Following on from the 'Anarchy Tour' post, as mentioned, Manchester hosted two of the seven gigs that the band managed to play throughout December 1976. The Electric Circus put the band on on the 9th and again on 19th, the latter being hastily arranged as the powers that be decimated the original tour schedule.
The band's relationship with Manchester may have ended at the Collyhurst venue, but it didn't start there. The Pistols played two gigs at the prestigious Lesser Free Trade Hall in the centre of the city. Both gigs were instigated by Pete McNeish and Howard Trafford (soon to be of Buzzcocks under the more familiar monikers of Shelley and Devoto) who had travelled down to London some weeks before expressly to see this emerging phenomenon of Sex Pistols.
And Slaughter and The Dogs own poster for the same gig.... know your place John!
The story is brilliantly told in this Granada TV documentary which features many of the prime movers in the organisation of these now famous gigs, the bands that played and equally importantly some of those in attendance as punters, whose lives were changed and drastically shaped by the experience of seeing the Pistols in the summer of 1976 at one or other of those two gigs. Many attendees were inspired to buy an instrument and form a band within days of seeing Sex Pistols play. Those people went on to establish the city as one of the most vital and vibrant for music through the remainder of the 1970's and throughout the '80's and '90's.
The 'I Swear I was There' title of the earlier book and the documentary is a tongue in cheek reference to the exclamations of people who were there, but more tellingly those who were not there but claim that they were.
The documentary also covers the other key event linking Sex Pistols and Manchester and that is the band's first television appearance of the Granada TV magazine programme 'So It Goes' on 28th August 1976 hosted by one Tony Wilson.
Rotten's opening howl of 'Get off your arse!' grabs the attention for sure and what follows is still very powerful when viewed as I write this in 2023. I can only imagine what a rallying call these three something minutes of ensuing chaos was to many who were lucky enough to see it as it went out.
Thanks for sharing. I can't wait to get to London next week.
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