The March Violets Melkweg Amsterdam 7th October 1983

 

Here's another one from The March Violets when they played at the Melkweg in Amsterdam in October 1983. Originally acquainted with and associated with the Sisters of Mercy (via Leeds and the fact that their first release was on the Sisters' 'Merciful Release' label), latterly they were more aligned with the likes of Red Lorry Yellow Lorry and Xmal Deutschland and they shared the stage with both bands on numerous occasions.

Consistently labelled as 'Goth', more importantly, The March Violets are a band of the post-punk era who were able to offer something edgy and different at a time (early to mid-'80's) when so much music in the UK turned to shit.

The March Violets are playing dates in the UK in the summer.

Thanks as ever to Peter for this one!

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-82HUjweqpEg8sGKS

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-XanzbUtMMPN7ZbmS

New Musical Express (8th January 1983)

The March Violets Live on JBTV 7th November 2015

 

Here are The March Violets live on a Chicago based TV show back in 2015. It's a short live studio set that features some of the better known of the band's songs. If you have Spotify, take a listen to their 2024 album 'Crocodile Promises'... and then go out and buy it.

DVD disc image: https://we.tl/t-tMm7rQn5GZ

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-khQ0s4yies

Top 10 Gigs of 2025

Always a difficult choice at the end of the year, but one that is getting a bit easier as each year passes. Enforced abstinence does mean that whilst it is not stopping me from going to gigs, I have become a little more selective in what I choose to go to. Pre-gig meets in pubs have been part of the process for decades and still is. The problem really comes with the Festival type events where the beer is/was (for me at least) an integral part of the day's proceedings. That kind of rules some things out for me... Rebellion for example.

So, the pool of gig experiences this year is a little shallower than in previous years, but here goes... in no particular order.

1. The March Violets Oslo Hackney London 25th June 2025.

Reviewed in greater detail (here), this was my first time of seeing the March Violets after liking them for 40 years! Some bands somehow just slip the net like that. But, it was worth the wait as they put in a great performance to a surprisingly thin audience (in number terms... not a physiological observation) on a very hot summer's night. No hits as such, but all of the big tunes were there as well as tracks from their excellent 2024 album 'Crocodile Promises'. They have UK dates booked for 2026.

The March Violets

(Oslo, Hackney 28th June 2025)

2. Hugh Cornwell The Islington Assembly Hall 13th November 2025

In an unintentional continuation of a gothic theme, next on my random list is Hugh's gig in Islington, a night of the undead as after a mere 45 years he unleashed 'Nosferatu' upon his audience. More can be read here. It is an album that I have always loved (in fact the top of the pile of all of the band's solo and spin-off efforts). Most of the crowd knew what to expect, but I did notice a few whose facial expressions suggested patient endurance of the experimental stuff whilst waiting for the hits! Even to my ears, and I know the album like the back of my hand, there were some bits in there that were reminiscent of The Fast Show's 'Jazz Club'! I hope that some of his earliest solo material still works its way into his sets going forward... perhaps in place of  'Bring on the Nubiles'... 'Wired' and 'White Room' survived through to the Dover gig in December so that's a start.

Hugh Cornwell

(The Islington Assembly Hall

13th November 2025)

3. Sex Pistols Dreamland Margate 23rd August 2025

This was really more of a day out than a run of the mill gig. An opportunity to enjoy a late summer day by the sea in the company of friends. The gig was really the icing on the cake. The Stranglers played a great festival set before the main attraction took to the stage. I like the Pistols and the 'Bollocks' album, but I have never really gone much out of my way to see them. I was at Finsbury Park for 'Filthy Lucre' but didn't bother with subsequent gigs... Shepherds Bush, Brixton Academy and the like. The same goes for the recent gigs, but I did want to see them once and this presented an ideal opportunity. I like the fact that the three Pistols involved in this project are asserting their right to perform the music that they created in '76/'77, in the face of noisy Lydon protests from the sidelines. Is Frank Carter a good fit?... I dunno, but then again how on Earth do you put in Lydon's place??

More on this one here.

