[Music] First gig, Worst Gig and Can't be topped gig?

[darkwolf666]

First
Manfred Mann’s Earth Band - The Dome - 15/04/1978

Worst
Adam & The Ants (Prince Charming Tour) - Brighton Centre - 28/12/1981

Best
Ultravox - Jenkinsons - 10/08/1980

 

[BBassic]

First: The Levellers, sometime around 1998/99, Worthing

Worst: GoGo Penguin, Concorde but not because of GoGo Penguin. They were fantastic as per. It was shit because I got there late, couldn't get anywhere near the front and was instead stuck near the bar at the back with people who had seemingly turned up to the gig to have a bit of a natter. Wankers.

Best: So far? Cymbals Eat Guitars, London Underworld, 2017. My favourite band and I finally got to see them a few months before they broke up.

 

[daveinprague]

1st - Motown night at the Top Rank. Temptations, Four Tops, Supremes

Worst - Chronixx in Prague. Empty venue. A Tuesday night.Totally unknown to Czechs so no vibes whatsoever. The following Friday & Saturday, sellouts at Brixton Academy.

Best - Bob Marley at the Centre, both nights. No contest.

 

[Mackenzie]

Seems like quite a few of us started off with Adam and the Ants at the Centre.

 

[loz]

First Gig...UK Subs, Fulham Greyhound matinee 2 oclock in the afternoon for under 18s 1978

Worst..Wasted Youth. Croydon collage 1982, just a bit boring and lots of boneheads hitting people as they moved for no real reason.

Best...The Mob, Zounds, The Hamsters, The Astronauts, Andy T and Idiot Strength 2011 Weird tales tour. Closely followed bt The feeding of the 5000 tour a few years before.

Any gig with Johnny Moped is just shear joy.

 

[PHCgull]

first: The Cure at Brighton centre 1985

worst: Siouxsie & the Banshees, Hammersmith odeon 1988? she broke her leg on stage

unforgettable: Pixies at Crystal Palace 1991

 

[lawros left foot]

First, either Sweet or S!ade, 1973, I can't remember which I saw first, at the Dome.

Worst, Meatloaf, Brighton Centre, 1978ish, sound was awful, he started with Bat out of hell, which I would have thought would be the perfect encore.

Pink Floyd doing the Wall at Earls Court 1981. First time I had seen a concert that was so theatrical.
The Jam, various venues, during my youth. God, they were good, I loved them.


Biggest regret, I never got to see Bowie.

 

[Change at Barnham]

First: Judge Dread and Dandy Livingstone at The Rex, Bognor about 1975.
Worst: U2 in Perth, Australia.
Best: Bob Marley and the Wailers at Crystal Palace Garden Party in 1980 (plus Average White Band, Joe Jackson and Paul Young)

 

[daveinprague]

First: The Levellers, sometime around 1998/99, Worthing

Worst: GoGo Penguin, Concorde but not because of GoGo Penguin. They were fantastic as per. It was shit because I got there late, couldn't get anywhere near the front and was instead stuck near the bar at the back with people who had seemingly turned up to the gig to have a bit of a natter. Wankers.

Best: So far? Cymbals Eat Guitars, London Underworld, 2017. My favourite band and I finally got to see them a few months before they broke up.

The levellers used to busk at the end of my road and used to come to our reggae parties. We used to let them in for free as we knew they were poor. One night, they asked if we would do support for a concert they were doing in Stanmer Park. We had no idea that they had become famous. First we were wondering how they managed to afford such a big stage. As the crowd grew we were dumb struck for real. Their music wasn't our cup of tea but it was probably the biggest (apart from reggae festivals) gig, for sheer numbers we were ever involved in.

 

[pasty]

First: Queen, Works Tour, Birmingham NEC 1984

Worst: Toss up between John Denver (ex-Mrs P wanted to go) or David Grey (gifted tickets)

Can't be topped: Another toss up between Pink Floyd, Division Bell Tour, Earls Court 1994, or Queen, Knebworth 1986 - the last ever gig they did.

 

[AK74]

First - Two bands upstairs at the Hare & Hounds, autumn 1990. Memory's hazy, but one of them had 'Angels' in their name. Can't have been more than 20 people there.

