Читать книгу Buzzcocks - The Complete History - Tony McGartland - Страница 69

Back in Salford, Buzzcocks play an unpublicised gig at St Boniface’s Church Youth Club, by way of repaying the church hall for allowing them to rehearse there. Owen Jordan remembers, ‘I was living next door to these young lads and, after they moved in, I could hear the music coming from the cellar below. I didn’t know what it was. I got to know Howard. We started talking and I told him I was a youth leader in the area. He offered to play at the youth centre and I let them use the old school building to rehearse. They played for about thirty minutes. They were nice lads.’

Since the majority of the gig’s audience are so young (only eight or nine years old), Devoto suggests they change the words of ‘Oh Shit!’ to ‘Oh Spit!’. The six-number set also features ‘Fast Cars’ being played for the first time. Diggle uses his bass amplifier to stop the bass drum sliding around. Meanwhile, several kids run around in circles, sliding on the floorboards in their sock soles and shrieking loudly as the band play.

Owen invites his friend Peter Adamson to the gig as he is a trainee music teacher and has a keen interest in music. Adamson says, ‘It was the St Boniface’s old Primary School, which is now effectively disused. The building was adjacent to the church and new youth club, which was the building they played in. The gear was in that building and I went along to help carry it. The funny thing about the gig was there were only about ten people in the audience. Owen, Vinny Burke and myself and a handful of kids. Before the gig started I asked Howard Devoto what sort of music they played and he said, “You’ll soon find out.” I asked the kids afterwards what they thought of the band and they replied, “Rubbish!”’