It begins in October 1979 when, over two consecutive nights, I went to a concert by ex-Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett in Bradford and then, the following evening, saw Supertramp playing at Wembley Arena in London.
Category Archives: The Tickets
This cache of old ticket stubs fell out of a box or a book somewhere, a collection of random dates and disparate events linked by an unlikely and insignificant common denominator: the fact that I went to them all.
Of all the live concerts and theatre I’ve attended over the years, I’ve no idea why these tickets alone were kept. It’s not as if they were my favourite gigs. There’s nothing special about them as far as I can recall; in fact some of the events I can barely remember.
Each ticket though is an entry point to the past. Admission is free.
A beginning and the end
Endless renewal is the perpetual motor of rock and roll. Always has been, always will. Musical genres come and go, bands change direction, reinvent themselves for better or worse.
One night stand at the opera
The young man in the sweatshirt and grubby blue jeans stands out amidst the genteel splendour of the opera house, an ugly intrusion like a foul weed in a bed of delicate perennials.
Eighth Day through the Fourth Wall
This is one of those random events that leave a smear of residue, a small fluff ball of memory that clings to the fabric of life when so much else is washed away.
Days of wine and Stones
If this was a proper rock n roll story, it would have turned out to be the night of my life, the band playing a dazzling set that reached ever-higher pinnacles of exhilaration and brilliance. But it wasn’t.