Rock City in the 80's


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Hey I'm new here so be gentle with me. I would love to 'talk' with anyone who used to go to Futurist nights at Rock City in the very early '80's. I used to every Friday & Saturday from it's opening up until about '87. When the fab green lazers and dry ice where the greatest thing ever!! They played Echo & the Bunnymen, Assocciates, Spizz, Hawkwind, Japn, Bowie etc all night. I used to go to just about evry gig that ever happened there, and around the country. Blamanche, Depehe Mode, Theatre of Hate Southern Death Cult and especially early Bauhaus, who I think I saw about 30 times!!

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Went to see Blur in 1997 @ Rock City the floor was that sticky it took me 4 days to walk home.

Rory Gallagher Defender tour, 1985 I think. Awesome, unbelievable, brilliant.

Stop it, FLY2 (#69). you're making me jealous.

Ay up Stuart........Used to venture down there on a Thursday night early 80's for student night. (I was about 22/3 at the time) cheap in cheap booze too. We used to work late afters at Pork Farms and all pile down there after a quick shower and spruce up.

I remember seeing a group there at this time called Vitamin Z ,(pronounced zed ) who were supposed to be the next new big thing. They were crap!! The highlight of the gig was when the lead singer went do a stage dive into the "Mosh pit" and the crowd parted allowing him to splat into the ground !! very funny smile2

Also I used to bob in occasionally for gigs ,Difford and Tillbrook (Ex Squeeze,) Simply red (Free tickets and my girl friend at the time was into them Honest!!!!!!) even Gary Glitter (Say what you like about him he was a great showman)

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Certainly remember going to see Echo & the Bunnymen, in fact I'm pretty sure it was on the opening night or pretty close to it.

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I went to a few gigs in the very early days of Rock City. My memory tells me it was the first week or two when I saw The Kinks there but I'm probably wrong about that.

The Sensational Alex Harvey Band - sensational!

The Darts - amazing good fun, one of the best live acts I've seen to this day.

Bad Manners - riot-tastic!

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Funny you mention opening nights and the Kinks in nearly the same breath , but they opened Winsford Civic here in my little old town too .......Boring annecdote I know but just thought I'd mention it

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Does Rock City use the same building that used to be The Heart Of The Midlands?

pete c....still riding a vespa

Oh yes ,She of the famed "Cabaret evenings" and 'Soup in a basket' as much as you can throw down you ......................LOL

!clapping!

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he certainly was but you wouldn`t let him babysit your kids slywink

Time for a quick Gary joke?........................Gary arrives home to find his girlfriends suitcases packed and standing in the hall way. " What are you doing?" asks Gary, "Im leaving you because you are a paedophile!" came the reply. "Blimey" says Gary, "Thats a big word for a 12 year old!"

Hope that didnt offend anyone!

Pete, when RC was "The Heart", back in 1979 I had just been taken on by NJD, who for one of my first ever gigs, sent me there to work with The Dooleys, for someone who had only ever done a couple of birthday/engagement gigs, I was thrilled, and bored all the other jocks, and anyone else who would listen, with how I was working with the Dooleys!

A while later.whilst working for and on Radio Trent, I was involved with a couple of gigs when it had become Rock City, John Foxx, Musical youth, and some others too.

And in 95, took over "Le Freak" at The Rig, which evolved into Love Shack, where I was for 11 years non stop, only having about 3 Fridays off in all that time!

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me too!

Yeah, I was there too, was pretty near to opening night. I think the first band that played there, which I went to see was The Human League.

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Other gigs that spring to mind are Big Audio Dynamite, Hunter Ronson Band, Joe Jackson and George Melly. If I remember correctly BAD actually used Rock City to rehearse prior to a UK tour.

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Saw the Joe Jackson gig there & also Alex Harvey as per previous posting, both excellent, others were - Judy Tzuke, The Q Tips (Paul Youngs early band), Craftwork (when they had robots - well dummies really - playing the synths), Sham '69 & err... must admit to seeing Gary Glitter there too, complete with (his) crocodile tears at the end of his set! The Drifters - of course as, they've played every venue in the country at least once! Junior Walker...& that's just the ones I remember :biggrin:

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Yeah, I was there too, was pretty near to opening night. I think the first band that played there, which I went to see was The Human League.

I frequented rock city EVERY sATURDAY night from 1985-1989... Do you remember the floor refurb? The disgusting carpet [from heart of midlands days] you used to stick to it... The then dj was a guy called Jonathon.. I went to see quite a lot of bands, my hero at the time was gene loves jezebel and managed to sneak back stage to them once. I also remember seeing Hawkwind, the place was like a fog that night and I'm not talking about the dry ice!!!When I first went down there it was very Sisters of mercy then became very glam rock [my fav. time] In about 1987 we would alternate between rock city and the garage [another great place where you would bang on a door to be let in] At rock city the ladies toilets were always full of 'chaps' wanting to borrow your hairspray - quite annoying really. Funnily enough 2 years ago I went back to rock city [hadn't been since 1989] to see Human League - it was packed. Phil Oakley still had it but the girls were terrible- both girls bra less and really looked there age!!! Still it was a good night still serving plastic glasses and cans of red stripe

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I frequented rock city EVERY sATURDAY night from 1985-1989... Do you remember the floor refurb? The disgusting carpet [from heart of midlands days] you used to stick to it... The then dj was a guy called Jonathon.. I went to see quite a lot of bands, my hero at the time was gene loves jezebel and managed to sneak back stage to them once. I also remember seeing Hawkwind, the place was like a fog that night and I'm not talking about the dry ice!!!When I first went down there it was very Sisters of mercy then became very glam rock [my fav. time] In about 1987 we would alternate between rock city and the garage [another great place where you would bang on a door to be let in] At rock city the ladies toilets were always full of 'chaps' wanting to borrow your hairspray - quite annoying really. Funnily enough 2 years ago I went back to rock city [hadn't been since 1989] to see Human League - it was packed. Phil Oakley still had it but the girls were terrible- both girls bra less and really looked there age!!! Still it was a good night still serving plastic glasses and cans of red stripe

Also I remember coaches coming from different cities on a Saturday night -Barnsley lot. It really was a great alternative place.

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Jogged a memory there with the 'Red Stripe' and 'plaggy' glasses

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That carpet was legendary................ :)

I wonder if they still have a sticky floor?

Reminds us of the Aribba eh Mick??

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That carpet was legendary................ :)

I wonder if they still have a sticky floor?

Although the new floorign is some sort of vinyl it was still sticky - probably due to throwing your plaggy glass somewhere on the floor with some dregs in it!!!!

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I frequented rock city EVERY sATURDAY night from 1985-1989... Do you remember the floor refurb? The disgusting carpet [from heart of midlands days] you used to stick to it... The then dj was a guy called Jonathon.. I went to see quite a lot of bands, my hero at the time was gene loves jezebel and managed to sneak back stage to them once. I also remember seeing Hawkwind, the place was like a fog that night and I'm not talking about the dry ice!!!When I first went down there it was very Sisters of mercy then became very glam rock [my fav. time] In about 1987 we would alternate between rock city and the garage [another great place where you would bang on a door to be let in] At rock city the ladies toilets were always full of 'chaps' wanting to borrow your hairspray - quite annoying really. Funnily enough 2 years ago I went back to rock city [hadn't been since 1989] to see Human League - it was packed. Phil Oakley still had it but the girls were terrible- both girls bra less and really looked there age!!! Still it was a good night still serving plastic glasses and cans of red stripe

Oh god, that carpet!! That carpet and the 'going's on' under the stairs!!

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