This was my ‘decade of diversity’ – the era when the heavy metal shackles came off and I started to open my ears to other genres of music (see My Story for details).
I’ve always been a bit of a headbanger and I will never ever lose my passion for screaming guitar licks or meaty drum solos. However the 90s taught me that it was ok to like other stuff too and this opened up a whole new world of music to me. Motörhead and Metallica would now sit alongside Massive Attack, Moby and Mansun in my album collection. Vinyl would give way to CDs and my gig-going would become more frequent and take in live shows by the likes of Air, Faithless and the Flaming Lips to name a few. I even went to see Wet Wet Wet in Sheffield for fucks sake! (I won’t be writing about that experience as thankfully I have somehow managed to erase all traces of it from my memory).
One day I will share my recollections of some of the gigs I went to back in the 90s. In the meantime here are some of my lovely old ticket stubs for your viewing pleasure…
One of the best gigs I’ve been to (saw FNM twice in the 90s, 7 years apart) 
Wonder if someone got fired for the typo… 
Dan Reed Network – one of the funkiest rock bands I’ve seen live 
My 3rd Georgia Satellites gig at Rock City in as many years 
One of the first Heineken Festivals at Wollaton Park in 1991 – now home to Nottingham’s Splendour Festival 
The Christians at Nottingham’s Royal Concert Hall. Think this was 1992? Can anyone confirm? 
Hey you, it’s 7 o’ clock – time for a party! 
My first gig at Leicester’s Granby Halls – great venue sadly no more 
International Bright Young things at Rock City 
Second trip to Granby Halls and my second Carter USM gig 
The wonderful Wonderstuff prompted another trip to Leicester 
Amazingly intimate gig by Waterboy Mike Scott – just him, an acoustic guitar and a piano. Perfection 
My first trip back to the Milton Keynes bowl in 6 years (previously saw Bon Jovi in 1989) 
OCS played the social club at Notts County FC (my team) the night after appearing on the very first episode of TFI Friday, a show that would make them a household name. 
Lush also played at Notts County on a Saturday night in 1996. Watched Notts smash Carlisle 3-1, went for post match beers in the social club and stayed for this gig. 2 of us and the barman even watched the sound check! A perfect day… 
The Lovely Louise Wener….mmm… 
Yes – I really did go to Wembley to see Tina Tuner and she was awesome! 
OCS at a slightly larger venue this time now they were Britpop gods! 
My first trip back to the De Montfort Hall since 1987. Also my first Manics gig 
Amazing live band who I saw several times in the 90s 
The night Britpop legends Blur played at Rock City. They were queueing around the block overnight for tickets to this one… 
About to hit my 30s but that didn’t stop me going into the mosh pit for this one…! 
A relatively early Foo Fighters gig. Saw them again at Glastonbury 1998 but it would be another 19 years before I would see them again at Glastonbury 2017 
NO NO NO – seriously no idea what possessed me to do this (ex-wife?) but I’m honest and brave enough to post it here to show that we all make mistakes in life… 
awesome band, awesome gig – October 1997 
This gig was actually postponed until 18th January 1998 when Danny broke his wrist. How do I remember this….? 
….ah because I wrote it on the back of my ticket! 
Black Grape – The first of 3 Rock City gigs in 5 days, December 1997 
My second FNM gig, December 1997 -just as good as they were in 1990, if not even better 
Embrace hadn’t yet released their debut album when we saw them on this tour. They didn’t really have much material for their live shows either so they played All You Good Good People TWICE! 
My abiding memory of this gig is the amount of dope smoke that filled the room. A very atmospheric evening and the band were incredible 
A very underrated and misunderstood band that appealed to my ‘classic rock’ / psychedelic tastes. They were at the height of their commercial success in 1998 
My second Placebo experience at Rock City and more mosh pit antics 
I’d been a fan of Faithless since Salva Mea and Insomnia in 1995 and saw them at a very wet Glastonbury in 1998 when they played on the Jazz World stage. Id be dying to see them in a club and they didn’t disappoint… 
Back to my metal roots for the Big Day Out in 1999. Other acts on the bill included Marilyn Manson, Placebo, Terrorvision, Sepultura, Creed and Queens of the Stone Age 
This was the second time I saw Skunk Anansie at Rock City, incredibly only 4 months after they had headlined at Glastonbury (I was there too!) 
A very surreal but brilliant night. They played without a live drummer (he was on a screen projection at the back of the stage) and Wayne Coyne did the mask and blood thing 
Huey and the boys brought the whole New York gangster thing to Nottingham. It was ace! 
My final gig of the 1990s / first gig of the new millennium – at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff – a massive homecoming show for the brilliant Manics. The roof was closed, lots of people got incredibly drunk and the world didn’t end as some were predicting…
Please feel free to share your own memories of these bands or gigs below or over on our social media pages (Facebook Group and others links below)
Like old gig tickets?
More from the 2000s here