How many different venues have you seen gigs? I was thinking about this the other day because we were talking about all the places we’d been just in California. And what is your favourite?
The one I’ve been to most is obviously Newcastle City Hall simply because I started going to gigs around the peak time for provincial gigging by bands and everyone came round once or twice per year. Middlesbrough Town Hall was similar, except it was more dedicated to second and third division bands who couldn’t sell out the city hall. So while you got Clapton, Alvin Lee, Hawkwind, Bad Company and Jeff Beck there, at the Town hall we got Camel, Rough Diamond, Man, Ace, Chris Rea (in the early days. We saw him at Whitley Bay ice rink too) Snafu, Stackridge and Albert Lee.
But that circuit died out in the 80s and 90s, so we had to find other places. Edinburgh Playhouse has kept going and we saw people like CSN and Joe Satriani there. Then as gigs got fewer but were in bigger places, we went to the NEC in Birmingham to see Satriani again and Van Halen.
Occasionally, we ventured to 'that there London'. Firstly to see Neil Young at Wembley Arena. We also went to the Astoria to see Gov't Mule and I saw Zep at Knebworth, of course. But that’s just the main venues, there were others, now long gone. When you think of the hours we spent in spaces that are now long gone. Like the Mayfair in Newcastle. That must still be a big underground space.
Redcar’s Coatham Bowl was smaller still and, for a time, served food when the bands were on. I saw Racing Cars there, shortly after they had a hit with They Shoot Horses Don’t They? The album that’s taken from Downtown Tonight is still played by Joe Elliot on his Planet Rock radio show. They were supported by Tiger with Big Jim Sullivan on guitar and future Samson singer Nicky Moore on vocals. I also saw Newcastle's new wave band Penetration there, but that was a mistake.
One of my favourite gigs in recent years is Stramash in Edinburgh. We saw Samantha Fish there and the Voodoo Rooms in Edinburgh. Saw Simon McBride there twice, now with Deep Purple and lots of other outfits. It’s usually an old crowd, so we didn’t feel out of place! And there’s the Queen's Hall, an old Methodist chapel. Some of the people we saw there were Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Robert Cray and Steven Wilson and many comedians. The Usher Hall in Edinburgh is a grand venue, but I’ve always found the sound too quiet. Not King Crimson though. They were immaculate. It’s also where we saw Todd and others, I’ve long since forgotten.
Dawn reminded me we saw a jazz group in North Beach, San Francisco, opposite the City Lights bookshop and Eddie Money by the bridge doing a free show and Elvin Bishop at a place called Biscuit and Blues. The Wiltern in Los Angeles was surprisingly like seeing a show in an old British theatre. I think we saw Joe Satriani again there. When in Vegas we saw Joe Bonamassa supported, I think, by Mountain and also Buddy Guy. Other gigs have faded from my memory now and even the ones I can recall are through alcohol infused memories.
There was Johnny Winter and Eric Sardinas at the House Of Blues in Chicago too and many many others. God, it shocks me now that we’ve seen so many bands. We are old of course!
When you think about it, gigs have formed a major part of life’s DNA. I don’t see many these days. Having had a stroke doesn’t help, of course but when I look back now, we had so many brilliant, frankly inebriated nights at shows, it was brilliant.
Gig Venues...
