At 10, my mate said to me, Have you heard of Manchester Appollo, our Baz is going waching a band called The Stranglers there, shall we go?

Anyhow my mum went mad, absolutely no way I was going, after a couple of months she gave in and said I could go but my dad was picking us up, so looking forward to it for months, bonfire night 5th November, went to the Apollo with mates older brother and sat in the Circle, had alraead brought Rattus, Black and White, No More Heroes so sat there waiting for the Stranglers to come on, fucking hell, they were ace. Spent all my money on Tour tshirts, posters and badges from merchants outside.

Anouncement, over the PA, Widnes Two Hats, your dad is outside, fucking gutted as a 10 year old punk. Saw the 100's of time since, Paris, Berlin, Preveza, Amsterdam, Nice in fact all over the world, me and Breighmet were due to see them later in the year, utterly gutter the best band in the world will never play again, was a bit pissed off when Cornwell left but nothing like this

Anyhow, thats me just being pissed off

You won’t know this Widders but you’re the reason I became an avid fan, I knew golden brown and peaches and then on here you posted about going to a gig and getting No Balls to drive the minibus.

 It got me listening to them and I’ve been a fan ever since. Seen them a few times and was due to go and watch them later this year as well.

I remember one quiet night in the Alma in probably 1995, I was working behind the bar and a bloke I’d never seen before came in and put about 40 Stranglers songs on the jukebox back to back.

Loved them ever since.

Edited May 10, 20206 yr by Spider

Brother was big into them. So as a little brother I’d listen to all his vinyl. Loved them. Watched the UA compilation video a gazillion times! First saw them in Dreamtime tour at Preston Guildhall. 1986/87. Amazing!! Used to tape them every time they were on telly. The Tube, etc. JJ was the coolest by far. 
seen them a good few times since. Once more with Hugh and the rest with Baz up top. 
DG def looked a bit skeletal in recent years. Incredible keyboard player though. Sadly missed. 
Somehow, don’t know how, I hope they can find a talented player(s) to fulfil this final tour in Nov/Dec. 
RIP DG. 
JLNOE

9 minutes ago, Smiley said:

Brother was big into them. So as a little brother I’d listen to all his vinyl. Loved them. Watched the UA compilation video a gazillion times! First saw them in Dreamtime tour at Preston Guildhall. 1986/87. Amazing!! Used to tape them every time they were on telly. The Tube, etc. JJ was the coolest by far. 
seen them a good few times since. Once more with Hugh and the rest with Baz up top. 
DG def looked a bit skeletal in recent years. Incredible keyboard player though. Sadly missed. 
Somehow, don’t know how, I hope they can find a talented player(s) to fulfil this final tour in Nov/Dec. 
RIP DG. 
JLNOE

You going in Dec smiley? All things considered like?

I saw the Stranglers at - of all places - Wigan Casino & they were great but i've not listened to them for years,

After DG's death I've been having a listen again & came across this one which is brilliant........

 

Fucking hell, Jet looks young there

Edited May 10, 20206 yr by Widnes Two Hats

2 hours ago, Rudy’s Message said:

You won’t know this Widders but you’re the reason I became an avid fan, I knew golden brown and peaches and then on here you posted about going to a gig and getting No Balls to drive the minibus.

 It got me listening to them and I’ve been a fan ever since. Seen them a few times and was due to go and watch them later this year as well.

Shame they wont be playing later in the year, better than the Jam, Sex Pistols etc, I shall miss them

 

1 hour ago, bolton va va said:

I saw the Stranglers at - of all places - Wigan Casino & they were great but i've not listened to them for years,

After DG's death I've been having a listen again & came across this one which is brilliant........

 

Sounds like Mark E Smith singing about Harold Shipman that ( The Fall - What About Us)

13 hours ago, Smiley said:

Somehow, don’t know how, I hope they can find a talented player(s) to fulfil this final tour in Nov/Dec. 
 

Mickey Turley from Straighten Out would be the obvious choice, certainly knows the set. Not sure he’d fancy it though, filling the shoes of his hero.

4 hours ago, Baba O'Riley said:

Mickey Turley from Straighten Out would be the obvious choice, certainly knows the set. Not sure he’d fancy it though, filling the shoes of his hero.

Good call. Believe tribute band members have upscaled before now. 
Guess rehearsing ain’t going to be easy ahead of the tour. 

18 hours ago, Rudy’s Message said:

You going in Dec smiley? All things considered like?

Was hoping to. Got a lads meet up for it. 

R.I.P. Dave. Watched them for the first time at the Apollo in the late 70s and then again last year at the same venue, a brilliant band.

1 minute ago, Mr Grey said:

Ive seen them a few times over the years, last time was at the Academy about 3 years ago, half of my year at Deane High School was in attendance, and they were fucking brilliant as always. 

Can't see how they are going to replace DG, i know they replaced Hugh and Baz has done a sterling job, but DG is pretty irreplaceable, tough ask.

