[TWO SUNSPOTS]

I was thinking last night about the 1st time that i saw the Stranglers....
It was in the Top Rank,Cardiff in 1978.......
What with getting old, i seem to remember that they only played for about 30 minutes, and that included an encore........Does anybody else remembre this or am i just going senile?

[theraven1979]

Nice one - Can you remember anything else or anybody else help out? Is the date right in the 1978 section?

Thanks man

Jim

[DrunkinBlackish]

Feline Tour,Glasgow Apollo,think first song was Nuclear Device,in stalls,first gig Jesus Fuck.

[grayo]

Sunspots!! I was there mate!! I remember it well. The ticket cost £2.50! I remember buying the tickets! I was only sixteen at the time and had Never been on a train before. I caught the bus to Newport then the train to Cardiff and I had never been to Cardiff before either! I even turned up at the venue on a Saturday afternoon to get my tickets.......and I got 'em too. I remember the gig very well. My friend drew the Stranglers logo on the back of a denim waistcoat for me so I would look like a punk! This was my first 'real' gig and I will never forget these guys coming on stage , I thought they were the roadcrew but they started playing and the opening bars to 'Of One Skin' (I was later to find out) rang out..........these were The Skids and bloody good they were too. I went to see them a year later in Newport Stowaway with a band called The Edge!! (I can tell you a lot about that band too but maybe again sometime!). Me and my friend Martyn were right at the front of the stage in between Hugh and Dave and I will never forget when they walked on stage and burst into Burning Up Time as we were covered in phlegm! It literally rained down on us! The gig was well over an hour and I remember Toiler, Tank, Do You Wanna, Death/Night/Blood, London Lady, Threatened, Curfew, 5 Minutes,Dead Ringer, Bitching, Dagenham Dave but no SBC or NMH!! This was the first of the 117 times I had seen the band and although the gig the following year at the same venue (were you there sunspots? Can you remember JJ jumping into the audience to hammer a guy for spitting?!!) was the best moment, never mind the best gig in my life, I will never forget Cardiff Top Rank, Cardiff, £2.50!! 28 years have past by since then but I still get goosebumps before the band come on stage and no more so than Weston two weeks ago as it really, really took me back to those times again........A good omen maybe? I no longer have my wild-eyed innocence or the whole world in front of me now like I did then but what I have got are memories that I will take to the grave with me.

Fly straight with nostalgia and a tear in one's eye.............

[Alias]

[grayo]

My pleasure Alias! Nice to share memories with those who will appreciate them!!

Fly straight with perfection..........

[PaulinLondon]

Nice memories there Grayo.

[grayo]

Cheers Paul!

Fly straight with perfection.......

[gizzard]

[theraven1979]

Good work chaps! Woulda loved to have seen the Skids

Jim

[grayo]

Thanks for the thanks chaps!! It's great to be able to relate my tales like this to people who appreciate it as when I try telling non-Stranglers fans they could'nt care less the wankers!! Like I said, the band have provided the soundtrack to over two thirds of my life and I know one day it's gonna end so I'm glad for every second of the day that the band are with us, whatever line-ups, wether good or bad. And I thank the band from the bottom of my heart!!

Fly straight with respect to ALL Stranglers fans......

[Guest]

I think my first Stranglers gig was either Hammy Odeon, with PaulinLondon and crew or for some reason I keep thinking that we went to the Brighton Centre or somewhere like that, but I hav eno idea why???

Must have been 1981 ish, La Folie Tour. They had these weird figures come on stage during the song La Folie. My sister said she took me to one of The Stranglers gigs earlier on in life but I don't remember that, and I think she was a bit confused at the time, becuase of her chemo.

[PaulinLondon]

[Guest]

Oh God yes - I forgot we could smoke on the Underground !!! In the back carriage from what I remember - Did we ever go to Brighton to see them though?

[PaulinLondon]

[Tim In Black]

used to go hammersmith all the time, but never saw them there til Dreamtime tour (i think) as the first London shows i saw were Dominion in Aural Sculpture (feb 85 if memory serves)
First show was my first ever gig, Reading in 83, awesome warm day, lotsa dodgy prog, Hanoi Rocks ruled, Steel Pulse bottled off, Big Country ensuring i went straight back to see them at Hammy odeon the next month, and the chaps kicking offf with Nuclear Device, and HC dedicating the heavy drum intro to Golden Brown to all the heavy metal people, priceless!
Actually, I like Sabbath n Thin Lizzy so was good weekend all round for about £17! And Steve Harley was on too, so Acoustic fest is bit of deja vu all round!

