filthy cold and kept a handkerchief beside her on the piano. Totally forgettable as good concerts go.
Another vote for Van Morrison, at Newmarket. Like he couldn't be arsed.
The Stones at Wembley in '95. Not even close to expectations, they had to sit down for half of it and let the backing band play most of it. The lead singer was ok.
ZZ Top, Wembley Arena. Out of time, out of tune, presumably out of their minds.
Hawkwind, Cliffs Pavillion, Southend. Nik Turner played over the entire set. Left early.
Gay Bikers on Acid, Finsbury Park, late eighties. I suppose it was always going to be bad but morbid curiosity got the better of us.