U2 / Comsat Angels – 1981 Coventry

U2 / Comsat Angels – 1981 Coventry.

by Pete Clemons.

U2 are arguably one of biggest acts to grace the planet. They are known the world over. Fill stadiums. But, like most bands, they had humble beginnings. They played the Coventry area several times during those formative years. And, judging by the following report of one of those visits, U2's future success was far from anticipated. It is a fascinating read.............

"The Arts Centre Hall was, surprisingly, sold-out for this, the first big gig of the academic year. Still, in the first week the Freshers will go to anything, I thought to myself on the way in. My preconceptions were dashed by the strong and enthusiastic response that was enjoyed by both bands. Their appeal is, strangely, far greater than I had previously imagined. That is not to say they are undeserving of such acclaim, its just that they are both quite good, or okay, but not really particularly special.

The Comsat Angels made a dramatic entry. The stage was dimly lit as they ambled on and went into their first number, a tense and atmospheric little tune. The drums thudded away repetitively, the bass thumped along in a robotic manner, layers of keyboards added texture to the sound, whilst the guitar cut sharply through the middle. This combination was most absorbing but began to pall after a while. Their material tends to sound distinctly similar. 'Independence Day' was great and is still their best number. It has what many of their other songs lack - a strong hook. Of the newer songs, which are represented on their latest L.P. which is called 'Sleep No More', 'Do the Empty House' sounded the most promising, which is just as well for them as it is their latest single.

U2 received what was practically a heroes welcome. Familiar songs were greeted with whoops of joy. Certain members of the audience actually seemed to enjoy having water thrown over them by singer Bono.

They possess something that the support band, Comsat Angels, did not possess. And that was charisma. This comes in the shape of Bono, a man who definitely has a certain something denied to the mass of humanity.

Despite the weak points in the set, of which there were many, he somehow managed to carry them through. His colleagues are not especially talented. The guitarist would like to be a good old fashioned guitar hero whilst the other two are somewhat faceless.

They certainly have age on their side if nothing else. They began with 'Gloria' (the latest single) which was quite impressive. It featured the usual U2 formula of soaring guitar lines, a little bit of harmonics also on the guitar, in the middle and a strong riff. This is quite pretty, enjoyable, exhilarating etc., but can become tiresome when repeated ad infinitum. The rest of their set thus varied between the brilliant and the mundane

Unfortunately, they played a lot of inferior new material, some of which verged on the heavy metal. A slot number with only piano and drum accompaniment 'October' was somewhat embarrassing, but mercifully short. The old favourites were left till last and were brilliant "I Will Follow" being particularly outstanding.

There were many encores, of course, during which the magnificent '11 O'clock tick tock' was played. Not a brilliant gig but nevertheless fun. Oh yes, and Bono was suffering from a bad bout of flu."

Interestingly, 'Sleep No More' - the album being toured by Comsat Angels, was regarded as somewhat of a masterpiece. Additionally, it was said that it had a major influence on the future U2.

The Comsat Angels - Independence Day

Gloria U2

The Ramones - Warwick University 1978

 

The Ramones - Warwick University 1978

By Pete Clemons

Warwick university, already knowing its growing popularity as an entertainment hub, had made huge strides in the development of what became the Arts Centre.

However, until that building came to fruition, what began as a place of merriment for the students, The Workroom, also grew into a performance venue for the greater public. It wasn't exactly the best rock venue in the Midlands. Far from it.

And, at times this became problematic. None more so, it seems, than when the 'punk rock' era peaked. By and large, but not strictly, it appeared that the genre was favoured by run of the mill gig goers rather than students.

And for those of you who saw (or rather paid for and didn't see) the Ramones at the venue would surly agree.

It turned out to be a night the organisers would never forget. The place was absolutely packed and once a few drinks had been drunk no-one cared about making a fool of themselves. All good clean fun. Yet, at the same time, it was an evening that a lot of the fraternity would have liked to forget.

A review of the gig stated that 'For the support band we understandably had to sit down and so, with the floor not being solid, you got the most amazing vibrations up your arse every time the bass drum pedal was kicked.

I won't attempt to review the support, Snips and the Video Kings, since they were without Snips, who must do a lot for the band 'cause without a lead singer they were struggling, to say the least'.