Sex Pistols

(Dreamland Margate 23rd August 2025)

4. Tom Robinson Band Corn Exchange Hertford 13th August 2025

This perhaps was the one (more here), the best gig of the year. It wasn't the most raucous (the average age of the audience was the highest of the year) and the singer/bass player was forced to sit for most of the gig thanks to a troublesome hernia. Those facts notwithstanding....

It was the most positive, uplifting gig of the year as punk's premium activist went through TRB's impressive back catalogue. At a time when a far right minority feel empowered in this country, Tom's set was a much needed shot in the arm. Power in the darkness indeed!

Tom Robinson Band

(Corn Exchange Hertford 13th August 2025)

5. The Vapors & Ombudsmen Record Junkee Sheffield 15th March 2025

Promoting their new album 'Wasp In A Jar' The Vapors played a handful of gigs in the UK. Support for two of these gigs, in Manchester and Sheffield, came from Manchester's Ombudsmen. These grass roots dates made for a fun weekend of loading gear in and out, soundchecks and poor food! I know that the support appreciated the exposure that came with playing with a name band. Surprisingly, they were better received in Sheffield than in their own town. Having said that, Ombudsmen's experimental/Devo-esque set is a world away from the new wave/mod tinged music that a Vapor's audience were perhaps anticipating. Still winding up elements of an audience is no bad thing is it? Just ask The Stranglers!

More words here.

6. The Stranglers Roundhouse Camden 1st November 2025

Much anticipated Stranglers tour, albeit a small, nine date affair, seemingly in keeping with their declared intent to knock the touring marathons of previous years on the head. Great to hear 'Pin Up' in the set, but I am sure that for me and for a significant proportion of the audience, the run away highlight of the show was a closing rendition of 'Mean to Me'. Great stuff.

A typically poor photo from me (but it does get in all four members!).

The Stranglers

(The Roundhouse, Camden, London 1st November 2025)

7. Gary Numan Cambridge Corn Exchange 26th November 2025

Reviewed here. For someone who sang 'Keep your revivals', Numan pulls off a revival with the best of them. Tragically, what was initially intended to be a 45th Anniversary celebration of his 1980 No.1 album 'Telekon' unexpectedly evolved into a tribute tour following the tragic death of Gary's brother, John Webb, two days into the schedule. Of all of the 'classic album' tours that Numan has done, this was the best yet, delivered with an edge for which the sudden loss of John may or may not have been a contributing factor.

Gary Numan

(Cambridge Corn Exchange 26th November 2025)

8. The Courettes Concorde 2 Brighton 16th November 2025

Not my usual fayre, but a happy discovery this year. An unusual but most welcome choice by Hugh of support for his Nosferatu tour. Stylish, noisy and fun!

The Courettes

(Concorde 2 Brighton 16th November 2025)

9. Ruts DC MAH Cambridge 6th December 2025

Just as Moderna provided the required booster to the Pfizer vaccine back in the dark days of COVIC-19, Ruts DC's gigs in London and Cambridge in December offered a much needed booster to the TRB gig back in August. A further dose of intelligent music to challenge an alarming rise in intolerance and hatred was in order in the wake of certain events of last summer. As ever Ruts DC delivered it.

Segs's shirt choice of the evening neatly summed things up in one word... 'Resist'.

10. 999 Monkeys Music Club Hamburg 25th July 2025

Gunta and I have been following this band for 40 years now, but this summer was the first time that we had travelled over to Europe to see them. This was the second of two shows we took in (the other being in Dusseldorf). More here, but suffice to say that the band went down a storm with their German Crew!

999

(Monkeys Music Bar, Hamburg 25th July 2025)

The March Violets Oslo Hackney London 28th June 2025 - A Review (Of Sorts)

 

I first heard The March Violets 41 one years ago in my mate Matt's bedroom. This was a time when we were both discovering music away from the mainstream. To the extent that finances allowed you would go and see who ever it was that was playing locally (locally in our case was Brighton). For Matt, whose finances were in better shape that mine, that meant that one week it could be the Subhumans at the Richmond, and The Sisters of Mercy at the Top Rank the next. One band that he latched on to was Leeds's March Violets... for a time he was seeing them in London too. I suspect that at that time the then singer Cleo was part of the draw. Thus it was that I was listening to the likes of 'Grooving In Green' and 'Snake Dance' on a mid week evening when I probably should have been studying for my mock 'O' levels or something.

