Memories of a thousand* gigs #33

(* probably not actually that many, but who’s counting?)

#33: Stiff Little Fingers
Plymouth Hoe - c.1996/8
Also in attendance: MrsRobster (and possibly an infant Madster…)

While I remember this event, I cannot for the life of me pin the exact date. Plymouth City Council used to run a free music festival on Plymouth Hoe in the summer during the 90s. I attended one of them with MrsRobster. Now, she reckons we had TheMadster with us in a buggy, which would probably make the show 1998. I don’t remember TheMadster being born at that point though, so that would make it 1996 as neither of us remember MrsRobster being heavily pregnant (which rules out 1997). Strangely I cannot find a single mention of it online. If anyone is able to fill in the blank, I’d be grateful (where the hell is S-WC when you need him?!) Anyway, what is definite is the fact that among the acts who played that day were Eddie and the Hotrods and a Thin Lizzy tribute band who were uncanny in both look and sound. 

Stiff Little Fingers headlined and I waded into the moshpit from the off. Before they came on, a rather inebriated old punk seemed to take exception to a group of teenage girls down the front. This, he felt, wasn’t the place for them. “You haven’t got a fuckin’ clue who Stiff Little Fingers are,” he slurred. “No fuckin’ idea. Wait ‘til the moshin’ starts.” They looked at him, bemused, amused and a little perturbed. The band came on playing Suspect Device, the moshpit kicked furiously into life and one by one, the teenage girls were lifted out of the crowd by the security crew; none of them lasted to the end of the first song. Sadly, the pissed punk was proved right.

The rest of the Stiffs’ set was generally a crowd-pleasing affair which drew largely from their early back catalogue, but also included a smattering of their more recent songs. Of course, At The Edge was the big highlight, a rousing rendition bellowed out by band and audience alike (though not, one suspects, any teenage girls).


Soundtrack:

• At The Edge [live] – Stiff Little Fingers (recorded during 'Hope Street' tour, 1999)
• Suspect Device [live] – Stiff Little Fingers (recorded during 'Hope Street' tour, 1999)