1st STRANGLERS GIG

[ThruBeingCool]

Saw an advert in music press for The Old Codgers at Nashville combined with rummours of Battersea warm up , this was only second gig in then young ish life . Crowd queuing outside venue and a triumph m/ cycle , join queue and doors at side of venue open to reveal Strugglers sounding checking ........gain entry to hallowed hall and then entertained by Pinpoint who feature Arturo lurker on vox and guitar ...they have great song called Richmond ..castigating posh london suburb ....place getting rammed and eureka the famous 4 arrive ...set features alot of black and white ..definitely sweden ..jj forgets words during ugly , Fee Waybill from tubes sings straighten out . End up standing on table and Lemmy is nearby , later informed by friend that geeky speccy guy is Patti Smith's guitarist .State of euphoria maintained for several days .

I'm jealous

[mantheylovetohate]

Saw an advert in music press for The Old Codgers at Nashville combined with rummours of Battersea warm up , this was only second gig in then young ish life . Crowd queuing outside venue and a triumph m/ cycle , join queue and doors at side of venue open to reveal Strugglers sounding checking ........gain entry to hallowed hall and then entertained by Pinpoint who feature Arturo lurker on vox and guitar ...they have great song called Richmond ..castigating posh london suburb ....place getting rammed and eureka the famous 4 arrive ...set features alot of black and white ..definitely sweden ..jj forgets words during ugly , Fee Waybill from tubes sings straighten out . End up standing on table and Lemmy is nearby , later informed by friend that geeky speccy guy is Patti Smith's guitarist .State of euphoria maintained for several days .

I'm jealous

Absolutely-what a great first gig!

[theraven1979]

Ruddy hell! "State of euphoria maintained for several days" I'd still be walking round to this day with a permanent semi

Jim

Saw an advert in music press for The Old Codgers at Nashville combined with rummours of Battersea warm up , this was only second gig in then young ish life . Crowd queuing outside venue and a triumph m/ cycle , join queue and doors at side of venue open to reveal Strugglers sounding checking ........gain entry to hallowed hall and then entertained by Pinpoint who feature Arturo lurker on vox and guitar ...they have great song called Richmond ..castigating posh london suburb ....place getting rammed and eureka the famous 4 arrive ...set features alot of black and white ..definitely sweden ..jj forgets words during ugly , Fee Waybill from tubes sings straighten out . End up standing on table and Lemmy is nearby , later informed by friend that geeky speccy guy is Patti Smith's guitarist .State of euphoria maintained for several days .

[ThruBeingCool]

This has got to be one of the best threads I've read on here for a while. If you read through it there's lots of posts from different people who don't contribute that often which makes it all the more interesting imho. There's life in the old forum yet

[gjinblack]

Ifirst posted this in 'Memories of Black and White,in 2008, however it was my first gig so I've pasted it here.

I'll post here because this week is thirty years since I first saw the band live.
Manchester Apollo.
Like other contributors on here it had been radio and NME that brought The Stranglers into my life. Previously it had been glam-rock, again like others of my age. After the decline of said genre I was looking for something new. Queen took my interest for a short while but then I was saved by punk!
Fast forward now to having my first Stranglers ticket in my possession. I'd been through the buying of singles and albums up to Black and White. I'd started hitting the record shop on the day of release to make sure they didn't sell out (as if, now you can acquire the lot!)
Anyway, I trusted my mate at the time to purchase our tickets from Paperchase in Manchester as he was at college there so in town on a daily basis.
'Downstairs, it's got to be downstairs I stressed.'
I must have said it hundreds of times but you've guessed, we were in the balcony. There had been lots of reports of violence at gigs in general the year before and disappointed though I was and thought he might have taken the soft option, balcony it was.
It being our first gig we went in as doors opened and watched the Skids support act, I didn't know much of the stuff but recognised the singles.
Then, the main event of the evening. I can't remember if The Stranglers came on to anything specific but I do remember they kicked off with Ugly. The crowd in the stalls were one massive pogoing beast, 30 or 40 rows back, I've never seen anything like it since. I'd never been too struck on this track but once I'd heard it live and lost my Stranglers-virginity, it was a favourite for many years!
At the end of Ugly, JJ took off his leather jacket and did the rest of the gig stripped to the waist. All the favourites from the first two albums featured alongside most of Black and White. (They didn't do Hey!(Rise Of The Robots) this night!)
But they did do Nice N' Sleazy, complete with stripper, which is always a nice tale to tell on the school bus the morning after.
The gig finished with Toiler and a stage invasion, Hugh blocking security to let a lucky lad start the pogoing on stage. The lad patted Hugh on the shoulder and leapt around as the stage filled up. The gig ended with a crowd of admirers watching Dave finish on keyboard. I half thought it was planned otherwise they'd have to go on all night!
Just after ten o'clock then and down to Victoria Station for the train home.

