DESCRIPTION:
Youth Of Today. I owned the records on Revelation records but always thought that the sound and attitude was a little one dimensional. I had stuff from Chain Of Strength, Gorilla Biscuits (a band that performed at the Fulham Greyhound with Insight and Snuff) Slapshot and SS Decontrol. All decent records in their own right, but no Husker Du, BeefEater or The Freeze.

Yet again Snuff were supporting at this gig that FireFly promoted. FireFly was my old 'boss' at All The Madmen records, Rob Challice and Rob Tenent of Vinyl Solution record shop (owned by Yves and Alain - those two promoted the debut Sex Pistols gig outside of the U.K in a nightclub in Paris). I blagged a freebie (as I did most gigs I attended in those days) and awaited Youth Of Today after the support acts.

The records were a little one dimensional and therefore the songs performed at this gig were also. But; this was one of the most exciting performances I have witnessed. Not so much the band, they were great and doing all the jumps and posturing which fitted the songs perfectly. It was the audience that made this performance what I remember and what you can view on the footage. I have never seen anything like it prior or since.

I am in the video 'protecting' my friend Pete A from Ipswich around the 21st minute mark to about the 24th minute. I got the grey sweatshirt on. From what I remember the tall sound guy on that side of the stage was getting pissed off with the stage divers. Myself, Rob Challice, Pete A and I think Simon (who was part of the S.O.A.S student union) where taking in all the spectacle and for no reason sound guy man grabbed hold of Pete A and tried to toss him into the crowd. Pete was not being a pest by the way. This pushing and shoving went on for a minute or so and then you see dreadlocks in the video footage flying across the stage. I try to intervene and again there is a little pushing and shoving. Rob Challice tries to calm things down. Pete A is back on the stage, Ray from Youth Of Today checks if everything is cool. We stay on the stage and sound guy man gets back to his responsibilities on the sound desk.

Talking of the sound. This is possibly the worst sound quality on any of my videos I have here at Penguin Towers. The person who filmed it obviously did not take note of the audio signal going far far into the red. That's a shame as the performance is great to watch. The amount of stage divers (even leaping from speaker stacks) and numerous stage invasions does make this video aesthetically pleasing to view. Best you cock the sound off and put on a Youth Of Today record (or find on YouTube) to complement this footage. You will not get lip sync but it might be worth the crack.