West End Centre data and concert informations

Loved them in their early days (the Allen, Ayers and Wyatt era), so when I saw they were playing at the West End Centre in Aldershot I thought I'd go and see them!

I was a little concerned that the venue was all-seated, but found a spot next to a nice lady of a certain age and her husband, and eagerly waited for the music to start.

As they launched into their first number, the lady beside me *physically recoiled in horror*. I sympathised, but being made of sterner stuff sat placidly waiting for it to improve, but it didn't.

Ever sat trying to enjoy seven totally different pieces of music being played at once, seemingly in diifferent keys and time signatures? And there are only four of them on the stage? I've often referred to it as Musical Masturbation, played for their own pleasure, no concern that anyone else is enjoying it - I shudder to think what they're like in bed.

It is the ONLY gig in my life where I've chosen to leave part way through (being an all-seated event, I was trapped until the interval) and I went to a local pub with a live adult-oriented-rock covers band (thank heavens for the Lion Brewery!) and enjoyed palatable, if rather predictable, music and a nice pint.

Avoid.

I attended this show, the first time I’d seen The Pogues. I was twelve days off my twenty-first birthday and six months into my training as a mental health nurse. As I recall the ticket was a birthday present from my friends, who I went to the gig with.
What a riot! Everything I expected it to be and more. As I recall , I won a gallon of beer in a cat food eating competition, which supplemented our meagre spending money and enabled us to get pretty pissed. Spider gave me a swig from the half bottle he had… he’d given up playing and was sat on the edge of the stage.
I bought a copy of ‘Red Roses for Me’ ,at the show, autographed by the band, which I still have. It remains one of my most prized possessions.
Great to see the photos on your site.. brought back some memories. I saw the band a few more times, notably at Surrey Free Arts Festival, where they were joined by Joe Strummer (same year or’86) and Shane with The Popes at Leeds Heineken gig, Roundhay Park (possibly’92) singing ‘Good Golly, Miss Molly’ repeatedly until the plug was pulled!
RIP Shane McGowan. Thank you for the music.
George Atkinson, Leeds.