14
Culture
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50 years of live
Jonathan Doyle
This may come as a
surprise to some, but
over the last 50 years
Lancaster University has
hosted performances
from an impressive
roster of bands.
In fact, Lancaster University used to be
one of the big guns on the touring scene,
back in the days before huge arenas such
as Birmingham NEC surfaced. In more
recent years, acts such as Chase and
Status (2010), The Noisettes (2011) and
Maximo Park (2012) have performed for
Lancaster University, on and off campus,
but they are small fry compared the
leviathans of music who once graced the
Great Hall.
In 1970, Barry Lucas and Gaz Taylor,
social secretaries for Lonsdale and
Bowland colleges, took a huge gamble
by pooling their budgets together and
somehow managed to book The Who,
successfully drawing in a crowd of 1,350
people to the show in the Great Hall!
Tickets for this monumental event cost
just £1 each, the profits of which allowed
Lucas and Taylor to book both Pink
Floyd and Black Sabbath. Their initial
ludicrous idea therefore paid off and
kick-started arguably the greatest era of
live music that Lancaster has ever seen.
In 1972, Paul McCartney and his
band 'Wings' arrived unannounced after
touring up and down the country. Lucas
pulled out all the stops to promote the
band, even marching around campus with
a megaphone to drum up a 1200-strong
crowd! Following this, Barry Lucas
essentially brought Lancaster University
to the forefront of the UK touring scene.
Between 1970 and 1984, the Great Hall
accommodated shows from some of the
world’s biggest bands at the time. Bob
Marley, Thin Lizzy, Queen, Eric Clapton,
Culture
14 - 16
Features
17 - 22
Fashion
23 - 27
Lifestyle
29 - 31
15
music at Lancaster Live at LICA – A History
Dire Straits and Van Morrison appeared
twice whilst other names included Deep
Purple, Status Quo, Captain Beefheart &
the Magic Band, Genesis, Roxy Music,
Free, ACDC, The Jam, Madness, and
Ultravox, to name just a few.
Mick Jagger personally requested that
The Rolling Stones perform at Lancaster
University back in the 1970s. Unfortunately it was for a tour in May, perfect
timing for the summer exams, and as
you can imagine Professor Reynolds, the
Vice-Chancellor at the time, politely declined the offer and the band never got to
perform here. Two other bands of note
who were booked to perform but ‘died
on him’ [Lucas] were The Doors and The
Jimi Hendrix Experience, both of whom
lost key members of the band before
their gig dates.
Lancaster University’s
campus was left a little
quieter after Barry
Lucas in 1985.
The Sugarhouse - owned by Lancaster
University Students' Union - gallantly
accepted the musical gauntlet, and in
the not so distant past brought the likes
of The Stone Roses, The Fun Lovin'
Criminals, The Charlatans, Travis and
Toploader to the city. However, while
the music scene at Lancaster University
has seemingly dwindled recently, there
are still a number of small live music
events across campus keeping the spark
alive: events such as the fortnightly
Live at the Oak, who bring the very best
of up and coming bands from across
the UK to County bar; and Pendle and
Lonsdale Live, which put on campusbased acts too. Graduation Ball of
course plays host to some of the more
widely known names, this year bringing
Chase and Status and Ms. Dynamite to
the Blackpool Tower Ballroom. These
acts may not be considered in the same
league as the greats that have previously
graced the University, but clearly there
is still some hope for live music here in
Lancaster.
All photos courtesy of Geoff Campbell.
Alice Hughes
The Clash, 1980
Human League, 1981
Live at LICA, the combined organisation for the Nuffield Theatre, Lancaster
International Concert Series and the
Peter Scott Gallery, have contributed to
Lancaster’s position as a vibrant arts city
and shown dedication to creating a lively
cultural presence on campus.
There has been a wealth of exhibitions, concerts, opera, film, and theatrical productions from 1968 onwards. The
programmes have been contemporary
and experimental, as well as classical.
The public arts at Lancaster began with
the Embellishment Committee which
was able to purchase works of art. There
is a sizeable collection that the university owns; these are regularly displayed in exhibitions and many
can be found across campus
such as ‘Dual Form’ in Alexandra Square, ‘Untitled Metal
Arc’ to the north of University House, the ‘Bull’s Head’
opposite the Chaplaincy
Centre, and ‘Daphne’ in
County South courtyard.
In 1969 the Nuffield Theatre Studio opened, and
that was followed by the
first of the International
Concerts series in the Great
Hall, with renowned ensembles and orchestras coming to
Lancaster, including resident
quartets. The Peter Scott Gallery
first opened on the top floor of the
former Grizedale College with an exhibition entitled ‘Romans in the North’,
and then moved to where it now stands.
It took on the Irene Manton collection of
paintings and the John Chambers collection of Lancashire Pottery which is on
long loan to the university.
Member of the marketing team Jamie
Woolridge has worked with Live at LICA
since their establishment in 2009. When
he joined they were made up of different systems; the gallery, concert hall
and theatre had separate directors who
worked independently, without front of
house or marketing teams behind them.