Reckon I was at that gig Grey

Saw them in a pub in London in 75 (other act was a bad stripper) and there's no way they were a punk band as they played what was basically R&B with a touch of prog rock - i.e. material for Rattus Norvegicus. None of the crowd were punks. Maybe the term "punk" hadn't been invented then?

By 76 the punk thing had hit the media and so my mate decided to book a punk band for a charity do at Stirling Uni as part of a 10 band line up and chose The Damned from a bunch of promo cassettes. For the first time we had punks turn up and the Damned were great - really fast no nonsense stuff and had the punks pogoing and us long hairs wondering WTF was going on and whether or not it was going to kick off.

Anyhoo, third song in somebody gobbed on Captain Sensible and they stopped playing. They were walking off the stage when my mate reminded them that it was a charity do and they'd agreed to do 6 songs so they went back on and warned the audience that they wouldn't tolerate "being abused". Red rag to a bull. Three chords into their next song and a half full can of Tennant's nearly took the drummer's head off and they were gone. The soft bastards.

Always liked the Stranglers BTW - but never thought of them as a punk band.

 

Edited May 11, 20206 yr by Hoppy510

5 minutes ago, Mr Grey said:

Think i saw you, Citeh shirt on, stood near the bar.

I was dressed all in Black 😁

Haha you twat 

RIP Dave G.

Love the Stranglers and the keyboards set them apart from the other punk bands.  

The Stranglers - soundtrack of my life, seen them loads, even had DJ play them at my wedding, magical....

 

On 10/05/2020 at 20:17, Smiley said:

Brother was big into them. So as a little brother I’d listen to all his vinyl. Loved them. Watched the UA compilation video a gazillion times! First saw them in Dreamtime tour at Preston Guildhall. 1986/87. Amazing!! Used to tape them every time they were on telly. The Tube, etc. JJ was the coolest by far. 
seen them a good few times since. Once more with Hugh and the rest with Baz up top. 
DG def looked a bit skeletal in recent years. Incredible keyboard player though. Sadly missed. 
Somehow, don’t know how, I hope they can find a talented player(s) to fulfil this final tour in Nov/Dec. 
RIP DG. 
JLNOE

My first ever gig. Followed by the Apollo on the same tour.

Fly Straight Dave

On 10/05/2020 at 18:34, Widnes Two Hats said:

At 10, my mate said to me, Have you heard of Manchester Appollo, our Baz is going waching a band called The Stranglers there, shall we go?

Anyhow my mum went mad, absolutely no way I was going, after a couple of months she gave in and said I could go but my dad was picking us up, so looking forward to it for months, bonfire night 5th November, went to the Apollo with mates older brother and sat in the Circle, had alraead brought Rattus, Black and White, No More Heroes so sat there waiting for the Stranglers to come on, fucking hell, they were ace. Spent all my money on Tour tshirts, posters and badges from merchants outside.

Anouncement, over the PA, Widnes Two Hats, your dad is outside, fucking gutted as a 10 year old punk. Saw the 100's of time since, Paris, Berlin, Preveza, Amsterdam, Nice in fact all over the world, me and Breighmet were due to see them later in the year, utterly gutter the best band in the world will never play again, was a bit pissed off when Cornwell left but nothing like this

Anyhow, thats me just being pissed off

Sorry pal, shit isn’t it.  I’ve been listening to them solid on the USB in the car since I heard the news.  I’ve written and deleted paragraph after paragraph on this thread, self pity etc.  I was in the circle at Manchester Apollo my first gig watching them with my pal and a couple I know. There was a girl sat next to my mate frigging herself off leering at JJ, usually I’d of perved at that but I was glued to the stage, my music heroes lit up playing my record collection live.  

Seen them twice both with Hugh never bothered after he left though I am told Baz is excellent . The Raven is genius and still playing it 41 years later still got my vinyl 3-d sleeve !

On 11/05/2020 at 18:46, Farrelli said:

RIP Dave G.

Love the Stranglers and the keyboards set them apart from the other punk bands.  

There's a page on the Stranglers website full of tributes from various people and Hugh Cornwall says something along those lines.

 

44 minutes ago, ProfessorWoland said:

There's a page on the Stranglers website full of tributes from various people and Hugh Cornwall says something along those lines.

 

I was thinking yesterday what the ultimate punk band line up would be and this is mine -

Pete Shelley - Vocals/guitar

John McGeoch - Lead Guitar

JJ Burnel - Bass

Dave Greenfield - Keyboards

John Maher - Drums

 

Jake Burns - Guitar/vocals

Captain Sensible - Guitar

JJ Burnel - Bass

Dave Greenfield - Keyboards

Jim Reilly - Drums

 The Sex Clash Fingers 

 Joe Strummer - vocals,

Steve Jones - Guitar,

Ali McMordie - Bass,

Topper Headon - Drums.

  Support band.... The  Damned Stiff Clash 

Jake Burns - vocals,

Paul Simonon - Bass,

Mick Jones - Guitar,

Rat Scabies - Drums

Edited May 15, 20206 yr by Burndens Bogs

Vocals - Jello Biafra

Bass - JJB

Keyboard - DG

Drums - Jet Black