Record Store Day 2023

• The first album I owned (I borrowed plenty of my brother's albums) was Appetite for Destruction.
• The first gig I went to was Gary Moore at the Royal Albert Hall on his After Hours tour (5th October 1992 if memory serves me correctly...which it probably doesn't).  Special guests were Albert Collins and George Harrison...support from slide guitar maestro Dave Hole.  
• Best Gig - Difficult one this, probably Roger Waters, Wembley, The Wall tour in 2012 (I think), the stage show was spectacular and The Wall is probably my favourite Floyd album.  Although there's a big Shout out to Ghost at Wembley Arena and Rammstein at Cardiff Stadium.
• Artist to recommend - Avatar, Swedish metal at its finest.  Very catchy riffs (The King Welcomes You to Avatar Country and Let it Burn being two of my favourites) but might not appeal if you're not in to the whole shouty thing.  Same with Finntroll, Finnish Hoedown Metal - very heavy with folk elements.  Don't knock it until you've tried it! 🤘😫🤘

First record: New Order - 'World in Motion'
First gig: Suede at the Victoria Hall, Hanley
Best gig: The Stone Roses, Madison Square Garden
Recommended artist: The Stone Roses, the best band there's ever been and ever will be.

First Record: Instead of going for the didn’t know better, very young childhood singles of ‘Around the World’ by East 17 or ‘Baby come back’ by Pato Banton, my first consciously bought record was ‘Everything Must Go’ by Manic Street Preachers. Cover to cover such a good album.

First gig: Rhythm of the Saints tour with Paul Simon. Dad a huge fan of Simon and Garfunkel so took the whole family. Can’t remember much of it except he played ‘You can call me Al’ and then jammed for what seemed like 4 days.

Best gig: Smashing Pumpkins at Wembley Arena. One of my all time favourite bands and a bucket list item ticked off. I cried, I sang.

Recommended artist: All time favourite band EELS. Had a couple of minor hits in the mid 90’s but had a steady and growing cult following 15 albums later. Ever changing between soft folk rock and hard rock with some good humour behind some serious topic songs. Favourite album to really get to grips with them is ‘Electro shock blues’, a quirky concept album about losing loved ones. Happy times! 

A bit of nostalgia here for me! 

First record was a cassette tape! KLF the whiteroom 

First gig - Black grape at the forum in Livingston (now an M&S outlet shop)

Best gig - seeing both Tiesto and Paul Van Dyk at Gatecrasher summer sound system 

Recommended artist - tricky one this, I do love dance music and I'd probably say it's between Solarstone and Markus Schulz in terms of production. 

 Nice post George! 😎 I can't say I've ever played a physical vinal record.. before my time lol. My first music player was a Walkman. 

• Your 1stAlbum/Record: Maroon 5 - Songs About Jane, they are still one of my favourite bands and their old songs are golden.
• Your 1stGig: I wouldn't say I've ever been to a gig 😅 Does Wireless festival 2018 count? Didn't enjoy many acts though. My first concert (I’m 24 lol) was only last year and I saw Coldplay at Wembley, BEST NIGHT EVER 💃 
• Your Best Gig: 👆 I am seeing The Weeknd this year at Wembley too.. so TBC if he can beat Coldplay. 
• Recommend an artist you think people should check out, let us know why! Majid Jordan, they are so underrated and not very popular yet but I've listened to them for years. Their music is R&B with a modern twist. 
  

   

• My first single/love (if I am being super honest).

• First Gig: Bon Jovi
• Best Gig: Green Day
• Recommendation: Super commercial but Post Malone - Hollywood's Bleeding album. Especially good for anyone going through a relationship break-up.

Ok I've let this breathe a little, now its my turn!

• My first single was Benni Bennassi - Satisfaction (I was a pre-teen boy, what chance do I have?)
• First gig was to see a smaller band called Glasvegas, circa 2005 before they had any real hits.
• Best gig - T In The Park 2010, I would argue there has never been a better varied line up than that year, with Muse, Faithless, Editors, Eminem, Stereophonics, Kasabian, Biffy Clyro, Jay-Z, The View, Black Eyed Peas, Florence and the Machine, Prodigy, Calvin Harris, Mumford and Sons, David Guetta and Carl Cox.
• The band I have recently been recommending is The Reytons, some lads from Sheffield who are going at it on thier own with no label, recently had a number 1 album. If you liked earlier Artic Monkeys albums I absolutely would give them a try!