Concerts/gigs I've been to Part 3

At the turn of the 90s Belfast’s Ulster Hall was enjoying a peak period of being the prime spot for big acts to play. The Odyssey Arena wasn’t there yet so the two options for bigger venues were the Ulster and King’s Halls. The interior of the Ulster Hall is/was a much more pleasant space in terms of aesthetics with a beautiful ceiling and elegant balcony. Then there was the natural backdrop of the big organ at the back of the stage, though most of the bigger acts would have backdrop curtains to cover it up, but you could always see it peek over at the top.

I saw Lenny Kravitz in 1991 in the Ulster Hall, he’d broken through with his debut album and was touring the follow-up ‘Mama Said’, so the emergence of swaggering Lenny was in full flow and he put on one hell of a show. It was a good time to see Lenny, up close, as he would go on to bigger things and his future music would never be as good in truth.

1992 was one of those exceptional years for classic albums and I’d been blown away by the new Primal Scream album ‘Screamadelica’. The line-up for their Ulster Hall show was supporting DJs Justin Robertson and the late great Andy Weatherall. I have to say that unfortunately one of my lasting memories of this gig was the atmosphere before and after Primal Scream played. I’d only really experienced rock gigs before so to be surrounded by spides was a pretty intimidating thing for little old indie boy me. They were all throwing spide shapes to the heavy dance music then as soon as the main act were about to come on, they all scarpered to the wings, and it became a much more enjoyable affair as indie-heads enjoyed the grooves. When the Scream Team had finished, they all came back! Bobby Gillespie was a mover back in those days and was able to stride sideways across the stage in 3 or 4 steps like a pissed giraffe. I kept the iconic long sleeve shirt of the album cover for years after that gig. That was my one and only time seeing Primal Scream despite them coming back to Belfast many more times.

At this stage of their career, the Red Hot Chili Peppers had just released ‘BloodSugarSexMagik’ and hadn’t become the global megastars they are now. So it was pretty normal for them to play a venue the size of the Ulster Hall here. With such great songs and still having a punk edge, they were a much more enjoyable proposition than the stadium band they are now. Obviously, age played a vital part of this too as they could really shift about the stage then (they still can I know). On the night the support came from The Rollins Band, who I knew nothing about. To this day, Henry Rollins is the only act to give me an actual sore head, such was the intensity of the performance and the sheer brute noise of the music and his noisy hollering. I wasn’t used to it back then, could stomach that more now I reckon. Wearing only  a pair of black shorts, Rollins was covered in tattoos and was a muscle-bound beast contorted and twisting as he growled. So someone thought it a great idea to gob on him. He stopped the band, fixed the asshole with a menacing glare and threatened “DON’T SPIT ON THE BOMB!”. New trunks for the man with the phlegm launching problem.

1992 was my first time seeing Manic Street Preachers too. They were playing the Snack Bar in the QUB student union, which I lived close to. So I made my way over in the afternoon and sat at the back of the venue when the band rolled in past me for their soundcheck. Richey was still in the band at this point. I was amazed that no-one came to throw me out so got to watch the band run through a few songs. This show was another front-row job as I was a big fan and wanted to get as close as I could. I don’t think this band have ever played a bad show in their career, so it was something special to have seen them with Richey.

My final gig for this blog is one of the best gigs I have ever been to. The stuff of legend. King’s Hall. Nirvana. I remember standing queued outside the venue in eager anticipation with the thousands of other fans excited to see the biggest band in the world. Select magazine were doing a feature on this show and when Kurt and Courtney appeared briefly out the venue door there was a fizz of excited shouts. I wisely availed of a balcony seat for this one knowing full well what the ground floor was likely to be like. I watched on as limbs twisted and mangled as the band launched into their set with wired ferocity. They had shambled onto the stage performing ballet twists to the strains of Tori Amos’ cover version of ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’. Kurt had a new hairstyle on the go too having hacked at his longer locks. It was truly something else to see this band. I remember buying ‘Nevermind’ on cassette and showing it to my classmates at Uni. They’d not broken through yet to the mainstream, so they didn’t know who Nirvana were. I told them they soon would and by the time of the King’s Hall show the circus was in full flow. Everyone knew about them. The support for the show was from The Breeders and Teenage Fanclub, all for the measly price of £16.25. Hard to believe. Even harder to comprehend was the next show I had a ticket to see Nirvana. Point Depot, Dublin on the 8th April 1994. The night John Peel announced that Kurt was dead…

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