★★★★★
You can take the band out of Manchester, but you can’t take Manchester out the band. What can I say about this gig that really hasn’t already been said about this 80’s and early 90’s Manchester band?? Not a lot is the answer. If you could give a gig 6 stars, then this would have deserved all 6. They were ordinary street lads, self-professed scallies made good and although times were hard in the 80’s early 90’s they came along at just the right time. They spoke to a youth at the beginning of the acid house culture through their carefree attitude and Manchester sound and swagger that became known worldwide along with the likes of Joy Division, New Order and the Stone Roses.
The acid house scene was a movement that you had to witness as was the Hacienda where the roots of the band were formed. I lived in Leeds at the time and was a regular at the Eclipse in Coventry, Leeds Warehouse, Shelley’s, Quadrant Park and the 051 and was lucky enough to go to the Hacienda a couple of times and the experience will always stay with me. These guys were a huge part of the movement with Factory Records and their music just exploded onto the scene.
So, 30 years on and Dundee was the first gig of a gruelling 26 date tour and boy I wasn’t missing this for anything. They are real living legends of not only that era, but the music industry itself. A band and individual personalities who have never lost their identity and who have never given a fuck about the rules. I geared myself to be potentially disappointed as you do when you see your heroes 30 years too late. But while hanging on a thread of hope, I wasn’t disappointed in the slightest and neither was the 1400 strong mad for it crowd.
I’ve not felt a buzz for a long time about a band coming to Dundee, a city that has a reputation for producing class musicians. Dundonians appreciate quality music and working-class heroes that have made good and the Mondays are a prime example of both, so they will always go down well here. You really can’t deny a band whose reputation for partying is on par with the music they have produced and after all their adventures and doomed brain cells, are still packing out venues 30years on.
