Saturday, 7 February 2026

Feb 7: First concerts #1 - some contributions

When I launched the blog, I created a Google Form which invited those visiting the blog to tell me some of their musical memories.

Here are a few from the responses so far. Huge thanks to those who took the time to fill in the form. It's not too late to add your own memories.

Samantha: Ocean Colour Scene - Hull City Hall was the first at aged 16 with my best friend.

Angus: Melody Maker Poll Winners Concert at The Oval, 1972 (ish)
Wishbone Ash, Emerson Lake and Palmer etc.


There's a lengthy feature on the concert here. It was quite a line-up! 

There are links to audi-recordings of some of the sets.
The full line up was Wishbone Ash, Emerson Lake and Palmer, Genesis, Argent , Focus ,Jack Bruce, Fudd - and tickets were £1 !

Matt: First - U2 1993 - Cardiff

Sandra: The first concert was Ocean Colour Scene at Ulster Hall. I went with my dad and my youngest brother.

Jade: I went to see Feeder in Cambridge at the Junction and remember Buck Rogers being a memorable moment.

Here's a reminder of Buck Rogers.


J. Gibbons: Blue Oyster Cult, San Diego 1980 - now that would have been an experience. And here's probably the band's most famous track...



Stephen Schwab: 1963 The Beatles Bournemouth -the full experience, all wonderful - he's kindly going to tell us more about that in a future guest post.

David R: 1968 - Jethro Tull at the Seaburn Hotel, Sunderland. I was 17.

John Medd: January 1975 - Lindisfarne at Newark Peace Theatre.

Ian Ford: Marillion. Hammersmith Odeon, I guess early 1988. They may well have had Jadis supporting them - certainly I saw Jadis a lot, mainly at the Marquee club, although there was a memorable night at the Bristol Bierkeller, as a result. I guess this may have been Fish’s last gig with the band in the UK.

I saw Marillion quite a few times, and will be mentioning them later in the blog. There was such a lot of excitement about their first album, and Fish was a great frontman.

also Mud. Reading University November 1988. The bonfire hop. Right at the front hanging on to the barrier - and a girl I knew - for dear life during Tiger Feet. We’ve been married for nearly 34 years as a result of that.

That's a great story... and a banging tune that originally came out when I was at Primary school, and featured in the school discos at the time.


Hopefully you can still do the dance...

Aidan H: Machine Head and Napalm Death in 1998. I was 14 and it was the loudest thing I'd ever heard.

That's a great one....

Catherine: The first concert I attended was probably 'Last Night at the Proms' in Bristol when I was about 14. When I was in the sixth form I loved listening to live music at The Thekla in Bristol - a ship converted to a club on the Harbourside. We had some really good sixth form bands that used to play at the Bristol Bridge - shout out to Last Stop for Petrol!

James: Hundred Reasons at Newcastle University in November 2002. I remember being very confused when the band started playing as they were clearly not Hundred Reasons. I was completely unaware that bands had support acts that played first.

Marc: The Wonderstuff at Leeds University Refectory October 1988. I hadn't been to a live concert prior to going to University but this was a bit of a disappointing introduction to live music as the concert was cut short after half an hour due to the drummer falling ill. Fortunately I was not put off from attending further concerts.

Emma: Dire Straits at the NEC in 1985. Went with my dad as my mum could not go. The venue was so big! The lasers were incredible. Classic songs played. Lots of singing and dancing. Instilled my love of live music.

Still time to tell me yours!

Fill in the form below...

No comments:

Post a Comment