OHH SHIT! It's gone. Nothing for it but a taxi home at £4 each. The tickets were only £2.50 each *plus 50p booking fee* (topical)
Oh and the t-shirt was £2.50 too and I've still got it.
It was a fantastic night and subsequent gigs were better planned as I took control of ticket buying. Memorable gigs after?-
All of them I suppose.

[Alexinblack]

A very good review there mate
great read

[miserablewoman]

This has got to be one of the best threads I've read on here for a while. If you read through it there's lots of posts from different people who don't contribute that often which makes it all the more interesting imho. There's life in the old forum yet

Agreed! There's been some excellent posts on here recently ... fascinating read!

[fuzzguitars]

1st gig Loch Lomond written about that before so.............. 2nd gig Glasgow Apollo Raven tour they kicked off with 5 minutes to bedlam, highlights were Curfew, Down in the sewer -indecently stopped and restarted because someone was "bounced" , Hanging around, The Raven, I remember the crowd shouting for Duchess and an epic Toiler on the sea to finish. Glasgow was always very passionate and very loud at a Stranglers gig especially the Apollo. Other songs they played that night Shah, Ice, Burning up times, Tank, Nubiles plus some others?? Near riotous atmosphere what else can I say!

[Alias]

Ifirst posted this in 'Memories of Black and White,in 2008, however it was my first gig so I've pasted it here.

Ah go on then..

"The first time I saw the Stranglers live was only the 2nd gig I had been to, the first being Gary Numan on his Teletour '80 at the Glasgow Apollo, who I went to see with my big sister. The next time I went to see a band at the Apollo it was the MIB tour in Feb.1981. I was still only 14 and this time I went on my own. I can still recall the army jacket I had on, a bit like the one Travis Bickle sports in Taxi Driver except his didn't have a freshly hand-scrawled Stranglers logo in red felt tip, that ran down the back of it in the rain as I waited excitedly in the long queue outside the Apollo. I was thrilled to be out in the big city at night and ecstatic to be finally getting to see the band that I had loved for a long time. The gig was fucken amazing, I watched from the bouncing balcony, soaking in everything; from the electric buzzing atmosphere of a classic Stranglers gig; the band in full flight below me, as I observed and absorbed every minute detail from my elevated viewpoint.
I raved about it for months afterwards....
- it really is a blur now, the details gone, lost to the mists of time and burnt out braincells but I still wouldn't swap what memories I have left with anyone. There might have been people at the same gig with better memories of it than me but no one felt as fucken electric as I did that night.
Being "lost in the crowd" at those early Stranglers gigs. No feeling like it. Not even seeing the band for most of the gigs due to getting right down to the front of the huge Apollo stage and being part of the universal unconscious, jumping and shouting and clapping and cheering and singing along and sweating and falling over and picking others up. Truly excstatic.
It shaped the way I experienced gigs for a lifetime, I'm still unable (or not comfortable) to sit at a fucken Rock N Roll gig. Sacrilege."

[mantheylovetohate]

This has got to be one of the best threads I've read on here for a while. If you read through it there's lots of posts from different people who don't contribute that often which makes it all the more interesting imho. There's life in the old forum yet

And one of the best things is that when you read the posts, each of them details a life-changing event for the author. The same life-changing event that we've all shared. You never forget your first time!!!

[theraven1979]

Well said - If you think about it it's really up there with your first snog, first time you rode a bicycle without stabilizers!....

When you die and key parts of your life flash in front of you it'll be there - mark my words!

Jim

This has got to be one of the best threads I've read on here for a while. If you read through it there's lots of posts from different people who don't contribute that often which makes it all the more interesting imho. There's life in the old forum yet

And one of the best things is that when you read the posts, each of them details a life-changing event for the author. The same life-changing event that we've all shared. You never forget your first time!!!

[Alias]

Well said - If you think about it it's really up there with your first snog, first time you rode a bicycle without the sadle!....

When you die and key parts of your life flash in front of you it'll be there - mark my words!

Jim

Well said sir.