Who's the biggest band you've seen in a small-ish venue?

War on Drugs/Kurt Vile at the Brixton Windmill. Adam Granduciel invited everyone to go drinking with the band afterward but I decided to leave and then got mugged at knifepoint on the way home.
Liars at some kind of tiny art space under the S-Bahn tracks in Berlin around when they were recording Drum’s Not Dead
Drive Like Jehu at a house show in Ottawa. Life altering.
Bloc Party and Franz Ferdinand the same month at Richard’s on Richards Vancouver (not life altering).
Fiery Furnaces opening for Ted Leo at the Media Club in Vancouver. Didn’t really pay attention since I was busy kissing my now wife for the first time.

Drive like jehu awesome. Wish I’m could have seen them in there prime. Seen RFTC and hot snakes quite a few times. I imagine seeing jehu is intense.

Pearl Jam at the Esplanade in Southend 26 years ago. Fuck, that’s really quite depressing.

Also, as I think I’ve mentioned Radiohead at The Pink Toothbrush in Rayleigh (supporting The Sultans of Ping FC).

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Also Mogwai’s one track set (My Father My King) Upstairs at The Garage, supporting Ligament at what was their first last gig.

Saw Tori Amos at King Tut’s. Still no idea how they got that piano in there.

And Prince at The Garage.

I almost saw Spiritualized at The Venue in Edinburgh on their first tour but the gig got cancelled because they had only did six tickets. I guess the Scotch all thought Pete was the real brains behind Spacemen 3.

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Oasis @ Old Trout, Windsor - Had heard Supersonic and blagged free tickets. Impressed with the apparent ballsy swaggerness and everything, but less so with the dads on bass and rhythm guitar doing not a whole lot. A band that got boring quite quickly.

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Mentioned this before but I went to Godspeed’s first ever European show upstairs at a pizza restaurant in Manchester. Oct ‘98 I think. Maybe about 30 people in attendance. 3 of the band stayed at my flat and I played them records by Rachel’s who they’d never heard before. The day after I took the whole band to Dixon’s in Stretford arndale to try and find a certain adapter they needed.
Also…
Smog upstairs at britons protection supported by badly drawn boy playing his first ever show
Low at star and garter twice
Mogwai at roadhouse twice
Animal collective at star and garter
Fuck buttons at fuel in fallowfield
Radiohead supporting Leatherface at Buckley tivoli.
Pavement supporting belly at Sheffield
Mountain goats- britons protection
la Bradford- britons protection
Explosions in the sky-night and day
Sufjan Stevens-Night and Day
The National-academy 3
White stripes-Roadhouse
Loads more that I can’t remember right now

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That’s amazing! Did they get the adaptor they needed?

I suppose seeing Kasabian at the ICA (supporting the Von Bondies) counts, right? Although I left the room after two songs, they were so boringly dreadful, and went to the bar.

Fact fan incoming. This was the first date of the ‘Twin Peaks’ tour, they had previously played the Harlesden Mean Fiddler a couple of weeks before so this was the first provincial gig. I was there too, so amazed by it that I went to London on the weekend to see them play at the Town & Country club. Pixies didn’t headline btw, and this was the final gig of the tour. The next day I saw Primal Scream headine an all dayer at Dingwalls.

Also saw The Sugarcubes at Burberries in 87 and Ride supported by Ocean Colour Scene at the time of the first EP. Big bands at Edwards included Smashing Pumpkins (with Catherine Wheel supporting) (The) Verve which was moved from the Barrel Organ after the stage collapsed and Radiohead supporting the Frank & Walters. Blur at Goldwyns too. Early 90s ftw.

nope they didn’t… it was the equivalent of a travel plug that we take abroad but the other way round…

Just found this… love how it’s actually listed as
Mexican resto upstairs

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flyer for the London Gig…

Just remembered this one… maybe 250 people… at the ritz in New York. Still have the little radio and headphones you had to wear… an amazing experience… just after soft bulletin had got released… took an (American)E for the first time ever and smuggled brandy and coke in… really wish I could remember more about this one

I saw The Rapture there. They were pretty good.

how did I miss sugarcubes there?
saw them at digbeth irish centre the next time round

Saw the Radiohead play a gig in a record shop in Leicester. Hardly anyone in the store and they played about three songs with one of them being Pop Is Dead. I must admit I wouldn’t have put money on them being huge after that

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I saw Rocket From The Crypt play in a record shop (Beano’s) in Croydon just as On A Rope was coming out. Tiny stage, loads of band members, mosh pits between the CD racks. Crazy.

TJs in Newport (RIP) held a few punk rock gigs that stick in my mind from the tail end of the 90s - the Ataris, Propagandhi, Converge.

Glad I caught Explosions in the Sky in/on the Thekla in Bristol, they sounded great there. I didn’t think it would be the same in the Colston Hall so gave that a miss.