[TWO SUNSPOTS]

It was in the Top Rank,Cardiff in 1978.......
What with getting old, i seem to remember that they only played for about 30 minutes, and that included an encore........Does anybody else remembre this or am i just going senile?[/quote]


Cheers Grayo,
I am getting senile then as the gig was over an hour long.For the life of me i still can't recall the Skids playing (perhaps they were on before i arrived)........I have seen them about 70 times since but it is always the 1st gig that i found the most intense........

Thanks again

[Guest]

[Tim In Black]

yeah liked marillion too, and starting with a 15minute tune like Grendl, was tough for Sabs to follow, but anyone that can do medley of Smoke on Water and Paranoid, and Gillan's bongoes too, what a night lol! Cracking weather ,alas getting served alcohol was bit of issue due to age, but sneaked in a couple of cans of Long Life lager i nicked from dad, comical with hindsight![/quote]

[Guest]

Ah yes Grendel - I think that was the last time I heard that being played Live - Good track though.

I taped the Stranglers and Marillion that night and still have them on tape - But it sounds shit though !!!! Brings back memories though.

I also used to have an album called Reading 83 (?) and sold it on e bay for £45 in 2001. It only cost me £3.99 at Our Price !!!! Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha

God I must get a life



I remember Big Country were on the Oxford Road Show the weekend before Reading. I missed Steel Pulse and a few on Sunday as I was knackered and asleep most of the time Mind you I had a cracking time - Long Life beer - In those silvery cans - Tasted like crap, but was cheap???? Oh yeah baby - Millions of those came out at parties - I think my Dad was wondering where they all went as well?? He used to hide the Ruddles from us as that was the good stuff then - Couldn't get any decent bottled ales then.

[ALV2500]

Glasgow Apollo 1980.

The support band was Headline and The Tea Set.

Last gigs were Club Soda, Montreal and Shepherds Bush Empire. Flying to Scotland for the gig at the Glasgow ABC.

AL

[Tim In Black]

[steveareno]

[theraven1979]

Well said Steve

Jim

[wadey1]

its great to hear these stories from people who loved em at the start. i ant even seen the stranglers yet, but i will be going to leeds uni gig this year. first strang related gig was cornwell at cockpit 04, and met him at hmv. sounds crap compared to all these great stories dunnit? i wish i were back in late 70's at my age now.

[theraven1979]

Wadey I wasn't too impressed by the Leeds Cockpit gig - Were you at his HMV gig in Leeds about 10 years back?

Jim

[jem750]

[wadey1]

no id haVE BEEN ABOUT 10 THEN BUT I MET HIM AT HMV JUST BEFORE COCKPIT GIG IN 04

[Homer]

Firsy 'half' gig, Batersea Park with my older brother and his mayes,got lost.................missed half tje gig.
Second gig, Loch Lomand,\\\ awesome..........3rd gig, Sundeland Locarno, MB tour......me pished

[bry]

bridlington spa pavilion september 1978, "oh i do like to be beside the seaside. oh i do like to be beside the sea!!"

tis good to see a band at a coastal resort, all that icecream and candyfloss..

funny thing is, last time i saw the stranglers mk1 was just oop road in scarboro in 1990

skids supported in 78, top dollar, JJ jumped off staged and twatted a spitter that too was top dollar... met all the band apart from JJ he was too busy entertaining some ladies

[chatts99]

Just joined but I must admit used the site as a ref point for a while but just
thought what the fuck get involved .
1 st gig Rainbow 81 MIB tour sloping floor football terrace barriers towards the stage got underneath during WIB spent most of the first 3 songe being pulled up off the floor as right in middle of seething blackness
did i need to be hooked any further rest abit of a blur/haze no drugs too young for alcohol must have been a good one 253 bus back home buzzing for days .
worst gig, getting asked to leave Hammersmith 87 for sitting in front row
with feet up on stage think Hugh got the hump or smthg must have been a quiet part of the set hahahaha .
Had nice chat with manager afterwards with bouncers guarding him

[droopsnoot]

My first was Manchester Apollo on the Feline tour in 1983, I remember having to race from the Apollo to the station after the gig and only just getting the train.

My second was Reading Festival in 1983, and we had another train incident in that we had to wait on Birmingham New Street station for about five hours for the morning train back up to Crewe. I only went to Reading for the Friday night, and I now regret not doing the lot and seeing Marillion (I was also into them, but not so much), Black Sabbath, Thin Lizzy etc. Big Country were great, as were some of the 'prog' bands during the day (Pallas, for example) but I thought Hanoi Rocks were awful at the time.

