East At Easter & Concert Memories 🐣
Well, it has come around yet again, once Christmas has gone back to sleep again and Mother's Day has done the rounds then Easter is hot on its heels. I had a long think about doing a whole Easter based post as I don't necessarily celebrate it in any way shape or form, but to meet up with tradition I thought I'd better punt something out at least as this year Easter Sunday is at the arse end of March and Easter Monday being 1st April (traditionally April Fool's Day!).
Anyhooo, this post remembers a band I got lucky enough to see many years ago around about Easter by a few weeks (Concert was March 28th and Easter that year was April 16th), back in a part of London that has changed completely from when I visited it for a concert, I went back ten years later and worked there for about four years before I moved on to pastures new, possibly since Covid hit it has changed again with many companies opting for hybrid or remote working. Anyway without further ado the story of my initial visit to the place and everything inbetween...
Don't You Forget About Me
So, many years back in 1995 I got to see a band whom I had loved for so many years (and still do). I guess at the time I saw them they were coming down from that whole pinnacle of success they achieved both this and the other side of ‘the pond’, they were kind of the 'kings' of Stadium Rock in the mid to late '80's, hitting the highs in the U.K. with 'Live Aid' and I'm sure over the water in the U.S. at many grand venues too. I went to see them with a mate I used to go to school with (and still keep in frequent touch with), his friend and in turn a friend of his who kindly put us all up overnight.
It wasn't like the gig was a million miles away being only in E14, it's just that back at the time on a Sunday trains stopped running a little earlier so our host kindly offered to put us up. The gig itself was held on The Isle Of Dogs in London and years before had started to become more developed by big city businesses, Canary Wharf being a bit of a Mecca for big banks etc.
Further on from Canary Wharf is a place called Crossharbour, again another place with docks that used to cope with big ships coming in laden with delights from faraway places. Names like of streets such as Limeharbour, Mastmaker Road and Lightermans Road were all used to reference the days when the docks were used to bring goods from faraway places into London. Crossharbour was the home of 'The London Arena' a big venue that used to host concerts, boxing matches, basketball games and also have it's own ice hockey team 'The London Knights', the arena was built on a former harbour warehouse. It seemed to struggle financially over the years, although the venue was big it wasn't perhaps the easiest to get to and Crossharbour station would be severely overcrowded after events at the arena.
Kinda Spooky...👻
It was really odd in a way because around about ten years later from the gig I went to I got desperate to leave a company I was working for, so I hunted about for a new job and hit lucky with an interview at a building called Lime Harbour, to be honest at the time I didn't even twig that it was strangely right opposite where I had been to a concert nearly 10 years before, what was even more surreal was the guy that interviewed me was a man I used to work alongside around about the mid '90's as well!…how weird…cue the spooky sounds!
Anyway back to the concert, again it is quite strange how areas change and develop. We hit Crossharbour via the Docklands Light Railway (quite new at the time) and driverless, which was a novelty. When we got to the venue you could kind of see old run down factory buildings and the shaping of newer shiny ones to take their place. To be fair at the time Crossharbour didn’t offer so much. There was a nice bit of green land just right for taking the dog for a walk or just enjoying instead of the otherwise concrete, (when I worked there years later Asda had built a huge supermarket on it!). Other than that, the venue, some old East End Style pubs tucked down the backroads and plenty of old dockers houses, which I suspect today would be worth a fortune. Docklands Arena the venue of the concert was sadly demolished to make way for new housing in 2006, I remember vividly when I used to work opposite it at Christmas and into New Year it used to open up to house and look after London's homeless, so as well as a music venue it also offered some hope to those without.
Anyway, going back to the concert, we met with our friends chum from the area who took us back to the lovely home she had on Manchester Road (think it might have been one of her relatives houses originally) anyway she was a perfect host, helping that she was a chef in a top hotel in that she cooked us all a perfect dinner before we went out. We returned the favour by buying her a gift and flowers next day as she was on an early shift and was up and out to work before we all got up. I vividly remember the journey back the next day as strangely, previous weeks had been rainy, in contrast the weather that day was very cold and it hammered down with sleet and snow.
And The Band Played On
Concert time was great, a really good gig, the band rocked and played so many of their best known numbers as well as some new stuff thrown in, the odd thing about the Docklands Arena was that it had chairs! When all you wanted to do at a gig was jump about! Anyhow we seemed to bag an area a couple of rows back from the stage so sound and vision was top!
I am sure the band had played at greater and much bigger gigs than the one we went to and would have completely 'rocked' some huge venues, however by the mid '90's the musical landscape was shifting and newer more exciting sounds were about, but as a band they still held it together and gave a great performance.
The gig list for that day is here:
Their set contained songs from their album 'Good News From The Next World' released that year as well as some well known and loved tracks (I love it when a band performs and gives the audience that blend of old and new). One of the new tracks 'She's A River' is at the youtube link. The album hit the UK #2 position in the album charts of that year and the single above hit #9.
Obviously the encore was something quite special and the three tracks listed above were awesome. Have a listen to the classic 'Don't You Forget About Me' which was used in that well known film 'The Breakfast Club' from about 10 years earlier. The track as featured I think shows the band's complete energy and packs such a 'punch' from the opening riff to the whole audience participation 'chant', as a live track as well as being such a sing a long crowd pleaser, it is a track the audience can become completely immersed in! With this track you can kind of see how they became such stadium 'rock gods'.
Although this particular song wasn't played on the day it has given me chance to 'wax lyrical' about times gone by and to try to pull out something at Easter time, if only with this track by them called 'East At Easter' at the link. It is a live performance from one of their concerts in 1989, but a wonderful version highlighting their amazing stage presence. It was originally released in 1984 on the album 'Sparkle In The Rain' spawning other classics such as Up On The Catwalk and Waterfront. They still stand amongst my favourite '80's rock acts rubbing shoulders alongside fellow Scot's Big Country. If you like Simple Minds you can catch some of their really early stuff at my previous post on this site called 'Saints & Sinners'.
****
Well rounding off another post, whatever you do this Easter whether it is celebrating it in any way or just simply enjoying a couple of days off work in the words of the song leaving you with another Simple Minds favourite Sanctify Yourself. Enjoy and catch you again soon. 😉
****
Video Thanks
Picture Thanks
Gif Thanks
Photo Thanks
Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash