001 Def Leppard - Wembley Arena, London 11-4-88
And so we start at the very beginning and my first ever gig. It is the 11th of April 1988 and I'm 15 years old. My friend Kevin and I are coming out of a short lived Rock phase. In fact we'd already moved on to blacker things but we had bought the tickets ages ago and we were going to see Def Leppard at Wembley anyway. This was part of their mammoth tour in support of the Hysteria album and neither the band nor the album are typical of my tastes, I'd normally describe them as shit even if a small part of me has a tiny piece of affection for them to this day. Probably mostly down to the fond memories and the new experiences that a first gig throws up.
As for the night, I recall turning the corner towards Wembley Arena to be greeted by a swathe of hairy, denim clad, patch wearing New Wave Of British Heavy Metal fans. You know exactly what they looked like, and even though I was by this point a skinny little Goth and didn't really fit in with the crowd, they were far more my kind of people than the Acieed loving ravers and casuals who seemed to be everywhere back home. And they made Kev and I feel totally welcome. They weren't buying us any beers (not that we thought they might) but they were friendly and polite.. and probably thinking 'aw, look, little weirdos. How cute'. It was enough.
Loverboy were the support act and possibly the first band I ever saw live but my memory is normally very good and I have no recollection of seeing them so I think we missed their show. Def Leppard's Hysteria tour made much of how they played 'in the round' or, on a stage in the centre of the arenas. Not at Wembley though, it was a standard stage at one end of the hall and we were half way back to their right on the circle area. They opened with Stagefright and as Joe Elliott launched into opening line 'I said welcome to my show!' the blood red curtain dropped and everything kicked in. I remember very little specifics after that but I do recall they played most if not all of Hysteria and all the expected hits and fan favourites. I thought they were petty damn good to be fair and I'm still kind of glad I saw a monster Rock show performed by a band at their commercial, if not creative peak.
The biggest takeaway from that night was that I loved live gigs and that was not gonna be the last.
002 Hawkwind - Tunbridge Wells Assembly Rooms 12-9-88
My 2nd gig didn't arrive for a while due to my GCSEs, leaving school and other distractions. I'd started college and a few people had mentioned Hawkwind were playing nearby. I knew vaguely who they were. I'd never liked them and to this day have never owned an album or single of theirs, but friends were going and it would be a laugh and a night out. It was Kev and I again mainly but we knew others on the night, even if they were in their own groups and a guy from college called Graham, who would soon become a firm friend. I'm now know that loads of people I would later become friends with were there but that was yet to come.
As for the show. Lots of psychedelic projections and space rock stylings. I didn't care for it much buy hey, I saw Hawkwind which is... something. I'd probably have enjoyed them more had it have been a few years later but that's another story.
No idea what happened to my ticket.
003 Fields Of The Nephilim - Top Rank, Brighton 19-9-88
The first one that really mattered. The Neph had been a huge part of my musical diet for about 12 months by now and I'd missed out on the Mark Of The Watchman tour back in May. This was their first UK tour since they'd released their 2nd album 'The Nephilim' and my first of many gigs in Brighton. The Top Rank has been renamed many times over the years but is now called Pryzm and is just a nightclub. It sits beneath the Odeon cinema and was a pretty decent venue back then.
As Kev and I turned the corner to the entrance we were greeted with the expected wall of black clad, stetsoned Bonanzas, the Neph's hardcore traveling fanbase, and we duly lined up alongside them. They acknowledged us but didn't really engage. Shortly after some others turned up and a proper queue began to form. After a while somebody produced a bag of flour, ripped it open and proceeded to begin chucking it over everyone. Friends and strangers alike, including us, but not the Bonanzas. It seemed like an unwritten rule that everyone knew - you don't flour them, but it wasn't like they disapproved of it. Just didn't do it.
Soon, the doors opened and, after a trip to the merch stand we managed to snag spot just behind the front row. Underneath What were the support and their brand of sleazy psychedelic, grebo rock was great fun. Firebomb Telecom and 2000 Light Years From Home stood out.
