I was reminiscing today with some old Student friends on Whatsapp, about which Bands we remember seeing when we were Students.
Below are the ones I can remember, there must be more. All but 3 were in Student Union buildings. A right mixed bag I think.
Ian Gillan, Judy Tzuke, The Tourists, Rockpile, John Miles, Sniff and the Tears, Climax Blues Band. Robin Trower, Nine Below Zero, Ottway and Barrett, Sky, The Dammed, Chas and Dave, Dr Feelgood, Roxy Music, Gary Glitter, Samson, The Photos, The Blues Band.
Can you guess the 3 year period?
What did you see as a Student or when at that age group?
Teardrop Explodes, Echo and the Bunnymen, Misty in Roots, Weapon of Peace, and er, Witchfynde iirc.
There may have been others, but other than in my first-year, my digs were miles away, and gigs have always been accompanied by a drink: not so good if you have to drive.
The first live group I saw was The Edgar Broughton Band - brilliant in the day, but now 40 years later they (for me at least) have lost some of the sparkle. Still, EBB started my live music journey of which I have no complaints!
Gong
Groundhogs
Hawkwind
Curved Air
Bad Company
Global Village Trucking Company
Motorhead
Hatfield and the North
Camel
Gentle Giant
Can
Principle Edwards
Sassafrass
Caravan
Budgie
Lindisfarne
Gary Moore
Frupp
Fusion Orchestra
Stray
Strife
Stackridge
Osibisa
Prowler
Deaf School
And many more but I can’t recall them now. I would go to most gigs at Maidstone Art College from 74 to 77 I guess. Partly to see the bands and partly to socialise with friends, wasn’t much else happening in Maidstone back then. As I recall a lot of the gigs were on a Friday night and there would be a mid week disco most weeks too.
I think you would find many from Maidstone back then who were are the gigs, we went to them even if we didn’t know the band for the social side. If we liked the band we had double the reason to go. Saw some great bands and I expect I will remember some of the names in the middle of the night tonight.
We had Joy Division in my first term at Bangor in 1979. That was good. Loads of others, including The Smiths three times when I was at Leicester. Bunnymen, Spizz, Stranglers, The Cure, The Jam, The Specials, Madness, The Clash, and many others.
Saw lots of bands at Aston university Union in Birmingham circa 1974. I’m sure I’ll remember loads, standout was Rory Gallagher , and having a pre gig pint with him in the Pot of Beer pub over the road. Weird one was Stomu Yamashta. Didn’t have a pre gig Saki though!
Among the bands I saw regularly (or even just once) at colleges round London (where I was at Uni between 1982 and 1985) were New Order, The Smiths, Cocteau Twins, A Certain Ratio, The Higsons, Blancmange, Lemon Kittens, the Monochrome Set, Swamp Children/Kalima and many others.
The best venues at London Uni were ULU, Kings College, North London Poly, the LSE, Polytechnic of Central London and Imperial College. Even the now-defunct Westfield up in Hampstead got its day in the sun with a Smiths gig.
@paulbysea …fond memories of Sonja Kristina of Curved Air…many many years later I met SK and reminded her of how head in heels in love we were when we met in the early 70s…well…me and the rest of the guys in the audience!!
In the summer of 1971 I just finished 9th grade and went to see a free concert at Eisenhower Park on Long Island. The headline act was Jay and the Americans; however, there was this strange warm-up band, which no one had yet heard of, which played some really cool music. They were called Steely Dan! During that tour they were paid between $50 and $100 per show!!!
I got to see Steely Dan again in 1993(?) at Jones Beach (also on LI). Quite a different experience!!!
Saw a few as a stude in Brighton, and a couple of day trips to some bigger London gigs as Brighton is so close to the big smoke. I’m sure there were more, but the ones I can remember…
Prefab Sprout
Transvision Vamp
Big Country
B-52’S
Julian Cope
REM
U2
Madonna
Bruce Springsteen
Rolling Stones
And my fav live act of all were The Untouchables, who just seem to be having so much fun on stage.