Disharmony In My Head

Following on from what was the greatest gig I ever went to - a sentiment echoed by Andy Kershaw in his recent autobiography, except he saw The Clash a couple of days earlier than me in Leeds - I thought I'd deal with one of the greatest disappointments I ever went to. Given the number of gigs I've been to over the years there are bound to have been a few duff ones, one or two have been so bad I've left early, but I didn't have such high expectations of those as I did of this one.

It's October 27th 1979 in Manchester and on the back of a host of 'hit' singles, The Buzzcocks are playing a hometown gig at The Apollo. Not only that though, supporting them they have Joy Division who have recently released 'Unknown Pleasures' to great critical acclaim. It should have been at the very least, the gig of the year. But it wasn't. The sound was a complete and utter mess and it completely ruined what should have been a fantastic night out. In fact they played two nights and I went to the first. People I knew went to the second night and it was great apparently as by then they'd sorted out the sound problems.

Since then, if a band is playing multiple nights at the same venue, I would never plump for the first over subsequent nights unless there were other factors to be taken into account. Sound(!) advice I thought until many years later a friend pointed out that if you went to the first and it was fantastic, then with any luck you'd be able to get a ticket to go again the following night.