Backstage Pass
Academy 1 (Manchester Academy)
25th October 2003

This is the first gig where I felt really, really old. I was 26.

We got free tickets via the fanzine we ran and we thought the gig might be a night of fun bubblegum punk pop. It was that but most of the people in the audience looked about 12 so it was the first time I have felt out of place at a gig. We stood at the side with another photographer and looked on like a group of concerned parents. It felt like watching a depiction of teenage life as created by Hieronymus Bosch. Kids were frantically snogging, others crying, one or two vomiting or about to throw up, a girl had her nose ring ripped out… It was all strangely fascinating. At one point a guy from the support band climbed onto a speaker stack and launched himself into an epic stage dive into the crowd. We watched in horror as the fully grown man plummeted into the mass of adolescents. As far as I know no one was too badly squashed but I guess young bones are bouncier.