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And then he walked along the edge of the Circle

This is the place where we will post your stories about the Green's Playhouse, The Glasgow Apollo and Satelitte City (The Wee Apollo). As it develops we will break the stories up into sections such as Myths, Gigs I missed, Meeting the Bands, Where are they now etc. No story too trivial and we will only edit out bad language!

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Comments on The Stranglers [reply]
 
Punks v Bouncers part2 (pt1 The Clash).
well we were all looking forward to a mellow evening of pleasant music, melody and the modesty The Stranglers were famed for.
Yeah right.!
These were the stormtroopers of doom and you knew it wasn't gonna be a pretty sight!
They cracked through their set with the same speeed that the bouncers cracked teeth, i was dancing near the stage when,for no reason, i was pushed to the floor by a ned bouncer, i got up and went for him...bad mistake...i was grabbed by 3 of them and carried head-first out the side door and deposited in the lane.
I was outraged, so i went back to the front door where, as always at punk gigs, the place was swarming with cops, so i complained to them that i'd just been ******aulted and was told in no uncertain terms to shut-up or I would be arrested!
so i just managed to sneak back in, go down the other side of the stage and enjoy the rest of the set hoping none of the bouncers would recognise me, so a kind of happy ending.  The gig they played the following year was fantastic, i wasn't  ******aulted and there was a stripper on with them, done-up in traditional Scots dress...but not for long..mmm!
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The early Stranglers gigs ('77 - '80)were always a war zone in The Apollo. As soon as the band came on-stage the crowd would rush to the front, where the thin fat line of bouncers were waiting (for the fans in black).
As the band played, mayhem usually broke out as the bouncers tried to make us sit! Sit!! At a Stranglers gig - who were they kidding?
No wonder the front ten or so rows of seats were ripped up and destroyed by the end of the gigs.
I remember one gig when JJ dropped his bass mid-song and jumped off the stage - straight on top of a bouncer who was beating up a fan. We couldn't see what happened next - neither could the rest of the band.  They stopped playing and stood at the edge of the stage and watched while JJ beat up the bouncer.
At this point the rest of the bouncers disappeared for the rest of the gig - much to the immense satisfaction of the fans.
Apparently after the gig finished the bouncers waited for the band to emerge from their dressing room to give them all a kicking!  Something to do with public humiliation I think!!
The band finally got free after some time with their limbs intact, fortunately.  I noticed that at every gig after that there was always a bit of tension between band and bouncers - I wonder why?

I have to say though, the best gigs I ever saw were The Stranglers at the Apollo - they loved it, as did we. They played up to the crowd and revelled in our Glaswegian angst. A match made in Heaven!

Incidentally, I remember the stripper too - she was a dog.....
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aye great days,every gig that tour got a stripper,so as a 13 yr old i waited with exitement!!so what adog right enough she came on in highland regalia i seem to remember,but fantastic gig [reply]
 
A remember that gig as well. A wis sittin further back so didnt appreciate what was developing at the front. Suddenly, out of the blue, JJ dives off the stage! I also remember that once the band started up again, after the bouncers had left, people took advantage and began joining the band on stage. At first a trickle, then as people realised no one was going to stop them the trickle grew to a deluge. Eventually the band couldnt play because of the volume of people up on the stage. The band were good natured about it and eventually persuaded people it would be a better night if the band could continue to play. With the support of the crowd not on the stage, the band did persuade everyone to leave, allowing them to carry on. Always an exciting gig. [reply]
 
i'm pretty sure that the support band for this gig was a band called modern eon..i'm 99 percent  sure on this...anyone confirm? [reply]
 
I remember Modern Eon. Not sure if it was this gig or the one after. I remember "Headline" on the 1980 tour and "Taxi Girl" and "The Tea Set" on tours of that period.

I think Modern Eon were a five piece band.
They all wore black biker jackets. Their bassist played a black musicman bass( I'm a bass player so I notice these things) and the singer/guitarist broke a string on his les Paul. I don't think they went down too well.

I think this may have been the night a fan got on the stage and fearing the bouncers put his hands round JJ's neck and held on for his life. This lead to a bit of trouble. The band went off stage for a while. When they came back on Hugh said "Lack of communication" and started playing again.

What great days they were!
I will never forget going to see The Stranglers at the Apollo as a very excited, very scared 12 year old( remember the atmosphere at those gigs especially with wall to wall nutters everywhere)
Having seen the band in Montreal and Shepherds Bush recently, I'm glad to say they've still got it.

Awesome !!!!!!!

