My first gig – bands remember their debut shows

1
Tommy The Musical

Tommy The Musical

Alison Mosshart, The Kills: Tommy The Musical. “It’s dark, definitely – it’s about child abuse as much as pinball. But at the time I didn’t think of it as dark. It was so beautiful. It was incredible. I went and sat right in the front, so I was sort of sitting in the orchestra pit. It was so loud, so overpowering, it had a profound impact on me.”

2
Body Count in Brixton

Body Count in Brixton

Robbie Furze, The Big Pink: Body Count in Brixton. “They were Ice T’s metal band; check out ‘Cop Killer’ if you don’t know them. Carcass were supporting. I went with this older mate of mine, who was into death metal. He had a band called Exodus or something. It was probably the most violent moshpit I’ve ever been in.”

3
Sting

Robyn: Sting. “I saw him on the tour for his first solo album, when I was five. I was a little too small: we were in the second row, and it was getting a bit crowded, so the security guards took me away and I got to watch the whole song from behind the stage. Afterwards, the head of security asked me if I wanted to give this flower to Sting, but said I didn’t because I was too shy…”

Advertisement

4
The Pharcyde in Atlanta

Big Boi: The Pharcyde in Atlanta. “I think that was the first proper concert I ever went to. They had that album ‘Bizarre Rites of The Pharcyde’, and they rocked the shit out of it. I was a teenager, we weren’t old enough to get into the club but we snuck in. We always used to sneak in in those days, and used to try to get on the mike.”

5
The Magic Band (without Captain Beefheart) at Islington Academy

The Magic Band (without Captain Beefheart) at Islington Academy

Jack Barnett, These New Puritans: The Magic Band (without Captain Beefheart) at Islington Academy. “When I was a teenager, I used to listen to Captain Beeefheart and the Magic Band, and learn it all off by heart, for hours on end, on the guitar. They were really incredible musicians. It was just me and a lot of heavily-bearded 50 year old men.”

6
My uncle. At a pub.

Richard Hawley: My uncle. At a pub. “My uncle is Frank White, who was, in the 60s, one of the best blues guitarists Sheffield had ever seen. I must’ve been about 8 or 9. He was playing swampy, psychedlelic, Hendrix-tinged blues. All that raw, ragged psychedelia being played at extreme noise levels pretty much pinned me to the wall.”

7
Billy Squier.

Billy Squier.

Mark Ronson: Billy Squier. “He was a sort of a Robert Plant impersonator – a hoary rocker from the late 70s and early 80s. My mom had just separated from my dad at that point, and I think he was trying to get it on with my mother. For instance, he’d have tour t-shirts made in kids sizes, at massive expense.”

Advertisement

8
Echo & The Bunnymen at Gloucester Leisure Centre.

Echo & The Bunnymen at Gloucester Leisure Centre.

Simon Pegg: Echo & The Bunnymen at Gloucester Leisure Centre. “It was in 1985 after they released a compilation of their greatest hits to that point. I discovered them when I was 15 and backtracked into ‘Porcupine’ and all that stuff. It was extraordinary. Weirdly, years later I ended up jamming with Ian McCulloch in a studio. I played drums on ‘Lips Like Sugar’ and ‘Changes’ by Bowie.”

9
Boy George.

Boy George.

Darwin Deez: Boy George. “I was taking part in a youth community radio scheme, which shared office space with some kind of LBGT group, who had been given some Boy George tickets. It was outdoors, and it rained and poured: by the time he played ‘Karma Chameleon’, we were drenched. Then we had a lock-in and slept in the radio offices because we couldn’t get home. It was great!”

10
Depeche Mode.

Depeche Mode.

Chino Moreno, Deftones: Depeche Mode. “I went to see them on the Violator tour in 1990. It was an outside amphitheatre. I made my way up to the front of the barricades, and was enthralled from that moment. It was one of the key things that made me want to make music.”

11
Oasis at Bolton Reebok Stadium.

Oasis at Bolton Reebok Stadium.

Liam Fray: Oasis at Bolton Reebok Stadium. “It was hilarious. Me, Campbell and Conan went. The ticket said ‘Doors 3.30pm’. Nobody bothered to tell us they were on at 9pm! We were only about 14 or 15, turned up at 4pm and had five hours to hassle people to get us beer. Johnny Marr And The Healers and the Happy Mondays were on as well. Not a bad first gig, that.”

Advertisement

12
The Ramones, 1985, City Gardens, Trenton, New Jersey.

James Murphy, LCD Soundsystem: The Ramones, 1985, City Gardens, Trenton, New Jersey. “I was never all that into the Ramones but it seemed like a rite of passage to be kid listening to weird music. It was really loud but I thought they’d be weirder. I had the same impression of the Sex Pistols too, I just thought ‘this sounds like The Go Gos’.”

13
Vanilla Ice at Bournemouth International Centre.

Vanilla Ice at Bournemouth International Centre.

Jamie Reynolds, Klaxons: Vanilla Ice at Bournemouth International Centre. “It was absolutely mind-blowing. I went with my best friend David Robinson at the time. His dad took us and we were far too young to be down amongst the front but we ran away from the seating and went down the barrier watching the guy. Again I think it was this rebellious thing watching this hard weird guy rap.”

14
John Denver.

Dave Sitek, TV On The Radio: John Denver. “I think I was 7 or 8. My dad won tickets from a radio show. Then we got to meet him and go on his bus. I think I was like ‘guitars are neat’ or something. The second gig was [legendary British Oi! Punkers] The Exploited and Charged GBH, so it was kind of a leap of extremes.”

15
X in Los Angeles.

Bret Easton Ellis: X in Los Angeles. “The first concert I remember going to on my own was a band called X who I followed a lot when they started playing in LA. They were playing clubs, not venues. That led on to The Go Go’s, Elvis Costello, The Psychedelic Furs, Squeeze, those were the formative concerts that I remember going to when I was a kid.”

16
Black Rebel Motorcycle Club in London.

Jack Steadman, Bombay Bicycle Club: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club in London. “I was 13 and a big loser, I remember thinking ‘oh my,
is that a joint going round?’ and my mother picked me up afterwards.”

17
Retarded Fish at Unity House, Wakefield.

Ryan Jarman, The Cribs: Retarded Fish at Unity House, Wakefield. “They were this punk band who used to walk around town with mohawks, but we got kicked out for being underage, so technically it wasn’t our first gig. It was probably something like Def Leppard at the Sheffield Arena. I don’t remember much about it except that Gary was sick over everything because it was too hot for him.”

18
Everclear and Third Eye Blind in San Diego.

Everclear and Third Eye Blind in San Diego.

Nathan Williams, Wavves: Everclear and Third Eye Blind in San Diego. “My mom wouldn’t let me go into the moshpit. She came with me to chaperone, and sister gave the tickets to me as a present. I think I cried, I was ten. I was really sobbing. In a good way though, I did enjoy it.”

Advertisement
Advertisement