Worst - Maroon 5 at Oracle Openworld 2013 (corporate event held on Treasure Island in San Francisco. I left on the first available bus back to the hotel.)

Best - Impossible to choose between: Prince at the O2 / Foo Fighters at the Olympic Park / ACDC at London Stadium / Blur at The Event (a group of us were having a drink on the pier beforehand when we spotted Damon, Graham and Dave with their photographer...ended up going on the dodgems with them) / Paul Weller at Wolverhampton Civic Hall 1994 / Lynne Jackaman at St. Pancras Old Church

 

[Binney on acid]

First - Colosseum & Juicy Lucy Brighton Dome January 1970
Worst - There are so many contenders ! Jack Bruce's Lifetime / Courtney Pine / Santana / Roy Harper. Unfortunately, the list is endless.
Best - The list is also endless. Jackson Browne on numerous occasions, The 2 Springsteen Brighton Centre Concerts May 1981. The Who, Worthing Assembly Hall 1971. Leonard Cohen Brighton Centre first time around. I didn't go to the second gig, because I thought it was impossible for him to match it, but by all accounts, he did. Zappa at The Centre. As I said, the list is never ending. Forgot to add Dylan, who had Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers as his backing band, October 1987 at Wembley Arena. Possibly the first and last time that I felt that I was in the same room as god.

 

[Deleted member 2719]

First gig was by a group called Station 360 who were like a modern Beatles/Jam band and their home venue was in a great boozer called the Robin Hood in Standford, Hampshire

Ended up following them quite a lot as I worked with one of them and they were good, just missing the cut to the Adventurers @ Chrysalis records.


Worst, Michael Jackson Wembley, clearly miming, what a waste of time that was.


Best, is a close call but the Rolling stones Voodoo lounge @ wembley gets it, followed by Ocean Colour Scene in the event.

 

[The Lemming Stomper]

.

First...The Bodysnatchers @ The Towngate Theatre Basildon

Best...My Morning Jacket @ Concorde 2

Worst....Dead or Alive @ The Dome

 

[Miximate]

First - Rory Gallagher at the Brighton Dome in the mid 70s

Worst - Cant decide between Sade and Lighthouse Family. Truly awful boring and seemed that all songs blended into one. Left the LF concert early.

Best - probably Stevie Wonder at the Brighton Centre or Queen at Wembley (shared the bill with Status Quo & INXS)

 

[jakarta]

FIRST: 1977, Yes at the now defunct Bingley Hall in Staffordshire, Sir Richard Wakeman had just rejoined, I do recall Roy Wood (Move/ELO/Wizzard) sitting just in front of me.

WORST: So many crap bands I have walked out of difficult to say, Simple Minds were awful but I suppose U2 in my student days playing the SU Cellar Bar to around 50 people is the most famous...

BEST: It must be nostalgia but it is my second ever gig, Hawkwind on their Spirit of the Age Tour in 1977, they were utterly up to the mark if deafening.
The half time ruck between the Local Hells Angels and Security made it further memorable...

 

[The Merry Prankster]

1st -Who, Lou Reed, Bad Company '74
Worst - Amy Winehouse '07
Best - Bob Marley '77

 

[Razzoo]

.

First...The Bodysnatchers @ The Towngate Theatre Basildon

Best...My Morning Jacket @ Concorde 2

Worst....Dead or Alive @ The Dome

I'd love to see MMJ. They don't seem to come to the UK much. Even pre Covid.

 

[Return of the Rev]

I was there

A bit lively as I recall, skins, punks, Brighton, Crawley, and Croydon into the mix and some disco kids hanging about outside.

 

[Barrow Boy]

First - John Mayall and The Bluesbreakers at The Dome 1970 (Larry Taylor ex Canned Heat on Bass and Jimmy McCulloch ex Thunderclap Newman on Lead Guitar) superb and not bad for your first gig.

Worst - The Faces/Nazareth at The Top Rank Suite 1972, The Faces were nearly an hour late coming on stage, all pissed and just went through the motions. The support band were Nazareth, who sounded great but their sound system kept breaking down and they gave up after the third attempt to start their first song and walked off stage.

Best - Toss up between Deep Purple at The Dome 1972 and Bowie at The Dome 1973 , believe it or not, but Erasures gig at The Brighton Centre 1989 was a very close runner as well.