This was the day, or more specifically the evening, everything changed... 44 years ago today (although I wouldn't come to know this much much later)
This was the night that ‘punk’ came to Manchester for the first time. The Sex Pistols playing at the Lesser Free Trade Hall, promoted by Pete Shelley and Howard Devoto of the fledgling Buzzcocks
100’s have since claimed to be at the gig yet in reality there were probably less than 40. Records show only £14 was taken on the door at 50p each, so allowing for friends, crew etc this sounds right, and listening to the 'bootleg' recording you can tell it's a small crowd, clearly hearing heckles from the audience and Johnny Rottens' occasionally sneering responses
Just for the record, I don’t claim to have been there as I was only 6 at the time... those that were include Morrissey, Peter Hook and Bernard Sumner, Mark E. Smith and journalist Paul Morley, possibly even Mick Hucknall
David Nolan’s brilliant book ‘I Swear I Was There’ covers the gig with eye witness accounts in great detail as does the Granada TV documentary of the same name
The Buzzcocks were due to support the Pistols that night but weren’t ‘ready’ (despite their name being on the ticket). It was the night however that the aforementioned promotors met the only remaining original member of the band, Steve Diggle, thanks to the Malcolm McLaren’s accidental intervention. The band did play support 6 weeks later in July though when the Sex Pistols returned for a second gig
The support on 4th June was from ‘Solstice’, A ‘progressive heavy metal band whose repertoire reportedly included a version of the ‘World In Action’ theme... a band completely at odds to the Pistols (who had been drafted in at the last minute through friends of Devoto/Shelley)
Bear in mind this wasn’t the ‘punk’ of mohican haircuts and safety pins which is now the media’s stock image of the scene. From the few pictures that do exist of that evening the crowd just looked like normal teenagers of the time, flared jeans, shoulder length hair... typically 1976
Up until this point punk had been underground, mainly London centric, and only occasionally mentioned in the music press. The first ‘punk’ single ‘New Rose’ wouldn’t be released by The Damned until October 1976 so it’s extremely unlikely that any of those attending the gig would have heard much like this before, so the impact of it must have been a shock... actually we know it was because many of those who were there have said it was and it’s what galvanised them into action, many thinking ‘well if they can do it so can we’...
Alongside a number of tracks that would go on to appear on the bands 'Never Mind The Bollocks' they played a number of covers which they had had in their repertoire for some time by The Small Faces, The Who and The Stooges, admittedly with their own twist.
The Manchester kids in the crowd were ready for something different... while the charts of that era featured comedy band The Wurzels, ABBA, Cliff Richard and Brotherhood of Man, there were a number of alternative scenes bubbling under, like pub rock, featuring the likes of Dr Feelgood and Eddie and The Hotrods; and at home youngsters would be listening to Krautrock, with Neu!, Can and Kraftwerk, alongside glam, like Bowie and Roxy Music.
They’d been ready to be fair for a few years, with clubs like ‘Pips’ welcoming Manchester’s youth from 1972... actually, if your interested there a couple of excellent books on the subject of ‘those times’ in Manchester written by people who were there at the time...
Gareth Ashton’s Manchester: It Never Rains... A City Primed for Punk Rock
Martin Ryan’s Friends of Mine: Punk in Manchester 1976-78
So why should people care now about this?
Why is it ‘the gig that changed the world'...
Well if you like music, and I'm hoping you do because you've got this far... this gig was the catalyst for so much that was to come... it's likely there would be...
no Joy Division
no The Fall
no Factory Records
no Peter Saville
no New Order
no Hacienda
no Dave Haslam
no Graham Park
no Happy Mondays
no 'Acid House'
no Smiths
no Stone Roses
no Oasis
no Independent Record labels
no Mute Records
no Depeche Mode
no Pet Shop Boys
Anthony H. Wilson may have remained a journalist/presenter
And that's just scratching the very surface
Think about about creative types, designers, writers, photographers, actors, actresses, directors who have been influenced by one of those bands or a night at the Hacienda, or who have tapped into the DIY punk spirit, to get on and make things happen on their own terms,
Think about the fashion labels, i.e. Gio-Goi, which set up as a result of one of these movements
For me personally, if it wasn't for that night, my musical tastes would be very different, the bands that I've listened to almost every day over the last 35 years probably wouldn't have existed. I can't even begin to imagine what I'd be listening to, certainly the soundtrack to my life would be very different
I know my bookcase would look very different too... many of the writers could well have ended up doing other things, individuals appearing in the biographies may not have needed those biographies
Most of the art in my house would be completely different as what I have wouldn't exist
My circle of friends would be very different as we'd not have so much in common, or we'd not have met at gigs or bonded over our love of John Peel and the music he played, a lot of which was influenced by the bands which formed as a direct result of that the gig at the Lesser Free Trade Hall
God knows what career I'd have. I wouldn't have given up a steady, 'proper' job in 1994 to go to college, I wouldn't have ended up working in the Music Industry, I may not have ended up at BT as an agency worker with a chip on my shoulder which drove me forward as some people told me I couldn't be what I aspired to be...
8 months after co-promoting this gig and independently releasing the 'Spiral Scratch' EP, vocalist Howard Devoto left the Buzzcocks to form Magazine (although they would carry on with Pete Shelley taking on the role)
18 months after this gig the Sex Pistols split up whilst on tour in America having released one album and spent much of 1977 as public enemy No 1 with many of their gigs cancelled due to pressure from local councils
44 years on the attitude and influence of punk and the spirit of 1976 still lives on within so many, I imagine it does in many people reading this
So much can be traced back to that night at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester
That's the importance of 4th June 1976
Thank you Pete and Howard...
Iain Key 2020
