Good bands but with a small audience

[MCFCTrick]

Jason & The Scorchers at The Granary in Bristol in the mid '80s. Great show from a band with a big reputation at the time. They were described by the Guardian as the best band in the world for a period, albeit a brief one, in 1985. Went with a mate and we almost represented 10% of the audience of 23.

Bizarrely, was at a wedding 10 years later and we met another couple who were also there.

Jason & The Scorchers were a great band.

REM at the tiny Gallery on Peter Street.
U2 at Salford Uni
Duran Duran 1981 at the Apollo. Had to shut the balcony as too few people to make it worthwhile opening it.

 

[BimboBob]

Depeche Mode in a pub called the Bridgehouse in 1980. They played there a lot and my cousin lived nearby. Rude not to go. Probably less than 100 in there at the time.

A mate saw the Foo's in Brighton to around 600 people supporting a FF tribute act. Very weird.

A band called Dirty Strangers are from near Chichester and we go to see them when we are down. Lead singer is besties with Keith Richards who has, on occasion, been known to join in now and then.

 

[roman totale]

Saw one of The Verve’s (or just Verve as they were then) first gigs at UMIST. They were third on the bill supporting Stereolab and some other band whose name I don’t recall. Easily less than a hundred people there. Richard Ashcroft wore a big sheepskin coat. They were shite.

For a great band, who’ve been around for years, but never get more than a handful of people watching (as far as I can tell), I give you I, Ludicrous

 

[Mazzarelli's Swiss Cheese]

@snorky went to a Garry glitter concert when he was 12 and was the only one there.

 

[BlueMoonAcrossThePond]

Warrant - the USA "hair band" became extremely popular just as such bands were going out-of-favor. In 1989, Warrant had a huge hit with "Heaven."


In 1990, Warrant followed up with several other hits, among them, Uncle Tom's Cabin.


Jani Lane was the charismatic lead man, composer, and driving force behind the band.

Unfortunately, the late 80's in the USA coincided with a major shift in music taste - hair bands fell out of favor, and grunge was king - Nirvana ruled the airwaves.

Warrant was - just prior to 1990 or so, easily able to fill out huge stadiums - on the scale of 50,000+ - to capacity to hear their music.

Fast forward 5 years or so - and Warrant was struggling to fill large bars.
===
The above is meant to justify the following - about hearing a "good" (IMO Warrant is awesome) band but with a "small" audience...
====
I was extremely lucky to watch Warrant live, in person, in a smallish venue in Texas. I drove from my home at the time in a Houston suburb for about an hour and a half or so into who knows where. Anyhow, Warrant was playing there. I tried to talk work colleges to join me - they all declined (LOL).

Anyhow... the venue was a stage/bar with a capacity of about 500 or so. It seemed large to me - but given that Warrant - a few years earlier could fill out a 50,000+ stadium to capacity - the venue was small.

I came within touching distance of Jani Lane - because I was easily able to move toward the front of the stage. At this point Jani seemed, when I watched him - pissed off- and wanting to start a fight with me!
===
Anyhow, other than that freakish moment I loved the concert. Warrant played all of their big hits - and the venue was full of beautiful girls!
===
A few years later, Jani would commit - what was deemed - suicide - dead in a cheap hotel room - with a lethal dose of alcohol coursing through his veins.

 

[MCFC Wirral]

I saw The Music at The Roadhouse and loved it. The last time I saw them was Brixton Academy. I also saw The Darkness at the Hop & Grape / Academy 3 on a tip off and later saw them high up the bill at Leeds and also the Apollo.

An old mate hosted Liam Fray from The Courteeners at his acoustic singer songwriter night many times (I may have been introduced to him) and also put Nine Black Alps on.