I think the band who are now a bajillion times bigger than when I first saw them was Muse. It was a pretty life-landmarking gig. I’d sort of discovered them by accident by messaging Matt via Aol Instant Messenger as he was a fan of some bands I liked. We got talking and he invited me to see them play a gig at Exeter Cavern.
This was just before my GCSEs and over 50 miles from where I lived but I managed to go, and I interviewed them before the show and asked what the music they were listening to was - it was Tom Waits! So I had my introduction to Tom Waits, and then got to see this unsigned (or just signed, I can’t quite remember) band play to about 50 or so people. They were brilliant and the rest is history, especially as seeing that show and watching them grow is why I decided to turn my email fanzine into what became DiS. A lot of our early contributors were Muse fans from their forum.
Anyway, I’m asking you to brag about who you saw either as they were starting out or maybe playing a secret gig, because next week is Independent Venue Week, so let’s celebrate those shows that are etched in your memory.
I saw placebo at the zodiac in Oxford about 20 years ago and it was a tiny venue and they’d just got huge on the back of a recently released Nancy Boy. Was a fun gig.
Saw The Kaiser Chiefs in Leicester Sumo when they were called Parma or Parva or something along those lines. No idea what they were like, the venue was very small though, I don’t think they used the main gig space if I remember right but at most there would have been 50 people there.
Saw the Libertines in The Charlotte in my first week of uni in Leicester too before they became big.
Of bands I actually like, The Melvins in the Black Box in Belfast. Think it holds maybe 200? I’m useless at estimating crowd sizes
Probably Arctic Monkeys at Jabez Clegg in Manchester. I think at the time they’d just put out a single independently - possibly Fake Tales of San Francisco.
Faith No More, secret gig in a tiny Glasgow venue (100?) just before King For A Day came out, just after Jim Martin left. Roddy collapsed on stage and landed about 6 inches from me, he didn’t look well…
Foals at The Works in Kingston in about 2007. It was part of Banquet’s indie night New Slang (which I think is still going) which got some fairly big bookings but Folas are the only one I remember that became proper festival headliner big.
*Mogwai at Sleazy’s in Glasgow in around 96/97
*Trail of Dead at the Windmill in Brixton in 2011
*I’m sure I saw Biffy Clyro supporting someone at King Tut’s in the late 90s or maybe 2000. They were shite though.
*Low at the old 13th Note Club on King St in Glasgow; also saw Low at the Spitz in London one time - 2005 maybe.
*Nils Frahm at Cafe Oto around the time of “Felt”.
*Yo La Tengo in 1995 at this bar in Glasgow called Bar Miro - long since closed.
*Mazzy Star at King Tut’s in 1993
