The Stranglers played the Brighton Centre on the Feline Tour on the 17th of March, 1983. It was a day that, if there’s any justice, should be carved on my headstone. It was my first gig.
At the time, I was in the first year at Haywards Heath Sixth Form College. My brother was in the year above. We shared various friends—generally scruffier, noisier, and more exuberant than the status quo, as you might expect. Some of them played in a Haywards Heath punk band called Esprit de Corpse. We all thought they were great, because they were our friends and they were a punk band. In reality, they were absolutely terrible.
My brother had recently passed his driving test and secured the regular use of my mother’s brand new Mini Metro. While it was technically new, much like Esprit de Corpse, it was rubbish. A train ticket to Brighton cost £1.80—about the equivalent of two pints—which, when you didn’t have a pot to piss in, felt like an extravagance better spent on beer.
Of course, go and see the Stranglers now, still defiant and brilliant, is also really just a walk down memory lane, As a seventeen year old it was a massive occasion, we all worshipped the Stranglers
There were loads of us going. In our youthful exuberance and total lack of foresight, we decided it would be cheaper if eight of us crammed into that tiny car. So, on a dark March evening, full of anticipation, we set off from Haywards Heath, soon charging down the A23 to Brighton.
Now, as I’ve said, a Mini Metro is a poorly built and fairly awful car. Heavily overloaded, with an inexperienced driver at the wheel, it was effectively a metal deathtrap on wheels. The overtaking manoeuvre was misjudged almost immediately. Impatiently, the driver, rather than easing gently into the right lane, swerved abruptly. The car jolted violently and, in an instant, we all fell silent as our lives began to flash before our eyes.
We skidded across the road, heading straight for the central reservation. At the last moment, the car somehow veered back, only to lurch from side to side, completely out of control. Then, with a sickening crash, we smashed into the side of another car.
I can only imagine the poor soul inside, suddenly seeing a Mini Metro, stuffed with gawping teenagers, slam into them at speed. It must have been a truly awful experience for them, but in a grim twist of fate, that collision snapped our car out of its death-dance and brought it back under control.
Shaken, my brother floored the accelerator, fully aware he was now in the absolute shit. Looking back, at the time it wasn’t much of a moral dilemma. Nobody was hurt, but we’d just destroyed the side of someone else’s car and, in a split second, decided to drive away.
We tore down the dual carriageway, turned off at the next exit to drop a few people who’d decided they’d rather take the train the rest of the way, and then pressed on to Brighton.
The ridiculous thing was that nobody seemed particularly traumatised. It became one of those stories everyone thought was cool, a badge of honour rather than a cautionary tale.
The Stranglers opened with “Something Better Change.” I remember thinking they were absolutely amazing, though it was my first ever gig, so I probably would have thought that regardless.
On the drive home, my brother and I tried to work out how he was going to explain to my parents how the side of the Mini Metro had been caved in. As I recall, the official story was that someone had done it in the car park. In hindsight, I can’t imagine any sane adult buying that explanation, but my parents seemed to take the view that it had happened, and it just needed to be fixed.
There’s no moral to this story. We all do stupid things when we’re young. In this case, we were incredibly lucky not to have killed ourselves or someone else. Whenever I drive down the A23 these days, I’m filled with the most profound sense of guilt for that poor person who, through sheer misfortune, and maybe a bit of heroism, probably saved our lives. Their reward was to watch us scuttle away into the night.
#The Stranglers #Punk Rock #Punk Memories #Near Death Experience #Brighton Gigs
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The Stranglers
1980s Music
Punk Rock Memories
Near Death Experience
Brighton Concerts
Haywards Heath
Youthful Exuberance
Mini Metro Adventure
Music Nostalgia
The Rights of Fans. 