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.
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.
Volksoper, Vienna – November 1980
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 gaudy weed in a bed of delicate perennials.
Peter Gabriel, UB40 and Genesis – Feb-April 1980
Decline and renewal are the basic motors of the pop music scene. Always have been, always will. Bands come and go, change direction, reinvent themselves for better or worse.
Steve Hackett and Supertramp – October 1979
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.