The Day The Buzzcocks Went Live

07/20/2011
. (Gibson) On this day in 1976, The Buzzcocks made their live debut supporting The Sex Pistols and Slaughter & The Dogs at The Lesser Free Trade Hall, Manchester. Gibson takes a look back: It was a gig that revolutionized the music scene in England. The new voice of their generation, the Sex Pistols, headed north to Manchester to play a show promoted by two young fans who had also put together their own band (inspired by the Pistols). The fans were Howard Devoto and Pete Shelley. Their band was The Buzzcocks and they made their live debut on this day in 1976.

Shelley and Devoto had discussed starting a band when they read a Sex Pistols review in NME. Shelley told Just Juice magazine: "They were doing a show in London. It said they did The Stooges' songs. It seemed like they were an exciting band to see. They seemed like a band that we thought we could be like. So that weekend, we borrowed a car and drove down to London. We found this group called the Sex Pistols and saw them playing. Their manager, Malcolm McLaren, was saying how he wanted to get gigs outside of London. We were like, 'Perhaps we can get you on at our college.'

"So we went back to the college and tried to get them a show, but no one was interested. We found out that we could hire a hall for 50 dollars a night. We thought if we sold tickets for a pound or $1.50, then we'd have right many people. We figured we could make it worth their while to come and play. So that's what we did. We said, 'Why don't you come up and we'll organize a gig here?' So we did. That's the first time that Sex Pistols played in Manchester." more on this story

Gibson.com is an official news provider for the Day in Rock.

Buzzcocks Music

Buzzcocks T-shirts and Posters

Share this article