Ticket
The Apollo
2nd November 1980

U.B. 40 with I think Trinity from B’ham as support. They were a good and influential band in their time along with the whole Two-Tone thing......so good things could come out of the Midlands after all (goes some way to recompense inflicting the likes of duran duran on an unsuspecting world! )Used to spend a bit of time there and I dunno, it always just seemed boring. If you went out midweek everything seemed to shut early except maybe The Rumrunner; must have been the Quaker influence. U.B.40 were the last band I saw at The Russell before it stopped being The Factory and it probably wasn’t long before this.
Actually have another recollection of seeing Rory Gallagher at The Apollo round the same time as Patti Smith/ Pop Group, circa summer "78. Well I wasn't a big fan of heavy rock in general and this is about as close as I ever got to it but I 'd always liked Rory, partly 'cos he came across as a decent down to earth sort of fella and he truly was a whizz on the geetar without the 10 minute histrionic noodlings and posturings of many so -called Rock Gods. He'd gone through Taste which had a lot of jazz undertones to really just a full on blues type guitarist. Anyway what stands out the most about this gig is the P.A. broke down during the show and instead of going off stage he just carried on without the band for the next 15 minutes and just sang and played an acoustic set while they sorted things out. Well in all honesty he was barely audible even when everyone was deathly quiet but I think many were made up that he even bothered to carry on regardless (playing " Going To My Hometown " on a ukalele being a particular high point as I recall) and were cheering and clapping along; worra top man!
Bands I wished I'd seen there would be Beefheart, Little Feat, Thin Lizzy and Kate Bush who I thought was the biggest load of twaddle I'd ever heard until I saw her interviewed by Sue Lawley at the time "Wuthering Heights" came out and realised she wasn't a 50 year old screaming witch but was in fact a delightful young lady, not without charm and a unique and talented individual to boot. There was an absurd novelty and dubby version of "Wuthering Heights" by someone going under the name of Jah Wurzel, with lots of "Ooh aaars" and other West Country coider drinkin' slang, but I never did manage to track it down..... Regrets, I've had a few...Don't know if Aunty Claire Reiner or Marj Proops are still around giving out advise to the likes of me...but I definitely missed the boat with these particular artists....
Oh yeah, sometimes we used to go to the odd party in the Ardwick high rises and I always thought it made the crescents in Hulme look like a holiday resort in the Caucuses by comparison; same with the Miles Platting, Fort Beswick, Bradford areas. Definitely the good old, bad old days.....