Hope & Anchor, Islington 26/6/23

[NancyJohnson]

I'm mid-bill on an afternoon thing at The Hope & Anchor this coming Sunday.  Making up numbers more than anything else.  We're supporting a band called Headsticks, so no pressure.  Spizz ('Where's Captain Kirk?') is also on the bill.

 

Alarmingly, while the capacity is only 70 ticket sales are pretty terrible, but hey, it's not our gig so I'm not concerned so much.  I'll be on the train home before the headliners will be done.

 

 

[skidder652003]

Even where I live in the sticks of Devon my local charges £6 quid a pint.

I'm frankly amazed anyone can afford to come out and watch a band for free these days, never mind pay for a ticket as well.

Hope the gig goes well regardless. Sometimes its crushing when you outnumber the punters but sometimes it can be fantastic.

We played a tiny place last night but there must have been 30/40 people crammed into it so it felt packed!

[Beedster]

11 minutes ago, skidder652003 said:

Even where I live in the sticks of Devon my local charges £6 quid a pint.

I'm frankly amazed anyone can afford to come out and watch a band for free these days, never mind pay for a ticket as well.

Hope the gig goes well regardless. Sometimes its crushing when you outnumber the punters but sometimes it can be fantastic.

We played a tiny place last night but there must have been 30/40 people crammed into it so it felt packed!

 

Most of the gigs that stand out in my memory have been to small audiences 👍 

[Mickeyboro]

I would pay to play the legendary Hope. What a great pub rock venue it was…

 

All the best with it, enjoy the experience, get photos taken and post them here so we can share the fun!

Edited June 19, 2023 by Mickeyboro

[Velarian]

There’s a lot of history at that venue. 
 

I remember going to watch a mates band playing there in 90s. We weren’t sure how to get there from the hotel we were staying at so we got a taxi. After 15 minutes or so and many twists and turns we forked out a small fortune to pay the driver. Turned out it was less than five minutes walk away. 😂

[Linus27]

I've played there a couple of times. To me it was just another pub gig and no different to playing a lot of the Camden venues.

[Lozz196]

Played there a few times, loved it. In honour of the venue and the genre (punk) we added The Damneds New Rose to our set the first time we played there (as the vid was shot there apparently).

[Clarky]

For your amusement, 17 years ago. My death/thrash band Nyx at H&A. While its a pub like many in Camden, I do like the ghosts of the punk past there. Hope Sunday's gig is a blast @NancyJohnson

 

 

[NancyJohnson]

7 hours ago, Beedster said:

 

Most of the gigs that stand out in my memory have been to small audiences 👍 

 

Or to none at all. 

 

We were mid-bill about ten years ago.  Tuesday night in Bracknell.  Nobody in.  Zero.  We were kind of looking around and going, 'Well, shall we or shan't we boys?' and then did 45 minutes to the sound guy and four mates who were under us on the card.  It was kind of funny.  The headliners were up in the bar, so we broke down our kit, put it in our cars and all went to the same bar while they were on.  Rumour has it they played a couple of songs to nobody and just gave up.

[BillyBass]

Like @Mickeyboro above, I would pay to play there.

 

I first went to the Grope & W*nker in 1980, can't remember the band but I do remember a very long argument with a bouncer who didn't believe I was 18 (I was 16 or 17 and looked 12!)