These days I tend to stick to reasonably local gigs, more because I can't be bothered travelling than because it's a hardship. I'd like to go on the train (so I can have a pint or three) but the return train is always too early - last train from Manchester on a Saturday night is a pathetic 10.15pm last time I tried in December. Recently (well, in the last fifteen years) I've done Manchester Academy a few times, Preston Guildhall (10 tour), Nottingham Royal Centre a couple of times, Nottingham Rock City a few times, Hanley Royal (now closed), Wolverhampton, Birmingham Academy, Sheffield Corporation and somewhere in Leeds. Oh and Blackpool.

Sheffield Corporation sticks in my mind, partly because it was the most recent (other than Nantwich), and partly because of the journey. I took a Satnav thing from work with me, and because I didn't fancy going out of my way to the north or south to get on the motorway, I programmed it for 'shortest route' rather than 'fastest route'. An hour later, still nowhere near Sheffield, as I drove down yet another pitch dark country lane with clumps of grass growing in the middle, I decided that, detour or not, on the way back I'll go for 'fastest'.

[Radar]

how can you forget your first stranglers gig.................thats like saying you cant quite remember your first fuck

lots of thirteen and 14 year olds in here giving up their memories of stranglers gigs in variuos emporiums and festivals errrmmmmmmmm................well i'll join in the fun

first gig.......i was 12 and three quaters and 10 days and it was the Torrington in Finchley..dont remember much about it though..you know..it was a long time ago......I remember Dave had a tash and Jet had a great big grey beard and they played a load of songs.like nice and sleezy (Or was that a bit later) anyway.it was amazing.and i think that i am great cos i was there......if you know what i mean

cant believe me mam and dad let me go..............cos we were living in Devon at the time.they must have been worried sick

hey...........it was the punk days....did I care if i turned up at my primary school the next day.did i fuck.....respect to all you children who saw the Stranglers in night clubs, pubs and 18 only venues when you were as young as i was....wernt we fucking amazing??????

[PaulinLondon]

[rustyboxx]

Hey, thanks for this site. Me and a mate have just booked to see the band play in Bournemouth and were trying to remember what year we first saw them play. 1978!! Jeez, I was 16 and she was 14 and we didn't even know each other then.

Cheers for the gig archive, couldn't find anything else on the net to track down the year. Great job!

[C r a s s !]

[ThruBeingCool]

I was at that gig too. I remember, in particular, the number one fan who was invited on stage to sing 'Hanging Around'.

Who was that man

[Jon the Impaler]

Birmingham Top Rank , Raven tour , 1979 . Opened with 5 Minutes . Brilliant . Saw The Clash afterwards at same venue ( few weeks or months after ) - weren't a patch on The Stranglers .

[Jon the Impaler]

Looking at the 1979 bit on here - didn't realise it was the day after my birthday I saw them ( 15th Oct at Top Rank , Brum ) . Long time ago , suppose you forget these things .

[theraven1979]

any more?


Jim

[Old Codger]

Yes Jim,

Stafford Bingley Hall, 30th May 1978.

Went on the train, glorious sunny day. Got there early and queued for a while, treated to a soundcheck drifting out of the building which only got us going more.

Run in squeeze up the front, Steel Pulse come on, WTF is this? Some missiles hit the stage, they stop playing. Hugh comes on and says they are our guests and if you lot don't behave we're not coming on, oops, silence and best behaviour from the crowd.

Stranglers, awesome! Don't remember the set, do remember one stripper for 'Sleazy' though! So hot and sticky, bouncers spraying water everywhere.

Went home buzzing, got stuck overnight at Brum New Street which was a bit scary for a fifteen year old.

I just bought Handsworth Revolution on CD to replace the vinyl LP and twice a year I go to Bingley Hall for classic motorbike shows, I relive that
first gig as I walk round the place with a bit of a grin on.

With Battersea later that year, leaving school and other things happening '78 was a cracking year.

Cheers

OC

[Ice]

Well, as you've opened this up again Jim...

Mine was January 1982 on the La Folie tour. I'd only been into the band for a few months or so and they just so happened to come to Swindon. I was only 13 at the time and it was my first ever concert.

