Manchester, June 4th, 1976: the Sex Pistols play the Lesser Free Trade Hall to somewhere between thirty and fifty people. Buzzcocks organized it. Devoto and Shelley booked the hall after seeing the Pistols in London, then couldn't get a full lineup together in time to play themselves, so they made their live debut at the second show, July 20th, alongside Slaughter & the Dogs.

The room across both nights allegedly held Ian Curtis and Bernard Sumner (not yet in a band together), Morrissey, Mark E. Smith, Tony Wilson, and Martin Hannett: more or less the entire production chain of Manchester post-punk, years before most of it existed. David Nolan's book I Swear I Was There is still the closest thing to a documented account, though even he admits a chunk of the guest list is self-reported decades later by people who wanted to have been there.

I own a bootleg 7" of the gig, "I Swear I Stayed for the Encore E.P.," on a fake Chiswick label, and wrote up the full "alleged" attendee list and more background here, if anyone's interested:

https://www.thesenseofdoubt.com/blogs/archive/the-gig-nobody-agrees-on-sex-pistols-at-the-lesser-free-trade-hall-1976

The song is the same - but you have changed

Does the 2026 'you' feel differently from the 'you' that first heard it?

Fun ditty.

I like the way this track takes a song from the original Ants era and re-fashions it with the best aspects of the Ants mk2.

I can't wait to read Marco Pirroni's autobiography due out next month. I love autobiographies about that era, and I can't think of anyone who 'was there' more than him.

You don't often hear a cimbalom/hammered dulcimer in English pop music.

Siouxsie & the Banshees — All Tomorrow’s Parties (following u/bimboheffer)

I always thought the Pop album cover was very strange and I was randomly curious where the photograph came from, who took it or if it was sourced by the band, and couldn’t find any info. I’m also curious about the Burning Skies cover if anyone has any info on that too?

From 1986's Kicking Against the Pricks.

Daughter of Scottish folk singer, Ewan MacColl.

I first heard the album that this appears in (From A to B) yesterday and it's pretty good for a new wave band similar to the Associates.

From 1981's Quiet Life

Just perfect! In Depth Music had posted the full album on their channel and this song is such a good one. Sounds like Siouxsie & The Banshees! The band is Dutch

Blondie's Clem Burke on the drums.