I was going out with a girl from Colwyn Bay. Helen’s leaning was very much toward the Goth end of the punk spectrum, and we shared a deep love of all things Bauhaus (her love of the band probably extended into the sexual aspect of their lead singer too!). I will also be eternally grateful to her for dragging me kicking and screaming to the Royal Court in Liverpool.
‘There’s no way I’m going to see the fucking Cramps.’ I protested. It was 20th March 1986, and at nineteen years old I was still a bit set in my pure punk rock ways; or at least had a reputation to uphold. We sat on the balcony, that very steep balcony at the Royal Court. The Cramps were incredible. You don’t realise at the time of seeing these bands that they will someday be iconic. They had just been on The Tube on TV and released the album ‘A Date With Elvis’ and played just about all of it before heading into crowd favourites like Goo Goo Muck, Human Fly and Surfin’ Bird, during which Lux Interior scaled the PA speakers with the microphone in his mouth, grunting throughout. A great spectacle. He was pretty oiled, necking red wine straight from the bottle and launching one at the over-zealous bouncers who kept beating up crowd surfers.
A couple of years later I bought a bootleg tape of this gig from Aladdin's Cave in Rhyl.
I have no recollection of The Stingrays.
No comments:
Post a Comment