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Famous Bands Playing To Tiny Audiences

Smallest gig I've ever been to was Michelle Shocked at Leeds Irish Centre (?). There were seven of us. My mate Simon copped off with one of the other five.
 
I saw Billy Bragg play at the Tunnel Club in a bikers pub near the southern end of the Blackwall tunnel.

Not sure of the year, but certainly before he'd released his first album.

Did a rousing version of A13, possibly as an encore.
 
I saw Ian Brown and JJZ2 (later to become Muse) in a tiny pub in Stoke on separate occasions...

Also Gomez in a tiny little tent at glasto (does that count :D ?) being one of my favourite intimate gigs ever. I think it was the year that Stevie Wonder headlined and all my mates thought I was mad for leaving pyramid
 
Ooh just remembered seeing Aphex Twin & Mixmaster Morris playing ambient DJ sets in a tiny tent at Tribal Gathering in Warminster in 93. Must have been only a dozenish folk lying on mats in there. I don’t think I appreciated it at the time.
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‘Arena’ LOL
 
I saw The Charlatans in the Boston Arms in Tufnell Park. Their first London gig of their own. They'd supported The Stone Roses in London once before but that was it, I think. There was a bit of a buzz about them already so it was sold out but it was just the upstairs room of a pub. I asked Tim Burgess if he remembers it on Twitter recently and he does, although he can't remember headlining Reading Festival. :D
 
I saw The Charlatans in the Boston Arms in Tufnell Park. Their first London gig of their own. They'd supported The Stone Roses in London once before but that was it, I think. There was a bit of a buzz about them already so it was sold out but it was just the upstairs room of a pub. I asked Tim Burgess if he remembers it on Twitter recently and he does, although he can't remember headlining Reading Festival. :D

The Charlatans had to cancel the gig they’d scheduled at the Hop Pole in Aylesbury because Guy Chadwick’s House of Love were playing at the Civic, and they were never going to win that battle for the town’s pop fans. 1989, maybe.
 
I saw Nirvana, in support of Tad, at a pub in Leeds, shortly after Bleach came out
I think I saw them in Bristol supporting Tad (must have been the same time) I thought it was after nevermind but before teen spirit but maybe it wasn't . . maybe it was around the time of Sliver and I am getting the two confused.
Drummer gave Kurt a demo tape after the gig, he was totally fucked.
 
Alice Donut was one of the most memorable gigs there
That's a blast from the past. I remember liking their cover of 'my boyfriends back'.

And Jesus Lizard! They were a beast of a band live.
Always been a bit hit and miss musically for me . . . . but would always try to see them live. It was a real good show. I was never heavily into seeing live bands and didn't bother very often even though I lived in London.

Just to put that in context, I was a guitar player in a london band in the 90s and I rarely even turned up to my own gigs.
 
I think I saw them in Bristol supporting Tad (must have been the same time) I thought it was after nevermind but before teen spirit but maybe it wasn't . . maybe it was around the time of Sliver and I am getting the two confused.
Drummer gave Kurt a demo tape after the gig, he was totally fucked.

I think I saw them in Bristol supporting Tad (must have been the same time) I thought it was after nevermind but before teen spirit but maybe it wasn't . . maybe it was around the time of Sliver and I am getting the two confused.
Drummer gave Kurt a demo tape after the gig, he was totally fucked.
they did UK tours in the autumn of three consecutive years IIRC - 89, 90 and 91, then Reading 92
 
I saw Take That's first ever gig....in a car park on Anglesey as part of the Atlantic 252 Roadshow. It was some radio station that was very popular here at the time...252 on Long Wave. It was 1991, a year or so before their first hit.

The only memories I have is that Gary Barlow had a massive bleached blonde spikey hairdo, and Robbie Williams had an LA Raiders cap as did I...we had a mutual 'doffing of the cap moment' I was into NWA at the time....only went to the roadshow because nothing ever happened where I grew up and this was something to do.

