This is the profile picture that will be appearing on several Sunday Alternative sites. Can you guess what time we posed for it?The show gets better and better, tonight was a classic and I really enjoyed it. I think the future of the show is bright, Penny and myself work very well together. To say that we only met the week before her first show, this is a comfortable radio partnership and have started to look forward to the show again. The comedy element with Erik was cool and everything, but we did run the risk of jumping the shark a bit. I'm glad to be steering the show back to the original remit, and returning to an emphasis on music. We also had a good response to the topic this week, the best gig you didn't go to. You had tickets but couldn't/didn't go, and have regretted it since. There was one that I didn't see until it was too late, from Andy Davis:
Had a ticket for the opening night of Rock City - Iron Maiden, 1980? It was cancelled because of a problem with the venue and never rescheduled, I waited over a year to claim my refund just in case. I think the first Rock City gig was Shakin' Stevens a couple of weeks later!!!
In answer to the question mark, Rock City did indeed open in December 1980 and Iron Maiden were cancelled because of problems with the electrics. I wonder if had Andy kept the ticket until 1996, when Maiden returned to Rock City, they would have honoured it. The fact that Maiden performed at Rock City in 1996 surprised me, as they would surely have been stadium sized by then. Unless this was a special secret gig. By coincidence, I asked Penny on air if she would rather a gig or a concert, and we agreed on gig. I would much rather see a band upstairs in a pub than at the Ice Arena, (as I call it). A listener contributed to the subject with her tale of missing Guns and Roses at Rock City in 1987, but seeing them at Donnington a year later. The idea of seeing the 'proper' Guns and Roses in a club venue seems so far fetched now, especially as they moved up the ladder fairly quickly. I saw them in Milton Keynes in 1993, and I am so glad that I did given what they are nowadays, although it was at a stadium concert. Rock City, we agreed, is the biggest club level venue in Nottingham, so once a band gets bigger they progress to the theatre or the arena, depending on their popularity.
We did of course play some musical offerings of the highest quality:
Bert Weedon 'Guitar Boogie Shuffle'
Jeff Healey 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps'
(Both above songs came before the official opening tune, in tribute to Bert Weedon, who died this week).
'At The Sign Of The Swinging Cymbals' (opening introductions talk-over)
Harry Champion 'I'm Henry The Eight I Am'
Jane's Addiction 'Been Caught Stealin'' (prompting a tweet from @NurseGeek1975 congratulating me on such a link. I really have a passion for the Victorian music hall comedians and their songs. I am planning a music hall show for the station, just a one-off pre-record for the Bank Holiday).
David Bowie 'It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City'
Practical Lovers 'Put It Bluntly' (appearing on the show on 20th May)
Fighting Evil Is Cool 'Life In Magazines'
Fists 'Weekend'
Hot Japanese Girl 'Mixtape'
The Futureheads 'Hounds Of Love'
Stevie Nicks 'The Edge Of Seventeen'*
Guns and Roses 'Paradise City'* (these two songs played to top and tail the 'best gig you didn't go to' discussion. We talked over Nino Rota's 'Romeo and Juliet', or the Our Tune theme, as it is popularly known).
Journey 'Don't Stop Believin'' (this week's 'dad rock classic', taking the concept back to my original intention. Hopefully, at least one listener followed the lead and videoed themselves singing along and will send it so I can add it to the blog).
Reg Varney 'Come On And Tickle My Fancy' (the comedy song that opens the second hour)
The Clash 'Armagideon Time'
The King Blues 'What If Punk Never Happened'
Radiohead 'Sit Down Stand Up'*
Nirvana 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'* (Again these two songs were used to accommodate the subject, and once again we talked over the theme from Romeo and Juliet. As soon as 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' kicked in, I realised that I had fucked up because a version appears in the 'Louie Smells Like Rock and Roll feature).
Kagoule 'Silvercloud'
Cantaloupe 'Hubbub'
Prince and The Revolution 'Let's Go Crazy'
The Wedding Present 'Brassneck'
Louie Smells Like Rock and Roll:
The Naverones 'Louie Louie'
The Meat Puppets 'Smells Like Teen Spirit'
L'Arc en Cial 'I Love Rock and Roll'
We now have a page on Reverbnation. The songs are all taken from our live sessions, and are only available for streaming. There isn't a lot to the page yet, but I hope to be adding a weekly video of the two of us.
In other news, as from next Sunday the show is running until midnight, giving us an extra hour.
