At some point I’ll probably share my recollections of some of the gigs I went to back in the 80s. They were mostly rock and metal, I was young and I had lots of hair! In the meantime here’s some colourful images of the tickets I kept from that epic time of my life. They really were great times!
Please feel free to share your own memories of these bands or gigs either here or over on our social media pages (links in the site header at the top)
My first ever gig. Saxon at the shiny new Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham, 25th Jan 1983
Read the story here…
My 2nd gig, same venue – Iron Maiden on the World Piece Tour, 10th May 1983 
3rd gig – Rainbow at the Concert Hall, September 1983 
4th gig – Saxon again, same venue a year later – 9th Feb 1984 
My first proper ‘all standing’ gig – Diamond Head at Nottingham’s Sherwood Rooms 
Whitesnake, Nottingham Royal Concert Hall – 4th April 1984 
My first outdoor festival – Quo (plus Marillion, Nazareth, Jason and the Scorchers and errr…Gary Glitter! Milton Keynes – 21st July 1984. Read about it HERE 
My first Donington – 18th August 1984. Read about it HERE 
Finally got to see the legendary Ronnie James Dio and his band – 20th September 1984. They were a LOT better than his old band Rainbow who I’d seen the previous year! 
Iron Maiden again, same venue – this time on the Powerslave Tour – Sep 1984 
My first Motorhead experience – 25th October 1984 
The Knebworth Mudbath of 1985 (good review here) 
My second and probably favourite Monsters of Rock at Donington, 1986
(Image borrowed from another site as I can’t find my own bloody ticket!)
Met my future best mate at this gig – 9th March 1987 
Nottingham’s own Sleeze Patrol – Zhivago’s – May 1987 
U2 at Wembley Stadium, London on the Joshua Tree tour 1987 – show recording here 
My 3rd trip to Donington, August 1987 – some great recollections here 
I wanted to BE Joe Elliot – but I also wanted to see Tesla who were supporting. Top night! 
Bust my nose in the mosh pit for these legendary thrashers – Anthrax, Nov 1987 
First hints that I didn’t JUST want to watch metal bands? Even travelled to London for this gig on the Lonesome Jubilee Tour 1988. My first and only trip to the ‘Hammy Odeon’ 
Possibly the best flyer I’ve kept from the ’80s. Not sure what year this was – guessing ’88 as I went to loads of gigs that year
Nottingham’s finest – Lawnmower Deth
All day session at Nottingham Trent’s Student Union. Bust my nose after stage diving over a very small mosh pit – head first into the floor. “This fella BLEEEEDS for Lawnmower Deth” shouted the singer as I climbed back on stage for another go….! 
Georgia Satellites – first time I felt that Rock City’s ‘springy’ dance floor was actually going to collapse! Loved this band so much we went to see them 3 years running… 
And there’s the proof… 
I used to work with pretty boy Wraith signer Jedd at this time. Enjoyed their set but didn’t have the heart to tell him I mostly went to see the mighty mower boys (again!) 
My final Monsters of Rock, Castle Donington 1988. An eventful day but tinged with some sadness. Will blog about this one day… 
Queensryche – on their Operation Mindcrime tour. Absolutely blown away by this band that night. Lived up to all expectations…and then some. 
Glad I got the see this legend. Awesome musician and great guy. RIP Rory Gallagher. 
Rush…my all time favourite rock band. This was the first time I saw them, Birmingham NEC on Hold Your Fire tour 
No idea who ‘The Sabbatt’ are but this was the Second time I pioneering Nottingham thrashers SABBAT. Since regarded as a very important band from that era… 
Another trip to the Milton Keynes Bowl – this time for Bon Jovi who were in their prime. I honestly don’t remember much about this one…. 
Unusual one this. Uriah Heep at Central TV studios in 1989.The show was filmed for a late night TV show called ‘Bedrock’ Got a feeling this is from the gig here but the year is wrong 
One of many messy nights at Rock City in the 1980s!
Like old gig tickets?
More from the 1990s here