TeamHorseTales

  1999 was a relatively quiet year on the gig front for me. The recently released from prison former frontman of The Stone Roses, Ian Brown, had released his first solo album. It was a bit different from The Stone Roses, with a lot of funky demo sounding tunes. He was due to play the Limelight so I was pretty excited to see indie godlike genius up so close. I wasn’t an especially big fan of the Roses but did like them none the less. This gig happened to coincide with Manchester United playing in the Champions League Final, the year of the famous treble, if I’m not mistaken. I popped into Katy Daly’s (the adjacent bar) to watch some of the match and lo and behold, Brown was there too with his entourage. As gig time approached, they all trekked out of the venue. Then Brown did his famous monkey shuffle onto the stage and asked “Worrabout United den?” to loud cheers (Man U fans) and jeers (Liverpool fans-Citeh were still shit back then and had no fans). After that initial disgust, I r...

  After the relative calm of 1997, '98 was a hectic year for gig going for me. In particular the Limelight was my home from home, with a plethora of cracking shows. This would be the first time I’d get to see one of my favourite bands, Glasgow’s finest, Mogwai. With 'Young Team' garnering critical acclaim, this was my first foray into the magical realms of instrumental guitar music. I’ve recently read Stuart Braithwaite’s book and I’d no idea they were such fiends when it came to the old drink and drugs. You wouldn’t really of known from their performances as they always concentrated so hard. Actually maybe that’s an indicator as to why they needed to be so studious! My lasting memories of this show are of Stuart’s big head of hair and a blistering set end of ‘Mogwai Fear Satan’ with Stuart hammering the shite out of the cymbals from the front of the kit. Another Scottish band were creating a name for themselves with their ramshackle approach to making music, The Beta Ban...