They Shoot Horses, Don't They

That was the classic, but somewhat cruel, headline that appeared in the NME or Melody Maker for a review of an All About Eve gig, along with a huge photo of Julianne Regan the band's singer.

So, what do you reckon? See the resemblence?



Anyway, this gig (12 Feb 1988) was before all that. All About Eve were one of the up & coming goth bands, along with the rather ridicolous cowboy-goths, the Field of the Nephilim. They'd already supported the Mission on tour, and this was one of their first headline tours. They'd also picked up a "following". More to come on those as this blog (and my life) progresses, but all good goth bands needed a bunch of scruffy gits hitching round the country ex-Army kitbags and going to all the shows. The Mission had the Eskimos, NMA the Militia etc. However, All About Eve were in the process of ditching their more goth routes and going folk on us.


I think it was my first gig at going up to the Mountford Hall at Liverpool Uni. I went with my girlfriend at the time, the virginal Iggy. We got up there quite early and there was a whole bunch of people I knew from my school and the girls' school too. There was some of the goth crowd from biology I'm sure - Tony Jones, Rob Hill, Fran Eyre, Tim Holden, Marc Fearnett, maybe "Bob" Varley too. Not sure if John B was with us. I'm sure Naomi & Lisa Acton were. Then I ran into Si McMahon, a ex-friend from years before, from who I heard the phrase "frig me sideways" for the first time that night, and Steve Bishop.

No idea who the support band was, and I can't remember too much about the gig, apart from going and having a bit of a jump up and down towards the end. Iggy didn't want to get down into the wrecking area. It was by no means full in there, and I do remember them playing Every Angel twice, as proved by this Set list

01 Intro
02 Every Angel
03 Candy Tree
04 Lady Moonlight
05 In The Clouds
06 Flowers In Our Hair
07 Never Promise
08 Shelter From The Rain
09 Wild Hearted Woman
10 More Than This Hour
11 What Kind Of Fool
12 In The Meadow
13 Paradise
14 Our Summer
15 Every Angel

I've got a tape of this somewhere, probably in the parents' garage, which I should dig out for old times' sake.

They'd already ditched the early really goth stuff, such as D for Desire, that got them signed in the first place. Instead playing some of that airy fairy crap that made the album and B-sides to singles round the time. I think I still have a box set limited edition 12 inch of "In the Clouds" somewhere, that I bought as a gullible teenager.

I'm not sure if I ever saw them again. Maybe a spot at a festival. As with what seems like every other sodding band I write about, they are still going. Well, Julianne is, anyway. Tim Bricheno went off and played with the Mission. If they played near here, I'd maybe go for a laugh, but I doubt it.

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Little did we know

11 January 1988, back to Liverpool for another Bunnymen gig. This time, they're touring on the back of the pretty weak Echo and the Bunnymen album. Songs like Bomber's Bay, while easy on the ear, don't quite cut it with the classics of their catalogue, though Lips Like Sugar kept some of the venom. This time, it was at the Liverpool Empire, my first gig there.

I remember it was me & John B, with Naomi & Lisa. Not sure if there was anyone else sitting with us in the balcony. Certainly Tim H was down in the standing area, and no doubt Fran Eyre and a few others too.

Support was the Primitives, just before they hit it big with Crash. They were getting radio play with songs like Really Stupid, Stop Killing Me and the re-release of the fantastic Thru the Flowers. Cute blonde singer, rocked up jingly pop. They shone for a brief while, then crashed and burned. More about them later in this gig blog.

Then, the Bunnymen. By now, I was more of a fan and knew most of their stuff. Despite the new album, there was still a lot of the older stuff. The set-list was:

Rescue
Heaven Up Here
With A Hip
Bombers Bay
All I Want
Back Of Love
Crocodiles
Zimbo
Seven Seas
Bedbugs & Ballyhoo
The Cutter
Show Of Strength
New Direction
Lips Like Sugar
Over Your Shoulder
Thorn Of Crowns
Do It Clean
All That Jazz
Twist & Shout

Over Your Shoulder was only played rarely and sounded heavily influenced by the Jesus & Mary Chain. I always loved the song, which was a B-side to Bring on the Dancing Horses (along with Bedbugs & Ballyhoo). And Twist & Shout was highly appropriate back home. 60 minutes of the show was broadcast on Radio 1 a few weeks later. We reckoned John's whistles were on the tape :)

After this show, the band played in Glasgow, then headed off to the US for a few shows. Then Mac left. The rest of the band had a meeting, but on the way, Pete de Freitas was tragically killed in a road accident. So, this was the last ever show in Liverpool of the classic Bunnymen line up. They'd return many years later, after pursuing different paths, but it would never quite be the same again.

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I won!

It's early 1988 and the if you're into alternative music (i.e. not Stock, Aitken & Waterman), the local radio landscape is pretty bleak. It's a matter of waiting around for Radio 1's evening shows to kick in and get some relief (ooer, missus) from Janice Long and the legend himself, Peelie. But wait, from 6-7pm there's The Noise with Tony Snell on Radio City. With an emphasis on local music - anyone remember It's Immaterial? Thought not - it's a bit of a forerunner of some of the better regional music shows, such as Hit the North which launched the career of Mark Radcliffe.

(edit: found another Radio City Tribute site)


Anyway, I used to try to listen to Snelly before my dad got home from work and wanted to hear the news (Radio 4 of course). One evening, they had a competition to win tickets to see the Alarm. The question was "When did the Alarm have the spirit?" or some such. That's easy, I thought, so called up. 1976 I said to the scally at the end of the line, and lo and behold I won. The show was that night, so I called John B and after some persuasion (it was a school night and he rightly thought they were shit), managed to get him to come with me.

Note - how can I remember the question I was asked for some inconsequential radio phone-in over 16 years ago, despite all the memory-loss inducing activities in between, yet I consistently forget the name of anyone I am introduced to nowadays?

We had to go up to Stanley Street to pick up the tickets, before another trek to the Royal Court. This time, they were playing a lot of new (and quite wimpy) songs from the Eye of the Hurricane album. Still, there were the old fave singalongs, and it was a night out.

Afterwards, my girlfriend at the time, the incomparably prudish Iggy, was all annoyed that I hadn't asked her to go with me. I guess she was down with the whole christian rock vibe, which explained her no sex before marriage stance. How bloody naive was I to think I'd be able to change that?

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