Motorhead – The Enid – Spud – The Zal Band – No Dice -The Cure – John Otway
It was a confusing time for me when I left school, I started an apprenticeship and was working in a factory, I was too young to get in to Pubs that put on live music, but I looked old enough to be served and there was one Pub in Eton that turned a blind eye and was owned by an ex policeman and on certain nights it looked like a Youth Club rather a than Pub. There was Skindles nightclub in Maidenhead and a group of us went over to see Thin Lizzy and although most of us looked old enough to get in one of us didn’t they got flustered when they asked him watch his age was and he gave the wrong date, it says a lot about our small group of friends that we elected not to go in but stay with him.
So for an under 18 year old it was Colleges, Universities, Sports Centres and Festivals for me and my friends when it came to live music. Although Slough College was the nearest to us we did go to Langley College several times to see bands, it was the next station stop by train and therefore relatively easy to get to.
Motorhead – 17th October 1977
The first gig we went to there on 7th October 1977 was Motorhead it was at that point the second time I had seen them live but the first as a headliner, admission was £1.00 and support on the night was Speedometers who were a punk band from west London, during that gig I met a lady called Sue and we got on really well, the following week she turned up at the Pub I went to, we exchanged telephone numbers and went on a date, which was when I was surprised to learn she was single parent and 24 years old and she was even more surprised to learn I was sixteen, we mutually agreed not to see each other after that. As I said it was a confusing time.
The Enid – 19th November 1977 & 11th November 1978
The next gig I went to at Langley College was to see The Enid on 19th November 1977, admission was £1.50 and support band was Spud. This was the second time I saw The Enid perform live and I saw them several times after that. The album they released that year was Aerie Faerie Nonsense and they also released the single Golden Earrings which although unlike anything else they recorded with Robert John Godfrey’s eccentric vocals I did love it. They performed again at Langley College on 11th November 1978 support on the night came from Slough based Prog Band Atlantis, admission was £1.50.
Spud – 11th March 1978
Having seen them perform supporting the Enid a few months earlier I had to go and see them again in their own right. This was my first experience of Folk Rock live and I was hooked, hailing from Dublin this band rocked live and in my opinion very much underrated, the album they were promoting was Smoking on the Bog and worth check out.
The Zal Band – 17th March 1978
One of the bands I wished I had seen was the Sensational Alex Harvy Band who split up in 1977 so the closest I could get was The Zal Band featuring guitarist Zal Cleminson and featured The Tubes' vocalist Leroi Jones and 19 year old Billy Rankin on guitar, who later played with Nazareth. They didn’t record any albums and were short lived. Zal Cleminson went on to play guitar for Nazerath, Elkie Brooks, Midge Ure and Bonnie Tylar. Support on the night was Business.
No Dice – 16th December 1978
This was the third time I saw No Dice according to my Gig diary so I must have been a fan, in the vein of the Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart and the Faces and Free, they recorded two albums but never amounted to much which was probably more to do with Punk being at it’s height at the time, Support on the night was The Screens. Admission £1.50
The Cure – 24th March 1979
Going to see The Cure at Langley College on the 24th March was very special, it was 6 weeks before the release of their debut album Three Imaginary Boys, my memory was that there wasn’t many people there and they performed behind a white sheet which was illuminated from the back, although I may have had that wrong. I was very impressed and went to see them several times after that.
John Otway – 4th May -1979
John Otway has played a big part of my musical journey and seeing him and his band at Langley College was the third time I had seen him up to this point, although I got to see him many times after this as well as work with him several times when I was booking music at Windsor Arts Centre, Jagz Ascot and the Acoustic Couch both solo and with Wild Willy Barrett. I will talk much more about John Otway in future blogs. Support on the night was Scottish band the Headboys who had a minor hit with “The Shape of Things to Come”
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