Looking back I've always been pretty bad at going to gigs and going out dancing. Or, rather, I was OK at it until some point in my twenties.
Fondly remembered gigs as a teenager: Genesis and Tangerine Dream (twice?) at the Assembly Rooms, Prefab Sprout and The Daintees at The Blue Note.
Fondly remembered gigs while at college: Trouble Funk at the Town and Country, The Membranes, The Mekons and Bogshed at Stow Hill Labour Club, Newport. (This one?)
After that. Not much. Similarly I've been bad at going out dancing.
Fondly remembered dancing as a teenager: 6th form disco. Co-op Function Rooms & the Blue Note, Derby.
Fondly remembered dancing while at college: the Tufty Club, various parties.
Since then it seems to have dried up. Some combination of work, hating smoke, always being the only person not drinking, being in a band, not liking crowds, really loving being at home has gotten me out of the 'going out to music' habit.
I have determined of late to change that. Because I really like live music. I really like dancing. And yet, as discussed, I never do either of them.
Partly because I don't drink. And sitting on my own sipping a Diet Coke seems more something than nursing a beer or a whisky. The latter would make me feel like a stranger on the edge of town, the former makes me feel like a Dad dropping someone off.
Partly because I have no one to go with. Anne's not really interested in much of the music I might like. She is occasionally kind enough to humour me with pleasant jazz if it involves sitting down but that's about it. My current solution to this is to buy two tickets to things I fancy and then flail randomly amongst my friends trying to entice them to come. So far it's not really working. People have lives.
But 2023 is the year I'm determined to get better at this. If you fancy a gig let me know.