With the country still in the midst of lockdown and no sign of any live music in the foreseeable future if at all this year I thought I would take the opportunity to look back in the archives, sounds posh I know but it’s just an spreadsheet, and revisit gigs I attended on this day down the years.
May is typically a very busy month for gigs being part of the usual album release cycle and today is no exception with four for my trip down memory lane for you down the years.
1985, Magnum, the Dominion Theatre, London
Wow thirty five years ago. Magnum were one of Grahams and mine favourite bands in the eighties when we were in our New Wave of British Heavy Metal phase. This tour would have been in support of their masterpiece ‘On a Story Tellers Night’. I am guessing most readers will not have heard of this fine brummie metal band but quite a few tracks from this album were used by BBC sports as ‘beds’ for various segments at the time. This would have been the first time we had seen them and the start of four gigs in two years for them.
Obviously specific memories of the gig are hazy but given they are touring such a great album I am sure it was a fine show full of superb tunes. Great reminder for me how much I loved this band in my youth. They were certainly more than just the average throwaway metal band at the time.
2007 Fountains of Wayne, the Astoria, London
It’s another sad review today with the recent passing of Adam Schlesinger due to Covid 19. FoW were famous for their hit ‘Stacey’s Mom’ but they were so much more than that. They are arguably the finest proponents of power pop out there. All of their albums are brilliant but especially for me ‘Utopia Parkway’ is a masterpiece. Sadly I guess we won’t be seeing them again live. This tour was probably the ‘Traffic and Weather’ tour which is jammed packed with hooky power pop tracks.
This would have been John, Graham and myself and it’s a great show at another sadly lost London venue in an area of London, that’s lost more than its fair share with The Borderline, 12 Bar and Astoria 2 also all gone. Makes you wonder what Amy Lame, the London nightmare sorry nigh time czar has done. Rant over.
Another faultless show of quirky sounds from these boys. Thanks for the memories.RIP Adam.
2018 M. Ward, Oslo, Hackney, London
I can’t really add anything more to my review at the time and I was joined by 'birds eye' Andy for this one.. A superior songwriter and performer in whatever guise you see him.
That’s it for today’s trip down memory lane. Here’s hoping we can get to some form of normality soon. Support your small local venues and smaller artists in these difficult times, stay safe and keep on rockin y’all.