GIG 035: The Otherside / Giant International / Angel Hearts - Marquee 14/01/90
I remember this gig mainly because Nick really liked Giant International. Good reason too as they were a class act, who we would see again in the future. We'd seen The Otherside back in November '89 (supporting Under Neath What GIG 031) and they were the primary motive for Nick, Adam, Simon, Donna, Mat and myself to once again be down at The Marquee on a Sunday night.

By this point I'd actually decided to quit school so didn't have to work the next morning (I had an afternoon shift at a local newsagents) so we didn't have any excuse not to go out on Sunday nights and have some fun :p

This was another of those 'Marquee' moments were we struck lucky and all three bands on the bill were good (which ceratinly wasn't always the case). Great evening, although The Otherside apparently never got big enough to warrant a video on Youtube or any mention of them (that I can find) on the internet.

Price: Unknown

GIG 034: Medicine Factory / Trash / Wild Poppies / World of Music - Marquee 10/01/90
'Grebo' was a made-up scene by papers such as the NME and Melody Maker to categorise a number of bands around in the late 80's such as Neds Atomic Dustbin, Wonder Stuff, PWEI, Gaye Bykers on Acid, etc, and attracted a lot of the same crowd that were into post-punk and goth. The Medicine Factory fell in to this category (although I don't actually recall the word Grebo being used at the time for any of those bands) . I only saw Medicine Factory this one time, and whilst they didn't blow me away they were pretty good and certainly the best of the bunch on this occasion. I wish I'd actually seen them again as, listening to the video I attached to this entry, I quite like them :p

Price: Unknown

GIG 033: Creaming Jesus / Scat Opera / Chunk - Marquee 07/01/90
I'm not sure why it had taken me so long to see Creaming Jesus again. I'd seen them back in May '89 supporting Dawn After Dark (GIG 015) and they had blown everyone else off the stage that night. This was my first gig of 1990, a new decade, and a great way to launch what was going to be a very intense ten years of live music for me. MY co-conspirators for the night were Nick, Donna, Adam, Rachel and Steve.

Creaming Jesus once again blew me away, Scat Opera were so-so and Chunk were pretty good.

Price: Unknown

GIG 032: Clannad / Mary Kelly - Hammersmith Odeon 01/12/89
This was my the last of '89 - the year when I properly hit the gig scene with a passion that was only to grow stronger. I'd been to 27 gigs over the course of the year (compared to 5 in 1988 and only one in 1987).

Wrapping up the year was my second Clannad concert (the first being back in May of '89 - GIG 014) and my second trip to Hammersmith Odeon. I went with Will and Adam and Clannad were, once again, very good. Hammersmith was not as atmospheric as The Royal Albert Hall (where I'd seen them previusly) but they put on a great live set and I went away happy.

Price: £9.00

GIG 031: Under Neath What / And The Generals Ran Forever / The Otherside - Marquee 10/11/89
I believe I was at this one with Nick, Alex, Mat and Simon. Under Neath What were fronted by a New Yorker (Andy) who teamed up with a couple of Brits to launch Under Neath What on to the world. According to rumour at the time the band were all living in a squat in South London. They got some press coverage in the Indie music press (Sounds, NME, Melody Maker, etc) and certainly played quite a few gigs both headlining themselves at smaller venues such as The Marquee as well as supporting larger bands on UK tours (they supported The Fields of The Nephilim).

I still have an old cassette of theirs that I was given at one of the gigs and also had the Firebomb Telecom 7" single.

This gig was actually pretty good as apart from Under Neath What the bill also consisted of And The Generals Ran Forever and The Otherside and all three bands were good live - which was nice as I was beginning to relaise that more often than not many support acts were at best average and at worst... well, bloody awful.

No idea what happened to the other two bands (although I did see both again) but Under Neath What eventually split up when Andy moved back to the States - and then reformed in the mid 2000's only to completely vanish just as quickly.

Price: Unknown

I just saw this short fan made cartoon and loved it.

It's a kind of mashup of Marvel in the style of Ren & Stimpy. Enjoy!

GIG 030: Tilt / Q Lazzarus - Marquee 06/11/89
This was one of those 'we're bored and it's Monday' moments were we decided to head down to The Marquee and watch some bands. I was with Jim and Nick for this one. Tilt were ok at best and I apparently really wasn't keen on Q Lazzarus. Tilt must have vanished into nothingness as I can't find anything about them online but Q Lazzarus apparently had some success (mainly with Goodbye Horses) which appeared on a couple of film soundtracks and also some computer games.

Price: Unknown

GIG 029: Ghost Dance / Imperfect Disaster / James Ray Band - Town & Country Club 20/10/89
Another trip to Kentish Town's Twn & Country Club to see (once again) Ghost Dance. Once again they were fantastic - consistently one of the best bands I'd ever see live and on this occasion (if I ignore Imperfect Disaster who were poor to middling at best) they had the James Ray Band in support and I was already a big fan of James Ray (he was the singer on The Sisterhood album 'The Gift' that many people mistook for Andrew Eldricth out of The Sisters of Mercy) so big bonus for me :)

Being a Friday night, and being young enough not to let having to go to work the next morning stop me, we all headed down to Catacombs in Manor House afterwards. The Catacombs was my favourite club for years - very goth/indie, pretty small, but an absolutely fantastic atmosphere and clientele :)

Price: £6.00

GIG 028 - Dare / Garrison - Astoria 18/10/89
A couple of months before this gig Dare had been headlining the Marquee now, a a couple of blocks up the road, they were headlining the much bigger Astoria... and packing it out *and* having some very special guests turn up for a couple of tracks.

Dare were one of those bands that grew quickly in popularity but didn't reallyu make a dent on the radar for most people. It's always odd when that happens, when you get a band that is selling out decent sized venues but most of your friends, and the population in general, have never heard of them. Anyway, it didn't matter to me then and it doesn't really matter now - although there are a bunch of bands I've seen over the years whom I really wish had achieved greater success and longevity as they were bloody good. Dare is kinda in this category for me. Very pleased I managed to catch them when they were about.

Oh, the special guests I mentioned? Europe (aka 'Final Countdown') joined them for a couple of tracks.

Price: £6.00

GIG 027 - Claytown Troupe / Wurlitzer One / Helter Skelter - Marquee 12/09/89
Claytown Troupe are another band that I used to see a fair bit and was always surprised they didn't make it bigger than they eventually did. They got a string of great support slots (The Cult, Wonderstuff, Jesus Jones, etc), got their videos played on TV, but for whatever reason didn't break out beyond gaining a loyal following.

They were damn fine live. This was the second time I'd seen them (previously they were the opening act for The Rose of Avalanche at ULU - GIG 007) and they impressed me even more the second time round, headlining obviously suited them. Unfortunately both of the support bands they had on this occasion sucked.

Price: Unknown