There are a couple of bands that will always remind me of my first year at uni. The jukebox in the Union was rubbish so we picked "She Bangs The Drums" by the Stone Roses and "Take On Me" by A-Ha from the meagre selection every time we went in. 'Dizzy Up The Girl' by The Goo Goo Dolls was a popular album choice in our kitchen/sitting room (particularly the track "Slide"), as was an album of Bond theme tunes which belonged to Joey B, and James Iha's ace solo album, 'Let It Come Down'. Making late entries were 'The Man Who' by Travis and 'The Unauthorized Biography Of Reinhold Mesner' by Ben Folds Five.
Again, I can't remember the exact circumstances, but I think I mentioned the Ben Folds Five gig to everyone at the same time as I saw Jewel's tour advertised in the NME. But it could have been my flatmates Wooster or Becca who suggested it - they were really into the band and owned their previous albums (which I borrowed and copied to Mini-Disc like a futuristic Dick Turpin) The information is lost in the midsssssssssts of time.
Anyways... a few of us got tickets and drove to Manchester, as another of my flatmates, Armes, had brought his car to uni for a couple of weeks. .
I got shedloads of colds in my first year and had another HUMDINGER the week of the BFF gig. Strangely I started to feel a lot better as we drove across the Pennines and felt fine by the time we parked up near the University. When we got home I started feeling bad again and realised I'd got hay fever rather than an immune system which was over friendly with the flu virus. Don't worry though, the hay fever disappeared a few years later and I can now, litch, enjoy good weather without Fearing The Pollen. LOL.
I was very excited to arrive at the famous Manchester University Union. I took a moment to imagine what the place must have been like a few years earlier when rock superstars Gomez "fell into" the bar and barged their way to the "toy-a-let". Oh to have been there then. Sigh.
I was hardly a veteran at this point of my Gig Career, but even so I was rather disappointed by the venue. The evocatively named 'Main Debating Hall' was a medium-sized, atmosphereless, rectangle. I assumed that the MDH had simply been rebranded as the Academy 2 a few years after the Ben Folds Five show (and the internet would seem to concur), but I went back in 2010 to see Idlewild and the place was much bigger than I remembered it...
Anyway, we got down the front and had a decent view for opening band, Furslide. I'd never heard of them, but I was really impressed. They were kind of dark(ish), grungey, sludgey-pop, with female vocals. A year or so after the gig I picked up a copy of the "Love Song" single "fo' cheap", and really enjoyed it. Writing this blog inspired me to buy the album, and I confirm that it is Decent in a late '90s alt-rock type way.
We stayed in the same spot for Ben Folds Five. The place ERUPTED when they came on and, as we were only a few rows from the front, we got caught in a MEGA-MOSH. This was cool at first, but my mate Ickle, who funnily enough is quite short, was totally swamped by the sweaty men jumping up and down and had to adopt an alternate jumping pattern so she could breathe - jumping up as everyone else was one their way down. Being diminutive in stature myself, I ended up joining her a few songs later. Luckily even the KEEN BEANS in the crowd felt that pogoing to the likes of "Brick" and "Don't Change Your Plans" was a bit much, so we had RESPITE. I remember a storming version of "Army", and I think "The Battle Of Who Could Care Less" closed the set. It was defs a wicked show, I know that much reader. I've got many fond memories of my first year at university, but this is one of my favourites.
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