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i remember: gigs

i love going to gigs. these days i tend to go to small gigs, they tend to be more exciting, they are less hassle to get tickets to, there is always a chance to discover something new and more often than not they are cheaper.

over the years i have seen some great gigs and some truly duff ones.

there was the time i agreed with the ex that i would try to make a career in rock journalism (hey we were young and we had dreams…), so using one of my nights out i went to the marquee club in order to see guns and roses on their first ever london gig. now the marquee was steeped in history and soaked in spilled beer and puke, but for a rock fan it was the best venue.
i get there. the line is long but moving steadily. one by one people enter the doors. anticipation is growing. i can count the number of bodies in front of me. no. no. no. big burly bloke is standing in front of the door telling me and 3 other people the venue was full.
that is my “i was there” story.

then there was the time at the hammy odeon, as we affectionately called it, that myself and dave ellis turned up a week too early to see toyah. needless to say we didn’t wait.

or there was the time when i was watching rush at the hammy on the permanent waves tour. i was there with monty. the set was in full swing. like all good gig going fans i was doing air guitar, in my case it was bass guitar and was i playing some monster riffs. i was smokin’. looking around i can see others throwing shapes and pull poses; we are all in air guitar heaven. but hold on what is this i see? down the row from me are three guys all doing synchronised air drumming? it is pretty funny, i love it, i am smiling broadly. i turn to monty and i point them out to him. he looks. he studies. he ponders and says: “they are a beat out.” once he had proclaimed he goes back to watching the stage.
me i nearly piss myself laughing.

then there was the time i was at a club with he who can’t be named (or joel), and as we chin stroke our way through a complex electronica set i am approached (well if memory serves me right she made a beeline from one end of the club to the other to get to me) by an elfin ethereal east european girl. she is pretty in a painfully cute way. she asks, “who are you?” i tell her. she leaves. joel runs after her to get her phone number for me…
fast forward a month we have arranged to meet at another electronica night. joel has been winding me up over it. first set is done and dusted and the second set is about to begin. i turn to joel to tell him i have been stood up. no sooner had the sound from my lips died than she pops up to say hi.
sadly we never got together, but she was pretty and mad and that is the way i like them.

rainbow at wembley was perhaps one of the worst gigs i ever went to. now i have to admit my memory of who was there that night is messed up. i thought that adam was there and it was his last night in the country before he went to become american. joel says he wasn’t there. all i can remember was rainbow were shit.

while madame x at the marquee was a great night. so much so we all decided to see them at the dominion later on that week. except we were probably half of the tickets sold. madame x cancelled but another band decided that they would play the night. we stupidly decided to stay. so the dominion had the bands parents and coach load of mates and us in it. i am not sure who were more embarrassed the band or us. credit where it is due they did rock out, just not very well.
i would salute them but i can just remember they were called battle something or another.

i remember great nights seeing the tubes (who were my first big gig alone and i went wearing a kipper tie and a hideous jacket – the closest i ever came to being a punk), seeing the manhattan transfer, frank zappa and the kodo drummers.

the best night of all was seeing ronnie james dio at the astoria back in 2004. the little man gave a towering performance. the few hundred people who had gathered to hear him sing songs from his then new lp were treated to a night they would never forget.
what we were treated to that night was simply an almost perfect greatest hits of ronnie james dio. it was rock and roll nirvana. we heard classics from his time in rainbow, his time in black sabbath and his key songs as a solo artist. he roared the songs out; we shouted our praise and our thanks. we listen with rapt delight as one gem morphed into another one.
we got heaven and hell, we got stargazer, we got sign of the southern cross, we got gates of babylon, we got holy diver, we got neon knights. they just kept coming.
we got more than we bargained for; we got a night we would remember for always.

the next time dio played the astoria the place was packed out with people hoping to experience what had heard, but it was a once in a lifetime occurrence. and i was there.

as the man himself has sung: long live rock and roll…