Well hi.

For whatever reason, I've recently decided to upload scans of band gig posters from my early days in Sydney, when I used to regularly go out and see at least two or three bands a week. I'm talking 1979 - 1990 ish here. At that time, Sydney had a healthy, thriving pub band culture which f
ostered the careers of many of the top Aussie export bands of the last couple of decades. The Angels, The Radiators, Midnight Oil, INXS, (Le) Hoodoo Gurus, The Church, etc etc etc. Anyway, being a lifelong collector of strange and irrelevant things, I find myself with scraps of paper, flyers, set lists, coasters and more from many of the gigs I attended, so at least I have something to remember them by. Most of that era is a total blur in my memory, but I just know that I had a really good time, and my tinnitus and foggy brain was worth it all.

Now, I'm not claiming to be any kind of expert or authority on any of these bands, or the era in general, I'm just sharing what I remember, and a few bits and pieces that may bring back memories for some. Feel free to add your own recollections, tell me if I'm wrong, share stories of gigs you went to.

You can click on them and they get bigger.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

The Allniters


The Allniters. They're Allriters! A fun night out was to be had at any Allniters gig. We'd find our way to wherever they were playing, and somehow get home again in varying states of consciousness. I still don't know how we did it with pretty much no money and in the early days, no car. I guess things were cheaper and with a group of us we could pool our resources. The trouble with Allniters gigs often was that you'd end up with huge bruises on your shins the next morning, from dancing up the front with the skinheads in their bloody Doc Martins. Because of course, we had to be right at the front, centre of the stage. And so did they.

I think I can actually remember this one. The Manly Vale Hotel was a fantastic venue. A larger room with a higher stage than most pubs. It could put on overseas acts as well like UB40, Iggy Pop and others which will no doubt feature later. They pulled this great North Shore venue down at some point, probably because of noise complaints by neighbours - the usual excuse. I remember emerging from that place on countless occasions, drenched in sweat with a longneck of cider or something in my hand, watching the fights going on in the carpark from the top of the stairs - usually between the bouncers and some unlucky punter.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yes I remember most of those gigs,Stranded was a fun place to get into when you were 15,try doing that today kiddies ha ha!,The Manly vale much missed like the Trade union club and so many others

Bing said...

Yeh I still have the free cassette given away at the 81 Xmas gig at STRANDED. I went to High school with Stu Crysell from the Allniters and saw him when he was in the BEDHOGS too.
I got along to as many Allniters and CLUB SKA gigs as I could...TOP STUFF LADS !