Memory Lane

Once upon a time I had every single ticket for every single gig I had attended from the age of 14 upwards. Unfortunately many years ago when a relationship came to an end the majority of my tickets left with with my then girlfriend. I'd like to be charitable about it, but basically it was a low blow. There was no need to do it, but what can you do?
Anyway today I was searching through my music collection and found an envelope of tickets from the late 80's and early 90's. Not everything was there, but there was a few that brought back some cool memories.
Here's just some of them.
This was pretty special. The original line up had buried the hatchets and decided that they would tour again. Vanian had dropped the vampire styled look and instead was resplendent in leathers and a quiff, the good captain was wallowing in being his usual over the top self, Scabies was a powerhouse and Brian James was simply the dogs bollocks. What a gig. It's unusual for me, but I haven't a clue who was supporting. maybe I was at the bar, or still being pulled out of the gutter. In fact truth be told I don't even remember who was there with me. All I remember is the gig. Everything else is a blank.

The Ramones were everything I thought they would be. I had been a long time fan, but for one reason or another I never seemed to make it to any of their gigs prior to or even after this one. This was a singular, one night only experience and I grabbed it with both hands. I remember clearly thrashing away down the front and on leaving the crowd a mate asking what was wrong with me. I'd dislocated a thumb and chipped half of my front tooth off and hadn't even noticed. A sure sign of a good gig.

Mikes first solo UK tour. About five of us went to this and had a blast. My mate Grotty and myself enjoyed ourselves so much that we slept in the bus station overnight, in what felt like sub zero temperatures, to catch a bus to Newcastle and do it all over again the next day. The Stage Dolls were the support band and rounded it out a bit. A good solid package. Newcastle was actually the better gig of the two mainly due to a very emotional Mike Monroe dedicating you can't wrap your arms around a memory to Razzle and the crowd taking over the vocals from him.

We met Johnny before this and he was smacked out of his face. Barely able to string a coherent sentence together, but in a strange way that was what we were expecting. The gig itself started off in a shambolic enough manner, but by about the third song it all clicked into place and Johnny played a set that confirmed him as the legend we thought he was.

This was my first time of seeing the Wildhearts, Although I had seen Ginger before with The Quireboys when they toured with Wolfsbane. This, however was a whole new ballgame and had nothing to do with the cocksure swagger of the Faces styled rock that the Quireboys played. This was balls to the wall rock and roll that owed more to the late seventies punk scene than anything else. Another gig that I can clearly remember leaving bruised and exhausted from.