Was at Newcastle Riverside to see PIL last night.

What a band they are and a fantastic live performance.

John Lydon was excellent and seems to genuinly love playing live and has a real appreciation of his audience and shows it. Proper legend

Wished I could have gone. As you say, in the same room as a legend. Loved those PiL albums and Singles...that show that's on BBC Tees after the footy on Saturday (Beat Surrender?) played 3 PiL tracks in a row the other night, top-fucking-notch, turned the car radio right up!

What made it even better is the venue.

Used to go to The Riverside in the late 80's and 90's and saw Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Chillies just loads of amazing bands when they were just starting out and it was always a brilliant place.

Saw Royal Blood there recently and going to see the Wedding Present, Rev and The Makers and Ash soon too.

It is light years better than the Academy for sound, atmosphere and feeling involved in the gig

That'll be it. Ha ha

Thought it had just been done out, not a different place!!

Mind I have slept since the 90's and at my age memory is a little hazy

Gutted i'm missing Rev & The Makers, first time i've ever missed a gig of theirs in the area as i'm in Mexico.

The "old" Riverside was brilliant. Saw some quality there as you say, Nirvana, Elvis Costello the day he was on The Tube (unannounced!), Julian Cope the night my Daughter was born (in Jesmond!), De La Soul, Catatonia, a REALLY great gig by Voice Of The Beehive, The Fall...

I reckon I went 11-12 times and never saw a bad gig.

Mate of mine went once, got his head kicked in and only saw one song! (Oasis)

Saw some great bands there when I was living in Newcastle but missed a belter when I decided not to go and see Tad because it was raining and I only really liked the Jack Pepsi single that they did. Support band was another Sub Pop band doing their first gig outside the USA. Nirvana.

Saw Ride there too and The Sunday's and my mate trying to chat the simply stunning Harriett Wheeler up after the gig. Failed of course the twat but god she was gorgeous.

Also saw a great Lush gig when during the intro to one track the drummer fucked it up 2 or 3 times before chucking his sticks in and storming off stage followed by bemused band memebers.

Que the claps and geers and a few moment s later the band return, drummer nails the intro to huge applause and takes a bow at the end of the song.

Great memories although sadly not to the extent of where the fuck I was in Newcastle! What was I smoking back then?

No wonder i got a Desmond 2:2

By the way Palma Violets are playing there the night after The Rev in Nov 25th Rev and 26th PV and for a hattrick of good gigs The Enemy are the 24th

The Julian Cope gig there (April 30th 1991) was one of the best music nights of my life.

It was the "Peggy Suicide" Tour (his best album) and he was literally on fire. Great entertainer..started the gig perched on the top of the PA and didn't get down for much of it. It's still one of my favourite albums. Pools beat Northampton a few days later to get promoted too!

The Enemy are playing Ku Bar in Stockton on the 15th Nov, might get down to that one.

Saw Pavement there after a Pools match, they were good, also with a barking drummer, but I can't remember anything about the match. Mr MFR went as well, don't know if his memory is any better than mine though.

Worst turn out for a gig at a proper venue that I've ever been to was at The Riverside as well. Bim Sherman, one of the best reggae singers ever, playing with a very tight band and only about 12 people were there. He was well pissed off but did a full set anyway and then had a chat with us after. Very nice man.

bands i saw at the riverside

kitchens of distinction
housemartins
galaxie 500
pulp (i think)
rpla

and bongwater

the scran in the restaurant (upstairs ?) was great an all.

Going to ku bar 2nd october to see the sherlocks, never been the ku bar before, any good?

Longest post in the history of the bunker award goes to mr c.fireball for that one.

Are you sure?

Some of Fetish Bob's post have certainly felt longer than that

I'll also be there for the Sherlocks, i've seen Rev and the Makers there and it was decent. Very small and intimate with no raised stage.

me n joe, the SAKBE

(sherlocks at ku bar elite)

They we're decent down church street a few months ago like.

I seen them at their FIRST Hartlepool gig in the Showroom and also supporting Rev & The Makers last year, just thought we'd best establish some sort of ranking system in this newly formed elite. Nice of the Bunker trust to pay for our tickets like, make sure you save your bar receipts to claim expenses back after the gig.

The bunker trust is covering all them gigs chip went too aswell

Thanks for that Chip; I worked in Gateshead in 97 and went to a couple of gigs in Newcastle around the time. I still remember Mansun and Travis (who'd only released a couple of singles at the time) and Geneva (who played upstairs to about 20 people). I swear I saw Fun Loving Criminals then, but perhaps that was at the University?

Also, looking down the list for the mid 90s, there are loads of bands I wish I'd seen. And some others I did when living in London. Good times.

Couple I'd forgotten in there. Lemonheads, Del Amitri, Manics on their first tour (saw them at Boro Town Hall too) and American Music Club who were NOT supported by "Suzie Hog" as it says on that list, but by Suzie HUG's band, The Katydids.

Suzie Hog was an entirely different kettle of fish and one of David Cameron's favourites.

Cheers for posting that Chip, so many brilliant memories there. Highlights:

All 3 Pavement gigs (one at the uni). In '92 Gary Young the drummer was passing apples round from a basket. The 2nd in '97 was chocka, Ibold was catching sweat dripping from the ceiling in his mouth. Neutral Milk Hotel were also on the bill that night and managed to cram a brass section into a tiny corner of the stage

Trumans Water in front of about 40 people (including one fella who was slamdancing on his own at the front) with the Grifters supporting. Two brilliant bands, still got the Grifters setlist in the house somewhere

Sparklehorse in '98, what a gig that was. Linkous stopped a quiet one half way through and told some twats who were talking to get the fuck out, then picked the song up right where he left off, mid chorus

Rocket From The Crypt which was live on Radio 1, think I've still got the bruises off that moshpit

New FADS, The Fall, The Delgados, The Weddoes, Mercury Rev....what a brilliant venue. Apart from those bloody pillars like....

I think the mental drummer gig was Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Clunny Arms? Vaguely, and I mean very vaguely, remember the Pavement gig. But to be fair its late, red wine has been taken and I'm in Seville so, hey, whatever. Adiós.

That was a brilliant performance - most ferocious noise from a three piece band I've ever heard. They were on telly the next night and Marc Lamarr reckoned they were the best live band in the world at that point. He might have been pushing it a little bit but they were very good indeed.

Enjoy the sun and oranges!

It was upstairs at The Cluny MJ. I used to buy a lot of American imports at Volume and the bloke behind the counter told me they were doing a secret warm up gig before playing in London and doing TV over the weekend. Couple of quid in pm the door and Jon Spencer playing over at the side of a room with no stage. It was basically an extremely good pub gig. Didn't know much about them at that point so it was a superb surprise.

That thing with tickets was really odd. I bought one to see Nirvana at the Mayfair from RPM and by the time they were on Smells Like Teen Spirit had been released and the place was packed with people trying to pick up tickets outside. The bouncers didn't want to let me in because they reckoned it wasn't a proper ticket and then one of them who worked at lots of gigs came over and said that the hand written ones were fine. The others looked completely baffled.