The thing was that despite his enthusiam for the band and the fact that musically I liked them too, I never went along with him to see them back then. It has only been in the last 12 months or so that I went back and started listening to that old material again and better still there was an album of new material to get to grips with too, the excellent 'Crocodile Promises'. My plans to see them for the first time in London last year were derailed by an unexpected stint in hospital, so when further dates were were announced for this summer I got in quick and vowed to stay healthy!

Saturday was the start of a heatwave across the UK that culminated in yet more record breaking temperatures, but whilst the close knit streets of Hackney were generating steam heat, the dark confines of the venue space at Oslo were delightfully air-conditioned. Our arrival was delayed by the need to find a parking space (always a challenge in Hackney), so there was just time to purchase a shirt from Rosie, and watch the final two tracks from the support before the March Violets took to the stage. Opening with 'Made Glorious' and 'Long Pig', these two tracks being the only ones in the set that I was not familiar with was a great start. 'Crow Baby' brought me back into familair territory and from then on it was joyous. The old was quickly followed by a venture into the new with the brilliant 'Hammer the Last Nail', a highlight from the all round excellent 'Crocodile Promises' album. There is a distinct difference between the old and new material, whilst being unmistakably the work of The March Violets, the new material is more melodic than before. Tom Ashton's guitar shimmers over all and provides a strong counterpoint to Rosie Garland's great vocals.

The good news is that the Violets are still an angry band. Rosie mentioned that 28th June (the night of the gig) was the 56th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in New York when the gay community started to fight back, but it is a fight that continues into the present day. It is enough to say that Rosie Garland is not a supporter of the new US administration! Let's not forget that as a Leeds band, The March Violets came into being against a backdrop of industrial decline (felt most keenly in our northern towns and cities) and let's not forget that the streets of Leeds and Bradford had until recently been stalked by a derranged serial killer who took the lives of 13 women. Gritty times... that spawned Goth bands all around the city!

Tonight though, anger was turned into a celebration of their songs, each played loud and played purple!

The 'new' 'Kraken Awakes' separated old favourites 'Grooving In Green', 'Steam' and 'Walk Into The Sun'. The latter track really did transport me back to evenings whiled away in Matt's third floor bedroom playing snooker and listening to the band on his crappy old record player!

'Walk Into The Sun'

Oslo, Hackney

28th June 2025

In what seemed to be next to no time, the words 'Goodnight' came from the stage the main set was done. The encore offered up 'Fodder' (well received by an audience with an appetite for more!) and of course 'Snake Dance'.... and then they were gone and we were  turned out into the fading light (it was not quite 10pm) and high humidity of Mare Street.

So that was it, 41 years later than I would have liked I got to see The March Violets. I loved it and I think even Gunta was quite impressed.

The March Violets The Chapel San Francisco 13th November 2024

 

This is a great gig from the March Violets tour of the US in the autumn of last year. A great sounding recording sees the Leeds band run through a set covering their early 1980's career through to last year's new album, 'Crocodile Promises'. Thanks to the original Dime uploader, loughney.

That new album made it to number 22 in Vive Le Rock's albums of 2024 and rightly so.

Here's what they had to say.

THE MARCH VIOLETS
CROCODILE PROMISES

(Metropolis)

The re-blooming of goth legends. 9/10.

After a flurry of archive releases over the last few years and well-received live dates across the world Rosie Garland and Tom Ashton are back with Mark Three of The March Violets and a brand new album in the form of the immensely alluring 'Crocodile Promises'. Joined by Mat Thorpe, the trio has set about making an entirely classic album that carries on the original sound they created but progressing it a contemporary feel and approach. With a crystal-clear sound they present nine tracks that see them flaunting their recognised sound, so you instantly appreciate it whilst forming the familiarity of an old friend. Whilst comfortably sitting in the dark recesses of goth, the genre is celebrated and projected forward through every facet of the album. The vocal delivery from Rosie is unquestionably transcendental; it could be the '80s again with past glories revisited but it's also wonderfully presented comtemporary goth.

