This is a site devoted to the history of Sheffield Rock & Pop music. We all know about the famous bands that come from the Steel City, but we want to devote some space to the bands that nearly made it as well.
Contributions of any kind welcomed – photos, reviews, memories, tickets, flyers, all welcomed. We know most readers will have some memorabilia tucked away in a dusty drawer 😉
Saturday July 5 1980, Pulp played Rotherham Arts Centre , supporting The Naughtiest Girl Was A Monitor
Setlist included: Message To The Martians / Shakespeare Rock / Disco Baby / She’s A Disease / You’re Too Cruel. Encore: Leaving Here (Motorhead cover)
As well as a fairly extensive listing of City Hall gigs, we’ve started a more general gig list, just 1980 so far, but feel free to let me have listings (ideally formatted as band,support/s,date,venue,town)
and I can add them 😉
The Priory of Brion grew out of a reunion between Robert Plant and his old friend Kevyn Gammond from the Band of Joy. The origins of the band were in the Performing Arts faculty at Kidderminster College, where at least two of the members worked and where the others may have been students.
Here’s the setlist: Season of the Witch/Morning Dew/A House Is Not a Motel/A Wondrous Place/Girl From the North Country/If I were A Carpenter/Darkness Darkness/Think/Early in the Morning/We’re Gonna Groove/Baby Please Don’t Go/No Regrets/Gloria/Trouble in Mind/Evil Woman/High School Confidential
Jon Downing
Amazingly, the soundcheck for this gig was captured on tape!
Here’s a photo from their Sheffield gig later in the year. This & many more pic available for purchase.
Have created pages for the Uni, Poly & the Grapes – please let us have any pics or tickets?
We;’re also about to expand our listing of gigs from the City Hall to cover more Sheffield venues, your listings for any of these would be much appreciated (there a link to a form for individual entries or a table to complete on this page).
One of the joys of getting older is that more and more people you know sign off for the last time. I was sorry to hear that John Morrell (aka “Stratman”) has left us after a long battle with illness. He was a builder (and repairer) of valve amps and guitars of the highest standard, which he hand-built in his workshop in Swallownest. He also had a bad joke for every occasion! He started business after the ten years of working the club scene with his wife Dorothy as a guitar / keyboards / comedy act. One of his many achievements was an see-through acrylic Fender twin combo and an acrylic Strat to go with it, used by Tommy Emmanuel. Dozens of local musicians used him to build and set-up their guitars. We’ve lost a genuinely friendly and funny man and a true expert in his field.
We’re truly sorry to hear of the death of Olga Marshall, the landlady of the Wapentake bar. although at 92 she had a wonderfully long life. Anyone who frequented the Wap will surely have fond memories of Olga, who was like a second Mum to many of us and ran her pub with dignity and consideration for her customers.
Theatre Of Hate Sheffield Polytechnic 27/02/82
From 1974, Renia were described as a “solid, energetic and rather straightforward hard rock band with strong vocals, fine melodies and some progressive influences (almost omnipresent Hammond organ and the mighty mellotron on amazing & truly beautiful ‘Shelter’ track) similar to Stray, Strider and early Nutz.”
Unfortunately, the album went completely unnoticed and the band broke up. Here’s a fairly upmarket apology for missing a gig at the “Mucky Duck”, found on ebay
Hi, just an response to “bands that played the Limit”. It was the night Scotland went out of the World Cup (1982?). a mid week gig by the Really Big Boys, we supported Whammer Jammer, also local. Our line up included Paul McNiff (bass) & John Wilson, previously rhythm section of Coil. Nifta passed some time ago, but Coil still do the occasional gig & I play with another ex-Coil bass player, Mick Philipson, T/A Swandogs.
Keith Slater