Motorhead, Tank , @ De Montfort Hall,Leicester, 8-4-82

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I’m unsure which night was the school bus trip & which was the one my dad drove us to. But, i remember hanging around afterwards & joining a line to meet/get autographs from Motorhead. Strange how things can stand out : I remember i got along to Fast Eddie & his pen stopped working. He squiggled on his boot & got it working again…20151229_131217 20151229_131248

Oh yeah, another memory is that whilst at this show i got my first proper boot to the head (actually, my nose & i thought it might have been broken)

Motorhead, Tank , @ De Montfort Hall,Leicester, 7-4-82

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Motorhead was the first band that i saw more than once on the same tour. My dad drove us to one show & the other was a school bus trip. I remember my dad saying ” Why would you want to see them  more than once ?” Even back then, i just KNEW it would be worth seeing more than once. I mean, you go one show & what if you catch the band on an off night? Or at another venue, the crowd is so much better than others ? Already i was questioning it all….

Iron Maiden , The Rods, @ De Montfort Hall,Leicester 5-3-82

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At the time, Maiden were my favourite band. This show only solidified things for me! The energy up on stage, they’d got the front man they needed, the brilliant crowd. I couldn’t believe they kept coming back for encores. This show was the one i got a really sore neck due to headbanging 😉 Maiden went on to be the band i’d see most live shows of…

Monsters Of Rock, AC/DC, Whitesnake, Blue Oyster Cult, Blackfoot, Slade, @ Castle Donington 22-8-81

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Myself & my sister went on a bus trip to this one. I’d have been 15 at the time. I found it all very exciting. Slade were brilliant, they threw hundreds of loo rolls out into the crowd & rocked. Blackfoot were a great southern boogie band. BOC were as boring as fuck. Whitesnake were pretty good. AC/DC were a disappointment. There were so many long gaps of silence between the songs & no talking to the crowd. Actually , we didn’t see all of AC/DCs set as my sister wanted to get to the bus in case they left without us lol P.S. Another memory i have from the day is that whilst walking around the festival, we bumped into Athula. He was a chap working at the same hospital as my sister. To think that some years later they got married & are still together is great 🙂

Whitesnake, Billy Squire, @ Bingley Hall, Stafford 17-5-81

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Stand out memories : My dad got totally lost trying to find the place ! (Bless him, he did that a lot. At one time of day, we’d go in & out of Nottingham or Leicester a DIFFERENT way each time). My sister didn’t want to go anywhere near the front whilst myself i wanted to go down there. I honestly don’t think she really got gigs (sorry Sue). I settled for a compromise about half way back at the side. This was the best era of Whitesnake when they played the bluesy stuff. Never did like the modern sound of 1987 onwards..

Blondie, Hammersmith Odeon,London 20-1-80

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So this is where it all started for me. My first ever gig & a band that i adored. I was also “lucky” from day one : Around the time, the weather was awful with snow & ice etc. Obviously, don’t wanna make a 2 hour plus journey in that. So my dad said if the weather’s ok, we’ll go, but if it’s bad, we wont. Well, the weather got bad, so we wern’t gonna go. He’d ordered tickets but then cancelled the cheque. A couple of days later, the tickets turned up…& the weather got reasonable enough. The gig was ON ! I was 13 & very excited about it all. Even the trip to London was a big thing, let alone seeing my fave band. I remember standing on my seat in the stalls (already a rebel) & enjoyed every minute of it. They played a few songs i didn’t know, which turned out to be covers of David Bowie (Heroes), The Kingsmen (Louie Louie), Donna Summer (I Feel Love). There was one thing that REALLY stood out for me at this show & it wasn’t the obvious Debbie Harry…it was Clem Burke, the drummer ! I was amazed & probably focused on him more than anything. He had so much energy & just held things together (That’s not saying the rest of the band were no good, it’s just me, even at my first gig, looking at things differently than the obvious). Well, it was a great start to my gigging life time 🙂

Many years later, i managed to find a bootleg from Hammersmith. It’s sourced from an American radio show. Dunno if it’s the show i saw, but, it’s great to be able to relive the gig 🙂

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