[Music] Birmingham Odeon, 1980 - who are you going to see play live?

[Norman Potting]

Alex Harvey, Rory Gallagher, Kinks. Bands I would have liked to have seen live. Great lin variety of bands - would have almost been worth living in Birmingham for

 

[Perfidious Albion]

Only 3..... man, I’d have been down there every week. Oh what it was to to be brought up in a big city!
How about ... Rory Gallagher
Dire Straits
Wishbone Ash. ( never took to their records but they were brilliant live)

Mind you, I bet Slade , Christmas week in Brum was a bloody good night.

 

[Uh_huh_him]

This - UB40 awful late 80s onwards but their early years on their patch. Amazing

Absolutely!
How can one band go from, Earth die screaming/one in ten/King to Rat in me kitchen (what'm i gonna do)!
****ing ridiculous disintegration from an awesome band to a total joke.

I guess they made a packet from it.
****ing disgrace though.

 

[The Merry Prankster]

Undertones, Thin Lizzy and Buzzcocks, although I would swap any of those to go to Joy Division at Birmingham University on May 2nd

I saw JD with the Buzzcocks at the Rainbow '79

 

[zefarelly]

Absolutely!
How can one band go from, Earth die screaming/one in ten/King to Rat in me kitchen (what'm i gonna do)!
****ing ridiculous disintegration from an awesome band to a total joke.

I guess they made a packet from it.
****ing disgrace though.

couyldn't agree more . . .

first album genius and a slow painful musical demise from there, although the coinage was clearly the driving incentive, so from a poverty striken 70's in Brum you can have a little sympathy. to a point.

Looking down the lisat, I'd have been happy working there 7 days a week in 1980, Although the Scorpions 2 nights on the trot would test a snake wearing ear defenders inside a white cat.

 

[Barrow Boy]

What a line up, spoilt for choice but of the ones I never saw,

SAHB

10CC

Slade

 

[Wozza]

Absolutely!
How can one band go from, Earth die screaming/one in ten/King to Rat in me kitchen (what'm i gonna do)!
****ing ridiculous disintegration from an awesome band to a total joke.

I guess they made a packet from it.
****ing disgrace though.

And then lost it...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-15348236

 

[Knightsworld]

The Specials.
Madness
Adam & The Ants

 

[Uh_huh_him]

couyldn't agree more . . .

first album genius and a slow painful musical demise from there, although the coinage was clearly the driving incentive, so from a poverty striken 70's in Brum you can have a little sympathy. to a point.

Looking down the lisat, I'd have been happy working there 7 days a week in 1980, Although the Scorpions 2 nights on the trot would test a snake wearing ear defenders inside a white cat.

No sympathy at all.

They would have made a packet whichever route they took. Chart success in the 80s was far more lucrative than it is now.
Pretty sure their first 4 or 5 singles were all top 10 and at that point they were probably more successful than the Ska bands of the same era.
Trailblazers of multicultural politicised Reggae. Even if they were just after the money, they were an 80s marketing man's dream.

 

[Official Old Man]

15 Oct Carl Perkins. I presume that is THE Carl Perkins.
Slade at Xmas has to be good.
Rick Wakeman
Maybe my musical tastes are different to every body else on NSC

 

[Don Tmatter]

Ramones, Stranglers & AC/DC (Bon Scott still alive in ‘80?) for me

 

[Wozza]

Ramones, Stranglers & AC/DC (Bon Scott still alive in ‘80?) for me

It struck me that it was a good time for rock. But also heavy metal.

And (late) prog rock.

And the nascent electronic scene.

And for Birmingham bands.

I've love to see lists through the ages to compare.

Anyway, this is the only time machine currently available....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTyEIGGOeRk&ab_channel=By-TorX-1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLmvF46zsS8&ab_channel=PaulSamsonArchive

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GscA8LpDTOw&ab_channel=Slender100

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MmAGFiJtl8&ab_channel=HighVoltageRockNRoll

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mv8nh7h4ZEA&ab_channel=carlygtr

Also interesting...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hFEKh8fSgAQ&ab_channel=bunnyman77

 

[zefarelly]

No sympathy at all.

They would have made a packet whichever route they took. Chart success in the 80s was far more lucrative than it is now.
Pretty sure their first 4 or 5 singles were all top 10 and at that point they were probably more successful than the Ska bands of the same era.
Trailblazers of multicultural politicised Reggae. Even if they were just after the money, they were an 80s marketing man's dream.

I've nearly finished reading a book called Cowboys and indies. with the rise of CD's there was soooo much money around, even shit bands made a fortune if they had the right record copany behind them. ( In fact music and quality/critical aclaim of had virtually nothing to do with it!)

I heard recently UB40 have done hard cash gigs for oligarchs etc, defenitely a bunch of mercenaries. Their career has pretty much entirely been as a very commercial covers band.

Just notice Joe Jackson on that list, that would have been good.

 

[Uh_huh_him]

I've nearly finished reading a book called Cowboys and indies. with the rise of CD's there was soooo much money around, even shit bands made a fortune if they had the right record copany behind them. ( In fact music and quality/critical aclaim of had virtually nothing to do with it!)

I heard recently UB40 have done hard cash gigs for oligarchs etc, defenitely a bunch of mercenaries. Their career has pretty much entirely been as a very commercial covers band.

Just notice Joe Jackson on that list, that would have been good.

Wow I knew they were a bunch of sell-outs, but that really tops it.

Loved the first 2 albums.
But they clearly sold-out very early on in their career and i suspect lost a good many of their original fans.

 

[maltaseagull]

Roxy Music
The Kinks
Specials

 

[RossyG]

Adam and the Ants
Hazel O’Connor
Gary Numan

Just missing out...

The Kinks
Roxy Music

 

[aberllefenni]

I was at the Scorpions gig in the November during my brief metal phase. Halfway through the gig in what can only be described as a "Spinal Tap moment," the drumkit rose and a giant fibreglass scorpion appeared. Had I realised I would have stayed on for the next two gigs, Captain Beefheart and the Buzzcocks.

 

[Shirty]

Def Leppard
Black Sabbath
Van Halen

 

[HantsSeagull]

Joe Jackson
The Specials
Peter Gabriel

 

[birthofanorange]

Judas Priest/Iron Maiden
AC/DC
Rory Gallagher

I'd probably have pitched a tent and camped outside the venue for the whole year, tbh, to save time going back and forwards each day.
What a monumental list that is.