Heartland

On an aside, I just remembered a few years later we saw Ghost Dance at Rooftop Gardens just after the release of River of No return...they got so much s**t it was unreal.

Edited to say: I remember Etch was dressed like Mark Bolan and trying to stamp on our hands in his platforms. Gary was stage left and just being cool. We still managed some stacking but not a pyramid.

Jesus, the memory is kicking in. Support on that night was Love it to Death, or possibly that was support for the gig shortly after where Batfish Boys headlined.

Either way...

Nikolas Vitus Lagartija wrote:Very interesting. I too found the 84/85 less fun when the band were in the more pompous and bombastic phase, and you had the hassle of having to buy tickets in advance etc. Were you one of the guys who had the red on black TSOM t-shirts? I was well jealous of those back in the day. Have heard other rumours of a Wakey gig back in early 82 so you might be right. But then again, it's probably just my faulty memory letting me down again.

They played hellfire club

paint it black wrote:

Nikolas Vitus Lagartija wrote:Very interesting. I too found the 84/85 less fun when the band were in the more pompous and bombastic phase, and you had the hassle of having to buy tickets in advance etc. Were you one of the guys who had the red on black TSOM t-shirts? I was well jealous of those back in the day. Have heard other rumours of a Wakey gig back in early 82 so you might be right. But then again, it's probably just my faulty memory letting me down again.

They played hellfire club

Any idea of an exact date ? I did a search and you mentioned pre-Reptile House tour when this last cropped up, and mentioned that you have a recording of the gig. The Hellfire Club (based at Heppy's nightclub in Wakey) gets a brief mention in the goth section of Dave Haslam's recent book on the history of clubbing.

Heppy's...I'd forgot about that place. Yes, it was Heppys which isn't all that far from the Strafford. Down the alley, through the chippy and into the club.

Poisonheart wrote:Heppy's...I'd forgot about that place. Yes, it was Heppys which isn't all that far from the Strafford. Down the alley, through the chippy and into the club.

So did the chippy front on to the alley (Radcliffe Place) where the club was or the other, busier road (Wood St) that went down to the Bull Ring ? There seems to have been a restaurant on the Wood St site that backs on to the Radcliffe Place club which is currently The Smokehouse and was previously La Rocas and which I assumed was the original Heppy's Fish and Chicken Restaurant. As well as the rather tawdry "Fish and Strips" Heppy's incarnation, the venue had also been used for Northern Soul all-nighters as detailed on this website. http://www.groovesvilleusa.com/blog/?p=1723. Would be great to tie down a date for the Sisters gig there.

The chippy fronted in the alley. The club was a den for the Wakey "gangsters" and hardmen. Paul Burke, Paul Sykes etc frequented it in the 70's.
As the old tale goes, to circumvent licensing laws people used to buy a bag of chips on the way in walk through to the club and bin them.i.e. Alcohol served with food loophole. I'm pretty sure I saw the Meteors there too and definitely the Virgin Prunes. I'm going to take a guess at pre-May 1983 for the Sisters gig. Perhaps the chap with the recording of the gig has a more definite date?

That's really interesting, thanks. That Meteors gig is on a DVD available from Cherry Red. There's a couple of clips like this one https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tbAQzgn3DlQ on YT which give an indication of what the club was like back in 83. You might even see yourself in the background.
As well as the Prunes, I've also found mention of gigs by Flesh For Lulu, March Violets, The Fall (Brix's first gig apparently), Play Dead and The Chameleons at the Hellfire. I remember seeing posters/flyers for some of these in Leeds but as students we couldn't afford/be arsed to trek all the way out there when you could see the same bands in Leeds.

I used to go to Heppy's chippy restaurant with my mam when I was a teenager and was helping her with her shopping. Defo up the alley.

Also went to at least one friends birthday party in the club too. I remember they had a huge (well it was huge compared to my portable telly) screen showing Michael Jackson's Thriller vid which had just come out.

Always found it strange walking through the chippy to get into a club, but..part of it character, eh?