I didn't see the Pistols
It was 1996, and the Sex Pistols announed their Filthy Lucre reunion tour. They were to play Finsbury Park; also on the bill were Iggy Pop, Stiff Little Fingers, the Wildhearts and, er, 3 Colours Red. Having missed all their gigs first time around (in 1976 I was mainly in the womb), I thought it'd be good to go.

Better yet, I was a member of Labour Students, which supplied stewards for festivals - so not only was this a chance to go for free, but also a chance to get paid a tenner for it. Kickass!

My friend B and I turned up and were directed to our jobs. We were to man a delay tower. Delay towers are those big speakers half-way up the field, and we were supposed to look after the one on the right with the help of a couple of fucking enormous professional security men from Glasgow. The noise was astonishing. Not only did the ground shake: it felt as though it would shatter at any moment. My ears didn't stop ringing until 2003.

Anyway: the reason why these towers need looking after is that people try to climb them, and we were supposed to prevent that.

There's not actually a lot you can do to prevent that if they manage to get over the barrier, so prising people off the barrier became the primary focus. Which is why I spent almost a whole day fighting off ageing punks in the name of protecting the very equipment that was making my ears feel somewhat like Nagasaki.

Oh, yes: I had my back to the stage as well. So I barely saw anything.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Fri 5 Jun 2009, 12:08, Reply)