When the minimalisation kings did arrive on stage everyone understandably stood up and anyone further than 5 rows had no chance of seeing them. Even though Joey Ramone was six foot seven he seemed to have a permanent crouch. Maybe he didn't want to hit his head on the ceiling.

For the Warwick gig they went from 'Blitzkrieg Bop' to 'Pinhead' via just about everything; you name it, they did it. Most songs were introduced merely as '1-2-3-4'. The band were fast and competent.

As a friend of mine said he has been waiting for years to see the band and all he saw was the letter 'O' on the backcloth.

If you were in the front five rows you were subjected to an awful lot of young punks, obviously not post grads, being extremely obnoxious and refusing to conform to what was said to them like, 'move back or someone's gonna get injured'.

Apart from all that the gig was well organised. And The Ramones? Well, they weren't actually that bad......just.

Just listen to their first album, Leave Home, Rocket to Russia or the new one if you missed them and you might well have been there.

The following morning you still had The Ramones ringing in your ears. All in all it had been very hot and it had attracted lots of people. What more can you say?

That said, a few years later when The Ramones returned, a bus left Warwick to see them in Birmingham.

Blitzkrieg Bop Ramones

Rocket to Russia Album.

Rocket 88 1979 - Warwick Uni Party

 

Rocket 88 1979 - Warwick Uni Party

By Pete Clemons

'
A flashback to a gathering of the great and good at the out of town Warwick University'.

Rocket 88 were a group of top notch musicians who would jam together occasionally. They took their name either from a hit single by Ike Turner and the Kings of Rhythm way back in 1951 or the 1948 instrumental 'Rocket 88 Boogie by Pete Johnson. Regardless, Rocket 88 laid down an unforgettable evening of jump blues.

The names of the musicians were, mostly well known. Although Charlie Watts, originally scheduled to play, failed to appear. To keep the promise of a top name, he was replaced by Jack Bruce, who had previously played bass with Eric Clapton.

Ian 'Stu' Stewart was also in attendance. Ian was a Rolling Stone and was once with the Faces when they supported Rod Stewart, and also played with Jeff Beck. And it was Ian who I understand had a hand in forming the band.

Other attendees who completed the line up for the Warwick gig were:

Alexis Korner, the father of British Blues, once of Blues Unlimited. He discovered the Rolling Stones, nurturing them along, bringing them out of the ABC Ealing Broadway to international fame. He also did a blues show on Radio 1 on Sundays, 9pm to 10pm.

The incredibly modest Bob "Boogie Woogie" Hall who played with millions and millions. Apparently he taught Linda McCartney to play piano. Bob was described as the best boogie-Woogie/blues piano in Europe - and possibly in the entire Universe - has played on about 50 albums. Has played with such legendary bluesmen as John Lee Hooker, Howling Wolf, Little Walter, the fab harpist etc. etc.

Dick Morrisey who had played Warwick earlier that term, along with Jim Mullen, at the Arts Centre. An accomplished Jazz player, Dick Morrissey played saxophone as he did with Jazz-Rock outfit If.

Colin Smith lead this ersatz band, taking centre stage on vocals and trumpet. Drummer for the evening was Peter York was once in the Spencer Davies Group.

On lead guitar was ex-Roogalator Danny Adler, one of Britians foremost pub rockers.

John Pickard featured on trombone. George Green on piano and Dave Markee on bass guitar and stand up bass also appeared.

This gig is worth seeing as some of the best musicians (in terms of proficiency) playing danceable Blues music. Yeah! (And some famous people might turn up on the night - Just possibly!)

Support band, The Beat, arrived and set up their gear only to find that the PA, belonging to headlining band Rocket 88, had no on-stage monitors. This fact, combined with their not very powerful amplifiers meant that the band would not be able to hear themselves properly and so they decided to withdraw, rather than play badly.

However there was a lot of speculation around the decision of The Beat to pull out. And it rumbled on for several years. It was said that 'There's a long story in that event, something for another time' although that 'other time' has, as far as I understand, never materialised.

Either way the event sold out with a total of 1800 people attended the party. Not bad for what was supposed to be a small low key event.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_88_%28album%29