I don't want to go to bed just yet...
12/02/96 Allen Ginsberg & Gus Van Sant in McCosh 50, Princeton University.
Not really a concert, mostly just poetry: but there was a bit of music at the end. Ginsberg had been invited to Princeton for a lecture and a poetry reading; and, quite coincidentally, Gus Van Sant had also been invited at the same time, to give a talk to the Film Studies department or something like that. And they just happened to run into one another on campus: so Ginsberg invited Van Sant to come and join him, and Gus Van Sant played the guitar while Ginsberg sang a little song. ('Father Death Blues', was it? I don't recall).
28/05/96 Manic Street Preachers/Gorky's Zygotic Mynci at The Forum, Kentish Town.
Home again for the Summer. I remember getting in a conversation with some guy who seemed intent on fighting class war. Which is reasonable enough in itself, only he seemed to disapprove quite strongly of Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, whereas I thought they were all right.
30/05/96 Daevid Allen & Graham Clarke at The Boat Race, Cambridge.
Nothing special, but nothing wrong with it either. I don't know who Graham Clarke was, but apparently he was there.
22/06/96 Sex Pistols/Iggy Pop/Buzzcocks/Skunk Anansie in Finsbury Park.
I got a coach ride down from Cambridge, and I didn't feel like going in straight away, so I headed into London to go to a couple of shops. And, in so doing, I missed Fluffy: whom, with hindsight, I really do wish I could have seen. But I never did. Oh well. Skunk Anansie were dreadful, but that should be no great surprise. I have absolutely no memory of seeing Buzzcocks -- indeed, when I saw them two or three years ago, I actually remember claiming that this was the first time I'd ever seen them. But apparently not. As for Iggy, I didn't have much interest in him, and I merely went forward to catch 'I Wanna Be Your Dog' before retreating again to the back. I was talking to someone there, who gave me money to get him a pint when I was going to the bar, and who was actually surprised when I returned and handed him his beer -- as if I wouldn't! But the Pistols were amazing. They were introduced onto the stage by a couple of people in the England team (Anderton and Pearce, perhaps? I'm not sure), this being slap-bang in the middle of Euro '96, as England were about to meet Germany. And they opened the set with 'Bodies', and then played everything you'd expect them to play. And it's the only time that I have actually been carrying a Bible in a moshpit -- don't ask!
01/08/96 Throwing Muses at The Garage, London.
Yup, them again. And Kristin was pregnant again, and so we weren't allowed to smoke anywhere near the stage. I had a couple at the back: how times have changed, that they'd even allow that much!
11/08/96 Oasis/Manic Street Preachers/The Charlatans/Kula Shaker Knebworth Park.
This was far and away the single worst concert that I have ever attended. This could take a while....
So, first, most of the music was dreadful. I had actually quite enjoyed Kula Shaker's single, 'Tattva'. More fool me! Live, they were simply appalling. Horrendous in every way. The Charlatans were playing their first show since their keyboardist had been killed in a car crash, just a few days earlier, and I guess they were okay, but I'd never been a fan. The Manics were just going through the motions, clearly wishing they weren't there. And then Oasis! Such a contrast with that show in New York, not even a year earlier. They were just awful. Too big too quick, and too much cocaine, and it had gone to their heads. And it mightn't have been quite so bad, had it not been for the crowd. With the opening bars of every single song, they'd get a sudden shot of recognition, and jump up and down and sing along... for about thirty seconds. And then they'd just stop and wait, a little impatiently, for the next one to start. And, when that arrived, they'd jump up and down and sing along... for about thirty seconds. Logistically, it was a horror too. So, to cater for 125,000 people, how many bars do you think we should lay on? I reckon that six should do it. Sigh. I'm pretty sure that Dread Zone and Cast also played, but it's hard to say because, in the mid-afternoon, I started queueing for the bar during one band, and finally emerged with my beer when the next but one were on the stage. And it took about an hour and a half for the coach to get out of the car park at the end. An utter shambles. The only things I remember actually enjoying about that day were (i) when they played 'Alone Again Or' across the PA between bands, and (ii) the fact that one could actually get to the bar during Oasis's own set.
