sound of the suburbs

I'm going to very self indulgent today and start off with a short story about myself. In 1978 I was still living with my parents in Bakingside, Essex just a stones throw from Gants Hill. At this time I was attending Redbridge Technical College and I must admit spending much more time on drink and music than my so called studies. There was a small group of us that went to more gigs than we did our courses. Never being anything to see in our neck of the woods we were forever traveling to Finsbury Park, Hamersmith or wherever the latest cool venue was. It was much to our surprise when we heard that local boy made good Ian Dury was going to grace us with a concert at our local cinema the gnats Hill Odeon sitting there on the infamous Eastern Avenue. I don't know if we were the first to buy our tickets but we didn't hang around! When the big night came round, we were real exited, already knowing every song on 'New Boots & Panties' by heart. I was just 18 by a few days, so this gig from heaven was to be a birthday and christmas present for me, as for the Blockheads it was the last date of a long tour, so fiesta for everyone. We met up at the ajoining pub and were well merry by the time our tickets were checked at the entrance to the hall. The truth is I can remember very little out the gig, it was almost 30 years ago, except that we had a great and sweaty time and that the venues floor was left with a great big hole! Though what I do remember well is what followed after the gig: a friend and I went back to the pub until closing time when we decided to check out if there was any action backstage. Much to our drunken surprise not long after arriving, the doors opened and a pair of roadies invited the ten or so of us that were there inside. We finished our evening off on the stage of the Gants Hill Odeon partying with Ian Dury & the Blockheads! Imagine the disbelieving faces of our friends the next day as through our hangovers we recounted the night before.
You will now be able to understand how amazed I was the other week when I found an album of this very gig while surfing the web. Three or four clicks later and it was ordered. The recording that gave us 'Straight From The Desk' were never intended for commercial release, but nevertheless serves as a very respectable record of this historic moment. It is very much a fans record, the quality being that of a superior bootleg, so if you own everything by Ian, were there or just appreciate these tracks 'Billericay Dickie' and 'Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick' you can buy it here. I would like to point out that the gig though being advertised as at the Ilford Odeon, as is the CD is also billed, it was in fact Gants Hill.
IAN DURY 1942-2000, cheers mate!
Footnote: I failed my exams!