Opening with the shining 'Hammer In The Last Nail' the album is immediately accessible and enticing, with Rosie's vocals playfully delivering the lyrics whilst its jaunty, upbeat musical accompaniment throws down an atmosphere that off-plays the darkness and light that goth dancefloor fillers pulsate with. From there on in the album doesn't let up for a moment, displaying a band at the very top of their game and loving what they are doing. Play loud, play purple indeed.

Lee Powell.

Pretty good then, a nine out of ten review. But don't be deterred by the reference to goth. It was never a scene I went for (aside from that Siouxsie look!). I never had the hair for ir and one eyeliner pencil does not a goth make! Goth means to me the slightly ridiculous bass rumblings of the Sisters of Mercy or Fields of the Nephilim (one of the few bands I have walked out on), but this is something very different.

Having missed them in London last summer I hope that they keep up the momentum and play again in the UK in 2025. I'll backcomb some nasal hair for the occasion!

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-3sCWz01Go2

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-T4e2BkCCUZ

The March Violets Live on JBTV 7th November 2015

 

Bringing things almost upto date with The March Violets, 2015 is only nine years ago! More to the point this is a reforned Violets with original vocalist Rosie back at the helm. This s a short streamed gig on JBTV in the US (apparently the biggest gig streaming set up in the US). Take a look on Youtube where the video of these tracks can be found. 

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-NaT4TjEEZu

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-dZSa2cRGnC

I have also been listeniing to the band's new album, 'Crocodile Promises' on Spotify and whilst a little different to what I usually abuse my ears with, I really like it.

The March Violets I-Beam San Francisco 4th March 1985

 

This is a band that through a mate were on my radar in the mid-1980's. The March Violets in the '83-'85 period were pretty active as a live band and my mate regularly saw them in London and a couple of times in Brighton. I'm not sure which he was more into, the band or vocalist Cleo Murray... he was certainly smitten with her, that I do recall. Stupidly, I never took him up on the offer to go along with him and see them.

The March Violets formed in Leeds in 1981 and released their first two singles on Andrew Eldrich's, a fellow student at Leeds University, label Merciful Release. The original line up of the band consited of Tom Ashton (Guitar), Laurence Elliot (Bass) and Simon Denbigh (Vocals)and Rosie Garland (Vocals). The vocals were suplemented with the addition of Cleo Murray. In short time, Rosie Garland stepped back leaving Cleo as the sole female vocalist for the remainder of the band's first incarnation. The band initially split in 1987.

Over the last 17 years, the band have reformed with various line ups. In 2024 they have been particularly active with a line up with original members Rosie Garland and Tom Ashton. A recent London apperance would have been my first chance to see them, but just days before I landed myself in Harlow Hospital. Next time!

Thanks to the original uploader for this one.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-jLEhvz8kbA

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-dZSa2cRGnC

Here's a review of the band's gig at the Escape Club in Brighton that appeared in the 22nd March 1986 issue of Record Mirror. This would have been one of the gigs I declined!

20 From '84(3) The March Violets BBC Radio 1 Saturday Live Session 18th December 1984

Cleo of The March Violets

Back in '84 Goth was at its peak and Andrew Eldritch and his happy go lucky troupe The Sisters of Mercy were the Royal Family of the movement. The Sisters never really gripped me, although I do intend to upload one of their gigs as a part of this thread.

Loosely associated with that scene but eminently less preposterous than their laugh a minute Leeds pals, The Sisters, were The March Violets. With both bands coming from Leeds, The Sisters of Mercy's own label, Merciful Release, oversaw the release of the early March Violets singles. Unfortunately, I never saw them, but mates of mine did. They played some great songs, but I am sure that part of the appeal of the band for us 15 year old boys was the fact that they were fronted by a rather striking lady called Cleo.

So here is a short blast in the form of a session recorded for Radio 1's Richard Skinner at the end of the year.

FLAC: https://we.tl/lXu0obn08y

01. Snake Dance

02. Face Of The Dragonfly

03. Deep