Gig 63. Death Cult, The Limit Club, West Street, Sheffield. Thursday 15th September 1983.

The rudimentary spiky crops and buzz cuts of 1980 have been grown out to luxuriant lengths which appear to fan out at all angles: cockscombs, peacock fans and a striking, shaved at-the-side, long-at-the-back cut, which, to my eyes, makes the wearer look like a Disney cartoon vulture.…

Read More

Gig 62. Siouxsie & The Banshees, Durutti Column, SPK, Howard Devoto, The Box. Pandora’s Music Box festival, De Doelen, Rotterdam, 2nd September 1983

Siouxsie herself looks stunning, in a high bodice with what looks like a belt of many, many strips of fine leather which reach down to her calves. They jerk and leap like electric eels as she dances...…

Read More

Gig 61. Killing Joke, The Box, Play Dead, Sexbeat. Hammersmith Palais, London. Sunday 31st July 1983.

This Icelandic saga played out in the music weeklies throughout the spring and summer of last year. A gripping tale of escape, exile, brotherhood and betrayal, like Puzo with puffins.…

Read More

Gig 60. The Fall, The Ace, Brixton, London. Friday 15th July 1983.

“Come on, look lively! The Scorpions are coming.” A Spring Saturday morning in deepest Surrey, and recording studio owner Andy Fernbach is in a state of high anxiety. While normally as equable and phlegmatic as…

Read More

Gig 59. David Bowie, The Thompson Twins, Icehouse. Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh, 28th June 1983.

This is a winning fruit-machine set. Three cherries every time Puerto Rican band leader Carlos Alomar counts them in: ‘Golden Years’, ‘Fashion’, ‘Let’s Dance’, ‘Life On Mars’ and ‘Sorrow’. And that’s just the first half-an-hour.…

Read More

Gig 58. Iron Maiden, The Apollo Theatre, Glasgow, 12th May 1983.

The stage here is very high indeed - anyone planning a fan invasion will need rope and crampons. It sits imperiously above the stalls like an Aztec temple. Appropriately enough, as three and a half thousand Scots scream their approbation, ready to sacrifice themselves to the metal gods.…

Read More