Wednesday, February 26, 2020

Concert Ads #6

On February 26, 1979 The Psychedelic Furs opened for The Flys at the Music Machine in London, England. Tickets were £1.00 for admission.

Tuesday, February 25, 2020

1980 ZigZag Readers' Poll

Back in April 1980 UK magazine ZigZag did a readers' poll and The Psychedelic Furs were mentioned quite a bit on it. They appeared in seven categories and here is the list of their rankings:


Albums

#5 The Psychedelic Furs


Singles

#10 "We Love You" - Psychedelic Furs


Group

#8 Psychedelic Furs


Live Group

#11 Psychedelic Furs


Tip For The Top

#1 The Psychedelic Furs


Boy Singer

#9 Butler Rep [Richard Butler]


Unrecorded Song

#4 "Soap Commercial" - PFurs
#5 "Mack The Knife" - PFurs


Here's the complete picture of the poll if you want to take a look.


Monday, February 24, 2020

Concert Ads #5

Via liverpoolerics.blogspot.com

On March 14, 1980 The Psychedelic Furs performed at Eric's in Liverpool, England. The opening act was Wah! Heat and tickets were £1.50 for members and £2.00 for guests.

This was the infamous gig that caused Eric's to close for good (although it reopened in 2011). After The Psychedelic Furs finished their set the Liverpool police barged into the club and destroyed the whole interior to search for drugs. For no reason they actually arrested Richard Butler, even though he had nothing to do with the situation. Richard's experience with that incident became the inspiration for the song "So Run Down" from Talk Talk Talk, with the line "Blue cars, big beat/Dead on my feet/I get this heat/Run round Lime Street"


9/22/2022 Update: Two days ago I found this magazine clipping from the March 22, 1980 issue of Melody Maker. It talked about the closing of Eric's and what happened at that show. It showed a picture of The Psychedelic Furs and they were briefly mentioned as well:

"The end came a week early when police raided after a Psychedelic Furs set. It is understood that those arrested face charges of possessing drugs, assault and obstruction. They were later bailed. The Furs' singer, Butler Rep, was among those charged with cannabis possession."


Caption under photo taken by Tom Sheehan: "Psychedelic Furs found themselves the last band to play Eric's when the police raided the club."