October 20th 2003 - De Montfort Hall, Leicester
I had The Waterboys bug again so seeing Mike and the boys for a second time this year!
The Waterboys – Universal Hall Tour – 2003
Muse – Origin of Symmetry Tour – 2001
November 1st 2001 – De Montfort Hall
After a phenomenal performance as part of the MTV Introducing concert at Shepherd Bush in 2000, this would be my first chance to see Muse on home ground.
Fun Lovin Criminals – Loco Tour – 2001
November 13th 2001 – De Montfort Hall
Fun Lovin' Criminals were a band from New York City and a musical conundrum. Their music was eclectic to say the least. One minute you would be bouncing to a rock song, the next you could have sat in a corner and gone to sleep!
Runrig – Long Distance Tour – 1996
November 16th 1996 – De Montfort Hall I've no idea why Runrig turned up in Leicester in 1996. They had recently released a new album "Long Distance" but weren't particularly well known (I didn't think). Any which way, they were doing a full UK Tour. I'd come across them through a liking of Irish music... Continue Reading →
Skunk Anansie – Stoosh Tour – 1996
November 14th 1996 – De Montfort Hall "Stoosh" was their second album, but Skank Anansie sprang to fame a year earlier with the strong single "Weak" which was brilliant (from "Paranoid and Sunburnt"), so this was another gig to look forward to, so we could see the difference between radio music and live music. Here's... Continue Reading →
New Model Army – Impurity Tour – 1991
December 14th 1991 – De Montfort Hall Always good to catch up with a band who you saw in a smaller town venue and then they move up the the big city gig! It was 1984 when I last saw New Model Army and I'm really quite surprised it was a 7 year gap between... Continue Reading →
Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine Tour – 1991
November 5th 1991 – De Montfort Hall Supported by: Senseless Things I won't name many people during these blog posts, but this gig could only have been inspired by my very good friend, Dean. Now music was getting interesting again. I guess one of the many reason I was seeing the same bands year on... Continue Reading →
The Wedding Present Tour – 1991
May 30th 1991 - Leicester De Montfort Hall Supported by: Buffalo Tom This was an interesting gig, not one I would have normally have chosen to attend at the time. I hadn't really got into "indie" music yet, so this would be the beginning for me. The whole gig happened quite by chance really. I... Continue Reading →
Thunder – Backstreet Symphony Tour – 1990
September 7th 1990 – De Montfort Hall Supported by No Sweat This concert started with a fantastic support band, No Sweat. Another great Irish band that had come over in the late 80s early 90s. They were being hyped heavily as Joe Elliott (Def Leppard) was producing them. The also had a fantastic single out... Continue Reading →
Iron Maiden – Intercity Express Tour – 1990
October 2nd 1990 – De Montfort Hall Supported by Wolfsbane This concert support band was the superb, Wolfsbane, led by the charismatic Blaze Bayley (who incidentally would go on to become lead sing of Iron Maiden for a while in the mid 90s) I guess Blaze knew he was supporting the god of rock with... Continue Reading →
The Alarm Tour – 1990
February 1st 1990 - Leicester De Montfort Hall You've probably gathered, I quite like The Alarm. This was a strange time for me though. Really looking forward to the songs and the first gig of the 90s. I wasn't happy at work, I wasn't massively happy out of it either....and then to compound matters, The... Continue Reading →
Black Sabbath – Headless Cross Tour – 1989
September 7th 1989 – De Montfort Hall Funny old band, Black Sabbath.....you were never quite sure what the line up would be. Suffice it to say, for this tour, Ozzy Osbourne had been gone a while. Sort of didn't matter, as this will always be Tony Iommi's band. So the line up for this tour... Continue Reading →
Clannad – Past Present Tour – 1989
May 7th 1989 – De Montfort Hall This was a bit of a nostalgia pub outing. We used to watch Robin of Sherwood in the DeMontfort pub on New Walk, Leicester and had seen Clannad back in 1986. This was their greatest hits tour as they had just released the "Past Present" album which was... Continue Reading →
Aztec Camera – The Love Tour – 1988
June 17th 1988 – Leicester De Montfort Hall Aztec Camera would be a frustrating enigma all my musical life! That sentence says nothing about my love of Roddy Frame's music (the lead protagonist...in fact The band!) There was something really special about Roddy's talent and yet no one seemed to get him (that's how I... Continue Reading →
The Alarm Tour – 1988
February 15th 1988 - Leicester De Montfort Hall I couldn't get enough of The Alarm and Mike Peters singing in these days. I won't be surprised by the time I end going to gigs if these guys are one of my most watched bands over the years. The Alarm had now done 3 great albums,... Continue Reading →
Def Leppard – Hysteria Tour – 1987
September 15th 1987 – De Montfort Hall It was just over a year since we saw Def Leppard make their UK comeback at Monsters of Rock. Now, surprisingly, they were coming to lil old Leicester! We had been having problems as a city attracting bands to play here. They tended to go to Nottingham and... Continue Reading →
Clannad – Macalla Tour – 1986
February 25th 1986 – De Montfort Hall Robin of Sherwood was a massive television hit at this time, with Jason Connery playing Robin (yep - Sean's son). Clannad were an Irish folk band and were fast gaining a reputation for haunting classical Irish folk music. They had already created the theme tune for Robin of... Continue Reading →
OMD – The Crush Tour – 1985/6
February 7th 1986 - De Montfort Hall This gig was originally scheduled for 8th November1985 but had been rescheduled Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark were still a firm favourite with me and the Crush album was pure pop! You knew you were going to get a great live show. The only issue for me was... Continue Reading →
Marillion – Misplaced Childhood Tour – 1985/6
January 29th 1986 - De Montfort Hall This concert was due on September 29th 1985 (ticket date) but was cancelled due to Fish (the lead singer) having laryngitis. Marillion were now a force to be reckoned with and producing some fantastic music. Their latest album, Misplaced Childhood was being toured and had what have turned... Continue Reading →
The Alarm – Strength Tour – 1985
December 9th 1985 - Leicester University I'd seen a few bands by now a couple of times, Ultravox and OMD....The Alarm would become the first band I'd see for a fourth time, although were were to be far from finished with the other two bands mentioned. I remember 1984 and 1985 and a very special... Continue Reading →
Spear of Destiny – World Service Tour – 1985
October 3rd 1985 - De Montfort Hall It was great to see Spear of Destiny tour not long after being part of U2's Longest Day concert and to actually come to Leicester as well. As a town of kids growing up, we were starting to realise bands often missed us out and went to Nottingham... Continue Reading →
The Big Sound Authority – 1985
March 22nd 1985 - Leicester University This gig was postponed from February 1985 and rescheduled for 22 March 1985, 7 days after Frankie Goes To Hollywood. Which meant they were going to struggle to follow that hype....and they couldn't (but still a great sounding gig). The guys were one of the bands signed to Paul... Continue Reading →
Frankie Goes To Hollywood – British Tour – 1985
March 15th 1985 - De Montfort Hall In the eighties, Wham were big, Culture Club were huge, both had created an enormous amount of hype and excitement about their tours. Well, Frankie Goes To Hollywood were just MASSIVE. The hype was MASSIVE......your parents were not impressed with the "Relax" single, I can tell you!!! Mind... Continue Reading →
The Boomtown Rats Tour – 1985
February 2nd 1985 - Leicester University In December 1984, Bob Geldof and Midge Ure did something truly amazing, something that has changed charity giving since. There was a human catastrophe in Ethiopia, a famine which was killing hundreds of thousands of people and had been going on since 1983. The guys felt things weren't being... Continue Reading →
The Style Council – A Council Meeting Tour – 1984
October 16th 1984 - De Montfort Hall I'm not sure why, maybe because The Jam passed me by and I regretted not getting into to them while they were around, but I got a touched obsessed with finding more out about Paul Weller, The Style Council and what ultimately turned into Respond Records artists. I... Continue Reading →
OMD – Junk Culture Tour – 1984
September 19th 1984 - DeMontfort Hall Two gigs in a week, that was pretty special. I hadn't really come down from the wonderful Echo and the Bunnymen concert and now we are back at the Demontfort Hall again. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark were one of my top 5 bands at this early point in... Continue Reading →
Echo and the Bunnymen – Ocean Rain Tour – 1984
September 17th 1984 – DeMontfort Hall Echo and the Bunnymen will become one of the bands I have seen the most over the years, which may seem strange, as they have never been known for their crowd interaction skills or stage show lighting, or adding any kind of extra on top of the music. That... Continue Reading →
Thompson Twins – Into the Gap Tour 1984
March 19th 1984 - De Montfort Hall 1984 was a cracking year for music for me. Maybe it was because it was my first year of concert going and starting to create a real social life with like minded friends from school and now, sixth form college (Wyggeston QE1 in Leicester - I wasn't destined... Continue Reading →
Marillion – Fugazi Tour – 1984
March 5th 1984 - De Montfort Hall Musically, this was a bit of a switch for me, or more likely an extension of the type of music I would listen to. Marillion were a mix of prog rock, pure rock and synth music. A real mixture which appealed to a wide range of fans, they... Continue Reading →
Culture Club – Colour by Numbers Tour – 1983
December 12th 1983 (matinee) - DeMontfort Hall There was massive hype in 1983 around this bunch of popsters! Colour by Numbers was a huge success, selling over 6 million records at the time. Boy George, the very colourful lead singer set tongues wagging with articles outwardly questioning whether he was a boy or a girl!!... Continue Reading →