Girlschool, Jaguar, @ Haven Theatre,Boston 30-11-84

 

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This was a big deal for me ; the first proper rock gig in my home town ! Unsure of how events unfolded,but, bumped into Kim & Gil walking around town. We also just walked in & watched the soundcheck (also ate fish n chips whilst doing so!). There’s been a phrase that has stuck with me ever since; “Where’s the nearest carry aarse ?”. This was Kim asking me “wheres the nearest curry house” was, but the London accent made me misinterpret 😉 Eventually we were kicked out of the venue by the promoter from Solid Entertainments. I had a chat with him & would remember his face/accent when i bumped into him in Wrexham in 2005 ! Great gig with a reasonable turn out. The following day i met the band at their hotel & they said promoter was impressed with everything & was looking to book more rock acts (If only they’d managed to secure Marillion, which was listed as forthcoming attraction in local paper, i think things would have really took off). I got a photo, gave them a bottle of wine for their long trip up to Glasgow. Oh yeah, also gave them some Boston mugs to remember the place.

Manowar, Tobruk, @ Gaumont Theatre,Ipswich, 3-11-84

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The place was half empty.Their first tour here i think. Bumped into my mate Dave Ling before the gig. Stand out memories of this gig were : “Scott Columbus!” – you had to be there to get it 😉 Andy drove us there & after the gig, leaving the car park, he almost drove into a garage door as seemingly couldn’t be bothered to turn the steering wheel. Also, someone else said they’d drive, did a couple of miles & then switched back to Andy driving. I think in fairness, we didn’t realise just how far Ipswich was from Boston (About 3 hours the route we took) & we’d only just started to seriously start travelling to gigs. Live n learn…but great memories 🙂

Iron Maiden ,Waysted , @ Hammersmith Odeon,London 12-10-84

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Last night i’d see of the tour & was up in the balcony. The great thing was that at this (+the other Hammy O shows) they played the extra tracks which they’d slotted in previously at other shows. I guess that they were rehearsing them for when they played Hammy O. The reason for this was that they were recording the shows for a live album. Of course, in the end they released the show from Long Beach with a few bonus tracks from Hammersmith. I’ve always thought Bruce sounded much better at Hammersmith….

Kiss, Bon Jovi, @ De Montfort Hall,Leicester 10-10-84

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One of the fondest memories i have of my dad was seeing him up there watching the show….even though he didn’t have a ticket ! My dad had “the gift of the gab” & would soon befriend people. ( Years later, i’ve realised that i’m very similar to me dad. When i go to gigs, i’ll always end up talking to someone who i don’t know….& sometimes, they end up being friends for life 😉 ) Over the course of taking us to shows at De Montfort, he got to know the door security. Well, for this show they let him in ! (Actually, he might have got in for others,but, i always remember him saying he enjoyed this show)

Iron Maiden,Waysted, @ St Davids Hall,Cardiff 7-10-84

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A very “nice” venue….probably too nice 😉 Afterwards, i hung about to meet the band & get autographs. But i did it differently. At the time, supposedly, the band members checked into hotels under aliases. Well, i got them to sign autographs as their aliases ! So, Adrian Smith was “Fabian Quiff”, Nicko was “Henry Boomer” etc. Dunno where that autograph book ended up…

Dio, Queensryche , @ De Montfort Hall,Leicester 2-10-84

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Great line up & great gig apart from Dio cutting show short because someone threw something up onstage or something. Honestly, why ruin it for everyone else? I lost a lot of respect for Dio after this gig. By coincidence, there were some other people from Boston, who we didn’t really know, at this gig. One of them got kicked out after throwing soap (?) during Queensryche (Winnie, care to elaborate?)