However, the formation of Live at LICA
marked a coming together of these three
venues. Since the combined organisation changed its name to Live at LICA
in 2010; theatre performances, concerts
and gallery openings are held together
and Live at LICA have been looking into
how art forms might merge in ways that
enthuse and attract audiences.
Interestingly, a former Live at LICA
exhibition titled ‘Was I
There?’ presented original
pro-
such as The Damned, AC/DC and John
Cooper Clarke were included.
Live at LICA’s objectives since their
formation have been to raise awareness
of what’s on campus; many local people
and students are unaware t hat famous
artists are exhibiting on their own doorstep. Live at LICA have also endeavoured
to break free from site venues to show
what’s on offer through interactive, innovative events. These objectives have
undoubtedly been met. The Peter Scott
Gallery curate Lancaster University’s
own art collection, all
of which is exhibited
motional
with
posters from
free entry.
Photo by Tim Regan
gigs that took place
Live at LICA have
in the late 70s and early 80s
further showcased the artisdocumenting events that used the space tic innovation of the university through
close to where the gallery now stands, Curate the Campus, a series of creative
but before it existed. Famous names happenings which culminated to trans-
form campus into a collaborative cultural hub. It is vital that this ongoing rich
history of arts creation and presentation
at Lancaster University is recorded and
documented through archiving systems,
or else much of it will be forgotten.
New director Jamie Eastman states
many people do not realise that Live at
LICA has always played a strong role in
creation of art and the movement of new
artists; this is a vital part of their identity they are going to continue, because
being an arts organisation is much more
than presenting and selling tickets. In
terms of future direction, there will be
an amplified interface between students
and Live at LICA’s own cultural ‘shop
window’; students will have access to a
closer relationship with the programme.
This will include more focused exhibitions of Fine Art students in the
Peter Scott Gallery, and the generation of relationships and
schemes with students studying other subjects. Already,
Live at LICA’s Ambassador
Scheme offers invaluable
work experience and the
Peter Scott Gallery offer extensive volunteer
placements.
Live at LICA offer experience and intimacy
unlike many other arts
organisations, so make
the most of what they
offer during your time at
Lancaster. The fact that
they are moving outside set
venues demonstrates passion for inspiring and involving students across subjects;
proving that art can be much more
than for show. After graduating and
moving from Lancaster, ticket prices
will shoot up; bigger city art venues and
performances are notorious for weighty
expenses. Lancaster University has
showcased its arts dedication since its
foundation; it is a privilege to study at
such a culturally dynamic establishment
and many of my memories of Lancaster
will be of the fervent arts scene.
1964 Culture Update: What’s been going on?
- British rock band the Beatles monopolised the charts in 1964, getting six number one hits in the UK and a Christmas number one. As Beatlemania spread, the band became
international stars and led the ‘British Invasion’ of the US pop market. 1964 was a crucial year for the Beatles, as they made history as the only act to have taken over the top
five positions on the Billboard Hot 100 on the week of April 6th. The closest anyone has ever got since then was 50 Cent in 2005 with three top five positions. Their success
generated unprecedented interest in British music in the 60’s, and has had a lasting impact on the music world ever since.
- The 20th April 1964 was meant to be when we saw the introduction of BBC 2, to join BBC 1 and the ITV network. However, plans were cut short when a huge power
shortage, originating from a fire at the Battersea Power Station, caused the Television Centre, and a large portion of West London, to lose all power. BBC 1 were unaffected,
so they released brief bulletins on what was happening. The BBC 2 broadcast was delayed until 11am the following morning, with the children’s TV show ‘Play Time’ being
the first programme to air.
-In 1964 Audrey Hepburn famously lost out on an Oscar award for her performance in My Fair Lady. Despite the film turning out to be a huge box office hit that received
twelve nominations in total that year, Hepburn herself was not nominated – supposedly because many believed Julie Andrews should have been given the role. Ironically,
the film won eight Oscars and the Academy chose Andrews to receive the Best Actress of the year award.
-The ‘King of Soul’ Sam Cooke was fatally shot in 1964 at the age of 33. He had an undeniable effect on the soul music scene, leading to the rise of artists such as Aretha
Franklin, Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder, and had thirty US top 40 hits between 1957 and 1964 – including ‘You Send Me’, ‘A Change is Gonna Come’ and ‘Chain Gang’.
The circumstances of his death have been questioned ever since, as the convicted murderer Bertha Frankin, manager of the Hacienda Motel in L.A, claims she shot Cooke in
self-defense. With inconsistencies between witnesses, many of Sam Cooke’s family and supporters believe there was instead a conspiracy to murder Cooke. He has a number
of posthumous honours, including being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and being named the fourth greatest singer of all time by Rolling Stone.
Dire Straits, 1980
Madness, 1979
- January 1st 1964 was when the first ever episode of Top of the Pops was screened. The weekly British music chart television programme continued until July 30th 2006,
and had over 2,200 episodes. The first show on New Year’s Day was presented by DJs Jimmy Saville and Alan Freeman, and featured a performance of that week’s number
one by The Beatles – ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’.