Britpop trivia

[bearman🐻]

Here's my ultimate Britpop story. Bear with me, it's one of those bizarre connections that maybe one or two of you might actually appreciate.
 
 I saw Oasis in October 1995 on their first famous aborted U.S. tour (not the one where I witnessed Patsy Kensit blow a gasket), they played Hammerjacks in Baltimore but not DC. It was one of the few dates they did with Scott McLeod since Guigsy was out for a bit. I see a lone photographer in the pit snapping great shots of Liam holding up a Heineken and doing some other stuff. I think "wow, cool shot". I buy a t-shirt with the Union Jack in Irish colors (orange and green instead of blue and red).
 
 Flash forward about 3 years. I am in Chicago, visiting my family. My sister brings over her best friend and her new boyfriend. We start chatting. He was from Ireland, lived in Baltimore, was a photographer for the City Paper, then moved to Chicago. We talk about concerts. He tells me he saw Oasis at Hammerjacks...he also tells me he had a photo pass. We put 2 and 2 together and it turns out that HE was the photographer I saw. My sister's best friend didn't even know him at this point, but they happen to meet by chance in Chicago a few years later. He gives me a cool print of Liam holding up his beer. Weird, I remember the exact moment he had taken the picture, and there it is.
 
 It gets better. 2 years later. I am in Ireland for the wedding of him and my sister's best friend. My sis is the maid of honor. We are in the MIDDLE OF NOWHERE near Kinnity Castle. I am wearing my Oasis shirt with the Irish colors when I go to breakfast one morning. Dolly, the lady who owned the b&b where I was staying, sees me in my shirt and gets all excited. She tells me that Tony McCarroll's mom (first Oasis drummer) lives down the road, and he just happens to be visiting her. She asks me if I want to meet him...she calls him up and 10 minutes later we are having a pint at 11 in the morning, and he is telling me some Oasis stories and raving about Coldplay (who at that point were only just starting to get popular in the UK).
 
 Sorry...xneverwherex, that was for you  

[xneverwherex]

great story bearman. i still remember (dont know if you do), but i met you after a concert with another friend of yours. She worked for the govt if that helps any. I think it was after the Erasure show, but I could be off on the show. And you were telling me a story about (I think) Ian of the Stone Roses and meeting/hanging out with him. Anyway somewhere with all my other memories, that one always stuck out.
 
 Thanks for another great one.
 
 -back to the grind i go. too much work  

[beedubyah]

Originally posted by Relaxer:
   

Originally posted by Brian Wallace:
  Brian

And to keep the Oasis love alive, two people who have been in Oasis were in an earlier band together. Who were they and what was the band?
 
 [/b]

Wasnt it 'Rain'? Liam and Bonehead?

[Relaxer]

Originally posted by beedubyah:
   

Originally posted by Relaxer:
   

Originally posted by Brian Wallace:
  Brian

And to keep the Oasis love alive, two people who have been in Oasis were in an earlier band together. Who were they and what was the band?
 
 [/b]

Wasnt it 'Rain'? Liam and Bonehead? [/b]

The Rain was Oasis before Noel came aboard.
 
 But that's as good an answer as can be, because it turns out I was incorrect. In the late 80s, Gem Archer was the singer for Whirlpool. When they needed a new drummer, a 15-year-old Alan White auditioned. Everyone thought he was great, but they ended up not keeping him on because they thought he was too young.
 
 You got the Damon/Graham line right. I don't know why that's stuck with me, it just has. "Your trainers are crap, mate. Look at mine, they're the proper sort."
 
 And I have no clue what the link is between that date, Panic and Graham Coxon.

[Lazer Guided Melodies]

I heartily agree on Ned's Are You Normal.  I still pull that out.  Great memories of seeing them on their last ever tour in Denver in May of '95.  Last except for the one-offs they have been playing the last couple years.

[Brian_Wallace]

Save for a few TV appearances (and I think, a brief festival appearance in Spain), for all intents and purposes, the Smiths' final gig was December 12, 1986 at the Brixton Academy.  It was a benefit for Artists Against Apartheid.
 
