This was a seriously thrilling gig from UK Mod-Punks The Jam, six months after the Elvis Costello show in November 1978 (EP8: This Year’s Model).
It also coincided with a fresh tray of live concert firsts (A gig outside of London! In Toronto! At a tiny theatre! With an authentic ***punk*** audience!).
The Jam’s debut LP “In The City” was the first punk rock album I purchased, on a visit to the UK in 1977, and I became an instant fan. Between 1978-82, Weller & Co. shared the “My Favourite Band” mantle along with The Clash (Joy Division made it threesome by 1980), and so I was almost verklempt at getting to see my fave raves in Toronto. The trio were still fairly obscure over here while they were full-blown stars in the UK.
And boy did they deliver!
Tune in for winklepickers, opening act confusion, and … the magic returns.
NEXT PODCAST: My last live show of the 1970s was an even smaller and more intimate gig than The Jam, featuring a trio of the city’s then most-prominent punk bands: NFG, The Regulators, and Sinners.
I’ll be discussing how important our local scene --- but also local music scenes in general --- were and are, especially to and for marginalized people and communities.
1979 was the year I started seeing local live music in bars such as The Cedar Lounge and The York, something that would become akin to “breathing” in my life during the 80s and early 90s. These nights out and this show pointed to where things in my life were going to be going on a more personal level.
Stay tuned for underage drinking, musical lifelines, and escaping before the police turned up.
EP 13 (no.005) What’s In The City: NFG’s Second Annual Halloween Bash with The Regulators and Sinners, The Polish Hall, London, Ontario, Canada, Friday November 2, 1979
(Get a sneak preview by reading the original 2011 blog entry here.)
Coming in November
mylifeinconcert.com