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October 27 1978 Left to right: Photographer unknown |
This Wire gig was at the Rock Garden, Middlesborough, in the industrial northeast of England. The club was fairly isolated in a desolate section of decaying dockland, and about 400 warm summer Saturday night celebrants were the audience. Even through struggles with chords and a collapsing keyboard, I remember clearly the flying gob and beer. Perhaps you don't forget those things when they're coming at you. The white spots you see on the print are not faults.
Colin is a singular character who can bumble happily around the world, often completely relaxed in his own dreams, having to be somewhere, and then getting on the bus going the wrong direction. On stage, he was rather different: in control. This Middlesborough crowd, exceptionally aggressive even for the industrial Britain of the 70s, immediately desisted when he pointed out that 'We don't like being spitted at.' Playing my ancient RMI Electrapiano, whose pedal needed constant attention with sticky tape to prevent if disintegrating, had been even more challenging than usual, due to the smooth layer of beer over all the keys.
The roadies had their work cut out trying to maintain a decent sound while courteously accepting helpful advice from the floor. Half way through the set, we noticed a sudden change in the stage sound. One creative punter had stumbled by the mixing desk and with one large hand pulled down all the carefully set graphic equalizer settings to zero. One of the roadies took the piece of lead pipe that lived under the console and went off to discuss further business. The blood on the floor at the back of the club that shone when the lights came up wasn't the roadie's business partner's. But it might have been his, without due precaution.
We didn't feel inclined to do many encores; perhaps we did one. Good Northern beer helps the soul but not the memory. The audience wanted more than the Wire corporate board was inclined to dispense. The dressing room door was at the back of the stage, better that way we thought as the pint beer glasses (empty) smashed against it while we waited.
- MT June 2001
Wire
at the Stereo Society (selected
links):
To
Wire Central (all
links)
To
Wire 1977-79 by Kevin Eden
To
The Roxy London WC2 (Jan-Apr 77)
To
Pink Flag
To
Chairs Missing
To 154
To
I Am The Fly
To
Outdoor Miner
To
full text of Robert Gotobed's interview
To
the full text of Bruce Gilbert's interview
To Thorne's
home page
To
a 1978 Wire nite out in Middlesborough
To
a the book: Wire, Everybody Loves A History
To
the poster for Notre Dame Hall, London, 1979
To Kevin Eden's 1996 interview
with Thorne for the Wire newsletter
To Wire's concert review in the
New York Times
To
Wire discography
To Wir discography
To radio sessions log
To
Wire songs covered by other artists
To Bruce Gilbert discography
To Bruce Gilbert/Graham Lewis discography
To Robert Gotobed discography
To Graham Lewis discography
To Colin Newman discography
To Swim discography
To
Wire's 2001 concert review in the New York Times
Click
to download Wire historical memorabilia, text or hi-res graphic.
All are encoded as zip files.
Thorne's
commentary on making four albums with Wire (24K Word file)
The
Roxy, London WC2, (Jan-Apr 77), hi-res cover art 648K jpg
Pink
Flag, hi-res cover art 568K jpg
Chairs
Missing, hi-res cover art 556K jpg
154,
hi-res cover art 188K jpg
Bruce
Gilbert's mid-80s letter to Thorne, 176K jpg
Concert
poster, Notre Dame Hall, London, 1979 796K jpg
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