However, the Nephilim were the reason we were they and there will always be something special about that first time I saw the lights dim and spotted their silhouettes through the dry ice as the intro music began to swell and the first note of Endemoniada rang out. Kev and I were quickly separated and I didn't see him again until the end. They played a great set of tracks from both their first and second albums - many I'd never hear them play again - and I made my way to the barrier at some point. After a set closer of Last Exit For The Lost and an encore of Preacher Man, Carl uttered the words 'thank you and goodnight' and they were gone. One of the roadies handed me a set list (why me over others I don't know), I found Kev and we departed into the night. The Nephilim had been an incredible show and I would see them again many times, some of which were more akin to a spiritual gathering than a gig, and there would be better performances than this night too,but this one will always hold a special place for me.
004 Christian Death - The Basement, Brighton 18-10-88
A significant gig in a couple of ways. It was the 1st of 8 times (so far) in seeing Christian Death live and the one that introduced me to 2 lifelong friends. Kev and I were in the same class with Graham but hadn't really hung out with him properly until he overheard us discussing going to this gig. We made arrangements to go down together with him and his mate Neil, who would go on to be a regular gig partner for me.
We all got a lift down from my very generous father and despite some difficulty finding the venue - literally a basement in a row of terraced houses - we were in fairly early. This was the first venue I'd been to that could be described accurately as 'a shithole', although far from the worst ever. Cramped, in need of repair and with a stage that appeared to be little more than some pallets placed on top of milk crates it was ridiculously intimate. It was the first time I got to meet any band members but otherwise my memories of the show are vague. They started with Valor reciting a long monologue which was probably the as yet unreleased Third Antichrist, somebody shouted out a request for Dogs and Gitane retorted 'you got bored of the old songs so we're playing the news songs' or something very similar. Most of the set was from The Scriptures, What's The Verdict and some new material from the upcoming album Sex & Drugs & Jesus Christ which no-one knew yet.
I remember thinking they were good but in the all time list of gigs it matters for the people I made lasting friendships with more than anything else.
005 The Mission - Wembley Arena 02-12-88
My unofficial quest to tick off all the major Goth bands of the time meant the The Mission were next up as they toured their hugely successful Children album. Kev and I were the participants once again and Wembley Arena became the first venue I visited twice.
I recall we grabbed a beer or 2 before catching the end of support act The Mighty Lemon Drops who left little impression on me. We were seated to the bands left on the balcony section not too far from the stage. The band were in the process of transitioning from their early Goth leanings to full on Rock bombast and they were pretty damn good actually. Turning in a performance very true to the studio recordings. It would eventually be broadcast on Radio 1 and released in part at least as part of the live box set so you can decide for yourself how good they were that night. They played all the tracks you might hope for and left the stage triumphant.
006 Christian Death - The Pied Bull, London 7-12-88
My final show of 1988 was my 2nd chance that year to see Christian Death liveand was in Islington's Pied Bull - later to be renamed The Powerhaus. Cristabelle Children and Webcore were in support. Cristabelle Children were sort of proteges of Valor and utilised a similar male/female vocal dynamic and similar stylising to Christian Death. They would tour together frequently around this time and I would catch them again. Webcore were more of a Psychedelic/Prog Rock concotion that I must confess did nothing for me.
After what seemed like an age squashed in at the barrier Christian Death finally took to the stage. I remember myself, Kev and Neil being in attendance, squashed down at the front, the band having a number of technical issues and one of us had decided to record the event on a cheap portable tape recorder (probably Neil). It came out unlistenable in the end but thankfully a decent quality bootleg does exist although it is incomplete, sadly cutting out before an instrumental encore of Romeo's Distress.
The set list was -
The Third Antichrist
This Is Heresy
Dogs
Will O' The Wisp
Jesus Where's The Sugar
Jezebel's Tribulation
The Wind Kissed Pictures
Ten Thousand Hundred Times
Incediary Lover
Erection
This Glass House
Romeo's Distress
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