1986 - twenty years ago this July, I was lucky enough to have seen The Smiths in concert twice in two days.
The first was at the former Central Station in Manchester city centre, then recently transformed from dereliction to the G-MEX Centre (Greater Manchester Exhibition Centre) and the second held at the more intimate Maxwell Hall at Salford University.
The two gigs could not have been further apart in terms of atmosphere and excitement. G-Mex was the less enjoyable of the five concerts I saw the band perform, though not entirely of their making. A line up featuring The Fall, New Order, various Buzzcocks performing in their own bands, OMD, Sandie Shaw and others came together under the guise of a week long festival entitled 'The Festival Of The Tenth Summer' marking the 10th anniversary of The Sex Pistols first gig in Manchester - a gig Morrissey himself attended. It was 5pm when the band performed and as it was still daylight, no lights were used to any effect, though worse was the sound. The cavernous surrounding of the former railway station was not suited to a light jingly jangly guitar sound that bounced off the walls, with Morrissey's voice following in similar fashion. However, at Salford, the previous days showing was long forgotten as the band played what was for me, the best gig of my life......
I have recalled these two gigs as, fast forward twenty years, here I am, still in Manchester, older, wiser, with less hair and more weight, married, kids, divorced, mortgaged to the hilt but the one thing that remains is my devotion to the music of The Smiths. The music press has been full of 20th anniversary of The greatest album by The greatest band and I find myself watching two Smiths Tribute bands over a weekend of nostalgia! Ironically, one is in the city centre and the other in Salford. One was a very tight set in a small sweaty room, the other lost in a cavernous wall of sound and feedback. This really was taking the nostalgia trip a little too far!
First up, on Friday 16th June was The Sweet & Tender Hooligans at Dry Bar on Oldham Street. Disappointingly, the band are playing downstairs in the basement rather than on the ground floor (to be honest I didn't even know they had a basement room!). A small room however, was suitable for the small crowd of around 80 who turned up. I was expecting a lot more of the usual suspects from The Star & Garter, but this was not to be, more of an older late 30's - early forties crowd. Maybe fans have all spent up recently on watching Morrissey four times in the city and other venues around the north west and indeed the country? However, the band kick off with the entire TQID album played from track one through to track ten. And very well performed too. On tracks such as 'Frankly Mr Shankly' and 'Cemetry Gates' if you closed your eyes it was Morrissey singing, it really really was! What was more remarkable and commendable was that this band came not from Whalley Range or indeed the UK, but from Los Angeles, California, with four of the five band members being of Hispanic origin. Half expecting / half fearing Morrissey portrayed with an American accent almost kept me away from the gig, but the effort put into the songs by singer José Maldonado deserves a mention as with his stage presence, arms all over the place, showing emotion, shirt half hanging on half hanging off. He even took it off (but disappointing some of the audience, he threw it to the side, not into the crowd!). By the time it got to 'There Is A Light....' the audience were really warmed up, playing the part too, the odd stage invasion, hands held out desperately seeking a handshake. José took it all in his stride and was happy to oblige. With the album over, it was left to a smattering of other Smiths tunes and Morrissey solo efforts too - most notably 'You Have Killed Me', 'Every Day Is Like Sunday' and (introducing the song thanking Morrissey for connecting with the Hispanic community in LA) the excellent 'First of The Gang To Die'. Then it was over, the lights came on, the band and friends gathered all the equipment, humped them upstairs to the waiting van, loaded up, a night in a hotel, photos the next morning outside the Salford Lads Club, and then off to Leicester for the next gig.
On Sunday 18th June, it was off to The Salford Lads Club for an afternoon of entertainment. Outside the club, Steven Wright was on hand to take photographs of fans outside the front door as he had done twenty years previous with The Smiths. All money from the proceeds went to a charity that Wright supports - he even travelled up from Reading in the morning at his own expense to be there. The previous day he had been at a wedding taking shots.
At 2pm, The Other Smiths, a band based in Stourbridge, near Dudley in the West Midlands, performed their own tribute to the band in The Shrine that is The Salford Lads Club. Again, a disappointing crowd of around 40 witnessed the occasion. Maybe it was because it was Fathers Day? Or because The Foo Fighters and The Strokes were playing just over a mile away at Lancashire Cricket Ground, or maybe girlfriends were being taken to see Take That at The City Of Manchester Stadium? The club hosted a big weekend two years ago when it was the 20th anniversary of 'Hand In Glove' with Steve Wright taking pictures on that occasion too, maybe this was one anniversary too far? I have seen The Other Smiths on a Saturday night at Manchester University and the place is sold out! This was a free gig!
Anyway, rant over, the band started out and it soon became clear that it was not going to be an easy ride. The high ceiling and empty room had the sound casting my mind back to G-Mex all those years ago! With such a small crowd in attendance, in a room with no stage and in daylight, it was hard for the band to whip up any kind of atmosphere. The singer could sense that - he usually commands a good stage presence, but didn't let it all out on this occasion and who could blame him? Don't get me wrong, those present were enjoying it, stood there tapping their feet away, singing to themselves or those up on the balcony moving to and fro. Musically the band were excellent, the set was a mixture of Smiths and a few solo songs ('we have to play solo songs as we now have a keyboard player'! the singer proclaimed), again a highlight being 'Everyday Is Like Sunday'.
I have now seen four tribute bands ('The Smyths' and Dublin's 'These Charming Men' too) and it is unfair to say which is the best, as they all have great features, energy and enthusiasm which cannot be knocked. As with Steven Wright, The Other Smiths travelled and played for nothing, what price can you put on performing at such a venue on an anniversary like that? The Sweet & Tender Hooligans cannot be praised highly enough for travelling over at their own expense, hiring a van and equipment and playing at small venues with small crowds across the country. They maintained they would break even. I really hope so - they certainly deserve to.
So I drove home from the Lads Club and bizarrely ended up listening to Mike Joyce DJing on Oldham's "Revolution Radio" (96.2FM) and I dropped him a text describing the day's events, commenting that the drummer of The Other Smiths looked nothing like him. He read the text out with a laugh shared with Bonehead, the original drummer with Oasis, who was in the studio with him. And that got me thinking about tribute bands... why is it that the singer is the only look-a-like in the band? We have four Morrissey look-a-likes, but no Johnnys, Andys and Mikes - or even Craigs as both bands this weekend had five members! Get it sorted.....
If there is a Smiths tribute band playing near you, please go along and support them.... you may even end up enjoying it like I did.
Happy 20th to The Queen Is Dead and happy reminiscing!
Read an interview with Phill Gatenby on this website here.
Read an interview with José Maldonado, The Sweet & Tender Hooligans' "Morrissey", on this site here.
Read about a Smiths/Morrissey tour of Manchester on this site here.