17/08/96 Pulp/Supergrass/Cast/Jonathan Richman/Stereolab/The Longpigs/Gorky's Zygotic Mynci at Hylands Park, Chelmsford.
Now, this was something else entirely. It was the first instalment of what would subsequently become the 'V' festival: but it had an intriguing concept which they didn't keep up, in that the members of the headlining band would get to decide who else should be invited to play. Gary Numan was also there, although I didn't bother to watch much of his set. I think Fluffy played there too, but on the second stage, and I missed them again, damn it! But Jonathan Richman, whom I had loved for many years, was as wonderful as I'd always dreamed he might be. And, as Pulp played 'Babies' towards the end of their set (before closing on 'Do You Remember The First Time'), I think I had my first crowd-surfing experience. Unless I did it with the Pistols, I'm not sure. Actually, I think I did. Only now I'm thinking that I did at at Menswear the previous year too. In any case, it's a jolly good way of getting out quickly at the end of a show, instead of being caught up in amongst several thousand other people.
19/11/96 Xenakis: Kraanerg Richardson Auditorium, Princeton University.
Putting my 'serious music' cap back on again. DJ Spooky was participating in the show, and he looked monumentally cool in a blazer that evoked The Prisoner. And Yannis Xenakis himself was in the audience, and gave a wave at the end, eye-patch and everything.
16/12/96 Manic Street Preachers The Forum, Kentish Town.
I have often wondered who was supporting on this tour: I really have no recollection. I have a dreadful feeling that it might have been The Stereophonics, but I just don't know. Anyway, I think this was the night when, as the Manics were playing 'You Love Us' at the end, Liam Gallagher came on from the wings and rugby-tackled Nicky Wire to the ground. Which was amusing enough: although I do rather wish I'd gone to the show in Shepherds Bush the previous night instead (or was it the one before?), when Kylie Minogue finally did actually come out and sing 'Little Baby Nothing' with them.
Not really a concert, mostly just poetry: but there was a bit of music at the end. Ginsberg had been invited to Princeton for a lecture and a poetry reading; and, quite coincidentally, Gus Van Sant had also been invited at the same time, to give a talk to the Film Studies department or something like that. And they just happened to run into one another on campus: so Ginsberg invited Van Sant to come and join him, and Gus Van Sant played the guitar while Ginsberg sang a little song. ('Father Death Blues', was it? I don't recall).
28/05/96 Manic Street Preachers/Gorky's Zygotic Mynci at The Forum, Kentish Town.
Home again for the Summer. I remember getting in a conversation with some guy who seemed intent on fighting class war. Which is reasonable enough in itself, only he seemed to disapprove quite strongly of Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, whereas I thought they were all right.
30/05/96 Daevid Allen & Graham Clarke at The Boat Race, Cambridge.
Nothing special, but nothing wrong with it either. I don't know who Graham Clarke was, but apparently he was there.
22/06/96 Sex Pistols/Iggy Pop/Buzzcocks/Skunk Anansie in Finsbury Park.
I got a coach ride down from Cambridge, and I didn't feel like going in straight away, so I headed into London to go to a couple of shops. And, in so doing, I missed Fluffy: whom, with hindsight, I really do wish I could have seen. But I never did. Oh well. Skunk Anansie were dreadful, but that should be no great surprise. I have absolutely no memory of seeing Buzzcocks -- indeed, when I saw them two or three years ago, I actually remember claiming that this was the first time I'd ever seen them. But apparently not. As for Iggy, I didn't have much interest in him, and I merely went forward to catch 'I Wanna Be Your Dog' before retreating again to the back. I was talking to someone there, who gave me money to get him a pint when I was going to the bar, and who was actually surprised when I returned and handed him his beer -- as if I wouldn't! But the Pistols were amazing. They were introduced onto the stage by a couple of people in the England team (Anderton and Pearce, perhaps? I'm not sure), this being slap-bang in the middle of Euro '96, as England were about to meet Germany. And they opened the set with 'Bodies', and then played everything you'd expect them to play. And it's the only time that I have actually been carrying a Bible in a moshpit -- don't ask!