Wish I'd seen Nirvana in a pub or something :D
 
they did UK tours in the autumn of three consecutive years IIRC - 89, 90 and 91, then Reading 92
I'd only heard Sliver the first time I saw them, didn't know much about them but thought I'd see what they were like. Reading, middle of the afternoon, Kurt did his back in diving into the drums. They were my favourite band by the Autumn of that year. Still think The Astoria gig that year is one of my all-time favs.
 
they did UK tours in the autumn of three consecutive years IIRC - 89, 90 and 91, then Reading 92
It was that they specifically supported Tad and was the first time I had heard about them coming to play. My friend was very fond of bleach but I thought it sounded like heavy metal. Sliver turned my head (and I bought it). I remember my friend buying Nevermind, and playing 'smells' I wasn't convinced, but it grew on me.

For some reason I thought the Tad thing was around this time, just before they exploded, but I guess that would have been a little way off because, like you say, they played Redding on stage below silverfish but Tad would not have been anywhere on the bill.
 
It was that they specifically supported Tad and was the first time I had heard about them coming to play. My friend was very fond of bleach but I thought it sounded like heavy metal. Sliver turned my head (and I bought it). I remember my friend buying Nevermind, and playing 'smells' I wasn't convinced, but it grew on me.

For some reason I thought the Tad thing was around this time, just before they exploded, but I guess that would have been a little way off because, like you say, they played Redding on stage below silverfish but Tad would not have been anywhere on the bill.
They were a bit higher up than Silverfish (who were brill that day, too) but not much. That days lineup was incredible really. Sonic Youth, Nirvana, Dinosaur Jr, Babes In Toyland, all these bands influenced by The Stooges then Iggy playing a blinder at the end of it.
 
I only liked Bleach really. They went soft like many of those grunge bands. The other bands went too metal.
 
I once had Timo Maas play just to me, I was doing the lights, he'd been booked to play a stage an hour before it opened for reasons that remain unclear. he finished his set with Your Love by Frankie Knuckles and we both jumped down and had a little dance while laughing at the situation. it was nice.
 
I once DJ'd right before Brandon Block at a university gig. I set the dancefloor up nicely for him with plenty of people dancing away ready for him to do his thing. Then he comes on giving it the big 'I am', and plays 'Oh La La' by the Wiseguys and everybody fucked off to the other dancefloor.

Speaking of which, what happened to slap a superstar DJ? You used to be able to slap Brandon Block (and others) right here. We should bring it back. editor

 
They were a bit higher up than Silverfish (who were brill that day, too) but not much. That days lineup was incredible really. Sonic Youth, Nirvana, Dinosaur Jr, Babes In Toyland, all these bands influenced by The Stooges then Iggy playing a blinder at the end of it.
Oh, maybe they were on just after sliverfish then? I didn't go. I just remember Chris P (bass) saying they watched them from the side as they went off/on.
 
I once had Timo Maas play just to me, I was doing the lights, he'd been booked to play a stage an hour before it opened for reasons that remain unclear. he finished his set with Your Love by Frankie Knuckles and we both jumped down and had a little dance while laughing at the situation. it was nice.

He made some absolute tunes.
 
I'd only heard Sliver the first time I saw them, didn't know much about them but thought I'd see what they were like. Reading, middle of the afternoon, Kurt did his back in diving into the drums. They were my favourite band by the Autumn of that year. Still think The Astoria gig that year is one of my all-time favs.

I was on the guest list for that gig, courtesy of my brother, but Carcass - who I was a bit obsessed with at the time - were playing that night so I paid actual money to see them and Cathedral at the Marquee instead. My brother went on his own. It was a little bit disappointing, although I tried to delude myself that it wasn't because I'd turned seeing Carcass into something bigger than it actually was. I actually liked Carcass when they were a wall of noise, but by this time Bill Steer was doing lengthy guitar solos and they'd gone more obviously metal than crusty grindcore. Cathedral were pretty boring.

I used to be quite proud of that anecdote. Then it turned more into 'oh, what a fool I was!' Now it's just an anecdote.
 
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