My Life in Concert.com podcast

(EP 21, no. 15) The Gang of Four with The Hoi Polloi: I Found That Essence Rare, Wonderland Gardens, London, Ontario, Canada, Saturday March 5, 1983

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Leeds’ furious and funky post-punk innovators The Gang of Four make an indelible, unforgettable visit to London, Ontario’s Wonderland Gardens, four months after the chaotic Iggy Pop gig at the same venue. 

Euphoria ensues. 

I had been listening to the band incessantly during that 1980-83 corridor and was thrilled they were coming.  

This March 1983 concert was not only my first ticketed gig of a musically busy year, it also marks the start of a new and welcome chapter in my life as well.  

This podcast recalls the concert but also reflects on key changes in my social life at this time as I began my 20s and finally found my local co-conspirators. 

Special Guest Phil Robinson, who I met at this time, returns to share his memories of the gig and the party after. 

Phil and I also reminisce about first meeting each other and our favourite live music haunts (Fryfogle’s, The Vic, The Embassy), dance clubs (Notes on Monday Nights, Studio 812), and drinking dens (Singapore’s, The Brunswick, The Richmond) that we and our friends frequented circa 1983-4 in London, Ontario. 

Phil’s cat Oliver also makes an angry and verbal guest appearance. 

Tune in for intensity and celebration, a lipstick covered forehead, and finding your own tribe. 

That and standing next to Catherine O’Hara and Kate McGarrigle in bars. 

You can read the original blog entry at the mylifeinconcert.com blog.  

 

Next on Stage: The next concert crystalizes a moment in time, representing a changing of the guards in the alternative music world, when The Beat—or The English Beat as they were called on this side of the pond—come to Alumni Hall in London, Ontario with a new, unknown American band called R.E.M. in tow as the opening act.   

The show took place as The Beat were in the last throes of their career but also peaking in popularity in North America.  Meanwhile, R.E.M. released their classic debut LP, “Murmur,” during that same week. 

Retrospectively, it marks the sundown of one era and the sunrise of the next. 

Returning Special Guest Phil Robinson has a lot of great memories from the night which he shares. 

Tune in next time for stage invasions, a cultural shift, and wondering what the hell I was thinking.  

(EP 22, no. 16) The (English) Beat with R.E.M.: End of the Party, Alumni Hall, UWO, London, Ontario, Canada, Tuesday April 12, 1983 

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