Best Gigs of 2002

This summer I decided to take redundancy at my job and to set up this website and spend even more time related to live music. The first trip abroad was to see The Sex Pistols and The Who in California in Sept. Sex Pistols played their first shows since 1996 Both were huge events with them playing to over 20,000 in London and 50,000 in California. Punk rock music and clothing is huge in America right now (better late than never!). Only 2 in London and California but there were the highlights of the year for me. As it was 25th anniversary of punk there were loads of punk and Sex Pistols goings on. NFT had a season of punk films and the Sussex Pistols (Sex Pistols tribute band ) hired out the same boat as the Sex Pistols did 25 years earlier. We had a fantastic afternoon on The Thames going past the Houses Of Parliament etc. and the band played a storming set too. I went on tour with Sex Pistol Glen Matlockand his great band The Philistines in May. Eight shows in 2 weeks acoss the country helping with equipment and selling stuff. A great bunch of blokes playing great music. It was a fantastic experience for me. As a thank you for my help with the main Sex Pistols website I was invited to the rehearsals for their Cyrstal Palace show and that was a really special afternoon for me. It was a good year if you were a David Bowie fan in London. I saw both his great shows at Royal Festival Hall and Hammersmith Apollo and met him at his HMV "Heathen" signing. Bruce Springsteen did a fantastic one-off show at Wembley Arena made even better by the fact we got into the main pit area in front of the stage only yards from the front. Two of the best gigs of the year would also relate to probably the 2 saddest events of the year. The Who played 2 fantastic shows at The Royal Albert Hall which turned out to be John Entwisles last UK shows before his death Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros played a low-key show for striking firemen to 500 people at Acton Town Hall. This was a great night that had Clash guitarist Mick Jones came on stage to play 3 Clash anthems with Joe for the first time in years. Six weeks later Joe Strummer was dead. I was totally gutted. I did not go to the funeral but was at the wake later that day in Ladbroke Grove. Thinking about all the great memories I have of The Clash as a teenager really did upset me but as they say "The music still lives on". This website is starting to get known by the people that run the big events so this year I was at The BRITS, Q Awards and MOJO Awards shows.Q Awards stood out as we were on a table with a couple of well-known radio DJs and Casey Spooner (Fisherspooner) and his management/PR team. This was a mega day that finished 12 hours later at the aftershow party in Shepherds Bush. Other highlights for 2002 that I went to were Brian Wilson, Prince, Dave Gilmore Band, Alanis Morissette, Oasis, Dream Theatre, Robert Plant Band, Andrew WK, Slipknot, Cyclefly, Jamiroquai, Bryan Adams, Iron Maiden, Dead Men Walking, Liza Minnelli, Alarm, ABC, Joe Cocker, Ted Nugent, Lenny Kravitz, Siouxsie And The Banshees, Suede, Roger Waters, Rod Stewart, Damned, Iggy Pop, Mark Knopfler, Meat Loaf, Pretenders, Strokes, White Stripes, Roy Wood Army, Foo Fighters, Prodigy, Guns And Roses, Deep Purple, Moby, Madness, Bryan Ferry, Sparks, Coldplay, ZZ Top, Vines, Morrissey, Manic Street Preachers, Elton John, Status Quo, Blondie and INXS.

	#	Artists	Venue	Date	Rating
1=	3808	Sex Pistols + Rapture	Crystal Palace Arena, London	27.07.2002	10
1=	3823	Sex Pistols + Buzzcocks + Damned	Devore, California, USA	14.09.2002	10
1=	3797	Sex Pistols Rehearsals	North London	12.07.2002	10
2=	3830	David Bowie	Hammersmith Apollo, London	02.10.2002	10
2=	3787	David Bowie + Dandy Warhols	Royal Festival Hall, London	29.06.2002	9,75
3	3843	Bruce Springsteen And The E Street Band	Wembley Arena, London	27.10.2002	10
4	3824	Who	Royal Albert Hall, London	08.02.2002	9,75
5	3855	Joe Strummer And The Mescaleros	Acton Town Hall, London	15.11.2002	9,75

Posted 1st January 2002