This month saw me catching up with a band I never got to see before....Heaven 17. I guess because, as far as I know, they never played Leicester?
Touring the 35 anniversary of "The Luxury Gap" album, it seemed a good time to give them a go, now we live near Bournemouth.
A bit of a wet and cold night in Boscombe, to be expected in December! It's been a while since SFA toured, in fact they split up/stopped working for five years, so there haven't been many chances anyway.
OMD unexpectedly reformed in 2006, but Paul Humphreys was also in collaboration with Claudia Brucken in a side project called Onetwo.
It was exciting to see the two of them turning up at Leicester Cathedral as part of the Castle Park Festival
May 9th 2000 – Shepherds Bush Empire, London Supported by: Soulwax and Muse Try getting a ticket to see this lot for 13 quid these days (ok, I paid a tad more than that as we will come onto later!). You will hear me talk about Top Ten concerts, of which, I think there are... Continue Reading →
November 2nd 1999 – Rock City, Nottingham A trip to Rock City is always fun. No way would I have instigated this one, Super Furry Animals has my friend Scott written all over it!! I'd heard the single earlier that year "Northern Lites", which was a hit and it had been ok, but Scott had... Continue Reading →
May 9th 1999 – De Montfort University Supported by: The Flaming Lips What on earth was I going to this gig for? I can't think of a reason for seeing either band unless someone else had said, you must come along to this gig......I hadn't heard or bought anything by either band. I think looking... Continue Reading →
March 21st 1993 – De Montfort University Arena Supported by: Sunscreem I'm sure this happened a lot, but the advertising poster clearly spells "De Monfort" wrongly as "De Montford".........only bugged us lot in Leicester everytime it happened 😉 No way would I have listen to much of Sunscreem.......not my bag at all! But this single... Continue Reading →
November 5th 1991 – De Montfort Hall Supported by: Senseless Things I won't name many people during these blog posts, but this gig could only have been inspired by my very good friend, Dean. Now music was getting interesting again. I guess one of the many reason I was seeing the same bands year on... Continue Reading →
October 23rd 1991 - Birmingham NEC This gig was a bit of a birthday treat to me. If a trip to the NEC could ever be considered a "treat". Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark had now gone through a bit of a change, with FIVE of the main protagonists leaving the band. They had spent... Continue Reading →
October 3rd 1991 – Leicester Poly My second time seeing the Furs, although the first time back in 1989 was in their secret guise of "Book of Days". The Furs were now well established as a pop rock band and lead singer, Tim Butler, has a very distinctive gravelly voice, which had generally made them... Continue Reading →
November 12th 1989 – Leicester Poly This was another exciting day, having been a Psychedelic Furs fan for a few years now, they had announced a surprise gig under their cover name of "Book of Days". I don't think this happens anymore, but a few times in my teens, bands did this, Naz Nomad and... Continue Reading →
July 15th 1989 – Birmingham NEC Ah, back to my favourite venue...not! Sound usually rubbish, view fairly poor, food and beer extortionate.....oh, and the NEC is a bit of a pig to get to from Leicester. Needs must though, as bands like the Pet Shop Boys just didn't bother with Leicester, so if we wanted... Continue Reading →
May 15th 1987 - Birmingham International Arena (NEC) 1982 Duran Duran came to Leicester on the Rio Tour, that was the height of their fame and a fascinating time for me getting into music. Due to a combination of no money and tickets selling out super quick, I didn't get to see them. Then, they... Continue Reading →
November 8th 1986 - Birmingham International Arena (NEC) Supported by: Zerra One Now this was a strange time in my life, alot was going on. I was finding my feet in the work place having started at Alliance and Leicester in April 1986. I was slowly building a really nice social of friends here to... Continue Reading →
February 7th 1986 - De Montfort Hall This gig was originally scheduled for 8th November1985 but had been rescheduled Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark were still a firm favourite with me and the Crush album was pure pop! You knew you were going to get a great live show. The only issue for me was... Continue Reading →
November 5th 1985 - Birmingham Odeon Birmingham!! New venue for me, new town for me, starting to grow up and travel, but the musical direction still involves Midge. Ultravox were on a break for a while in 1985, which gave all the guys a chance to focus on their own projects. In truth, there would... Continue Reading →
November 29th 1984 - Mr Kiesa's Cabaret Voltaire never did loads of gigs, let alone come to Leicester, so when Kiesa's got them it was a must go. Crackdown and Just Fascination were great electronic tunes and the Cabs were Sheffield's answer to Krafkwerk. I don't think this tour had a name. Stephen Mallinder, Rich... Continue Reading →
September 19th 1984 - DeMontfort Hall Two gigs in a week, that was pretty special. I hadn't really come down from the wonderful Echo and the Bunnymen concert and now we are back at the Demontfort Hall again. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark were one of my top 5 bands at this early point in... Continue Reading →
June 7th 1984 - Hammersmith Odeon My first travelling gig! So far, concerts had been in Leicester, either De Montfort Hall (the main gig venue in town) or Leicester University. So to be considering travelling was a real look in to the big wide world. Having seen Ultravox once already on the Quartet Tour in... Continue Reading →
April 15th 1983 - DeMontfort Hall Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark.....now there's a name!! I think I was always going to like them just because it was a ridiculous name. In reality, we all called them OMD. This was the start of me getting a little bit of pretentiousness into my music. I mean, the... Continue Reading →
November 23rd 1982 - DeMontfort Hall My first ever concert. I was just turned 17 and Dad took me. If we go back a year to 1981, as a wet behind the ears 16 year old, I'd heard Sleepwalk on the radio and really like how different it was from what I'd heard before, but... Continue Reading →
The Fan Club Years 