Echo & the Bunnymen ticket stub from the gig at the The International in Manchester 21st June 1985.
This was billed as a warm up concert for Glastonbury on June 23rd. The Bunnymen did two sets that night, the first was a set of cover versions including Velvet Underground; There She Goes Again and Rolling Stones; Paint It Black.
Their second set at The International that night was packed with excellent tunes from, Crocodiles, Heaven Up Here, Porcupine and Ocean Rain.
Something to listen to; Echo & The Bunnymen; The Cutter from the 1983 Album Porcupine.
Great photograph of the Hacienda dance floor in daylight!
The postcard was from the exhibition ‘Sublime’ Manchester Music and Design 1976-1992 at the Cornerhouse in Manchester. A excellent exhibition with a very smart exhibition catalogue to coincide with the show.
Something to listen to; Played a lot in the early days at the Hacienda. New Order, Temptation Fac 63. Released May 1982.
I got this poster from one of the notice boards inside the Hacienda at the time, typical Factory it was hand written with no exact dates on it, the gigs were in April!! I think it may have been the first couple of shows as a Factory band for Happy Mondays and being the support for New Order meant it was good crowds at both shows.
I seem to remember the Macclesfield leisure centre one being pretty rowdy and most people there being the worst for wear. The Happy Mondays were great and had only played a few concerts up to that point and had not yet released their first record.
New Order were excellent too and it was a home town gig for two of the memebers of the band.
This poster was on me and my brothers bedroom wall at my mum and dads house for years, you can still see the bluetack marks on the corners!
Its now lovingly framed on my wall at home!
Something to listen too; New Order ‘Thieves Like Us’ Fac 103. May 1984.
Here’s my ticket stub from August 1989 from one of the Happy Mondays dates on the American ‘Bummed’ tour. That night they were supporting The Pixies who were a really big indie band at the time. The Happy Mondays performance that night was captured on film and later featured on the ‘Madchester Rave on’ video, Fac 262 1989. Excellent night it was too!
A photo of Happy Mondays taken by the renowned Manchester photographer Kevin Cummins. From the same US tour in 1989, taken on the Staten Island ferry in NYC. Bez refers to this as his favourite photo taken of the band!!
And something to listen to; Happy Mondays ‘Country Song’ from the album ‘Bummed’ Fact 220 November 1988.
Here is my Factory laminate pass for the opening night/party in September 1990, of Fac 251 the then new Factory Records headquarters. The opening night was pretty chaotic but great fun!
And here’s another one of my photographs of the outside of the building that became Fac 251, taken around late 1989 (I think)! When Factory had just bought the building that is on the corner of Princess Street and Charles Street in Manchester M1. This was before they renovated it and turned into their stylish new offices/headquarters! Complete with adornment of Central Stations portrait of Shaun Ryder used for the Happy Mondays album cover ‘Bummed’ Fact 220 1988. (Take a look at one of my earlier posts on the blog with other photos of the same building).
The building is still there now and is Factory 251, the nightclub, part owned by Peter Hook one of the original and founder members of Joy Division and New Order.
Something to listen to; Happy Mondays ‘Dennis and Lois’ from the album ‘Pills ‘N Thrills and Bellyaches’ Fact 320 1990. What a great track!!
Here’s the original cover for ‘Pills ‘N Thrills and Bellyaches’!!
Here’s my ticket stub for New Order at the Meadowlands Arena in New Jersey 1989.
Also playing that night were the Sugar Cubes and Public Image Ltd. Although I don’t really remember that much of the night itself or the other bands! I do remember there being a big crowd and as usual New Order kept everybody waiting. Typically there seemed to be a lot of English people around particularly Northerners!! The Meadowlands Arena was the then home of the New York Giants, American football team and it was a pretty big stadium.
I think it may have been the last night of New Orders twelve week tour of America that year! I can also remember me and my mates travelled there from central Manhattan on public transport and it was a pain to get to as most people seemed to be in cars!
The Happy Mondays were in America at the same time as New Order in the summer of 1989 touring with their album ‘Bummed’. So there was a bit of a Factory Records in America ‘vibe’ going on, I think Tony Wilson/Factory Records also participated in the ‘New Music Seminar’ in NYC around the same time.
Something to listen to and a track that New Order played in their set that night; New Order ‘Blue Monday’.Originally released March 1983 Fac 73 Single.
Flyer for the Hacienda festive celebrations at the club 1988/89.
I only just found this flyer in a shoe box a couple of weeks ago and thought it was nice to include in my blog. Its a good example of Factory Records and the Hacienda’s graphic identity which was always visually strong and coherent. This always applied to everything the record label and club did, whether it was a new single or album release, a flyer for a new night or event, films or promotional material.
I remember the new years eve party for 88/89 was a pretty crazy one at the Hacienda and in Manchester generally. The year had followed on from the ‘second summer of love’ in 87, acid house and ‘raving’ had hit its peak throughout the UK in 1988 great times! Great Tune!
Something to listen to; Royal House (Todd Terry), Can You Party. Champion Records CHAMP 12-79, 1988.
Here is a flyer for the opening night of VOID at the Hacienda, on Wednesday 8th February 1989. The DJs for the opening night were resident regulars Mike Pickering and Jon DaSilva. Of course any new night during 88/89 attracted plenty of people. During 88/89 the weekends seemed to start on Wednesday and go through to Monday night! The back of this flyer is a bit knackered unfortunately!
Something to Listen to; Soul II Soul ‘Back To Life’ 1989. It was a played a lot that year especially during the summer months at the Hacienda. Although London centric it seemed to fit in with the atmosphere inside the club at that moment!
