First Gig/Best Gig/Worst Gig

[BomberPat]

11 hours ago, SuperBacon said:

 

Alright Vic, let's hear how it should have sounded:

 

 

[SaitoRyo]

The first gig I can remember going to was Nickelback at the Telewest Arena in Newcastle in November of 2002. Which would make me 11 at the time, so don't judge!

This was after How You Remind Me and Hero had come out so they were hot at the time. They played those two songs and a bunch of others and I was happy. As were my mate Gavin and my mam, who chaperoned. Don't remember all too much from the show, other than there was plenty of pyro, we were sitting not too far away and that I really wanted a hoodie, but didn't bother asking. Probably for the best. 

Best gig was probably one of the times I saw Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band. Maybe Hampden Park in the summer of 2013. I went with my brother, got nice and tipsy and had a lovely three hours, about fifteen or so rows back from the stage. Hampden in 2009 (first time seeing them) and Stadium of Light in 2012 (with high school mates) were also class. 

Worst gig might have been the Wu-Tang Clan at the 02 in Newcastle in 2015. They sound system was shite, a bunch of the original members were missing, GZA was there but he looked comatose and they only played for about an hour (after showing up over an hour late), rushing through the hits in a really messy and unenjoyable way. I got a free ticket, so can't complain too much, but it was way below what I expected. Not a patch on a young kid called Kendrick Lamar, who I saw in the same venue a couple of years earlier for about a tenner. 

[SuperBacon]

5 minutes ago, SaitoRyo said:

Worst gig might have been the Wu-Tang Clan at the 02 in Newcastle in 2015. They sound system was shite, a bunch of the original members were missing, GZA was there but he looked comatose and they only played for about an hour (after showing up over an hour late), rushing through the hits in a really messy and unenjoyable way. I got a free ticket, so can't complain too much, but it was way below what I expected. Not a patch on a young kid called Kendrick Lamar, who I saw in the same venue a couple of years earlier for about a tenner. 

I can count on one hand the number of rap gigs I've enjoyed. Because it's often such an intricate music form (lyrically mostly) it almost always sounds crap live as it gets completely lost.

Unless it's with a full band eh @Chest Rockwell

[Chest Rockwell]

That's nuts. I've certainly been to a few rap gigs with shit sound where you can't make out the lyrics, but I can only imagine you've not been to many (Or been to mostly rubbish uk hip hop ones) to be able to count the decent ones on one hand.

Edited February 7, 2023 by Chest Rockwell

[SuperBacon]

3 minutes ago, Chest Rockwell said:

imagine you've not been to many

You'd imagine correctly. Maybe 15/20ish?

[Chest Rockwell]

Damn. That's still a really poor hit rate. 

[SuperBacon]

4 minutes ago, Chest Rockwell said:

Damn. That's still a really poor hit rate. 

I rarely enjoy anything, so it's actually quite a good hit rate.

[HarmonicGenerator]

1 hour ago, SaitoRyo said:

The first gig I can remember going to was Nickelback at the Telewest Arena in Newcastle in November of 2002. Which would make me 11 at the time, so don't judge!

This was after How You Remind Me and Hero had come out so they were hot at the time. They played those two songs and a bunch of others and I was happy. As were my mate Gavin and my mam, who chaperoned. Don't remember all too much from the show, other than there was plenty of pyro, we were sitting not too far away and that I really wanted a hoodie, but didn't bother asking. Probably for the best. 

That's the same show as my first gig! I like that your main memory was the pyro too.

1 hour ago, SaitoRyo said:

Best gig was probably one of the times I saw Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band. Maybe Hampden Park in the summer of 2013. I went with my brother, got nice and tipsy and had a lovely three hours, about fifteen or so rows back from the stage. Hampden in 2009 (first time seeing them) and Stadium of Light in 2012 (with high school mates) were also class. 

I was at that Sunderland one too!

[SaitoRyo]

36 minutes ago, HarmonicGenerator said:

That's the same show as my first gig! I like that your main memory was the pyro too.

I was at that Sunderland one too!

It was the pyro and also expecting Josey Scott to come out for Hero. He didn't, obviously. Do you remember who did? 

Yeah, the Stadium of Light Bruce gig was great! Really good setlist and just a quick jaunt on the Metro to get there. Peaked with 'Glory Days', as it was a collective favourite of ours and we were all about eight beers deep. 

[HarmonicGenerator]

2 minutes ago, SaitoRyo said:

It was the pyro and also expecting Josey Scott to come out for Hero. He didn't, obviously. Do you remember who did? 