AL.
Cincinnati,OH
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i saw the stranglers several times at the apollo, and without a doubt they were one of the best bands who ever played there. in the late 70's early 80's the stranglers were simply unbeatable at the apollo. my earliest memory of the stranglers was when i was about 15 and standing goggle eyed as a stripper cavorted naked on stage. then having my father go beserk when he read about it in the paper the next day.
around a year later the stranglers came back ,and once again they were great, although this time i was more concerned with the upper balcony which was directly above me, and swinging from side to side. i was also slightly concerned with the seats which were being set on fire and thrown over the edge. scary stuff, but it all added to the excitement. over the years i saw quite a few bands at the apollo, but none of them could match the stranglers.
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I remember Hugh doing "Who supports Rangers and who supports Celtic?" The respective roars were deafening(the gers just shaded it i'd say..well i would)which just added to an already electric atmosphere, can't recall whether JJ tangling with the bouncers was the same night,although i do recall Peaches was one of the songs interrupted by the psycho bouncers, doing some wee kid. And who can forget the "Hello Mum, Hello Dad" section with 3000 sets of lungs shouting it out. This is immortalised on the cd recording "Live At The Apollo" and "Apollo Revisited" A guy  i vaguely new from C/Nauld regularly got on stage at Stranglers gigs..i can't remember how but one rumour was that he got on via one of the boxes then down the stage curtains. Great memories of a fantastic band at a fantastic venue. [reply]
 
I remember many guys jumpimg from the boxes onto the curtains then onto the P.A. before landing onstage. I also remember that it often got out of hand with so many fans onstage. I used to go to the Apollo every saturday afternoon with a friend. We would sit in the upper circle eating our Wimpey cheeseburgers from next door. Often there would be a sound check going on and we saw many bands testing their gear. You didn't want the bouncers to catch you in those days as they had a reputaion for kicking peoples heads in(provided they were in the majority)

Again, great days I'll never forget.

AL

Cincinnati, OH
[reply]
 
The bloke from Cumbernauld was my mate Ricky McMillan, who lived on the same street as me, about a dozen doors along the terrace. He was a couple of years older and totally fearless - I remember him getting on stage with the Stranglers at every Apollo gig of theirs I saw, and there were several. On one occasion, a bouncer came on stage to grab him, so JJ put down his bass and started grappling with the ape while the band played on. The tux-wearing Simian eventually backed off and Ricky carried on dancing, getting nods of approval from Jet and Dave in particular.

I worked in McCormack's music store on Bath Street for a couple of years in the 80s. One time, the Stranglers' tour manager came in asking if we could send our engineer round there to have a look at one of Dave's synths that had been playing up. Of course, I immediately volunteered to accompany said solder soldier and we were ushered on to the stage via the side entrance, where Dave's PPG Waveterm sat awaiting service. Dave's keyboards were all radically customised for him and it proved a difficult task. It was great to hang out on stage at The Apollo, but we never saw any of the band. The TM put me on the guest list for the gig at Edinburgh Playhouse two nights later - which seemed impossibly glamorous at the time.

Incidentally, Ricky McMillan had a Raven mural on his bedroom wall, with the rest of the room painted black. The streets around where we lived were plastered with his graffito'd Stranglers logo and tag. Even the gable end of his terrace bore a spray-painted Stranglers logo and when he was confronted about it by his elderly neighbour he denied all knowledge... of course. He was the first person I knew who owned a proper bass guitar and he showed me how to play the riff from 'Pretty Vacant', thereby kicking off my obsession with the instrument which I still carry to this day. All of this before he discovered, a few years later, the delights(!) of the Orange Order and took up the flute and joined a marching band. I remember him walking around Abronhill on his own, in his light blue uniform with the white stripe down the side, playing 'The Sash' on his wee piccolo. His bedroom was then transformed with a mural of Ulster and red hands all over the place. Then his graffiti'ing habits changed to stuff about 'No asurrender' and 'Proud to be Orange'. He later moved to N Ireland and married a girl from the Waterside.

Bizarre...
[reply]
 
Alright Chris, I lived in Oak Rd and it WAS Ricky McMillan who always got onto the stage. I think he got back stage passes as well the lucky sod.

My younger brother Craig had a Raven mural on his bedroom wall painted by a guy from Larch Mikey Young. Our Craigs old room has been wallpapered over a few times but that old Raven mural is still under there...someone'll come across it in a 100 years and go "what the fck"

Btw. I still go to see The Stranglers and they are superb on stage and in the studio(last 2 albums Norfolk Coast and Suite XVI rolling back the years. They're also playing the ABC on 1/11/07 check em out you wont regret it...no balconies to dreepy from tho'.....
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this was the gig where the glasgow city councilers were in attendance. they occupied a couple of boxes on the left handside of the stage. during peaches hugh asked miss counciler woman to put it all over his peeling foreskin baby. the crowd errupted. [reply]
 
I remember the Stripper too she was on during "Nice and Sleasy" she was a wee bit past it as far as I can remember .Good gig though as the Stranglers Never let me down
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I think that was the night the band offered a signed copy of an album and invited girls onstage to show their stuff. I remember one girl got onstage, walked towards Hugh and took her top off. Many girls got onstage that night and showed their goods.

Was it just stranglers gigs that were this wild ?

I saw every band from Iron Maiden to Ozzy to The scorpions etc, but never saw such "well rounded" entertainment as the Stranglers gigs.

AL

Cincinnati, OH
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