The skids at Warehouse 23 the other month were brilliant as they were 30 odd years ago at the Unity Hall. Any one going to see Billy Bragg can expect to see a party political broadcast saw him recently at the Paul Heaton at Hull KR. In fairness to the organizers they did put him on 30 minute earlier than advertised so luckily a lot of people missed most of his set.

Dont think they have ever played Wakefield but would recommend Bar Steward sons of Val Doonican who never fail to impress.

Also saw them on War tour. They were a great live band in them days. Your assessment of Larry is pretty much spot on, he may have changed a lot since then though.

Biggest regret is never seeing The Clash live, I had ticket to see them in Newcastle but was scuppered by tonsillitis

Leeds uni x2

Leeds Queens hall

Sheffield top rank

Bridlington spa

London Finsbury Park Rainbow

London Mile End, cancelled gig as we were sat in a boozer next door.

Manchester Apollo.

Not jealous at all

My first gig was The Human League - my brother took me (under age) and I've been hooked on live music ever since; incidentally, I'm off to see them again later this year, 30odd years after the first time - which is sobering.



My favourite gigs have invariably been small rooms - especially during my metal/grunge years; I was at the infamous Nirvana gig in Bradford, which was far too small a venue given that Nevermind went ballistic a couple of months before; these days, it would never have gone ahead with the number of people who managed to squeeze in. I saw all the Grunge big hitters - with Alice in Chains at Rock City probably the pick of the bunch. Pantera at the same venue was probably the scariest, most intense experience I've ever had. I saw Henry Rollins in Leeds and had a curry with him afterwards, Danzig at Braford when the man himself tried to steal my then gf onto the tour bus from right under my nose, and I had a fag with the lead singer of L7 outside the Leadmill in Sheffield. And I was in the video for the first single released by a thrash band called Toranaga - stagediving backwards at Queens Hall in Bradford.



I've seen Radiohead several times - including on the circus tent tour in Warrington; that was like a religious experience - they're a phenomenal live band. Numerous festivals, with mixed experience - they're a good drunken party, but not always a good way to see a band at its best in my view. Leeds a couple of years ago made me realise that despite my advancing years, I'm a secret Grime fan - much to my kids amusement.



More recently, Fleet Foxes and Lucius were amazing live - I went as a last minute thing and ended up a big fan of both bands; Father John Misty (formerly of the Fleet Foxes) Jesca Hoop, and in the past couple of weeks, Django Django and Everything Everything in Leeds.



My biggest gripe with gigs now is the ticket buying process; anyone who attends a lot of gigs will be familiar with the agonising process of refreshing a website to no avail, only to see re-sellers offering tickets at multiples of face value, while you're still trying to buy them from bloody Ticketmaster or whichever rip-off agent the band have decided to use - that needs fixing - I'd prefer to go back to queuing outside a record shop or wheedling from contacts, but then I'm an old fart that way.

My first gig was Mott the Hoople at Leeds Town Hall 73 or 74 can't remember. Support band were called Queen. Whatever happened to them ?

Brilliant - didn't they go on to have some limited success for a couple of years?!

I need to hear more about this Henry Rollins curry? I'd have killed to have been there. I went to see him perform his spoken word 5 or 6 years ago at Salford Quays. Intriguing character.



First gig I ever went to was Nickelback when I was about 13. My dad took me to Sheffield insisting I come with him while he meets a client from work and whacks two tickets out. That was exciting as a 13 year old who was just starting to get into rock musi. Silver Side Up was massive at that point. Best arena gig I've been to was Green Day at the MEN just after American Idiot so they played lots of their older stuff too which was good.



These days I tend to stick to smaller gigs and bands at local venues. Best live bands I've seen in recent years are The Bronx most recently at the Key Club, Letlive. at cockpit before it was closed and The Menzingers at the Brudenell Social Club. There's a compilation video of the letlive lead singer (Jason Aalon Butler). The guy is nuts.

I had a similar thing when I went to watch the Music at Brid spa, watched the support band who were OK, turned out to be Kings of Leon.

I saw the Rollins Band in Leeds on the Weight tour in the mid 90's - I want to say 94? It was a brilliant show, including Rollins dressed only in running shorts, dragging a guy who was harassing girls in the crowd onto the stage, and ejecting him himself. I went for a curry nearby after the gig, and various members of both bands were in there - so I went over and declared my fandom, and ended up eating with them. He was quite amenable - way friendlier than I expected, given the persona he had at the time.



I've also seen the spoken word stuff and read most of his books - he's a fascinating character, a kind of punk renaissance man; still does the occasional show on 6 music as a guest presenter - he seems to have finally mellowed a bit.

I was predominantly into electronic dance music through my teens so despite attending numerous DJ and producer nights at University clubs, my first actual ‘gig’ was in 2001 - Orbital at Derby Assembly Rooms. I use the word gig loosely as it was still very much electronic.



Since then I’ve seen a mixture of DJs, producers, singers and bands at various clubs, gigs and festivals; LTJ Bukem & MC Conrad, Scratch Perverts, Roger Sanchez, Rulers of the Deep, Banco De Gaia, Zetan Spore, Alabama 3, ZubZub, The Beat featuring Ranking Roger, The Popes, Vampire Weekend, Metronomy, Friendly Fires, Editors, The Courteeners, Martin Simpson, Stealing Sheep, Tribes, Ocean Colour Scene, Blur, Primal Scream, Two Door Cinema Club, The Vaccines, Daft Punk, CSS, LCD Soundsystem, Simian Mobile Disco, Jamiroquai, Mr Scruff, Jimmy Cliff, Miles Kane, Vintage Trouble, Django Django, Fleet Foxes, Klaxons, Delphic, Skint & Demoralised, The Last Shadow Puppets, PIL, Reef, James, Elbow, Peter Gabriel & New Blood Orchestra, Alt-J. All attended with close friends which has created some fantastic memories over the years.