Yeah, the Stadium of Light Bruce gig was great! Really good setlist and just a quick jaunt on the Metro to get there. Peaked with 'Glory Days', as it was a collective favourite of ours and we were all about eight beers deep. 

I don't! I actually didn't remember them doing the song ... But I can remember the support band being called Default, who were apparently Kroeger proteges, so maybe he just got their singer on for it.

[SaitoRyo]

2 minutes ago, HarmonicGenerator said:

I don't! I actually didn't remember them doing the song ... But I can remember the support band being called Default, who were apparently Kroeger proteges, so maybe he just got their singer on for it.

Holy shit, I remember Default! Proper WWE Ruthless Aggression Era PPV music band, them. And yeah, I'd imagine that's what they did for it. 

[Glenryck Pilchards]

When I was a tiny pilchard, I danced around the living room like a maniac to Michael Jackson and in my parents infinite wisdom they took a nearly 3 year old Glen to Roundhay Park, Leeds for the 1988 Bad tour.

I only have vague recollections of the day, but I do remember dancing to Kim Wilde who supported and I remember Jackson was introduced by Jimmy Saville who proclaimed "Welcome to my back garden." Apparently there is footage of me bopping away in the Yorkshire TV archive, but nothing has surfaced. My one clear memory of the day was when Jacko was performing Thriller and was wearing a scary mask and swung on a rope over the crowd and toddler me shat themselves figuratively and literally which gave me nightmares for weeks. In retrospect I really should report my parents to Social Services.

Not counting the 'nappy nights' (under 18's club nights) where I unwittingly seen Clock, Ann Lee and Hepburn at Club M, my first gig I paid money for was the 2003 NME Tour at Northumbria University which featured The Thrills, Interpol, The Polyphonic Spree and The Datsuns. The Polyphonic Spree were absolutely amazing and I couldn't believe how many musicians they could fit on the stage and I was particularly enamoured with the guitarist who turned out to be St. Vincent. The Datsuns then rocked the place out and it was my first experience of a mosh pit and crowd surfing. Halfway through the set I could see what I thought at the time was a girl crowd-surfing about to plunge head first on to the floor and I instinctively caught them and set them back on their feet and it turned out to be a bloke with limited stature. He then gestured to me to launch them back to the front and I happily obliged throwing the little fella back on top of the surf. My mate turned to me and said "You do realise that was Tim DeLaughter from the Polyphonic Spree?" I had no idea!

I have been to numerous great gigs over the years, The Rapture at The Old Blue Last, The Cure at Hammersmith Apollo and MGMT at V Festival, but the best gig I have been to was The Libertines at The Arena nightclub in Middlesbrough. It was originally advertised as a Pete Doherty acoustic set but word got around that it was going to be a full set by The Libertines. They were incredible and there was 300 people packed into the venue. I was an early adopter of a smartphone and I had a Motorola phone which had a stylus, so after the gig I approached Doherty and asked him to sign my phone. But every time I passed the phone over to him my mother kept ringing to find out where I was, which set off an Inbetweeners-type moment where I yelled "fuck off!" to my ma. I eventually got the signature on my phone. 

Without doubt the worst gig I been to was The Fratellis at Middlesbrough Empire in 2006 who were absolute garbage. They were out of tune and appeared to be drunk. After the show I vented to a friend of a friend saying they were the worst thing I have seen live and she was in full agreement with me. We continued talking for the rest of the night and one thing lead to another and we have been together ever since. 

[FLips]

Fucking hell @Glenryck PilchardsClub M. What a throwback.

[King Coconut]

My first was Bon Jovi at the Milton Keynes bowl in 1993. I worshipped Bon Jovi at the time so it was always going to be fun but I remember it most for the support acts The Manic Street Preachers, Billy Idol and the Little Angels and for people starting bonfires in the cheap seats.

Best was Metallica at the Ministry of Sound in 1997. Metallica in their pomp doing a surprise gig in a night club. It was mange tout, Rodders. 

Worst was also Metallica at the CIA in Cardiff. Shit acoustics and the band clearly didn't want to be there. I also didn't want to be there for very long.

[Tim Healys Chutney Spoon]

Mrs, being a raspberry, has got me and her a disabled+1 ticket for PopUp Festival in Hertfordshire in June. Wasn't interested in going at all until she mentioned Cascada was performing. Guilty pleasure music for me, plus she's very very very VERY easy on the eye too.