The most memorable Newport gigs
Ryan O’Neill recalls some of the city’s pivotal music moments
NEWPORT has played host to some unforgettable nights. From Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain’s visit to TJ’s that’s become the stuff of legend, to Morrissey spending a night at the Royal Gwent Hospital, there have been some serious nights to remember.
And it’s not just live music, either; Newport is littered with nods and references to some of music’s biggest icons.
It’s where Joe Strummer famously bought his first guitar, and where Manic Street Preachers decamped to record an album.
Here’s a rundown of some of the most memorable – and infamous – gigs to have taken place in Newport. Jog any memories?
Perhaps the most legendary tale in Newport’s musical history is that of the night Kurt Cobain proposed – or, rather, didn’t propose – to Courtney Love.
The story is said to have happened on December 10, 1991, when Love’s band Hole took to the stage at the iconic TJs live venue.
Organised by local promoter Simon Phillips, the lineup featured Hole, Northern Irish rockers Therapy? and indie noisemakers Daisy Chainsaw.
At the time, Nirvana’s breakout single Smells Like Teen Spirit was sitting at number 10 in the UK Charts, and grunge was on the cusp of roaring its rebellious way into the mainstream.
There are many stories from the night. Kurt Cobain himself had come to watch, and had nearly not got in, as promoter Phillips hadn’t recognised him at the door. Love was late to the soundcheck and reportedly used her Fender Jazzmaster like a surfboard during the performance.
However, the biggest mystery surrounds the story that Kurt proposed to Courtney in TJ’s. The origins of the tale are unclear, but versions range from the questions being popped under the plastic tree that stood near the entrance to the club, to behind the fruit machine, to not having been popped at all.
Whatever the truth is, the night was by all accounts a wild performance by a band just about to break into the mainstream, marked by a Chinese whisper that many still delight in pondering the authenticity of.
Can’t imagine a time when you could see one of the biggest bands in the UK for almost the price of a pint?
If you had a £6.50 ticket to Manchester band The Smiths’ Newport Centre stop in 1986, that’s exactly what you’d have got - that is, if the gig had been able to finish.
In one of the most notorious gig tales from the Port, frontman Morrissey’s usual despair and caustic humour was abruptly interrupted when, several songs into the set, someone from the crowd grabbed the singer, hauling him into the audience.
Morrissey was taken to the Royal Gwent Hospital and was later able to resume the tour, but the Newport gig couldn’t continue, leaving fans disappointed.
Rob Norman, Head of Images at Media Wales, was at the gig.
“It must have been about five songs in, and I remember just seeing him flying over my head and into the crowd.
“I had actually wanted to go to the previous night’s gig in Gloucester, but my friends and I were only teenagers and were too young to go by ourselves, and we couldn’t get any of our parents to take us.
“Sadly we didn’t end up going, and then obviously the Newport gig was stopped, so in the end I never properly got to see The Smiths!”
Now one of the biggest solo performers on the planet, back in 2012 Ed Sheeran was still making the graduation from flame-haired, scruffy busker in London to major recording and touring artist.
And although the signs were there when Sheeran arrived at
Newport Centre in late October that year, there was little awareness of just how big the then 20-year-old, who at that time was yet to release his debut album, would become.
One attendee that night was music photographer Mike Lewis, who was seeing Sheeran for the second time.