I don't remember much about the songs but I've got the gig on cassette somewhere! I do remember being scared stiff at all these punks - everyone seemed so tall! (Yes, I know - they still do )

My mum and my sister took me and some friends. I think my mum was relieved when I came out at the end grinning from ear to ear in my [borrowed] red bondage trousers. She had just seen a skinhead swinging drunkenly from some railings outside the venue when he slipped off and almost cracked his head open.

The highlight was JJ pulling someone on stage and de-bagging him in front of everyone for spitting. I was absolutely agog - I thought there was going to be a riot!

I also remember we got stopped by the police on the way home (along the dual carriageway by Blagrove, which was actually being built, for those who know the area). They were looking for someone who'd committed a crime. My mum said she hadn't seen anyone suspicious and that we were on our way back from a concert and the copper replied, "Oh, you've been to see The Stranglers!"

I remember my second gig more which was a year later at Goldiggers in Chippenham - a BRILLIANT venue which was an old cinema. By then, I was well into the band and thought I was a veteran because I'd been before and my friend hadn't.

But better than both of those was the time (God, was it 81 or 82?) when we met them - can you imagine what it's like to be told that your favourite band is coming to your school??? Even the blokes were wetting themselves in anticipation. I can't believe I did it but I tried to peel a piece of rubber seal from the window on JJ's Porsche as a keepsake!!! We waited for hours to see them and were finally rewarded at about 10pm. Given that it was the days of pound notes, my friend got JJ to sign one - she spent it several years later

As someone else said, whilst I still get immensely excited about Stranglers gigs (and I don't about any other band), nothing beats having been to a gig back in their hey-day when you're just a child at school. I always felt quite superior to my friends who were into Wham and Duran Duran and we had JJ to look at!

[Andrew]

Norwich UEA - 14th November 1981.

I was 14 and it was my first gig. Support were Mr Spratts 20th Century Popular Motets of whom I remember nothing, and Taxi Girl (French band who I bought an album from at some point). I'd been a Stranglers fan for three years and this was like a dream come true - they'd provided a soundtrack to my life up to that point and I could hardly believe I would be seeing them. Bought a La Folie tour t-shirt after borrowing the money from my dad who was a security guard at the event, and stood with a mate near the back. Remember them coming on to the strains of Waltzinblack and how loud it all seemed. Can't remember much about the actual gig at all, the only songs I remember are "Non Stop" and "Meninblack"! Then suddenly it was over, the lights went on, and "La Folie" played on the sound system as everyone left. Definitely a great gig - just wish I could remember more of it!

One more thing, I remember looking at the ticket for weeks before the event as if it was something magical. I never got hold of a ticket stub after the event, but I can picture it precisely in my head. I must have looked at it so hard that it burnt onto my retina :)

[Ice]

I bought the gold & white La Folie scarf!

[PaulinLondon]

These are superb. Keep them coming.

[BlackBalazaR]

9.2.81 Bristol Locarno

I was 15, sown on trousers and Chelsea boots (I looked like a rake!)
This was my first ever gig and I only had no more heroes album at this point and had heard X Certs.
I remember sitting on the back of the seats that lined the dance floor, and hanging on to the balcony above to stop myself falling into the crowd.

I don't remember the songs they played but I remember trying to shout out like the Xcert crowd
A glorious men in black t shirt was purchased (it had glitter) and my life was transformed.

[gizzard]

[yellowcakeuf6]

[PaulinLondon]

[Mitch K]

[Ice]

[Wotcher]

[MANUINBLACK]

mine was at the lyceum with hazel o connor supporting,pretty sure it was late 79 (poss early 1980) . i was 16 and it was the first time i was allowed "uptown". my mate and i looked a bit out of place as the only punk accessory we had between us was my monkey boots which i have still got now 50+ strangs gigs later. remember walking down a corridor which had plush red felt walls to the auditorium and then the memory fades , apart from "heroes" and "raven" which i sung myself hoarse to. just feel incredibly lucky to be able to see the best band that ever lived , nearly 30 years later.

[adam_neil]

[MorryThou]

[doninblack]

[MorryThou]

My first of many at the Apollo.
What a fine place.

Do you remeber the nutters swinging down the stage
curtains from the box seats onto the stage? Quality!

[puffinboots]

this all looks very complicated jimbo, wired and threatened was easy - you posted, this is all very fancy.
1st Strangs gig - Loch Lomond RF.


last gig - leeds scabby uni last year - and that WAS my last gig ever, apart from manchester and the R/house in November - and that'll be it.

[doninblack]

[theraven1979]

Only taken you about 7 years to register - well done!

Jim