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Music / Why I don’t like gigs

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I’ve been obsessed with music and collecting records ever since I can remember. I even played a lot of those records at clubs all over the country. And since I grew up in London in the 70s and 80s, a mere bus ride away from the Roundhouse, the Rainbow and the Hammersmith Odeon, you can imagine how many gigs I went to. Well actually, I went to hardly any. Because I have a shameful confession to make – I don’t like gigs. Never have, never will.

Unfortunately, Live Aid changed everything. Gigs became huge, overblown and fiendishly expensive

When I went along to my first one, aged 15, I truly believed that it would herald a lifelong love of live music. The Who were playing a secret gig at the Kilburn State. Though it must have been the worst kept secret in London because half my class seemed to know about it. When Pete Townshend’s windmilling chords opened the show, I almost exploded with excitement. Oh my God! This was The Who, one of the biggest bands........

© The Spectator