The official NMA board
General Category => On The Road => Topic started by: Master Ray on April 14, 2016, 11:42:52 PM
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...something me and my usual NMA gig-going buddy were musing about the other night...
We live about 30 minutes away from Stoke. We've been seeing NMA live since the Impurity tour, so that's over 25 years, and we've rarely missed a tour, racked up about 80 gigs or thereabouts. But we can't remember, for the life of us, the band ever playing in Stoke! It's a big place, a couple of decent venues (Victoria Hall and The Sugarmill) and I can't imagine we'd ignore our favourite band playing 'just down the road'...
Yes, JSAF played the Newcastle Rigger a couple of times... but that's not 'actually' Stoke...
So... can anyone shed some light on this? Have I had a massive brain-fart here? Or do NMA have some problem with playing in Stoke, for whatever reason? Any opinions or memories welcome!
;)
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Janek from Poland has a comprehensive list of NMA, Justin solo etc. gigs on his great site http://nma.prv.pl/
According to that site, NMA only ever played in Stoke on February 24, 1987 and September 22, 2006.
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Thanks Stef, interesting reading.
Thinking about the 2006 gig... was quite sure I'd never missed an NMA gig in Stoke, but after much thought, I think I might have been on holiday at the time... whatever, it'd be great to see NMA return to Stoke at some point!
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Generally its promoters who offer a band a gig (or tour), book a venue & promote it - so its more likely an issue with promoters than the band
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Cheers, Johnny M.
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I think 2006 was also in Newcastle.
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They played Newcastle last year
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Sorry, I meant Newcastle Under Lyme, a couple of miles down the road from Stoke (but not one of the 'five towns')... :-\
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The Rigger 21.08.08 Stoke on Trent?
Its on a T shirt.
That was a JS+DW gig though. JD had a limited run of tees printed for the short tour.
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The Rigger 21.08.08 Stoke on Trent?
Its on a T shirt.
That was a JS+DW gig though. JD had a limited run of tees printed for the short tour.
Yes, I did both the N-U-L (not Stoke!) JSAF gigs, as I said before. Both fantastic evenings, seeing the guys in a venue about half the size of the average pub... priceless. I'd sell a kidney to see another one of those...
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There is an inaccuracy on the t shirt though....
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Yes, there is.
And I'm now going to admit that , after a bit of investigation, it is now generally regarded that there are 'six towns'...
Burslem, Tunstall, Hanley, Stoke-upon-Trent, Longton and Fenton.
But Newcastle Under Lyme retains its independence.
I've been there plenty of times. NUL is not in Stoke.
Hope that clears up this utterly irrelevant issue... ;)
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Nope.
Further afield.
The last date on the tee is a gig in Beirut, Which never happened. The prison gig did happen though.
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Nope.
Further afield.
The last date on the tee is a gig in Beirut, Which never happened. The prison gig did happen though.
Well, I hope they played this utter classic...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1gMGKiO81U
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Not sure, I wasn't there!
Acoustic set if I remember and being told not to expect any Jonny Cash moments
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Fair enough. New NMA dates announced on Friday! Perhaps NMA might finally return to Stoke... ???
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Nope. No Stoke. :-[
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They played at Shelley's in Longton (one of the six towns) in about 1985.
Stoke has not been on the circuit for decent bands for many years. It had the heyday of Mike Lloyd promotions and the Victoria Hall had some great bands on back in the day....The Clash, The Damned, SLF and many more.
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Victoria Hall does seem to be quite active these days but more 'middle of the road' performers like comedians and X-Factor style acts, not anything that would properly shake the rafters... been there a couple of times (The Levellers and Feeder) and, although it's a bit of a 'vanilla' venue (ie, not much atmosphere or character), I wouldn't mind seeing NMA play there... although a sweaty dive like The Sugarmill would be better!
Oh well, maybe one day, eh?
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I was in Stoke 84-86 and I dont remember them playing shelleys in 1985 but they most definitely played North Staffordshire Poly in Stoke in 85 as part of the No Rest Tour.
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Nope.
Further afield.
The last date on the tee is a gig in Beirut, Which never happened. The prison gig did happen though.
The prison gig was about 3 miles from my house,but for obvious reasons I couldn't get in!.I was at the Stoke gig at The Sugarmills though,very packed.