Ticket
The Apollo
27th May 1989

A ticket to see R.E.M. at the Apollo. This was on their Green Tour. I saw about 4 of these shows around the country including a secret gig at the Borderline Club in London.

During the period this gig took place (1989) I was working at The Hacienda. Typically there was a Hacienda workers weekend holiday the same weekend R.E.M. were playing - all Hacienda employees were being taken to The Melkveg in Amsterdam for a wild paid for party. I had to turn it down because at that time R.E.M. were incredibly important to me.

It was a fantastic gig. There was a rumour going around that the band were going to join Flipper onstage at The Boardwalk afterwards, so when the gig finished we trecked down to Little Peter Street and joined the que to get in to Flipper. Now, I'm not sure how many people would normally have gone to a Flipper gig in 1989, but it was packed due mostly to the R.E.M. rumour I suspect. It was an ok gig but there was a nasty fight at the front. R.E.M. didn't turn up.

The next time I went back to work at The Hacienda a friend asked me where I was on Saturday night as the guys from R.E.M. had come in and sat in the cocktail bar all night!

Cheers...