01/08/96 Throwing Muses at The Garage, London.
Yup, them again. And Kristin was pregnant again, and so we weren't allowed to smoke anywhere near the stage. I had a couple at the back: how times have changed, that they'd even allow that much!
11/08/96 Oasis/Manic Street Preachers/The Charlatans/Kula Shaker Knebworth Park.
This was far and away the single worst concert that I have ever attended. This could take a while....
So, first, most of the music was dreadful. I had actually quite enjoyed Kula Shaker's single, 'Tattva'. More fool me! Live, they were simply appalling. Horrendous in every way. The Charlatans were playing their first show since their keyboardist had been killed in a car crash, just a few days earlier, and I guess they were okay, but I'd never been a fan. The Manics were just going through the motions, clearly wishing they weren't there. And then Oasis! Such a contrast with that show in New York, not even a year earlier. They were just awful. Too big too quick, and too much cocaine, and it had gone to their heads. And it mightn't have been quite so bad, had it not been for the crowd. With the opening bars of every single song, they'd get a sudden shot of recognition, and jump up and down and sing along... for about thirty seconds. And then they'd just stop and wait, a little impatiently, for the next one to start. And, when that arrived, they'd jump up and down and sing along... for about thirty seconds. Logistically, it was a horror too. So, to cater for 125,000 people, how many bars do you think we should lay on? I reckon that six should do it. Sigh. I'm pretty sure that Dread Zone and Cast also played, but it's hard to say because, in the mid-afternoon, I started queueing for the bar during one band, and finally emerged with my beer when the next but one were on the stage. And it took about an hour and a half for the coach to get out of the car park at the end. An utter shambles. The only things I remember actually enjoying about that day were (i) when they played 'Alone Again Or' across the PA between bands, and (ii) the fact that one could actually get to the bar during Oasis's own set.
17/08/96 Pulp/Supergrass/Cast/Jonathan Richman/Stereolab/The Longpigs/Gorky's Zygotic Mynci at Hylands Park, Chelmsford.
Now, this was something else entirely. It was the first instalment of what would subsequently become the 'V' festival: but it had an intriguing concept which they didn't keep up, in that the members of the headlining band would get to decide who else should be invited to play. Gary Numan was also there, although I didn't bother to watch much of his set. I think Fluffy played there too, but on the second stage, and I missed them again, damn it! But Jonathan Richman, whom I had loved for many years, was as wonderful as I'd always dreamed he might be. And, as Pulp played 'Babies' towards the end of their set (before closing on 'Do You Remember The First Time'), I think I had my first crowd-surfing experience. Unless I did it with the Pistols, I'm not sure. Actually, I think I did. Only now I'm thinking that I did at at Menswear the previous year too. In any case, it's a jolly good way of getting out quickly at the end of a show, instead of being caught up in amongst several thousand other people.
19/11/96 Xenakis: Kraanerg Richardson Auditorium, Princeton University.
Putting my 'serious music' cap back on again. DJ Spooky was participating in the show, and he looked monumentally cool in a blazer that evoked The Prisoner. And Yannis Xenakis himself was in the audience, and gave a wave at the end, eye-patch and everything.
16/12/96 Manic Street Preachers The Forum, Kentish Town.
I have often wondered who was supporting on this tour: I really have no recollection. I have a dreadful feeling that it might have been The Stereophonics, but I just don't know. Anyway, I think this was the night when, as the Manics were playing 'You Love Us' at the end, Liam Gallagher came on from the wings and rugby-tackled Nicky Wire to the ground. Which was amusing enough: although I do rather wish I'd gone to the show in Shepherds Bush the previous night instead (or was it the one before?), when Kylie Minogue finally did actually come out and sing 'Little Baby Nothing' with them.