20th March 1986 - The Nightingales + Ted Chippington + We've Gotta Fuzzbox and We're Gonna Use It + compere: John Peel - Birmingham University

John Peel was an arbiter of musical good taste for at least two or three generations of music fans, therefore any tour to which he lent his support was not to be missed. It was pleasing to discover that even when he was speaking on stage he was as diffident and understated as he was on the radio. I don't know whether John actually chose the acts for this tour, but I suspect he may have had some hand in it. They were all pretty different from each other, but were of a similarly high standard.

We've Got A Fuzzbox and We're Gonna Use It looked like the result of a series of explosions in dressing-up boxes and make-up drawers. Both their look and their music had a certain day-glo quality. They were obviously barely tutored in their instruments, but their sheer creativity overcame that obstacle. This was no virtuoso performance but their material was very good, especially "XXSex". Unfortunately they had to run the gauntlet of bad undergraduate humour (e.g "show us yer fuzzbox!"). They were very imaginative, but were later given a corporate pop sheen by WEA and re-branded as Fuzzbox.

Ted Chippington was a spoof working men's club comedian and singer. His jokes were given a very flat delivery and usually started with the line "walking down the road the other day", for example: "walking down the road the other day I was stopped by one of those long-haired blokes (you've seen them around) and he said 'hello mate, would you like some grass?' I said 'I've got crazy paving mate, grass is no good to me'". Hopefully this gives you a flavour of his humour. He'd had an EP released called "Party Hits of the 50s, 60s and 70s" on which his 'singing' was every bit as flat as his vowels. He was actually hilarious but some of the students just didn't get it. One bloke yelled out: "who the f*** are you?!!" Without missing a beat Chippington replied: "Ted Chippington's the name mate". They don't tell 'em like that anymore.

A degree of gravitas was brought to proceedings by The Nightingales who were perceived as 'proper' artists. They were promoting what would be their final album before splitting: "In The Good Old Country Way". The quality of Robert Lloyd's songwriting was never in doubt, and his sonorous baritone only served to underline that quality, inviting the audience to listen as well as leap about. Whatever your reaction to them, they certainly didn't give the impression of a band about to implode. All in all, a memorable gig!