Shortly after I believe I saw a local act play Central Park in Newcastle - but that was mostly covers and therefore doesn't count. What about that Babyshakur gig at Queens? I remember that show was the same day I was checking out Halls, so that must have been just before I started uni. Ash, Backwater and Tunic at The Maysfield Leisure Centre? Just looked that one up - turns out it was July 1996, so probably not.
No, I'm pretty sure my first ever experience of a Northern Irish band was going to see Watercress at The Empire. Watercress were a bizarre prospect - a sort of half-folk, half indie four piece armed with catchy choruses, double bass and big hair dos. I'm pretty sure I recall them doing a cover of Prodigy 'Firestarter' as it had just been released. So yeah, spring 1996. Good times.
The other thing I recall from that gig is signer Dan Donnelly having a pint afterwards, at the bar downstairs. The guy I'd just watched entertain a sold out venue, was just standing there with a mate having a drink, just like everyone else. I found that strangely fascinating, to discover not all musicians were intergalactic celebrity beings living in a different dimension from us mere mortals. To be fair, at that point I'd only have seen the likes of Michael Stipe, Liam Gallagher and Thom Yorke take to a stage and therefore didn't know any different. But Watercress were real, a band I could approach with a guitarist who'd both sign my CDs and give me a bit of chat. And thus a loveaffair began - not with the guitarist (handsome as he was), but with local music and the concept of being the first on a bandwagon, of seeing bands play small venues, ahead of potential stardom. It's a buzz that never wore off....
