Friday, January 21, 2011

From the archive, 21 January 1985: Pop bands put on miners' benefit show

Originally published in the Guardian on 21 January 1985

BRIXTON

On a Saturday night in the large and freezing Brixton Academy, four British pop bands raised an estimated �18,000 for the striking miners in a remarkable show that mixed political idealism with just a little bitchiness and trouble. The idea originally came from Aztec Camera's Roddy Frame who wrote, offering help, to the National Union of Mineworkers. A sound technician, Simon Firth, happened to be at NUM HQ, and although he has never put on a pop concert before, he managed to get three other bands to provide their services free, and (even more important) get hold of lighting, sound and production companies which also made no charge.

It all worked perfectly, apart from forgers swamping the market with more than a thousand fake tickets, with the result that the hall was dangerously over-full. Meanwhile, backstage, there were accusations of anti-socialist behaviour, as one band apparently refused to draw straws to decide the running order in case they were forced to appear early.

The hero of the evening (apart from Frame) was Orange Juice's Edwyn Collins, who agreed to end the impasse by going on first, saying he at least was still true to punk principles. What he hadn't told anyone was that this was to be Orange Juice's final appearance, and so the last ever performance of their wry, tuneful songs. They were followed by the Wooden Tops, a local white Brixton band, who should do very well with their odd mixture of Eighties-style skiffle rockabilly, Bo Diddley riffs and ballads played with a line-up including semi-acoustic guitar and synthesiser, all held together by an inspired drummer.

Next on, in a bill which showed off the best in the softer side of contemporary British rock, came Everything But The Girl, whose ears might have been warmed by comments about them in the bar. Finally came the Aztecs, showing (as Frame said) that they were still "true to their class." There was certainly none of the silly histrionics they showed at the Dominion, and Frame ended a good set by even playing Van Halen's Jump with a sense of irony. If the situation demands it, there could be another show like this in March.

[The year-long miners' strike ended six weeks later when a small majority of NUM delegates voted to return to work without National Coal Board concessions on pit closures. By the end of the year, 25 pits had closed, followed over the next decade by all but a handful of the 170 mines working in 1984.]


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