 For their final song (before the encores,) "Panic", Morrissey waved around a noose while singing "Hang the DJ, etc."  At the end, he threw it out into the audience.  Graham Coxon caught the noose and has it to this day.
 
 Brian

[Arthwys]

This may not quite be Britpop as it's much more recent.  
 
 Back in october of '05 I was in London and The Duke Spirit announced a secret show at The Social just off Oxford Circus to cap off their "pub tour" they had been doing.  I made damn sure I was first queued up for that and as a result was standing right in front of the "stage", if you can call what looked to be a 7 foot by 8 foot platform about 9 inches off the ground a stage.  I have no idea how all 5 members of the band mananged to get on there.  Leila (lead singer) was rocking out something fierce at one point swinging her mic stand around, and slammed it directly on top of my head.  As this was in the middle of the song, she just kept rocking, and I didn't mind.  After the song was over, she bent down and held my head between her hands and asked "alright mate?"  I assured her I was doing fantastically, and so she stood back up and announced to the rest of the audience that we had had a bit of a "baptism by microphone down the front".  As I was leaving the Social after the show she was standing right outside the door talking to some people, recognized me and said "good showing" or something along those lines.  Def. should've gotten a pic w/ her at that point or something, but I was playing it cool.

[hippo]

Haha, that's a great story

[xneverwherex]

awesome story Arthwys.
 
 heres my story. one of my favorite bands ever (and still to this day) is Gene. They were touring on the West Coast and I had tickets to see them a few nights. I had driven down to San Diego from SF to see them and met my boyfriend in LA (where he lived). We totally messed up the times of the show and so had to go directly to the show, and luckily we did because it was an early show. When we got into the parking lot, we noticed the tour bus and walked over. Martin came out and shook our hands, and he started signing things for us.
 
 During the show I was right in front, and was sitting on the stage (it was a tiny venue and there was hardly any room). During the set he reaches down (having remembered me) and grabs my hand and starts singing to me. But then he doesn't let go of my hand and keeps holding it for more songs. The crowd is going nuts, people are getting pissed, im getting pulled and he's getting very upset with the way everyone is acting. Anyway he finally lets it go. The show ends and we start talking again, and he invites me back to his hotel room. I was with my boyfriend at the time, so I politely declined. Damn probably should have gone back with him, but ... well life goes on.
 
 Too bad they broke up, I'd have pressed my luck again for sure.

[Brian_Wallace]

To tie in two of these stories:  I went to the Oasis Hammerjacks show and my girlfriend asked Liam afterwards whether he "fancied a shag" and he asked her if she had a condom....
 
 Well, let's just leave the story at that.
 
 Brian

[eros]

Originally posted by Brian Wallace:
  To tie in two of these stories:  I went to the Oasis Hammerjacks show and my girlfriend asked Liam afterwards whether he "fancied a shag" and he asked her if she had a condom....
 
 Well, let's just leave the story at that.
 
 Brian

Did you at least get to watch?

[Brian_Wallace]

Originally posted by eros:
   

Originally posted by Brian Wallace:
  To tie in two of these stories:  I went to the Oasis Hammerjacks show and my girlfriend asked Liam afterwards whether he "fancied a shag" and he asked her if she had a condom....
 
 Well, let's just leave the story at that.
 
 Brian

Did you at least get to watch? [/b]

It was my job to hold the boombox while "The Beatles: 1967-1970" played on cassette tape.
 
 Brian

[Relaxer]

Originally posted by Brian Wallace:
   

Originally posted by eros:
   

Originally posted by Brian Wallace:
  To tie in two of these stories:  I went to the Oasis Hammerjacks show and my girlfriend asked Liam afterwards whether he "fancied a shag" and he asked her if she had a condom....
 
 Well, let's just leave the story at that.
 
 Brian

Did you at least get to watch? [/b]

It was my job to hold the boombox while "The Beatles: 1967-1970" played on cassette tape.
 
 Brian [/b]

When Richard Nixon was courting his future wife, Pat, he would drive her to dates with other men and then drive them to wherever they were going. Which is kind of just like Brian! So that means he'll probably grow up to be president, but be forced to resign in disgrace, and then undergo a post-presidency rehabilitation in Yorba Linda, California. I hear it's nice there.