Here you go, a short but interesting review of a long forgotten 1980 gig:

Click to see the whole page. From Pink Flag 6, probably October or November 1980

Irritatingly, the review doesn't give a date or venue, but 9th October 1980 is a good bet (based on the Echo and the Bunnymen mention at the bottom).

The 'Limit local bands gig' reference is interesting. Another forgotten show or confusion with the Bouquet of Steel event?

Sturdy wrote:

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Blimey, nice find. 9th October 1980 makes sense, especially as there was a gig at the George IV in Sheffield around that time that I never found any details for. It wasn't a new drummmer's first gig (although Jim Sellars had missed the one immediately before), but it was Jamie Pinchbeck's debut on bass!

The other alternative is 15th July 1981 as Pulp played at the Royal with the Flying Alphonsos that night. Depends whether there's a corresponding Bunnymen gig though.

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At first I thought it might be the 15th July 1981 gig, but looking at the rest of the fanzine, the other news and reviews are definitely all from October and early November 1980. So probably that George IV gig is the most likely.

This is the only other mention Pulp get (from the introduction on page 2):


It would be interesting to track down other Pink Flag issues (the 1981 ones particularly), there might well be more reviews or an interview.

Also, it would be interesting to find Russell Senior's Bath Banker Bouquet of Steel festival review. Have you seen that one Mark?

Will wrote:

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It would be interesting to track down other Pink Flag issues (the 1981 ones particularly), there might well be more reviews or an interview.

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Bizarrely, there appear to be three copies in the Modern Records Centre at Warwick University. I actually went to Warwick myself but don't get down there much these days - are there any other Warwick students on here who could pop in and have a look?

Do Warwick have some kind of Fanzine archive? That link leads to a list of all sorts of different fanzines. What is it? The department of Indie studies? If so, I think I might become an undergraduate again!

Do any copies of Bath Banker survive?

-- Edited by saw119 on Wednesday 9th of November 2011 05:48:21 PM

Reading the review and comparing different things there are a few inconsistancies aren't there. The reviewer mentions seeing them at the Limit towards the 'end of September'. Surely he is talking about the Bouquet of Steel show at the Leadmill in August? October 9th has to be the date for this show given the Bunnymen reference. So what venue do we think this show was at? The reference to 'just down the road' for the Bunnymen show could suggest the Hallamshire Hotel. Or am I being too literal as the reviewer has already made a couple of mistakes? Also, they must have started the show early if the reviewer still had time to catch the Bunnymen performing!

It's possible! I did think the list of early gigs was pretty complete though, going by the memories of early members and old listings in the Sheffield Star, which is why I thought the George IV gig was a likely match. I've sent Jim Sellars a message about all this in case he has anything to add!

Think the Royal was on Abbeydale Rd, not sure about the George.

Thats the same pub I was thinking of. Was just double checking though that there weren't other pubs with that name in Sheffield in the early 80's. The building is now no longer a public house but flats, I think.

Ah Will, am glad the fanzine fell into the right hands!

One suggestion re: fanzines is to take the names of the editors of any West Yorkshire based ones from the early 1980s and attempt to find said people via facebook etc? Even if they don't have copies to trawl through themselves, they may well know people who do?

Just a thought.

My computer blew up taking (I think) my quite astounding collection of Pulp bootlegs with it. This made me very sad so I've not been here for a while. Hope you're all keeping well.

Will wrote:

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It would be interesting to track down other Pink Flag issues (the 1981 ones particularly), there might well be more reviews or an interview.

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Well, I can confirm (thanks to my spy at Warwick) that there's nothing in issues 5 or 8.

Thanks for the generosity, Will. These are the sort of things I'd like to buy, but it's just not really feasible! Glad they keep falling into the right hands...!