To date I have
seen (allegedly) 4998 gigs, this includes pub gigs with local bands, I used to
be a great supporter of local gigs, the last four years have seen a significant
drop off, for many reasons that I have no intention of boring you all with the
details (again).
Some Bands I
have seen multiple times intentionally some not so intentionally, Marillion
with Fish over 49 times, Marillion without Fish only once, Fish, solo I have
seen around 24 times, my last gig was actually Fish at the city hall on his
road to the isles tour! FM, I have seen over 60 times the last couple of times
they have played I have been plagued with ill health and of late when they play
near me its been in venues that don’t have good for facilities for a cripple
like me otherwise it would have been a lot more, Budgie only ever as a support
band around 15 times, Magnum up until 1983 about 10 ten times as a support then
around 15 times as a headliner up until Tony Clarkin died.
I used to
keep my tickets and passes (lots of passes) but they have gone by the way, so
now I am trying to be a keeper of lists as I struggle to remember who supported
who and how many gigs I saw them, the funniest is Bryan Adams supporting Tina
Turner, me and some friends went to see the support act 16 gigs on the trot, we
never even saw Tina Turner, it was all on the guest lists, Tina must have
wondered why there was always a dozen seats in the forth row of all of the
venues, oh what you do when you are young!
There are
some great venues all around the country small and medium size, sheds I’m not
that much of a fan, I like to be able to see the band not a speck in the
distance, prices are starting to get silly, what with dynamic pricing, just a
way for the big cartels to screw the punter, it simply shouldn’t be allowed,
the robbing B*****ds! I hate to think of the miles I’ve covered to go and see
bands over the years and the times I hitched hiked around the UK, I shudder at
the thought these days, I must have been a nutter (hang on oh yes, I was).
I honestly
don’t think I will go to too many more simply because of the logistics and the
pricing structures, yes I know they need to make some money, I had a friend at
work whose wife went to see Taylor Swift and it cost over £170 for a standard
seat, factor in the cost of travel and hotels, I’m old I like my comforts, what
can I say. I need to have some kind of support
to rest my weary knees, I can’t stand for too long, mind you having shite bands
as a support act doesn’t help.
At this moment I am being a pain scouring old diaries, websites and all manner of blogs to try and piece the list together (watch this space) I mean in 1984 I did 324 gigs and I only paid for about 20! At the moment me and the wife have been attending comedy club gigs smaller venues comfortable and you don’t feel like you have been raped for the ticket price, we go on holiday soon and my wife got me all excited because she said that Rick Springfield was playing when we are there (she lied I checked the dates) but there is Toto and Barry Manilow, I have seen worse before lol, the countdown has begun, I simply cant wait for the holiday and hopefully some gigs stateside!
So, there we
go the first blog of the month and my intention is to keep them rolling, so
stay safe stay alive, until the next blog…...Toodles!
